In the morning, Eldawithled glanced at Aria's seat with a blatant smile. "Good morning, my lady! Are you ready for another exciting adventure today?"
Aria shook her head at her and decided to ignore her friend's teasing. She was set on her mission, making certain that she would not become distracted like previously.
"What you try to ignore will only intensify," Eldare marked dismissively. "Allow yourself to enjoy this lovely sunny day." He took the position of the window while rays of sunshine poured over him as if he had been waiting ages for Aria to be ready for something.
Aria frowned. Why Eldare was enjoying so much that they were turning into ' loco' as she had heard rare praises directed to them and never had the courage to stare, impressed by this world.
"Absolutely. I have been waiting ever so long for you to fully grow and start understanding women this way so that she can share her delightful experiences with me and I could gafle cha taye." As he turned from the strangle of dream he continued with "To have fun thinking about someone is a joy."
Aria stood up and joined the window. While viewing outside she noticed a bunch of lounging soldiers sighted also recently. So who amongst them was Eldgazing with motherly peace?
"You didn't tell me you liked a soldier?"
"Oh. It only happened recently." She said without tearing her gaze away from the window.
Aria never understood this whole thing of admiring someone from afar. What was there to be excited about watching someone?
The only time she watched someone from her window was when the werewolves were brought here. Suddenly she remembered Marcus. She remembered his fury and strength. And then she remembered his eyes when he first looked up at her.
Disturbed she turned away from the window and decided to go to the laboratory. Losing focus of her mission wasn't an option. She would have to remind herself of her hatred, let it grow again, harden her heart even more so it would be resistant to anything.
Aria quickly greeted Adrian, took her things, and went to the inventory to focus on developing her weapons. Only when her uncle came to see her did she realize that she had skipped breakfast.
"What should I do with you?" Her uncle shook his head.
"I woke up early and hungry so I already asked Elda for breakfast." She lied.
"Shall I ask her?"
"No."
He chuckled, walking further in. "What do you think of Lord Steele so far?"
"I like him." She said,
Her uncle didn't seem very satisfied with the answer but he said nothing about it. She didn't say anything either. She didn't want to fight about being happy and whatever else he wished for her. She had a mission and she would complete it or die trying.
"I will attend some work with Lord Steele so I will be gone until night." He told her.
She nodded. "Alright."
Once he was gone, she thought today would be the perfect opportunity to test her theories without worrying about time. She hurried back to her room and pulled out professor Ward's notebooks. Then she took notes of the things she needed to do.
The scent was something she still needed to verify. The red dress was something she wanted to test but she couldn't let him know that she was trying all those things. She would have to find a good excuse, perhaps some good questions to ask to make it seem like she was there for some other reason.
What could she ask him? Or should she pretend to experiment with him? Something that would make her get close to him. Very close, where he couldn't ignore her scent. Well, she could just pretend she needed to take blood perhaps?
Unsure what the best thing to do was, she decided to go find a red dress instead.
She rummaged through the clothing in the chest. Almost all of her outfits were blue or white. Oh lord. She despised bright colors and now she was going to wear red? That was enough to trigger her, much alone a beast who could smell her fertility.
She grimaced feeling like she was being suicidal. Were they at least gentle toward the women? She didn't know why breeding and smelling others made her think of the scenario as something very animalistic and violent.
Marcus. He did look violent and the size of him with those muscles, those dark eyes, and bronzed skin made him look even more dangerous. But Aria knew he wasn't with her the way he perhaps was with his own people. She had seen his calmer side too. She knew he could be cunning and calculative.
Aria empties the chest but couldn't find a single red dress. She rushed down to the servants' quarters in the hopes of finding Elda. Outside, Elda was assisting another maid in washing garments.
"Elda, I need you."
Elda was surprised to see her there. She quickly left her work and came to her side looking worried. "What happened?"
Aria never called upon her during the day, so she probably thought something happened.
"Nothing, I just need a red dress."
Her eyes widened and then slowly a mischievous smile curved her lips. "That is a good choice of color. You will look so beautiful, My Lady. Someone has brought back colors to your life."
Well, that wasn't the case but she played along.
"Here." She gave her the money to buy the dress. "You have good taste. Buy me something exquisite."
"Of course," Elda winked, enjoying the whole thing.
Now she just had to wait for Elda to come back. It would take a while since she would have to ride into town. Aria tried to keep herself distracted with her inventions until Elda returned, and when she did, she rushed to get ready.
"But my lady, Lord Steele, is not here today."
"I know. I am preparing for when he comes home for dinner."
Elda nodded, looking a bit confused by her sudden change of behavior.
"Shall I paint your face?"
"Sure."
"You might receive more than a kiss this way." Elda teased.
Aria's heart skipped. Was it that much? Then she shrugged it off. It should be much to get a decent reaction she could analyze. She had not considered the possible reactions of others. Clearly, red drew the attention of every man.
Servants and guards looked her way discreetly and in the beginning, she thought that it was only because she wore a color she usually didn't wear but when she arrived at the cave, the chattering guards paused and looked her way with eyes widening.
Some of them blushed and fumbled as they attempted to construct a few sentences. Aria became even more nervous as a result of this. What would the beast drawn to this color do if human men reacted in this way?
She proceeded slowly and carefully along the cave's passage, clutching her tool bag. As she entered, the prisoner turned to face her from his seat near the graviton. She kept a close eye on him as he regarded her with a grave expression, his attention fixed on her as she neared.
The clanking of chains echoed in the silent cave as he slowly rose from his seat, stretching his bare magnificent body. He then remained still. His lips parted slightly and his eyes darkened as he let his gaze sweep over her before settling on her eyes.
"Words fail me," he said.