Figuring things out.

Arabella sat in the back of the car, only half-watching the trip as she sat, still stunned, thinking back to what had happened before she left. She could still feel the emptiness and it was close to physical pain. He had released her. Why? She would never have betrayed him. Her mind was a swirl as the car raced toward the Compton estate. As they pulled up to the gates, the car stopped and she rolled down her window so the guards could see her. She cleared her throat and spoke slowly.

"Io sono qui, su richiesta del re Compton. Io starò qui per il prossimo futuro e mi aspetto di essere visto come un ospite gradito. Mi fermarsi al cancello non è necessario ogni volta. La mia lealtà è al re, in quanto questo atto ha dimostrato. Ora fatemi passare."

(I am here at King Compton's request. I will be staying here for the foreseeable future and expect to be seen as a welcome guest. Stopping me at the gate every time is not needed. My loyalty is to the King, as this act has proven. Now let me through.)

She rolled her eyes at the idiotic look she received. She paused a moment.

"I am here by the King's decree, now let me pass!"

"Of course, Miss Trillo. He is expecting you. We will see to your things."

He handed her a slip of paper and stepped back.

"The truck behind me is mine. See that everything is put in place."

She looked at the twins and smiled.

"Don't worry. We will get you to Brianna soon. This is where she lives now..."

She squeezed Cassia's hand in assurance.

"...and where we live now too."

As the car pulled to a stop outside the doors, she motioned for the others to get out as well and walked to the door. When the doorman opened it, she smiled.

"See to it that the two girls here," motioning to the twins, "are taken to Miss Jackson's rooms."

She handed the inventory to Cassia and kissed her briefly.

"I'll see you after I speak with his Majesty. Stay in our rooms until I join you there."

She nodded to the doorman and made her way to the office, knocking politely.

Bill had been on a video call with the Queen of France, he had spent many hours talking with those whom he believed had a connection with Isabel. The Queen of Spain had dismissed any excuses that he could summon up to sway her from Isabel's side. But on the other hand the Queen of France proved to more useful.

"Alexandrie, je suis sûr que nous pouvons arriver à un arrangement. Je peux vous assurer que la loyauté d'Isabel ne durera pas. Dès qu'elle obtient ce qu'elle veut, elle finira appeler communications avec la France" he assured Queen Alexandrie.


"Mon cher William. Je ne suis pas une reine stupide, je sais tout ce qu'elle est capable de faire. Ma loyauté pose bien au-delà Isabel. Ma loyauté fixe à l'un et vrai vampire Godric"


Godric. Northman's maker who believed that vampires were more than soulless creatures. He sought redemption when he knew that he had lived his life.

"Je comprends, peut-être que nous pourrions en arriver à une entente? Il ya beaucoup que je peux vous offrir. Nommez vos termes" Bill pleaded.


"Demain. Demain, vous les aurez, mais pour le moment j'ai un jeune homme en attendant mon arrivée. Bonne journée William"


She ended the call abruptly.

If Bill could get the Queen of France on his side, it would make things a lot easier on his end. Hearing a knock at the door brought him back to reality as he straightened himself out;

"Enter" he called to whom was behind the door.

She was curious when she heard French being spoken. Had she interrupted a meeting? Then she heard the call end and the King's voice calling out.

"Enter"

She stepped through the doorway, lowering her eyes out of respect.

"I received your note, your Majesty. You wished to speak with me?"

Appearing to Arabella in a more Kingly matter as he remained expressionless as he signalled for Arabella to sit in one of the seats in front of his desk.

"Yes. Thank you for your attendance on such a short notice. I understand that you have been placed in a difficult position. But you will understand that I will always put the lives of my progeny's before my own, that is why you are here. But knowing Quinn I know he would not be happy at this new arrangement so I feel that there should be some rules that we go over before you vacate to your new quarters this evening. Do you agree?" he question her for her response.

She could feel the tears building at the edge of her eyes when the King mentioned Quinn, but forced herself to remain composed.

"Y-Yes, your Majesty. It makes perfect sense. Had you not asked for this meeting, I would have been asking your people to arrange it for the same reason. I need to know how things work here."

She refused to cry in front of the King. She pulled out a small cloth from her bag and dabbed her eyes, clearing away any signs. Then looked back to him.

"Please feel free to explain what is expected."

"I am not a cruel man Arabella. I do what I have to, to keep my family safe" his tone of voice softened as he waited until she collected herself together.

Leaning forward on his desk as he return to a more demure and in control man, not a vampire king.

"First off, you sole duty will to be carry on teaching Brianna how you see fit. You of course have your own quarters which are off limits, but there shall be guards stationed around the mansion and estate at all times. Should you require anything they shall be at your bidding, for purposes regarding your settlement. And of course your donor shall not be touched by fang or in any way other way as you have requested. I request that you do not discuss anything with her that does not require her to know" he ended his first set of rules.

"That is most reasonable, your Majesty. I foresee no issues with these guidelines."

She paused before reaching slowly into her bag, pulling out a sealed envelope and holding it out for the King.

"He made me swear not to read it, and to deliver it to your hands, your Majesty."

As he took the letter, her hands dropped to her lap as she worried what the letter might say.

As Bill accepted the letter from Arabella he instantly opened it as he was curious as to what was inside;


Scoffing as he slid the letter on to his desk as he turned his attention back to Arabella.

"Quinn has quite a way with words...But I will say this now Arabella, I will not stop you from seeing him. I understand what it is like to not have family close by, I lost my own after I became a vampire. My Maker was a cruel woman he liked to see those around her suffer and I shall not do that. But should you decide to see him, it will be off these ground. Brianna will have no contact with him understood? I will not have her life tainted by his lies as he did with Jessica" he told her.

Her tears returned with a vengeance, hearing his words. This time there was no fighting them. She stood quickly, trying to hide it from him. As she walked to the bookshelf, making pretense at looking at them, she spoke softly.

"That won't be a problem, your Majesty. He wants nothing to do with me now. He...he released me."

She felt her shoulder shake and tried to steel herself against such weakness. This was not the proper way to behave in front of him. He took a moment to try to balance her voice at least and spoke softly.

"So you will not have to worry about that. I do not know what lies you refer to, your Majesty, but contact with him will not be something to be concerned with. That much he made clear when he released me. I have made my choice, and it seems he intends to make sure I live with the results."

Bill could see that his ultimatum had put strain on Arabella and as much as he hated Quinn, he wanted Arabella to be happy here.

"I am sorry that it has come to this but I was left with no choice. You are free to leave whenever you wish. You are not a prisoner here Arabella. The door is always open" he told her.

Bill stood from behind his desk as he walked over towards Arabella by the book case as he pulled out a white tissue from his pocket and handed it to her.

"Take a few days to yourself, come back to me in three days. Give me your decision if you wish to stay. And if you do not then you are free to go, and if you wish to stay....then we can discuss it then" he suggested.

"I appreciate it, your Majesty, but my choice has already been made."

She cleaned herself up as best she could before turning to face him.

"Brianna is my duty, and as such, we should focus on her, I would think. Did you have any specific area you wish me to move her training to, or does my own judgement decide the course?"

She looked around for somewhere to put the tissue, finally finding the trashcan and dropping it in.

"I made my choice as to my direction when my King asked me to, your Majesty. My loyalty is to my King, and to those he placed in my charge. That is all I really need to know."

She thought for a minute and then spoke quietly.

"With your Majesty's permission, I will take this evening to 'get my house in order', so to speak. I will also speak to Brianna, with your permission. Her twins have been delivered to her rooms and I should speak to her concerning her training schedule as you may have other tasks for her as well."

"Very well. That is your choice. And in the terms of training Brianna I shall leave that in your capable hands. I shall of course visit during training sessions to make sure that she is learning to an acceptable rate that I see fit. We are at a time of war and she needs to be prepared for anything that is thrown our way" he ended leaving for her interpretation of Brianna's training.

As he turned from Arabella to sit on the edge of his desk, his arms folded across his chest as his ankles crossed as he perched himself.

"You do not need permission to speak with Brianna, she is your charge Arabella. But please feel free to take as much time as you need to settle in. Dexter, the guard you met on your way in is my own personal guard, he shall pass on any messages that you may have should I be detained. Make your presence known to Jessica and Kiara, they will be able to answer any questions that you may have. There is only two area's which are off limits to those other than myself, the basement and of course this office unless granted permission to enter. Should you donor require any particular food products or refreshments please speak with Tia" of course he knew that she would not know who Tia was, but it was not hard to recognize her instantly.

"Your courtesy is appreciated, your Majesty."

She turned, watching him move to the desk, trying to thing if there was anything else that needed to be said. She knew one more thing, and she hated to ask it, but she knew Quinn.

"I wish I did not need to ask this, but I would ask that your security people go over the things I have brought with me. I inspected them, but do not have the technology you have. I do not wish to bring anything into your home that would...compromise things."

Actually putting that into words hurt, but she wanted to make sure he trusted her.

Bill was a little surprised when she requested his guards to go through her things, it was not something that he expected to hear.

"Very well if that is what you wish....Dexter!" he called loudly.

Moments later a guard appeared in his office.

"Yes your Majesty?" he bowed in respect.

"Dexter, this is Miss Trillo. See to anything that she needs, call Sven and Marcus to inspect Miss Trillo's belongings" he instructed.

Dexter bowed as he vacated the office to take his post again until he was required.

"Dexter will see to anything that you need...Is there anything else you would like to discuss Arabella?" he quizzed.

She raised her head at his question, looking him in the eyes.

"I believe that was all, your Majesty, unless there was something else you needed to discuss with me. I would mention though, if you will forgive the boldness, if you wish me to train your other progeny, I will be happy to add her training to the program. I think it might even be beneficial to both of them, regardless of if she normally does or not. Sparring matches perhaps, if you do not want them trained together. I would of course have to assess your other progeny as I did Brianna to see where to begin, but that is for you to decide. If there is nothing else, I will leave you to your own duties and see to mine."

She lowered her eyes again, standing before him.

"I believe that Jessica is old enough to make up her own decisions. But feel free to speak with Jessica about your proposal. I cannot and will not make that decision for her. Her bedroom is down the hall to the right on the second floor next to Brianna's. Get yourself settled in and then speak to Jessica" he suggested.

Leaving the comfort of the edge of his desk as he walked around to sit in his chair as he had been accustomed to be lately.

"I hate to be rude and not much of a host in showing you around, but I do have a meeting to begin in a few moments. But should you have any other questions my door is always open" he smirked pleasantly.

"Of course, your Majesty. I am ever at your service."

She made an attempt at a smile and slowly walked out of his office, trying to think of what she should do first. She found the guard that was to assist her and smiled at him. She handed him a small list and nodded.

"Please make sure that list gets to your 'Tia' shortly. It is the basic diet my Cassia prefers. Also, pleae have her check with Miss Jackson's twins to see what their preferences will be. I would appreciate if you can show me to my rooms. I would like to freshen up and the will wish to speak with the king's progeny, Brianna. Please let his other progeny, Jessica, know that I would like to speak to her as well when it is convenient."

She watched as the guard pocketed the list and led her upstairs.