Heir To The Iron Crown: Butterfly ✓

13 - þrettánda

As I opened my eyes, they instantly closed shut because of the glaring sunlight streaming through my window.

How did I forget to close the curtains last night?

Last night.

I instantly woke up, looking around my room, Valente no where in sight. I was still wearing the mint party dress, but I could feel my hair had come loose.

How did I get here?

"Beats me," said Ima.

I sat up to look at the alarm clock on the side table and saw that thankfully, I wasn't too late for school yet.

But what was intriguing to me, was the neatly folded origami butterfly beside the clock.

I reached out for it, gently holding it in my hands, inspecting it to find no flaws, just perfect craftsmanship.

I smiled at it. I don't know how I got here, but I'm sure Valente has something to do with it. I reached out to him.

"You up yet?" I asked him.

"Good morning butterfly," he replied, and I blushed. I got out of bed to place the paper butterfly next to the origami house from before.

"How did I get home last night?" I asked him, now starting to get ready for school.

"I carried you," he said, casually.

"You could have just woken me up," I said to him.

"You looked too peaceful when you slept. I would have let you stay the night if I wasn't afraid Aunty would find out somehow," he said.

I did sleep very well last night. Didn't even wake up as he carried me all the way back.

"And how'd you get in?" I asked him, just now wondering. Surely he didn't bring me in through the window.

"Through the front door," he replied. "Rosa opened it."

"Shit," I thought.

"What?" he asked me.

"I'm going to get a lecture when I go downstairs now," I said.

His laugh echoed in my mind.

"I think Rosa already knows you're crazy about me. And besides, I have to listen to something or the other everyday at breakfast. Thankfully today Aunty's out, probably shopping. So I can come to school in peace," he said, sounding relieved.

"Okay. I'll see you then," I said.

"We've got training today. You ready to get your pretty ass kicked?" he asked me.

I looked at myself in the mirror, realizing I had the world's stupidest smile on my face that just wouldn't go away.

"I don't think so. Mordekai is a better training partner I guess," I said to him, teasingly.

There was a long pause.

"Valente?"

"Rayne, if I kill that boy, his blood will be on your hands," he said, his tone 100% serious.

I just laughed quietly.

"Yeah, okay sure," I said and blocked him out before he said something else that would make me feel giddy.

I brushed my teeth and took a quick shower, changing into a full-sleeved white top which I tucked into a pair of loose light-blue boyfriend jeans.

Once I was done, I walked down the stairs to smell absolutely nothing cooking for breakfast.

Which was quite odd, since Gramma usually makes something nice for me on Mondays. It helps me look forward to the week rather than dread it.

"She didn't even wake you up today," Ima said, adding to my anxiety.

I could hear two voices conversing downstairs, but not what they were saying.

"Gramma?" I called out to her.

The voices immediately stopped talking, and I walked into the kitchen to find no one there.

Then I went to the next obvious choice, the living room. But I wish I hadn't.

Gramma was sat there, looking quite distressed, opposite a very, very angry looking Aunt Sylvia.

"Honey why don't you leave for school already? It's getting late," said Gramma, her eyes pleading.

"Not so fast!" Sylvia's slightly shrill voice echoed through the room as she got up from the sofa.

She bent down to pick up a pair of shoes from beside her feet.

My shoes.

"I believe these are yours?" she said to me, her tone condescending.

She walked to me, dropping them in front of my feet. "If Valente wasn't so protective of you, I'd have you kicked out of this pack years ago," she said, quietly, but her words didn't escape Gramma.

"Sylvia that is enough!" Gramma said to her.

"You can keep the cursed child in your wretched home Rosabelle, but if I ever find her under my roof, or near my boy again, I won't let it go so easily," she said, her words directed at Gramma, but the poison in her eyes directed to me.

"I'll be watching you now, and if you try to get too close to Valente again, I will take matters into my own hands and I will never let him choose you. You understand me?" she said.

I was frozen under Sylvia's icy glare, the only thing moving was the breaking heart inside my chest.