"What is so important that you're willing to destroy your own pack to find it?" Marisol demands, her tone cutting through the charged atmosphere.
When he finally raises his head to meet her gaze, Marisol is momentarily stunned by the transformation in his appearance. He had cleaned up well, and the change was remarkable. The disheveled, wild image she'd associated the man with, upon their first encounter, was now replaced with an appearance that would rouse no questions about his royal descent. He looked..... different and that took her off guard.
Struggling for her next words, Marisol stumbles over a variety of choices, each one falling short, or just deemed unworthy to maintain the force of her rebuke. Cedric, in response, lets out a dry laughter that bounces off the walls, finally breaking the silence with an order that feels eerily calm.
"Get out."
The command is delivered with an air of authority that momentarily silences Marisol. The abrupt dismissal had her standing there, grappling with a mixture of emotions.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Cedric?" Marisol retaliates, refusing to just back down.
Cedric's gaze met hers, a flicker of surprise in his eyes at the defiance. Marisol continues, her words laden with frustration and a determination to unveil the truth.
"First, tell me what drives you to such madness, Cedric, and maybe.... just maybe, we could find a solution that doesn't involve the senseless destruction of your own home, but either way, I won't let you continue like this."
Cedric looks bored at the end of her words, unimpressed eyes meeting hers. "What brings you here, Marisol?" He questions like she hadn't just gone on a whole rant airing the exact reasons why she'd taken the trip here. She sucks in a breath as if to reel herself back in before speaking.
"I won't take the blame for your wolf's rampage. Innocent pack members are getting hurt because of your inability to control it."
Cedric's expression suddenly hardens but Marisol presses on, her tone unwavering. "You need to figure out what's so important to it that's driving it crazy. And I suggest you do it fast before more harm is done."
Cedric sighs loudly at that, like a rebellious teenager that just had to listen to his mother's stories about life and pushes himself off the bejeweled throne. She hears his joints pop when he stretches with an obnoxious groan and then he moves. Marisol waits for what looks like a physical confrontation as he draws nearer. Closer, closer, closer, until he just breezes past her like he had on their first encounter.
"Wait what," Marisol blurts in confusion and disbelief, a bit dazed at the sudden close proximity -after watching him make a show of stretching-, that ended almost just as abruptly as it began. She'd been doing a good job of pretending that the chemistry between them wasn't off the charts, but now, catching a whiff of him so close and seeing him look so unlike he had before, unleashed an almost primal need within her. She wanted to be close to him, to stay close to him and the thought of it, unnerved her.
As if he could hear her thoughts, Cedric lets out another peal of laughter, jolting Marisol back to reality.
Albeit a bit flustered, Marisol follows after him. The evening was closing in, and she had no intention of letting him out of her sight.
They arrive at the Library, and Cedric retrieves the same book that had unraveled the secret of his curse.
Shoving it toward Marisol, he poses a question that hangs heavy in the air, "Do you think I'm in control of my actions?"
Marisol finds herself speechless, almost feeling stupid for her own actions and not having realized this earlier. He was under a curse, and blaming him for the chaos seemed unjust. Just as the weight of her accusations begins to settle, he swiftly turns around and begins walking off in the other direction. Quickly returning the book to its place, she hurries after him.
"What then do you think it is searching for? Why is it suddenly searching for it?" She asks as she catches up with him.
He didn't seem like he was having the best day with Marisol persistently on his tail, but neither was she. She needed the answers that he definitely wasn't providing and ignored her until, once again, they were in the throne room, where he seemed to snap, turning around to give her an annoyed look.
"If you're so interested in knowing, why not just question my wolf personally? Since he's the one doing the searching?"
Marisol's heart skips a beat at the mention of his wolf. The menacing and terrifying creature that had haunted her dreams and the last thing she wanted was to see it again. Fear creeps into her thoughts as she sees images of her nightmares right in front of her eyes, her fingers balling into fists.
There's a heavy blanket of silence cast over them as she contemplates before snapping her eyes shut. Shaking her head, Marisol decides it wasn't worth it and doesn't say a word as she begins to walk away.
"That's what I thought. You know, you shouldn't have bothered trying if you knew you were so fickle-minded." Cedric mocked from behind her.
Marisol spins around, irked by his taunting. "I'm not afraid." She asserts and Cedric meets her gaze, holding it with an intensity that only seems to pull her in, lulling her into a sense of safety that would be questionable in their current situation and that is when he says his next words, bewitching, like the call of a siren.
"Prove it then. Prove that you're not afraid."