Cursed: Immortal

Chapter 6: Fury

After nearly a month, Ian finally asked me about Gabriel. The chills ran up and down my spine, causing my face to become strained. How the hell are you meant to tell your current boyfriend about the guy you were convinced was your soul mate?

Eventually I just started at the beginning, trying to be as honest as possible, lying wouldn't help me much.

***

Italy, 1522

I met Gabriel in the workshop of some artist on a hot summer's day in Florence. He was posing for a painting or a sculpture...I forget which. But he was shirtless, and his wild black hair was obviously the artist's focus. I had been admiring some other works, and turned to speak with the artist when I was distracted by, well, Gabriel's...assets. The shock on my attendants' faces still makes me laugh, but Cassy had admired him even more openly than I.

"Helena-"(I'd been going by my second name in order not to draw Hades' attention, and the Italians could not possibly say 'Scarlet'.) "-He is gorgeous!" we had been floating around Tuscany for the better part of a century, and I had decided to buy a rather extravagant villa a few miles out of the city itself. I still own it, and the artworks I'd been admiring were still there.

The impish smile on Gabriel's face was enough to draw my complete attention to him. His eyes were hazel, flecked with gold, making him a werewolf, to my knowledge. A breeze confirmed him, winding its way from a window some considerate apprentice had opened, though the scent was imperceptible to the humans around us. My attention was drawn away by the artist and I requested "Every single artwork featuring that model." The artist nearly had heart failure in that moment, and my price almost finished him off. I paid about five thousand dollars for all of them, a large amount for the time. I then commissioned a portrait of myself, to commemorate the occasion. The artist was almost kissing my feet by that point, and Gabriel had stepped down from his perch to kiss my hand.

"I am honoured, Principessa." Oh, and I was ruling my own little country, you call it Switzerland now. But I no longer use it, Switzerland no longer wants me. That was just one of many mind-numbing titles I had to use in different situations. Being the heir to so many thrones was tiring, hence my escape to Italy. No Original would set foot there because of the overzealous religious people, other than me. Then again I was Guardian of the Mortal Realms; it was kind of my job to go the places where the most changes were happening. Mostly to keep the mortals in line and to prevent the discovery of anything to do with magic.

Or at least, that was my excuse. I was running away from my problems again, especially Hades and his minions. For once, I felt relaxed, though Morgana had sent a few guards along, Cassy being one of them. Suicide watch was, and is, a pain in the ass. Although, it was painfully easy to evade them, my guards trusted me more than my parents.

Such as the day after I bought the paintings (or sculptures, I lose track), when Gabriel and a few other apprentices showed up to put them in place. "I want those two landscapes in the small parlour. The angel in the conservatory, the water scene in the dining room and those two statues in the atrium," I said, pointing at different guards and apprentices to go and install them. I motioned for Gabriel to follow me up the stairs to my study, opening the door as he lugged the giant portrait of himself as an angel across the landing. "Principessa, I hope you are not just making me take this up here so you can make me drag it back," he pants.

"Well, Signor Gabriel, I may be cruel, but not to one such as you," I'd closed the door, and locked him in with me. "Please, sit and rest for a moment," I motioned to a chair, which he gratefully sank into.

"So, are you a werewolf or a mage?" the question seemed to shock him. I never get any credit, just because people think I'm a selfish, careless girl incapable of being observant. Gender stereotypes never cease to annoy me.