Caius' room was not too far away from Aro's. As Jane led the way, my emotions were thrown into disarray, the story was amusing but I felt guilty for laughing. Getting any limb ripped off was extremely painful, even if you were one of the toughest vampires in the world. Jane stopped 10 steps away from a door at the end of the corridor. "Is that it?" Jane nodded nervously. I walked up to the door and grabbed the handle. I hesitated and instead opted to knock.

As soon as I knocked 3 times, the door flew open, causing me to flinch. Caius stood there with a murderous look on his face. His red eyes were even deeper than usual and his hair was a mess. I looked back expecting Jane, but she had made a quick escape. His eyes softened when he noticed it was me, "mia cara, now is not a good time," he grimaced. Caius' arm was still missing as he turned to shut the door. "Please, let me in," my voice shook slightly. As a mate I didn't know what my responsibilities were, but as a half-decent human being I wasn't going to leave him by himself... no matter how terrified I was. Caius shook his head, "Lyra leave". He was fuming. "Please let me help you, Caius," I pleaded softly. He looked conflicted but eventually backed away from the door.

As I stepped into his room I was met with several different shades of deep green. The room was extremely organised but there were several holes and cracks in the wall. Frowning, I walked over to his study table where his arm was now placed. Caius looked away from me, and sat down on the bed. "I know how hard it can be to re-attach arms correctly," I tried my best to sound casual. Instead of responding Caius grunted. I carefully grabbed his arm and placed a soothing hand on his shoulder. Caius froze at the contact.

"This is going to hurt a bit, okay," I still spoke kindly - relieved that he was accepting my help. He shut his eyes tightly and clenched his teeth. As the cracks began closing Caius hissed. I affectionately stroked his cheek. His eyes snapped open and I felt him relax against my touch. We sat there for nearly 5 minutes, as his arm reattached. When the internal section had completely joined, the external cracks began closing up. According to Carlilse, the ending part was always the most painful. Caius grunted and shut his eyes once more, "you should leave now," his voice was strained. I sat where I was stroking his shoulder. Barely audible whimpers left his mouth as I moved closer to him, not sure what to say.

Caius had clenched his hand into a fist. I let out a shaky sigh when the arm finally re-attached. "Are you okay," I asked quietly. Caius directed his glare at the ground, "of course I'm alright," I knew he didn't mean to snap at me. From his position as a vampire and a king it was hard to show anyone vulnerability.

"I didn't need your help Lyra," he still wasn't looking at me but his voice sounded less vexed. "I wanted to help," Caius continued his inspection of the floor. "Caius, I'm your true-mate I'm supposed to be there for you and I don't think needing help means you're weak," my mind wasn't keeping up with my tongue. Caius looked up now surprised at my small speech. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

Caius seemed to stiffen once more, "when I see Marcus next-" I placed a hand on forearm stopping him from continuing. "You will do nothing," I said firmly. He looked like he was going to argue. "What happened to the wall?" I asked, changing the topic. "I'm not sure you'd like to know," I didn't understand what he meant, but I felt I had pushed him enough today.

Caius appeared visibly calm but I could feel the anger coming off the mate bond in waves. Walking over to his dresser, I grabbed what seemed to be an extremely old fashioned hairbrush. I took off my shoes and climbed onto the bed behind Caius, "what are yo-"I shushed him. He huffed in annoyance. This was the first time I had seen Caius with his hair messy and I was definitely going to take advantage of that. Whenever I was angry all it took was for someone to massage my scalp and immediately all worries would disappear from my mind.

I carefully indulged my finger into his hair, feeling him tense underneath my fingers. Soon enough as my fingers worked their way to the top of his head, I felt him relax. It may have been because of the mate bond, but I could tell Caius had calmed down significantly. I continued gently massaging his head for a while. Caius froze when I reached his neck. Curiously I continued rubbing the area feeling him hissing slightly. All of sudden Caius grabbed my hands and flipped me so that I was now sitting on his lap. Heat rose to my face, as I noticed the position we were in. Looking up I noticed Caius' eyes had turned from red to a black, similar to how Aro's had last night. "What are you doing mia cara," his voice was breathy. "Doing yo-your hair" my voice had gotten caught in my throat as Caius leaned closer. "Is that so?" I nodded innocently.

"Very well," Caius let me climb off him as I went back to tending to his hair. I gently brushed out all the tangles and gelled it back like he usually did. Once again as I reached his neck Caius froze. Despite the reaction I had gotten earlier I continued subtly smoothing out his hair and landing a small touch here and there. Caius tried his best to stay still, but flinched slightly every time I landed a touch at the top of his neck. Leaving all subtleties behind I decided to make a dangerous decision, if Caius got to have a free massage, I was allowed to have my fun as well. I reached that specific spot of his neck and rubbed downwards, reaching the point where his back met his neck. Caius groaned and once again flipped me onto his lap. "You have got to stop doing that," he huffed, I grinned gleefully. "Or what?"

A dark look passed his face before he whispered huskily into my ear, "I'm not sure you want to find out," the action caused me to turn a crimson red as I felt a shiver travel down my spine. He went to move me off him, but I latched my arms around him, 'accidentally' brushing past his neck.

I felt a sense of Deja vu as Caius leaned forward to keep my hands from touching his neck. Our lips were mere centimetres. Seeing the look in my eyes Caius crashed his lips on mine and I was overcome with delight. His lips were rough, but he was trying his best to be gentle. Unlike Aro's sensual kiss, this had more need for it, this was passionate. My hands subconsciously clamped down on his neck and back. Caius growled into the kiss as I was swept into a new wave of ecstasy. He only pulled back when I was on the verge of fainting from a lack of oxygen. I breathed heavily as Caius smirked, "don't tease me mia cara," he sounded smug. "If that's the result I'll have to tease you more often," a cheeky glint in his eyes now told me that he didn't mind the idea either.

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"Both of you apologise to each other," I said firmly to Marcus and Caius. They were both standing in front of me, Marcus looked sheepish and Caius was giving me puppy eyes. I was sitting on the hand-rest next to Aro who was sitting comfortably on his throne. "But mia cara why should I apologise," Caius sounded disgusted by the idea of apologising. "Caius you do not touch a man's only vintage copy of 'Hamlet' and expect to get away unscathed" my tone was firm. Marcus relaxed slightly, "but that does not mean you get to rip your brother's arm and get away with it," I glared pointedly at Marcus causing him to stiffen once again.

Marcus sighed and looked over to Caius, "I'm remorseful for my actions Caius," I tried to pick up on any underlying sarcasm, but found none. Marcus truthfully was the most mature of the 3. I realised that was saying something because he wasn't above resorting to violence over a few books. "I'm also regretful for touching your books," there was a slight sneer in Caius' voice when he said 'regretful' but I decided to ignore it.

"Lyra you seem quite uncomfortable sitting there on the hand-rest, would you like a more comfortable seating arrangement," it was Aro who spoke now looking smug. I didn't pay his smugness and nodded. In an instant I was pulled into his lap, with my legs over the hand-rest. I heard Caius growl. My face felt hot as it turned 3 shades of scarlet. "T-this isn't what I meant," I managed out. "Is this not more comfortable il mio amore" Aro asked innocently. "Aro," I groaned into my hands. "Actually you are not free of guilt in this story Aro," I said with a frown on my face. I climbed out of his lap, much to his dismay. "You do not get to use me as leeway to make your brothers feel jealous," I had an exasperated look on my face and my hands on my hips.

"I will not do it again amore, now come back here, I'm awfully cold," Aro whined. "Don't you 3 have trials to attend to," I asked them all, ignoring Aro's protest. "The trials are not more important than you tesoro," Marcus' words caused butterflies to rise in my stomach. "We cancelled our trials today," Caius said with a smile on his face. "Why's that?" I asked, feeling suddenly shy, all of the attention was on me and I was awkwardly standing there. Aro noticed and once again patted his lap. I huffed and went to sit with Marcus, "there were some things we wished to discuss," Aro said in a slightly hurt tone. I snuggled into Marcus' chest whilst both Aro and Caius glared at him, he simply chuckled quietly. "What do you wish to discuss with me?" My curiosity was at play once again.

"When do you want to turn Lyra?" The question caught me off guard and judging by the looks Caius received from Aro, I wasn't the only one. Did I want to turn into a vampire, yes of course. "I do wish to turn... I'm not sure when though," before Caius could reply Marcus took the opportunity to stabilise the conversation that was wading into uncharted waters. "We will not rush you, but you will need to choose a date and a sire," Marcus sounded calm and it stabilised my own feeling which was beginning to spiral. "I want to turn after 1 month," truthfully I just wanted to turn instantly, but the one month would give me time to pick a sire. Carlisle had told me that sire's were extremely influential in the behaviour and overall stability for a newborn.

A moody sire would mean the already unstable newborn emotions would become even more volatile. Also the sire would directly be able to control the newborn, so it had to be someone trustworthy. "You may choose someone from the olympic coven if you wish," Aro sounded displeased by the idea. "I will definitely choose one of you," I said thoughtfully. They all looked up excited. "I will let you know when I decide" I said with more glee than I should've. Caius huffed and Aro nodded, Marcus surprisingly sat neutrally, gently drawing patterns on my arm with his fingers. He seemed so happy, it made me scared.

I was so influential on these 3, it would kill me to hurt them. To be honest I didn't understand why they were so happy. Over the years I was sure that all 3 of them definitely had dreamed about who their true mate would be and I was almost certain that I didn't fit the picture. I felt more at ease after speaking with Aro last night but that didn't mean my doubts had gone away. I was sure that they would grow tired of me. I began fidgeting as I realised Aro probably thought I was pathetic after yesterday's mental breakdown. 'What if he had told the others what he saw?' 'What if he'd told them how weak I was?'

My attention was drawn when I realised that my mates were looking at me intently. I noticed Aro had stiffened in his seat, "is everything okay?" I was genuinely concerned even though Aro had flustered me earlier. "Your mind link," I felt a pang in my chest and was overcome with guilt, panic and embarrassment when I realised Aro had heard my destructive thoughts. I did that sometimes and had to be reminded to turn my Bluetooth off.

I didn't want to say anything in front of Caius and Marcus as I knew they would only be upset if they knew what I was thinking.

"I heard I was to be taken on a date today?" I asked joyously, quickly changing the topic. 'Deflection never solves a problem, sometimes projection is key,' Carlisle's knowing voice resounded in my head. Aro looked sad, Caius and Marcus on the other hand looked confused by my sudden change in mood. "Since I've already spent some time with you 2, I'm going to spend the rest of today with Marcus," I could feel pure joy radiate off Marcus through the mate bond and I snuggled into him deeper. Caius vainly looked upset. "I want my next date to be with you Caius since I'm already staying in Aro's quarters" I smiled at both Caius and Aro's reaction. Once again they looked like little kids.

"We also wished to speak to you about something else Lyra," Aro spoke as happily as he could. "We need to decide on our room, which will essentially act as your room in which we will all spend time with you," the way he said it made me turn red. "While we spend time with one another Tesoro Caius and Aro can begin work on it, is there anything you wish to include in it?" I felt myself starting fiddling as excitement entered me. "I want it to have aspects of all 3 of your personalities, oh and I want a balcony and a circular bed," my requests may have seemed abnormal but I had always wanted a round bed for my room, it was just so aesthetic.

"Very well, I will go prepare for our date," I quickly got off from Marcus, excited for what he had planned. "I will also begin preparations for the room decoration," Caius sounded pleased. Before leaving the room, Caius landed a small kiss on my cheek. Aro frowned and Marcus also looked sad, although it was hard to tell. 'This is hard'. When Caius and Marcus left I walked over to Aro and tentatively pulled him into an embrace. "I'm sorry," I said quietly, he simply rubbed soothing circles on my back and held me close to him.

"Don't apologise Amore," he sounded calm, making me feel better. "I don't want to lose you all" I hated how weak I sounded. "I would rather die than leave you," I flinched when he said that. Aro looked sternly at me, "we love you and I will not accept you downgrading yourself when you are so perfect". I buried my face into him, trying hard to hide how flustered I was. "Please tell Marcus and Caius about what you saw in my life," he looked conflicted now. "I want them to know Aro, I just... I don't think I can tell them," I pleaded. "I would never say no to you," he cooed, kissing the top of my head. I don't know how long we stood there, comfortable in each other's embrace.