Smoke And Mirror (Royal Angel l) - S01 E09

Story 3 years ago

Smoke And Mirror (Royal Angel l) - S01 E09

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 9

“Perfectionists”

Xavier POV

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“Adriana is not a fücking zoo animal.”

Darius wasn’t too happy about introducing his baby sister.

I poured myself a glass of bourbon and settled on the couch. I wasn’t missing any more of this soap opera. I left Daniel alone for fifteen minutes and apparently now I was engaged to the leech’s hot sister.

Or rather, Daniel was. As me.

Lady Alexandra Azaria had only spared me one glance.

Those pouting lips were crafted only for kissing her. Repeatedly.

Lucky bästard.

“I know she isn’t a zoo animal.” Daniel said, patronising. Trust me when I say Daniel and patronising didn’t go together. “Can you blame me for my curiosity?”

See, Danny was pretty insistent on seeing the youngest Lady Azaria. I hadn’t seen him this desperate for anything since we were six and I refused to share my Hershey bar.

What? I was a greedy child.

“Of course, I can blame you, you sick pervert!” Darius yelled. His knuckles were white on his cane. “You’ve already got one of them.”

The leech did have a point. Adriana was Alexandra’s twin. Danny wanted to see the real life photocopy of his future wife?

I swear he was getting spoilt.

“And I like this one a lot.” Daniel said, brushing his lips on Alexandra’s wrist. “It’s just that I’ve heard the rumors about her, Darius. I haven’t seen one of those before.”

I didn’t know if it was what he said or what he did that made Darius bare his fangs. In one smooth motion, the cane transformed to a blade and he was holding it against Daniel’s throat.

Good thing I was doing the same to his throat.

“Not so fast, Your Highness.” I said, stifling a yawn. “Unless you want to choke on your own blood. I hear it’s rather unpleasant.”

“Who the fück are you anyway?” Darius hissed.

“A friend.” I shrugged. “Nice cane, by the way. Very 007. If he was an old man, that is.”

Darius glared at me, as Daniel sighed.

“Darius.” Daniel said quietly. “Please.”

The fake Prince was working his best puppy dog eyes.

D--n him.

“Since my friend is clearly a hormonal teenager,” I muttered, glaring at him. “Prince Azaria, for the love of all things holy, just let him see the girl.”

“If you so much as touch her.” Darius fumed, dropping his blade.

“I’ll cut him myself.” I finished for him. “Now let’s get this over with.”

Darius left the office to get her, swearing all the way. Alexandra followed behind him quietly.

Daniel joined me on the couch. I poured him a glass of Scotch, because if I didn’t keep my hands busy I’d probably smack him on the head.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I said, giving him the glass. “Why do you want to meet this girl so badly?”

He shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

I gave him a look. You know, the look that suggested he needed immediate hospitalisation.

“Oh, like you act completely sane.” He said, rolling his eyes. “That bîtch Victoria, is batshît crazy. She tried to kill me, in case you forgot. You still haven’t told me why you brought her here.”

“I have my reasons.” I said, simply.

“And I have mine. I guess.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Where is she anyway?”

“My old room.”

“She’s going to burn this place to the ground.” He shook his head. “That goddämn bird isn’t helping things.”

I had to smile.

“Just trust me.”

“Yeah, look how far that’s gotten me, Xavier.” Daniel’s eyes were piercing. “I’m a twenty six year old nobody pretending to be a king when I can’t even remember to put on a goddämn sock. I drink, I smoke and I fück around because I’m not even a real person anymore. I might look like you, but I’m not you, Xevi.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that.

Yeah. Daniel was an expert at hitting people right in the feels.

Darius entered the room again, still swearing.

“This is Lady Adriana.” He said, holding the door open.

As predicted, a photocopy of Lady Alexandra walked inside, only Adriana wore black silk instead. She had the same perfect features and soft curves as her sister, but she was a lot more timid. She didn’t dare look up at any of us.

I blinked. This was what Danny and Darius were fussing about?

“Take it off.” Danny said, softly.

I arched a brow. If he was talking about her clothes while Darius was here –

He was a dead man.

Neither Darius nor Adriana flinched at the request though. She merely thumbed down her lower eyelids and took off her contacts.

Daniel froze, staring into her eyes.

Even I couldn’t look away.

Lady Adriana’s eyes were mismatched. One was a light sky blue and the other was clear amethyst.

And just like that, I understood Danny’s curiosity and why Darius didn’t want his sister anywhere near us.

Royal society viewed anything out of the norm as an imperfection. A scar, a blemish, even mismatched eyes – they were treated as mistakes. No one was perfect, but deviate a little too much and you were an outcast.

I knew this girl would’ve never gone to a ball, socialised at the luncheons or stood a chance at marrying a highborn like her sister.

I knew Darius would have to save her from being called a mistake her whole life.

I knew Daniel had a soft spot for such mistakes.

Daniel went closer to her and she looked down. He put a finger under her chin, urging her to look up. She clearly hadn’t had this much attention on her before and she looked at him doe eyed.

“You said you’d cut him if he touches her.” Darius reminded me, gruffly.

“Gladly.” I said, rolling my eyes. “Does Lady Alexandra have a fetish for Captain Hook?”

He glared at me.

“Who are you? Really?”

I shrugged, looking at the promise ring on Danny’s finger and the look in his eyes as he said his goodbye to Adriana.

“A friend.” I repeated, quietly. “Or so I hope.”

****

Xavier : “My WORLD’S FÜCKED UP. BUT YOUR LIKE MIGHT HELP ME FEEL BETTER.”

“Netflix and alien fruit”

Victoria's POV

….………………………………………………………..

“You’re not ugly. For a human.”

I could tell from his voice that it had taken Marcus a lot of effort to admit it.

“And you’re not nice.” I replied, kicking up my feet. “For an angel.”

The butler was my baby sitter for the afternoon. Biscuit had locked me up in an ancient room on the third floor. It had an ornate bed probably older than my grandmother, a creaky desk and a closet.

You’d think rich people could afford to lock a girl up with some Netflix.

Nope .

My first instinct was to break open the windows, then pick the lock, then flat out attack the walls like a mad woman.

No give. Alcatraz should probably take notes.

About an hour later, Marcus came inside with a tray of weird looking violet fruit.

He didn’t try to explain and I didn’t give a fück about the botany. He just watched me eat my alien fruit like a gorilla.

I had to imagine I looked highly attractive.

“Biscuit is feeding me fruit.” I said. “He must really want to torture me.”

Marcus rolled his eyes.

“If by torture, you mean feed you something healthy, then certainly.”

“Is it just me or are you always this

fun?” Now that my stomach wasn’t growling, I pulled open the drawers on the desk. Nothing.

“I merely state facts. That’s all.” Marcus sighed. “You aren’t going to find a gun in there.”

“A girl can hope.” I said, heading to the closet. I tossed out the neatly folded clothes, one by one.

“A girl can also shut up and sit down.” The butler said, trying to catch the shirts I threw.

“Marcus, Marcus.” I tsked. “Haven’t we established that isn’t going to happen by now?”

After some digging, I found loose change and an old photo. I realized that it must have been taken in this very room. Two small boys and a little girl were smiling at me. All three of them had midnight black hair and blue eyes.

It took me a moment to tell the boys apart.

I looked at Marcus. He was staring out the window in annoyance, and he hadn’t noticed me finding the photo.

I folded it and silently tucked it in my shoe.

“So.” I said, trying to make conversation. “What makes Biscuit think I won’t hit you on the head and hold you hostage?”

Marcus looked at me like it was the dumbest idea he’d heard.

“Because as much as he wants you to believe that it’s for your protection,” He stated, with an air of superiority. “That phoenix like me way more than you.”

I eyed the red bird nipping on fruit, fondly cooing at Marcus. When she noticed me watching her, she picked up her piece and flew into the closet for privacy.

The chicken had more table manners than I did.

“So she’ll turn me into a human cigarette if I hurt you?”

“If you touch me.” He corrected. “This is a new coat.”

I shook my head, sighing. “And we were getting along so well.”

Marcus didn’t have time to whistle for his pet, because I slammed the closet door, trapping the bird inside and held a nice, shiny dagger against the butler’s neck.

Earlier in the fountain today, I’d nicked one of Biscuit’s blades. Purely for business.

I’d also doused him in ice cold water, revealing his chiselled abs.

For kicks and giggles.

“Now. Why am I here, Marcus?”

The butler was clearly not used to being threatened. He turned pale, his eyes fixed on the blade, not daring to move.

“I don’t know.” He gulped.

“Can this thing kill you?” I wondered to myself, observing him.

“Yes.” He said, hesitantly.

I was surprised. I theorised something could kill them. I hadn’t expected to find it so quickly though.

“How? Why ?”

“Guardian blades.” Marcus said, swallowing. “Any Immortal with a even trace of mortal blood in their ancestry can die by them.”

Not so Immortal here then . I thought.

From my limited knowledge about their species, I realized it certainly wouldn’t have been easy to kill them in Haven where all of them would be pure breeds.

Haven, being the dimension all these miserable bästards came from. The dimension no one could seem to cross over to again.

Also, Biscuit seemed to have an awful number of Guardian blades for a common civilian.

It hit me that I hadn’t asked a very important question.

“What’s his name, Marcus?”

Right then, the door creaked open. I hid the knife in my pants and shoved Marcus to the bed. I tripped on the floorboard and landed over him.

I could only imagine what this looked like to my visitor.

Biscuit eyed both of us suspiciously. Marcus opened his mouth, but looking at me, he closed it again.

Wise choice.

“We, um, I-” I tried to explain. What the hell was I trying to explain? “Well, your butler is too lazy and your floorboards are loose.”

Neither of which explained why I was on top of him. On a fricking bed . It didn’t help that Marcus looked like road kill.

Well, that’s what you get when you didn’t want me to ‘ touch’ your coat .

Karma’s a b---h.

I got off Marcus, and he almost ran down the hall.

Now that we were alone, Biscuit cocked his head. I held up a hand.

“Save it. It was an accident.”

“You don’t have to explain.” He shrugged. “Just thought I’d let you know he turns 203 this year. But no judgement if you’re into that Twilight shît. You do you, honey.”

I wanted to hit him with something.

Again . I quickly realised the SOB butler had taken my knife. So I settled for the next best option.

I threw a pillow at him.

“As much as I’m up for a pillow fight, because truly, I’m a twelve year old girl on the inside,” he rolled his eyes. “I have your first assignment.”

First ? “How many are there?”

“You’ll know soon.”

I groaned. I forgot I was talking to Mr. Classified-Top-Secret-Must-Not-Tell-Victoria-Anything.

Yeah, I needed better titles.

“So what is it?”

Biscuit had something draped over his arm that I hadn’t paid attention to. It was one of those expensive dress covers.

“No.” I said, shaking my head even before he unzipped the thing.

“Yes.” He said, smiling, holding out a sheer silk ocean blue gown. “We’re going to a little ball this evening.”

With heels and champagne flutes and socialising? Nope .

“Give me a gun.” I groaned. “Ask me to kill someone. Not fücking dance.”

Biscuit smiled.

“Oh, I’m asking you to kill someone.

While you dance.”

*******

Victoria :” I’LL SHARE MY ALIEN FRUIT IF YOU INVITE YOUR FRIENDS” XD