Elijah had read the same paragraph at least three times but it would not sink into his head, the words felt foreign in his mind. He could read in four languages but for some reason couldn’t make sense of a few lines of text in English, his mind wandering every few seconds. Sariyah had gotten to him.
When Lucia had shown her obvious distaste for him at their first meeting he had made the decision to leave her be until they were married, then they could warm to each other without pressure - the vows would have already been made after all. But Sariyah was persistent in her view that he should ‘try harder to win her over’ and since traipsing the poor woman into his suite the day before he hadn’t been able to hold back the wave of suspicion that perhaps she was right. He wasn’t good with people. He put part of that down to his upbringing, having been born into this world as the heir to a multi-million pound dynasty, raised to one day take his place as the head of a clan built up of hundreds of blood-thirsty vampires, his parents were protective and would do anything to keep he and his sisters safe. But maybe… they may have taken it a little far. He knew there were those that gossiped about the fact that he and his siblings rarely left their home, but the truth was they hadn’t been allowed out until they were full-grown adults, and by that point they had little interest n the outside world. Eden was absorbed in her art, Alyssa had gotten swept up in her research and Elijah… he was much more shy than he liked to admit. He simply continued to follow the rules he always had, spent his days trying to be a helpful and diligent son.
He didn’t appreciate the attitude she’d shown so far but he also knew he hadn’t made much of an effort to make her feel comfortable in her new home. As they say, every day is a new beginning and Elijah was ready to make an attempt… orchestrated by Sariyah.
As he had been ordered by his dear cousin, Elijah waited patiently in the drawing room, perched awkwardly on an armchair.
He heard the women before they arrived, and not just because of his super-hearing, the pair were chattering noisily as they approached, thankfully not about him as he didn’t expect Lucia had anything nice to say on that matter. They entered side by side but Lucia froze halfway through the door at the sight of him, which didn’t do wonders for the self-esteem.
“Oh, hello, Elijah!” Sariyah barked with far too much fake-surprise. “What are you doing here?” Her eyes were overly wide and her smile too bright. Lucia looked between them with a hard and suspicious glare.
“What are YOU doing?” She asked Sariyah. The older woman swiftly ignored her, nodding to him sternly for him to hit his cue.
“I was just waiting for Alyssa, we had plans but it seems she’s busy so I suppose I’m not doing anything now.”
“Great, you should come with us on our walk around the grounds! Right, Lucia?”
“You got stood up by your own sister?” Lucia raised a brow at him over Sariyah’s head.
“I suppose?” He was answering Lucia but Sariyah took the confirmation as being for her.
“Wonderful, let’s go!” She led the way without looking back.
~
Elijah looked over Lucia as she trotted along, he could tell she was making a point of not looking at him, but that was okay, he wanted to get a proper look at her uninterrupted anyway. If someone in a meeting were to ask about his betrothal, he should probably be able to describe his future wife. He began to tick off facts in his head as he gazed at her: tall for a woman, black curly hair, black eyes, toned build, lightly muscled, dark complexion… maybe he shouldn’t use the word dark after what his mother had said… bronze-skinned? That sounded a bit better but he still probably wouldn’t say it out loud.
They rounded the edge of the trees and the flower garden came into view. Sariyah strode ahead to open the gate but Elijah faltered, Lucia had halted.
He looked at her curiously, “Lucia?” he called. She didn’t respond. He looked to Sariyah for assistance but she was already headed to the gazebo in the centre of the garden where full-vampires often read books and humans who were to be turned enjoyed afternoon tea. He walked back to her, keeping down his pace so as not to startle her. When he was close enough to touch he reached out, closing his fingers over her forearm gently.
“Are you feeling unwell?” He asked, running his thumb over her bare shoulder softly.
“It’s… It’s really pretty.” She said, snapping out of her daze with an embarrassed smile.
“Yes, I suppose it is.” He supposed when you were not used to being surrounded by the luxuries that very expensive gardeners and landscapers could afford, such a vibrant, colour-infused garden might seem extraordinary. Perhaps he should be more grateful for his blessings. “Please,” He took his hand back and gestured towards the wooden structure buried among the flora. “I’d be happy to give you a tour, our human clan-members take afternoon tea here in the summer, we could send for some ice tea and cakes?”
“And the pair of you will just watch me eat?”She huffed, striding away to meet Sariyah under the shelter. Elijah blinked twice, genuinely trying to work out where he went wrong. As she reached the steps he darted forward at his usual speed, falling back in line next to her. Lucia jumped a little, muttering ‘Jesus’ under her breath but continued forward to where Sariyah was leaning over the rail.
“I texted the house and they’re gonna bring a jug of lemonade and some sandwiches for us… well, you.”
“Thanks.” Lucia gave a small smile. Elijah did his utter damndest not to feel hurt, she didn’t trust him, she didn’t know him. He was the enemy in this scenario, her captor, the reason she was stuck in a house full of strangers, so far from her home, he needed to remember that.
~
He kept his mouth shut for most of the afternoon, simply watching her as she wandered through the flowers, shrubs and bushes, snacked on cucumber and ham sandwiches and bathed in the warm sunlight, the bright rays seemed to fill her with a serenity he hadn’t seen before. Sariyah babbled and gossiped as she always did and he thanked his lucky stars he had such a likeable cousin, even Lucia couldn’t resist her charm as she bestowed upon her many an embarrassing anecdote of the Bonnet family.
As they headed back towards the house, Sariyah skipped ahead with the leftover plates and empty jug, “I’ll pop these in the kitchen, Elijah can escort you back in.” she winked at him and he knew she was trying to tell him this was his chance, that he needed to try and be… charming. Lucia didn’t look pleased at being ditched but had the kindness to not make a comment about him. After maybe twenty seconds (that felt like an hour to a vampire trying to keep himself at human pace) he cleared his throat quietly.
“Did you like the garden?” He asked softly.
She pulled a sour face at the house ahead but mumbled, “Yes.”
“It’s a great time of year for you to arrive then, it’s so much more colourful in the summer.”
“I don’t think there’s every a good time of year to be kidnapped.”
Elijah sighed, “I’m trying my best.” he whispered.
“I don’t want your best,” She snapped, speeding up her steps. “I don’t want your anything.”
“I underst-”
“No, you don’t.” She stomped up the steps leading from the drive to the front doors of his home.
“But-” She was already gone. He toyed with the idea of chasing her but it didn’t seem like she wanted to hear anything he had to say. Plus his enhanced speed might come across a tad threatening if he were to appear beside her too quickly.
Elijah slumped away to his room to sulk, he knew he was being childish and that hiding away and stewing on the problem wasn’t going to solve it but Lucia was behaving childishly too, it wasn’t his fault her family didn’t care about her… He froze for a moment, that wasn’t a very nice thing to think, he had better not slip and say something like that in front of her, she was probably hurting enough as it was.
Hurt, he thought, maybe he was approaching her the wrong way, what she wanted right now was her family but they handed her over like a bag of garbage they couldn’t wait to be collected, so they needed to give her that inclusion, that family that she wanted. Sariyah was doing a good job of playing a sisterly role but he needed her to feel like a real part of the Bonnet clan, maybe it was time to make the engagement official, Lucia might enjoy getting to boss people around with his grandmother’s ring on her finger, very few could question her with such a precious and recognisable artifact on her hand.
Scratch that, he thought, she would definitely enjoy bossing people around.
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