Chapter Four - Fated Mates

When she looked up at Darrius through her long eyelashes, her emerald green eyes zinged into his soul. Internally, he fell over and scrambled to his knees to pledge his empire to her. Externally, he didn't dare move a single muscle, afraid the smell of strawberries and cherries would end his life.

"Hello, your Grace. I'm C-Merrida." She covered up her fuckup well, but he caught it. 

'Mmmm... she's so interesting.' The darkness hissed through his mind, approval slithering through their connection. 'Take her! Take her now!' His eyes flashed red for a second, and her eyes switched from sultry to wickedly dangerous as she stepped back in alarm, her hackles rising. 

"Okay, let's get upstairs, and you can check out your room. I bet you're sick of people." Zyn muttered as she leaned back into his arms and bit her lower lip. 

Zyn's eyes narrowed on his big brother, taking him in for the first time since he walked up with his new friend. He seemed to have changed over the holidays; they had only been away for about three months, but this man does not seem like the weird older brother who doesn't know how to indulge in the body of women. He was beginning to wonder if he was gay, but the way he was looking at Carmell was unsettling, and the aura they were both giving off was sickening. 

He pulled her out of there fast. He wasn't an expert, but she wore her uniform and carried herself like most of the modest women here; it was quite possible she had probably never been kissed, and the last thing he needed was this special guest of the kingdom getting traumatised by the Crown Prince. He shuddered at the thought and pulled her along the back of the hall until they came to a set of elevators, and he let go of her to press the button in the middle. He turned back towards her and tilted his head to the side. 

Carmell couldn't believe it! 

'A lift! A fucking lift!' She cried inside, her eyes widening as it dinged open and the stone split open to reveal a large gold and glass cage. 

Her smile was infectious, and Zyn couldn't help but smile, too. But before Zyn could take her shoulder, she stepped into the lift and turned to face the touchpad. 

"What floor?" She asked, her body bending slightly to click the scroller and flick it up to the top. "Damn, there are like a thousand floors." 

His brows furrowed together as he took in her frame. Carmell was taller than most and crazy curvy, and the uniform did nothing to hide it. He thought he would feel some type of way about it, but there was nothing there except maybe admiration. She had royal hair and green eyes, and she held a sort of elegance that was unparalleled. Basically, she looked like a Goddess, but she had no idea. 

"We are on a thousand. All royals are stationed up there. You will have a bedroom and bathroom, but we will share the common rooms and kitchens." Zyn leaned against the other side, watching her with curiosity as she pressed the one thousand button and moved to pull her key card out of her satchel's side pocket. 

She was surprised there was a lift, but she knew how to use one. The lift jolted for a second before it dinged and shot up. Carmell giggled and steadied herself. 

"I can't believe you have a lift!" She laughed out loud, stepping closer to Zyn and pressing her giant chest into his arm. 

He stood straight as a pin, his brain racing into overdrive for a split second as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and a shiver of revulsion coursed through him.

'What was that?' His eyes shifted to her briefly before he surveyed the small box. 

"My mom calls them lifts, too, " he whispered, his eyes narrowing as the lift stopped and dinged open onto a plush red carpeted hallway. 

Carmell sprang away from him and through the doors, taking in the numbers on them. He followed slowly behind her, his brain ticking nowhere. She stopped in front of a dark green door with the number one on it and placed her hand on it. The door hummed under her fingertips and slid open.

"How do you have room one?" Zyn laughed, turning his head around to see Darrius' room two with Cassy's room four and Zayn's room six on either side and swinging it back to see his room three on the left and Zion's room five to the right. 

"No idea. Why?" She asked, looking around the dark purple hallway for a light switch.

"Lights!" he called, bathing the inside in a warm yellow glow. "Rooms are assigned by who the castle thinks is the most important, and well... that would usually be Darrius. The castle almost has a crush on him; it's a little creepy." He finished, leaning against the doorway with a thoughtful look on his face.

Carmell laughed filling the hallway with a weird shine, the castle has a thing for her too. 

"What do you call them?" she asks suddenly.

Turning to face him, she grabs his hand and pulls him into her room. 

"Wait! We can't go into another genders room." He moves to fix his feet on the floor, and the lift dings to show his siblings, with the oldest narrowing his eyes on the slender hand grasping his and pulling him in. 

"What are you going to do to me? Fuck me? In your goddamn dreams." She howls, tugging at him with all her strength.

He cursed at the look of fury on his brother's face, but he couldn't help but let her take him. She had some power in her. Carmell dragged him through her hallway, and the rest of the ceiling spotlights turned on as they walked underneath them, lighting up the pastel-purple and green walls.