My eyes shift from Clyde to Eli, they're mates. Clyde takes a moment to calm himself, slowly, his eyes revert back to their pale blue as his fangs retract.

"I didn't see that coming," Ash admits bewildered.

"What?" Eli says confused, "I don't understand, what's going on?"

"Oh um, I - wait," I walk over to Eli and Clyde and put my hands on their heads again, "close," I whisper, reversing the spell.

I then walk over to the door and place myself in the threshold. Wait, what was the word again? Maybe it was melt? No! Could it be...

"Thaw!" I yell, hopefully, that was loud enough.

"Liar! Liar! Pants on fire," sings Eli, "you did know how to undo it."

"Let it go, it was just a lucky guess," I wink.

"Sure, now can someone explain what's going on," says Eli.

"You're my mate," Clyde speaks his eyes on Eli, adoration clear in his gaze.

"Your what?" Eli asks, his head tilting slightly to the side.

Clyde laughs at Eli's little action before answering, "my soul mate, the one destined for me."

Eli avoids his gaze, his cheeks tinged pink, "soul mate," he muses smiling but his happy mood quickly fades. "But I can't be mates with a vampire." He admits returning to Clyde.

Eli looks to me, I give him a small nod before turning to Ash, "I think we should give them some time to talk," I take his hand, "alone."

"Yeah, I need to check on something so let's go," he leads us towards the door.

"Eli, give him a chance, you won't know until you try," I advise Eli, telepathically, as I leave hand in hand with Ash.

.....

We walk through the castle, passing guards and maids; meandering through corridors and halls. Every now and again, Ash would point out a certain bit of the building, "that's the main courtyard," he gestures to outside a window, I nod, listening silently.

I'm too distracted by the fact that Ash is holding my hand, it feels nice, like the last piece of a puzzle being put in place. My thoughts run wild, gushing over Ash, I glace up and see him grinning. Oh god, I already feel the blush spreading across my cheeks.

Embarrassed I keep my eyes to the ground, when we stop, it's face to face with a door which Ash knocks on. The doors slowly creak open and a familiar voice echoes, "come in."

The room is large and decorated with all kinds of ornaments. The walls are painted beige; a bed lay opposite to the door with other bits of furniture surrounding it.

An ajar door opens up to a master bathroom. The queen sits submerged in a bath full of bubbles with a clay mask on her face, she puts aside the magazine she is reading to greet us. "Asher and Elouise, hello, come in!" She smiles enthusiastically.

Ash groans throwing his hand over his face "Mother no one wants to see that."

"Stop whining Asher, you can't see anything," she scolds Ash, to which he rolls his eyes making her scold him more. I stand near them, giggling at their bickering antics.

I bickered with James almost all the time, whether it be over the last slice of pizza or assigned missions, I miss him already. I fall silent as memories of Thistle, James and my late parents fill my head, I miss them all.

Looking down at the white tiles of the bathroom fall, I blink back tears. Calm down, I breathe, James and Thistle I can visit and my parents are in a better place. Everything happens for a reason, I'll be fine.

Ash breaks me from my thoughts, lowering his head to meet my eyes, "you ok?" He asks softly.

"Yeah I'm fine," I smile back, he cares.

"Of course I care," he thinks, gently squeezing my hand.

"Aww, you two make the perfect pair," the queen gushes. Grabbing my free hand and pulling me towards her slightly, "you are going to make a wonderful queen," she praises.

"I'm glad Asher found you, I was starting to think love just wasn't written in the cards for him," she jokes. "Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Julia."

"It's nice to meet you, Julia," I smile.

"And it's nice to meet you too, Elouise," she looks me up and down, confusion lacing her features, "you were wearing this earlier, why are you in a maid's uniform?"

I forgot I still had it on, "we were playing a game," I blurt, in embarrassment. Julia frowns slightly as Ash laughs. My cheeks light on fire in embarrassment, I cover my face with my hands. Oh no.

"A game. Well, it has nothing to do with me what you do in your spare time," she gives me a knowing smile, "Moving on, has Asher proposed yet? I'd like grandbabies soon you know."

"Mother," Ash warns, now wearing a similar blush.

"What? I'm not getting any younger."

"You're not getting any older either," he retorts.

I start to laugh again, their bickering is absolutely adorable. "I think we should get back to Eli and Clyde," I propose. We should leave before Ash turns into a tomato and me into a laughing mess.

"I agree," Ash says, his face still tinged pink. Awe he's so cute when he blushes, hearing my thoughts he blushes impossibly harder, I laugh again.

"Will you be at dinner tonight? We have a few things to catch up on now that Clyde's back," Julia asks.

"We will be there, goodbye mother," Ash replies hastily, pulling us away.

"Bye Julia."

Back in the maze of corridors, Ash leads me as we retrace our steps.

"Julia is nice, is your father that kind as well?" I ask Ash.

"Not as nice but he isn't that bad. He's a great father, a little strict when it came to learning royal etiquette but he did spend good portions of his spare time sharing stories with me and Clyde," He replies.

"That's good, I'm glad," I choke on the rest of my sentence. I'm glad Ash had a nice childhood, that his parents were there, caring for him.

.....

"They're gone," Ash points out, as we enter his room.

"They are probably getting to know each other, I hope they get along. It would be great if Eli could stay here," I admit.

"I just hope that Clyde isn't being too much of an ass to him."

"They'll be fine, I don't know much about your brother but I know Eli. He is amazing and the best person anyone could have in their life."

Ash smiles at me, "so are you."

He leans in and kisses me, his soft lips on mine. I return his kiss, savouring the feel of his lips on mine, this is perfect.

Laughter is heard from outside the door, Ash pulls back, "I guess they're back."

"I guess so."

Ash stares at me like he's got something to say but is cut off as Eli and Clyde walk in.

Eli's expression happy, as he glances back at Clyde before looking at me, "I've decided to stay too, " Eli states, smiling.

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Nice ending for this chapter, let's hope that the chaos doesn't strike too early. Thank you to for all the comments! And Thanks to everyone for the votes!!

Update out next week.

Enami out ;-)