Chapter 266: Paintings

It was such a lovely day. Anastasia felt so complete with him that it filled her heart with warmth. She snuggled closer to him. The canopy of flowers overhead bloomed a pink and red and dropped several rose petals over her face. Even though the idea of going to Level three was great, she didn't want to get out of bed. She curled herself beside his warm body, surrounded by his lush woodsy and spicy smell and said, "I want to stay in bed." 

He looked down at his wife. The gauzy white curtains of the windows swayed in the chilly breeze. Seeing that she shivered a little, he tucked the blanket around her and wrapped his arm around her. "That's fine, love," he said, kissing her head. He slid his arm beneath her head and wrapped his thigh over her legs. "You can stay in bed for as long as you want. There's no rush." 

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She closed her eyes. "Why did you open the window?" she asked. 

"I didn't," he said. "The maids must have. This is the east wing and the palace is built in a way that morning sun's light filters through every window. The maids make it a point to open all the windows for that. It has become kind of a ritual." 

"Hmm…" She hummed. "The food yesterday was perfect. Can we go there more often?" She started stroking the hair on his chest and belly. 

"Of course. We can go there whenever you want to unwind, but we have more places to go and relax." 

"Like?" she asked curiously. 

"My father had found some caves in Silver Vales, which only he knew about exclusively. Whenever he used to see that my mother wasn't giving him sufficient time or that she was too busy and needed to relax, he would kidnap his wife and take her to these caves. When I was born, the three of us used to go." He twisted a strand of hair around his finger. "They are so beautiful that you would never want to come back, but the drawback is that you wouldn't have the same luxury of living. The caves are equipped with basic amenities only." He left the strand and it tumbled over her face. 

"Did Iona ever visit those caves?" she asked, now drawing infinity circles on his chest. The blanket came down a little more and to her horror there was a vine of tattoos that ran down on the side of his belly and curled to his hips behind. "Damn!" she shrieked. "What have I done?" she retraced her fingers from him. 

He laughed softly and said, "You have displayed how possessive you are about me."

"But it was you who was showing your ownership over me last evening, not me!" she cried. 

He turned to his back and placed his hands behind to cradle his head. "Well now you figure out who is more possessive amongst us." A smug smile lit his features and those golden eyes. 

There was a lull of silence while she tried to figure it, but Ileus interrupted her thoughts. He turned his head to see her and said, "I love whatever you do to me. My body is yours to play with. Who cares if I am covered in tattoos, as long as we live? We are mates and mates have a bond that is deeper than the skin." 

She placed her chin on his chest and gazed into those beautiful amber eyes. His raven black hair was a mess on his forehead. She smoothed them back and said, "You didn't answer my question." No one should have such a beautiful volume of hair, so soft and silky. 

"They took Iona also but she was too small and I wonder if she even remembers the location of the caves," he said with a sadness in his voice. "But it was a lot of fun when my father used to play with both of us over there. There is this cave which is hidden behind a massive cascade that pools into a tiny lake. Father would take us there mostly. When Iona was only three, I remember how we both used to take turns to teach her to swim." He chuckled. "She would flap her wee little hands and legs in the water and scream and laugh. It was—"

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"Amazing." She said, lifting her head up. 

"I was about to use, family," he said. "It just… vanished…"

Gloom flickered in her eyes. She cupped his cheeks and said, "She left you with a lot of memories, Aly. We are going to use those to draw her out from her darkness." 

He exhaled a heavy breath. "It's just what she has become… it's so powerful that it is frightening." 

She brushed his cheeks with her thumbs and said, "I saw her paintings in the corridors of the mansion in Silver Vales. When Darla told me that it was Iona who had painted them when she was barely ten, I was totally amused and I felt, I felt—" she hesitated. 

He drew his furrows together. "What did you feel?"

"I felt those paintings conveyed something to me, like she was trying to communicate something through her paintings." When Ileus continued to stare at her, she shook her head and sighed. "Maybe I am thinking too much." She got up and her hair fell on her shoulders. 

Ileus' gaze went up to the canopy where the flowers were blooming lazily. "Maybe you are thinking right. There could be a message in them." 

She gathered her hair, tied it in a high bun and shrugged. "I would like to see them again."

"And that reminds me that we need to go back to Silver Vales. Cora and Pierre know about us and they want to meet you… again." 

Anastasia cringed. "Cora doesn't like me. Do you think it would be a good idea for me to meet her?" 

He was quiet for a moment. "My grandmother does have fixed notions about others, and sometimes they can be very eccentric, but she is a nice woman. They have called us this week and we should meet them." 

Anastasia stiffened. He brushed his fingers over her arms. "Don't look so worried. They won't do a thing to you because you are married to me. Besides, I think Pierre wants to convey his apology. I know that they are not fully convinced about your marriage with me, but it is a beginning." 

She smiled faintly and nodded. She liked beginnings. 

"When you meet them, you behave the way you feel is right though I won't blame you if you are biased."

Anastasia had come such a long way and one department where she usually failed was relationships. She could never imagine a time when her relationships didn't start on a bad note. Heck even with Ileus it started so badly. "I am so lucky that you waited so patiently for me, honey," she breathed out. For all she knew, he could have given up.

"Waited for you? I would have died waiting for you. If you would have ended up marrying Aed Ruad, I would have stayed beside you throughout my life to support you and, and—" his voice choked. 

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