Beneath the surface: Forbidden love
Chapter 8

Marisela

When the water started to get cold, I decided to jump out of the bath. I wrap a towel around my body and walk out of the bathroom into the bedroom

I groan in frustration remembering that I am not in my room but in another, and my clothes aren't even here. I walk back into the bathroom and collect the white T-shirt that I was wearing before and put it on.

I really need to get back to my room.

Thank goodness the shirt isn't entirely see through. Realising how late it must be, without a care, I open the covers of the bed and slide inside. The moment my head hits the pillow, the scent of sandalwood and fresh rain and cologne hit my scenes.

Kael.

I get up almost immediately, this is his room. Does this mean he will be returning here tonight? I couldn't possibly be sleeping in the same bed with him... Can I?

No, I will not.

Without a second thought, I hobble my way over to the couch, not before taking a pillow and blanket off the bed. The moment I lay down, my eyes begin to feel heavy. And although the couch was not at all comfortable as it may look, I fell asleep almost instantly to the sound of the rain outside.

I woke up the next morning in Kael's bed. Startled by this awakening fact, I look around the room for any sign of him, but he wasn't in the room. My heart fluttered at the the fact that he carried me over to his bed at some point during the night.

But where did he sleep?

I sigh. Is he avoiding me? For some reason, this thought made me a bit annoyed.

I should be the one avoiding him! I childishly thought to myself.

I carefully throw my legs off the bed, remembering my injured leg- which didn't feel so bad today. I half walked, half limped my way to the adjoining bathroom, but not before noticing a pair of shorts and another white T-shirt. Given whose room this is, I wouldn't be surprised if these clothes belonged to Kael.

Once I jump out of the shower, I quickly put on the clothes. The shorts were way too big for me, and no matter how much I tried to tie them around my waist, they would fall to the floor. With a grunt I kick them to the side.

Guess I'll wear the shirt alone.

When I walked out of the bathroom, I noticed a tray by the door. As I walk closer to it, I could smell the delicious food. Someone must've brought it up here while I was in the shower.

I ate breakfast alone in Kael's room. Apart of me wanted him to be here, but at the same time, knowing that he is avoiding me makes me want to avoid him too. In fact, I couldn't bring myself to leave the room...ironic isn't it?

I wasn't ready to face my reality behind those doors.

An hour passed with me just lounging around in his room, alone with my thoughts. I was sprawled across the bed looking up at the ceiling by the third hour. I could still hear the rain coming down outside. But it wasn't as bad as it was last night.

As I sat up, I decided to walk over to the large bookcase. Going through the different books I realised how boring they all were.

How can someone read these?

As I turned to walk back to the bed, I noticed how out of place the bookshelf looked. As I took a closer look at it, I was surprised to see that behind the bookcase was a set of stairs.

It was well hidden behind the bookshelf, almost like it was a secret door. Whoever went up didn't put the bookshelf in its proper place, making it look a bit out of place.

Feeling curious, I slowly limped my way up to the top of the stairs. When I reached the top, I noticed a single door. I opened the door and was even more surprised to see that it was a private library. There were books all around me. I couldn't help myself but allow my eyes to roam around this beautiful secret room. I saw a large floor to ceiling window, and in front of it, was a desk.

This must be Kael's office.

I felt like I shouldn't be in here, that I was intruding in his space, but at the same time I was bored. So, I decided to find a book that I could read. I was lucky enough to find an even more variety of books. Once I found a book that seemed a little more interesting than the rest, I walked over to his desk and sat in his plush chair. I took a deep breath and inhaled his scent.

My mind has been all over the place, my thoughts kept circling back to Kael and who-what he is.

At the same time, I was angry. But then again I was hiding my true self to him, so I couldn't be a hypocrite.

Argh!

I decided to focus my attention on the book in my hands. It was a book about Mythical creatures, hopefully I would find something in here about what is going on.

After a few hours of reading through the books, I finally found what I was looking for.

Whatever I saw in the woods yesterday, was of Siren descent, but what I saw looked nothing like me.

That's what had tried to take me. But this siren was different

But what did it want with me?

What was it doing in the forest?

I had all these questions, and I needed answers, I didn't have anyone to talk to about it, so I had to do the research on my own.

After reading a few chapters, finding nothing that I already knew, my eyes started to get droopy, and I eventually fell asleep.

When I woke, I realised I fell asleep in his office. With a quick stretch I took the book and made my way back into the bedroom downstairs.

This time, it wasn't raining anymore. The sun was out like the storm that happened the night before had seized to exist, and the rain this morning never happened.

Talk about strange weather.

I walked out on the balcony and took in the view. Unlike the view in my room, Kael's view was of the grand garden. It was beautiful. I noticed a few people working out an about in the garden. Beyond the garden, was a vast forest.

I heard a soft knock on the door. I quickly hobble my way over to the door and open it. I was surprised to see Maria standing there.

"Maria, please come in!" I said a bit too eagerly. Could you blame me? I've been bored for the past couple of hours locked up in the room. Then again it was my choice.

Maria stepped inside and took a look around the room before her eyes landed on me with a small concerning smile.

"Sela," she says, searching my eyes, "how are you?"

She knows. But of course she would, she works here, and by the looks of things, she was quite familiar with the palace.

"I'm okay I guess, given what I've just found out." I sigh walking pass her back onto the balcony as she follows.

I take a seat on one of the chairs, gesturing for Maria to take the other which she did. I notice her watching me with a curious look.

"You're taking this rather well?" She says and I snort.

"The guy that I'm set to marry, is a werewolf, well a Lycan-" I pause and look at her, "and yet I'm not who I say I am as well. And to top that off with a cherry on top, he tells me we're mates!" Maria listens to my rant and sighs, but gives a small smile.

"Will you tell him, what you are?" She asks skeptically.

"I should," I sigh after a moment, "but I don't know how to exactly."

Maria shifts her chair a little closer to mine and places her hand in mine.

"Just talk to him, he will understand." She says reassuringly. I inhale a deep breath and nod.

"How's your leg?" She asks as she sits back into her chair, and I sigh.

"It's a little better.''

"What happened?" She asks, and I told her how I ran from Kael when I saw his eyes change, but I left out that little detail about what happened to me before I passed out.

"But anyway," I look to her curiously, "as much as I am enjoying the company, what brings you here?"

She laughs and then sighs, "well if I remember correctly, we promised to share secrets."

And that's how my day went. I told Maria about my past. She listened carefully to everything I said. However, I didn't tell her in detail about my past and who I was, just the basics of what I am. And in turn she would tell me about her past and her family.

"So you only change when you're in salt water?"she asks. By this time, one of the servents had brought up lunch, as if they knew Maria was in the room with me, there were two plates of food brought up. Maria and I still sat on the balcony eating our lunch.

"Yeah." I say plopping a grape into my mouth.

"Wow, this is amazing." She gushes making me blush.

"So do you grow a tail?" She asks and I laugh but nod.

"I do, only in sea water of course, and my hair turns silver." I say.

"How is it white now though?"

"Well, that is a question I gave up asking a long time ago." I tell her, the look on her face makes me laugh.

"That's amazing."

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" She shakes her head, "I guess it's my time to share secrets huh." She jokes

"If you're mom is a siren, what does that make you?" She shakes her head as if expecting this question.

"I'm a werewolf. Cory and I both are," she says leaving me confused. "My biological mother was a werewolf, but she died during child birth, having twins is kind of a risk in our species, it's a very rare occurrence." She admits, the cheeriness in her voice now gone. We sat in silence for a moment.

"I am so sorry Maria, I had no idea, I shouldn't have asked." I tell her sincerely.

"That's alright, I'm okay, I never met her, so why would I be upset over someone I'd never met?" She asked rhetorically, but I knew, by the sound of her voice, she did miss her mom. "Besides, I never really knew who she was, my father never spoke about her, it was kind of like he completely forgot she existed. Then he met Dalia, she's been our mom since forever, she raised us as her own, but she always kept secrets about her past. I knew she wasn't like us, at first I thought she was human, then that night with Cory I saw that she wasn't." Maria drifted away, as if lost in a memory.

"I guess that explains why you all are so tall." I tell her trying to lighten the mood, She laughs at this and I smile back.

"Well, Cory and I are werewolfs, but Kael and the rest of the royal family are all Lycans." I wanted to ask her more, but this was something I had to ask Kael about.

Maria and I continued to talk about anything and everything for almost the whole day. She told me more about werewolves and the little information about Lycans. She told me about mates and what they actually are and mean. I listened to every word she said. There was a few things I wanted to ask about mates but I thought it best to ask Kael.

Maria told me that she didn't know who her mate was, she was only seventeen. I was surprised by this fact, because she didn't look anything but. She told me she would be turning eighteen in the next two months.

When a female werewolf turns eighteen she is able to sense her mate, as for the male werewolves, their wolf is able to sense their mate by the age of sixteen.

When early evening came, it was time for her to leave. I walked her to the door, as she was about to leave she quickly turned and hugged me goodbye, catching both her and myself off guard.

"Thank you again, Sela." She says with so much emotion it brought a smile to my face.

When Maria left, I was left alone once again. I wondered if Kael would return. A part of me wasn't ready to face him just yet, but there was a small part that ached at the fact that we were avoiding each other.

I knew I had to speak to Kael. We can't keep avoiding each other. And as much as I didn't want to admit it, I kind of felt empty. I wanted to be near him, it felt like a part of me was missing. That was the crazy part, I have these feelings towards him that came out of nowhere, it's unexplainable and quite frankly, it scares me.

No, I think I'm going to avoid him for a little longer.

I could leave the room and search for him, but a part of me didn't really trust anyone that walked beyond the bedroom doors.

I didn't do much today and stayed inside, I was too lazy to do anything else so I decided to jump into bed. Surprisingly, it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

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