𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒, Volturi Kings

CHAPTER 24

(AN/ Helios is around 13 years old at the moment, Anora is 12. It has only been 3 and a half or so years since their birth. From now on they will age slower. Just want to clear this up before the chapter, as some have asked these questions. Ask any age related questions under this paragraph please)

HELIOS' POV

I don't find those around me much trouble, if I'm being honest. Trouble doesn't find me like it does other people.

Except for when I decide to sneak out after dark. Most mortal children, my mama has told me, are afraid of the dark. I don't ever need to be afraid of it, I explained to her once, because if I weren't alone in the dark, I could just kill anyone who tried to hurt me. She didn't like when I said this and sent me to my room.

It's not too bad around the castle, but I feel the need to explore every area of Volterra, sometimes even outside of it. Trains can take you anywhere these days and my immortality makes me safe from any harm that could come to me during these excursions.

Anora promised that she would meet me by the ocean tonight. Outside of our holiday, we don't get much time to talk. My studies take up a lot of time, I foolishly decided that taking an advanced chemistry class would be fun. I won't be tricked by exploding volcanoes ever again.

So I trekked down from my window to the sands of the Southern Ocean, seeing if she had stuck to the plan. The many fish and wildlife in the distance were comforting, but eerie as I walked. There is so much to the world and yet I feel like I don't see enough of it.

My mate. She was just a hint of blonde hair in the distance once I stared to my right at a little cavern.

How she managed to sneak what appeared to be a lawn chair out confounds me. Wouldn't her dad notice that not one, but two  chairs were missing from their rooms? Whatever, it works in our favor. I hate sitting on the sand. gets into your trousers and itches.

Warm arms embraced me, the arms of my mate as she all but dragged me to the little den she'd created within the beach. Two chairs and a small cavern just for us.

"I can't believe we were able to get away with this," Anora whispered between giggles, "Our Dads will kill us if they find out we did this."

"Papa can't discipline me for anything he sees in his gift," I reminded her as I sat down on the chair in front of me. "That's the deal."

"A good deal, if you're asking me."

Things between Anora and I had always been natural. I was older than her physically by about a year and a half, so mama said that we could begin dating now that we're a bit older. We decided that we would wait until a bit older to think about our mating bond. School and now my parent's wedding would take up so much time- it's better to think about a relationship later.

It doesn't stop the longing, though.

Anora's face scrunched up as she got sand in her shoe. I began to laugh as she aggressively flung the shoe from her foot onto the stone in the cavern. "Freaking hate the sand."

"Then why did you say we could come to the ocean?" I snarked back.

"Ugh," she complained as she pouted at me in that angry way only someone who cares about you does, "You're not my mom. You don't have to lecture me about it."

I knew she wasn't serious. She rarely was. Anora liked to complain for the sake of venting out whatever negative feelings she'd amassed that day. Could be a failed test or a fight with her mom, who doesn't get her the way she probably should by now.

It's what I love about her, even when it does get heated, she's never too serious about things that don't matter.

I pulled my fingers through my thick black hair. "We have less of a chance being caught here. That's good. Great. My mama's busy planning the wedding with your mom and we can sit out here in the dead of night, finally getting a break from it all."