A L M I R A

Chapter 9
Almira Davenport

Today was Calix's masquerade ball and all of his maids and servants were running around, throwing decorations here and there, cleaning, and fixing plenty of snacks for the guests. Calix hasn't been seen all day and Ambrielle was rushing to make sure everything was set up perfectly.

I was practicing magic before my door was swung open. I covered the spell book and looked at the door. "Calix?"

"Ambrielle needs you in the tailor's room. Be down for the masquerade by sunset, but don't come without two guards. Lots of people will be here, I don't need you getting kidnapped again," He ordered, looking at me.

"Okay. Is that all?" I asked, meeting his gaze.

I had to prove he was beginning not to affect me. Although he still does, and when he's around my heart beats faster and I start to get nervous and have butterflies in my stomach, but I can't have him knowing that.

He looked at me for a moment before turning around. "Yeah, that's all."

He left and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in. Goodness, the things he does to me.

I packed up the spell book and hid the key to the spell book in a special place before grabbing my dress and jewelry and running down to where Ambrielle would be. I opened the door and she turned around, smiling. "Sit down, we got some work to do!"

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I looked at my reflection in the mirror and smiled. Ambrielle did a good job on everything. My makeup was flawless, my hair was loosely tied back, the strands hanging out being curled. The diamond jewelry sparkles when the light hit it and the dress looked beautiful on me. Ambrielle handed me my mask and I slipped it on, adjusting it to comfort.

"Ready to go?" She asked, smiling at me.

"Yeah, the two guards are outside waiting on me, right?" I responded, sliding on the silver heels.

"I believe so."

We both opened the door and the two guards put a hand out for me and bowed. I looked at Ambrielle confused and she shrugged, nodding at them before walking by. I bit my lip and placed my hands in theirs. They walked me to the stairs and I looked over at the party. Music was playing and people were dancing. Everyone seemed happy. Calix overlooked it all, keeping an eye on everybody before looking up at me.

I smiled and the two guards walked me down the stairs, still holding my hands. Calix pushes through the crowd, looking good in his tux. He waited for me at the bottom of the stairs and the two guards let go of my hands and Calix put his arm out for me to take.

I looked at him, silently questioning what he was doing. He didn't budge and his arm remained out for me to take. I hesitated but put my arm around his as he led us through the crowd.

"You look lovely tonight," He commented, not bothering to look at me.

"Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself," I replied, looking away from him. "Am I going to be attached to your arm all night?"

"Not all night, you'll switch to my brother and he'll make sure you don't get kidnapped, again," Calix responded.

A slow song came on and everybody got their partners and started dancing. I looked away before I heard Calix cough. I looked at him and he was looking at me. He let go of my arm and bowed, sticking his hand out. "May I have this dance?"

I paused. Did I want to give him this? Did I want to dance or reject him? Oh, why not. Let's just dance.

I placed my hand in his and smiled. "You may."

He stood up straight of and pulled me closer to him, putting his hand on the small of my back. I put my other hand on his chest and we began to dance. I wanted to savor this moment. Moments like these were rare for us.

He twirled me around and pulled me closer, my cheeks heating up. "So there's something I've been meaning to tell you," I spoke, not wanting to meet his eye contact.

"And that is?" Calix persisted.

I took a deep breath and then let it out. "Well, I—"

A man who looked similar to Calix walked up to us and nodded to Calix. "I'll take her from here, brother. You just make sure nobody has fun," He joked.

Calix sent him a silent nod and let go of me, the places where he held me felt cold without his touch. I looked at the man and raised an eyebrow.

"My sincerest apologies, my lady. My name is Cole West, the prince of this place, and you're Almira I'm assuming?" He greeted, smiling at me.

"Yeah," I trailed off, watching Calix walk away.

"Let's go get drinks, shall we?" He invited, taking my hand in his and holding it up while walking to the drinks. He got a white wine and I got a red wine, taking a sip of it.

"So, you're Calix's brother," I commented, watching him carefully.

"That would be correct. You're his mate, are you not?" Cole responded, taking a sip of bud white wine.

"It doesn't feel like it," I muttered bitterly, looking at the red liquid in the glass.

"Oh? Care to share?" He inquired, resting his face on his fist, looking at me with his charcoal eyes.

"He's hardly spoken to me since I've been here. It feels like we're strangers and that he doesn't care. Well, I know that he doesn't care, he's told me. I just don't get it, you know? What'd I do to make him treat me this way?" I babbled, not even paying attention to my wine anymore.

"He does care, you do know that, right?" Cole asked.

"It doesn't feel like it," I retorted sourly bc.

"Well, no, it may not feel like it, but he does. His other four mates were killed because of Alastor and Wryler. He's afraid the same fate will happen to you, he's afraid he'll lose you. He'll make things right, I promise," Cole encouraged, smiling down at me.

"That reminds me, what were his other four mates like and why does he have so many?" I asked, eying him.

"Ah, the prophecy and the stories of Circe, Jezabel, Arwen, and Seraphina. Follow me to the balcony, this will take a while," Cole replied before getting up and leading us to the nearby balcony. We sat on opposite benches and Cole leaned back, putting his arms behind his head. "Let's start with Circe, ah, that feisty girl. Let me tell you, she gave Cal a run for his love. They never agreed on anything and argued like no other, but they would stand up and defend each other in a heartbeat."

I hummed in response for him to continue.

"Circe was a human before Calix turned her, and once she was turned, she occasionally lost control and went on blood thirst rages. That was her biggest thing with Calix, was she couldn't stay in control. They fought over that the most. One night they were fighting about her blood thirst rages and she walked out on him. Alastor found her, knew who she was, and killed her on the spot."

"Circe lost control?" I pondered, glancing at him.

"Every full moon she did. Now, Jezabel, oh boy. She was probably the happiest of the mates. She always stayed at the castle and baked and was your basic housewife. She even tended to Calix's wounds when he would go out and fight," Cole explained, twisting the ring on his finger around while talking.

"What happened to her?" I inquired.

"Jezabel was out in the town getting groceries to make a surprise dessert for Calix's birthday and Alastor seen her, yet again, knew who she was, and killed her. He was more bloody with her death. He carved out her eyeballs and put them in a little vile container and then sent Calix a vile of her blood. Calix lost it, didn't do anything for weeks. The kingdom was slowly falling and dying and then I stepped in and got some sense talked into him," Cole said.

I remained silent as Cole told me of the other two women who made Calix happy in his life. Arwen was a soldier who was in battle and Wryler killed her in front of Calix, and Seraphina was pregnant with his child and both the child and Seraphina were taken and murdered by Wryler, their hearts left on Calix's doorstep.

I felt bad for the poor guy. All of his mates were mercilessly killed all because the two guys who killed them had something against Calix.

"Wait, Cole, you never explained why he had so many mates, the whole prophecy thing?" I called out to him.

Cole turned around and sighed. "Right, that thing. Calix is what you call a cursed soul. When he was younger, he upset mother and father a lot, he was rather chaotic. Always got into trouble. Mother was tired of it and took Calix to see the royal witch. When the witch put her hands on Calix, she seen a vision. Calix would forever be followed by trouble and war, which made sense to Mother. When Mother asked what to do, the witch said that Calix would have to suffer a total of four times before he found his happy ending. The fifth mate that he would have would change everything. That's you, Almira, you're that fifth chance, you're his final happiness," Cole babbled.

I was taken aback by everything Cole had just said. Calix was cursed from the very beginning, war and trouble following him everywhere. "Cole, maybe you miscounted his mates or the warlock was wrong, Calix hates me, I can't make him happy," I shook my head, taking a step back.

Cole's face morphed into one of fear and worry. "No, no, Almira, please believe me, you're the one!"

I shook my head. "I'm not, Cole. I'm sorry, I can't make your brother happy. I'm not that girl," I retaliated.

I didn't want to hear anymore of this so I quickly made my way back to the ballroom. I searched around and found Calix. I grabbed his arm and he quickly turned towards me. "I thought you were supposed to be with my brother. What happened to that? Can you not follow just one simple rule, Almira?"

"Look, I didn't come to be lectured by you about your stupid rules, all I came to say was that I'm going to bed for tonight, so don't expect to see me anymore for tonight," I hissed before turning around and going to my room. I was just going to change and practice magic. I quickly snuck to the kitchen and made a cup of tea before retreating to my room for the night.

I finally made it to my room and closed the door, sighing. I quickly changed my clothes and went to stand in front of the mirror. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I took a step back. I looked different. I looked tired. I felt tired.

I shook my head and sat down on my bed, grabbing the spell book. I took a sip of my tea and began to ingulf myself in the spell book.

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