ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪꜱ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ'ꜱ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇᴘᴛ ᴏꜰ ɴᴇꜱᴛɪɴɢ? ɪ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴀʙꜱᴏʟᴜᴛᴇʟʏ ᴀᴅᴏʀᴀʙʟᴇ.

ᴍʏ ɢᴏᴀʟ ɪꜱ ᴛᴏ ɢᴇᴛ ᴛʜɪꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴛᴏ ¹⁵ᴋ ʙʏ ꜱᴇᴘᴛᴇᴍʙᴇʀ ¹⁴ᴛʜ, ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴍʏ ¹⁵ᴛʜ ʙɪʀᴛʜᴅᴀʏ.

ᴀʟꜱᴏ, ꜱᴄʀᴇᴡ ᴊᴋʀ ʙᴜᴛ ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʜᴀʀʀʏ ᴘᴏᴛᴛᴇʀ.

The little room that my mates had picked out was not exactly little. In fact, it was almost bigger than their chambers. The dazzling and sparkling purple wallpaper that lined one of the walls was the perfect mix of me and what immortality had made me. The rest of the walls were made a pure white that made the purple pop even more.

A singular window allows light to come through and into the room, placed in the middle of the purple wall. The area was so empty, ready to be filled with whatever we wanted. After all, this would be our little shared space. Our nest would be the place where we could all feel safe, warm, and loved.

I had been assured that none of the guards would come in unless we all agreed on it. No more children barging into our rooms while we were having our private conversations. The nest had also already been rendered soundproof, meaning that if we did decide to do anything inside, nobody would hear us like they did last night.

"Amore, what kind of bed would you like? We can get anything," Marcus brushed his hand through my hair as he pulled up a small tablet. "We can buy you literally anything that you want. Within reason, of course. I am afraid that things like countries and illegal items are off the table."

"You act as if I would request a human skull, Marcus," my mate brushes his hand over my cheek, "I am not interested in countries when I already have my coven and my mates. What more would I really want?"

"Anna, you can want anything and we will do our best to get it to you. My brothers and I would go out of our way to do everything that can make you happy," Aro whips past us, grabbing his own tablet and pressing a bunch of buttons that I could not see. "How big would this bed need to be, Marcus?"

"I don't know, Aro, you do that," Marcus orders at him, kissing my head softly as he picks me up. "You are the cutest little thing, tesoro."

"Put me doooown," I whine, hitting his back playfully, "You always just pick me uuuuup."

All of my mates laugh and ignore my complaints, working with their tablets and showing me various pieces of furniture, looking for my approval. I guess I had to be thankful that we all had the same taste in style. God knows what would happen if we had opposing ideas. We could tear this place to pieces if we got angry.

"I think that we can all agree on one thing, this place is going to be magnificent," Caius looks around the now empty room. "Our mate seems quite fond of purple. It is quite the royal color."

"It was always so damn expensive. For so long. Only recently has the color become widely available. Now even the common person can find the color. What a thing, modern technology," Aro muses.

"Wait, purple was expensive? Why?" I ask, unaware of this.

"Ah, the dye was so hard to come across. Even royalty had a hard time affording the color. Have you not wondered why no flags have the color in it? They need something that is widely available. Not even Rome could afford such a flag at their prime. It is such a shame. Although some new age flags have the color in them, they have only been in use since the beginning of the 20th century," Aro explains. Caius and Marcus both nod their heads, laughing quietly. "What would our younger selves think of such a change?"

"I wouldn't believe you," Caius deadpans.

"Well that's because you're a stubborn bastard, brother," Aro snarks.

"You two, behave," I order. "I swear, you three are the most immature vampires in the entire world. Yeah, I said it. You're worse than Afton and Emmett."

Caius and Aro gasp dramatically while Marcus just rolls his eyes and continues on with his shopping, smiling at the tablet that he had likely gotten himself for this one occasion. Still holding me, Marcus sits down on the floor, now placing me on his lap, having me face him. For some reason, I let out a stream of giggles that cannot be stopped, even when Marcus puts his hands over my mouth.

"Tesoro, you are the scariest thing, you know that? That giggle is worse than Aro's," Aro's jaw drops at the comment made by Marcus. "Stop giggling like a maniac and cuddle with me!"

"You're just proving my point," I kiss his cheek, causing my two other mates to groan in jealousy.

"Are you not the one who literally begged me to not stop cuddling with you this morning? Cara mia, such double standards," Caius shakes his head. I frown and swat him away from Marcus and I when he tries to swoop me up. He sits down next to Marcus and rubs my cheek lovingly.

"Am I the only one who is going to work over here? Is our mate too much of a distraction," I glare at Aro and shake my head.

"You sound like the principal when I wore spaghetti straps to school," I say. I knew that he had seen that memory and would know exactly what I was talking about. Aro doubles back and lets out a sound of protest. Being compared to my old principal was not a compliment in the slightest. Everyone hated that bastard. "Cuddling is all a part of the process, amore."

"Ugh."

__________________________________________________

When things were said and done, the place really was a nice setting. When you turned the lights off, you could see the purple LEDs that lined the shelves that we had installed. The entire project took about three days to complete, with my mates knowing people that could come in and work on any room of the castle at any time. Apparently, broken furniture and walls was normal due to our innate strength. That furniture was often a bed or a shower, for obvious reasons.

Now Marcus could get all of the cuddles that he desired in our little nesting room that had already started to smell like the four of us. When we would go inside and hang out, it would leave a trail, quite like the kind that a tracker would use. To the rest of the vampires, it didn't smell that much different, but to Demetri, who would now always knock when he would open the door, it smelled much different, less bland.

I could see my book loving mate reading on our little couch, the light from the window allowing him better light. Smiling, I take out a book from the small black bookshelf that had been made for this room specifically, and start to read.

The little book I had picked out was one that I had read many times over. The Lord of the Flies may have been a book that I was forced to read to pass 9th grade English, but it was good and did hold a special place in my heart. The book was likely the only reason I had even passed Mr. Kolt's class, seeing as English was not my best subject.

Laying down on the bed, I start to read. I don't think that I could have even realized that three hours had passed, just that I had finished the book for what seemed like the 100th time. The sun had finally started to go down in Volterra, meaning that Marcus' skin did not have that diamond glow that it did when I had started reading my novel.

"Are you all going to just read all day?" Caius asks from a chair. I had been so caught up in my book that I hadn't even noticed him coming in or sitting down.

"Yes," Marcus answers simply, "Don't bother us."

Caius huffed and layed down next to me, hugging me as I put my finished book down. "I missed you, cara mia. You didn't even look at me when I walked in, too focused on that book."

"What do you have against books?" I question. "They give a good story and some great information on how things work. Anyone who does not read is clearly not educated at all and needs to start reading immediately."

"We can just speed read since we are vampires. I get the story so quickly. It is boring," he whines into my chest. "Spending my time with you is much more enjoyable."

"You would not be so bored by the book if you had the patience to actually read it, brother," Marcus argues. "Those who find books boring are dull themselves."

"I am not dull!" Caius exclaims, "I am never dull, you slab of stone."

"Still using the same insults, I see. Get smarter and we will have a meaningful conversation about this. I may even let you debate me on the matter," Marcus rolled his eyes and continued to read his precious book, taking his time to enjoy the story. Currently he was reading the Half-Blood Prince over again, still waiting for the last book to be released to the public. Since they only released in the summers, we would all have to wait and see what happens during Harry's seventh year.

"Has Caius read the Harry Potter series himself? It helped me get into reading. I would love to hear what he has to say about the toad," Marcus laughs and shows me the book. "Oh god, Caius is a Slytherin, isn't he?"

"He is. I'm most definitely a Ravenclaw. I still don't know if Aro would be a Ravenclaw or a Slytherin. He is sneaky, but nobody knows that but us," Marcus theorizes.

"What the hell is that? Ravens with claws and you think I slither in?" Both Marcus and I cackle and have to hold our chests to stop ourselves from falling over on the floor. "What? Who is this Harry Potter and why is he so special?"

"Here," Marcus gets up and grabs the first book from the shelf, "Read it the right way. The human way. I promise, you won't regret it. You will learn what makes Harry Potter special and you will learn the ways of the wizarding world through these novels. They aren't real, but we all wish that they were."

"You will be able to figure out the houses and understand which one that I fit into. I do believe that Marcus has already figured that one out," he nodded, knowing that I was likely the biggest Hufflepuff the world had to offer. Yes, I could be evil and cunning, but that was only at my job. It was all an act in the end. I was a loyal and determined little puff and I was proud of it.

"Must I? It cannot be this good. Marcus, you never read fiction! What is up with you?" Caius denies the greatness of Harry Potter.

Before anyone could defend the great reputation of the series, Aro had opened the door and come into the nest, a copy of the second Harry Potter book in his hand. Caius lets out a groan as he reads the cover of his brother's book, seeing that he was in fact the only one who was not reading the series.

"What has gotten you into a tizzy?" Aro scoffs, sitting on a cushion in the room. "Do not mind me, I am just reading my favorite book in this series."

"Aro, you can't be reading as well! What is it with you three and this Harry Potter? I don't see what could be so great about him!" Aro gives Caius an offended look, his mouth now wide open as he closes up his book and stares at his brother.

"If you dare insult my favorite series in front of me again I will find a Whomping Willow and allow it to deal with you," Marcus and I laugh. My blonde mate just looks confused at this point, not understanding the reference. "You will read it. I will force it upon you."

"Anna and Marcus already have," Caius whines.

"Then you will do what our mate wants me to do," Aro finishes the discussion, smiling and picking up where he had left off. What a wonderful world.