Queen's Obsession

Chapter 46

*Suzanna's P.O.V*

Being allowed to leave my room was the best thing ever. I didn't care how Seraphina felt about me being safe, I spent almost every waking hour out of my room and in the castle garden. Sure I had guards with me but I didn't let that bother me. It also didn't hinder any escape attempt.

I had tried to climb over the stone wall that surrounded the castle and found that I sucked at rock climbing. I guess it's because I had never climbed anything before and I had a fear of heights but I didn't focus on that part. I did however try and bite a guard when he pulled me off the wall.

Seraphina lectured me about that. Apparently it was rude to bite people when they were trying to keep me safe. My only response to that was to run away whenever she tried to talk to me. All of this happened within two days so I was very busy.

I was now running through the castle corridors, just for fun. The guards that had to follow me didn't run after me, they followed me at a more sedate pace. I was fine with that though because that meant I got to open doors and look in rooms.

There were a lot of bedrooms in this place, I didn't know why. I couldn't imagine having so many people over at once that you would need 20 bedrooms. Maybe that was just because I was introverted though.

All of the fun rooms were guarded. I couldn't go to the queen's room because she wasn't in there and I couldn't go in other top secret rooms. Puppy dog eyes were useless against guards, probably because they didn't have souls.

Pandora was still mad at me for biting her which was completely unreasonable. She deserved to get bit and I would do it again if I got the chance. I found a large ornate door, one which I hesitantly pushed open. This was even bigger than the throne room door, it was double the size of the throne room doors.

I found out that it was the library and I was instantly in heaven. I could hear the guards coming round the corner so I slipped into the library, letting the door shut behind me. It was nice to have some peace and quiet, away from those boring ass guards.

I wandered through the shelves of books, finding a few that interested me. There was one book that looked well worn and I took it just because it seemed interesting. It had no title, it was just a little black book.

I sat down in a chair near the fireplace, quietly leafing through a few of the books for a while. I didn't really read, I kind of just enjoyed the illustrations for most of them. I finally reached the little black book and opened it. The handwriting was in cursive, neat and precise. My eyes turned to the first page and I quietly read it.

'The stars could never shine as bright as your eyes my dear Seraphina. My world hangs upon your every word. I would die a million times to have you look at me just once ~T.M.S.

My breath caught in my throat as I realized what I was reading. These were love notes from King Theron to Seraphina. This one was probably before they even got together based on the way he was talking. I heard someone clear their throat and I looked up to see Seraphina standing there.

"You lost your guards," she said softly as she made her way over to me. Her face was veiled but I could hear how out of breath she was, almost as if she had been running.

"I wanted some space," I replied as I shut the book, carefully putting it down on the stack of books in front of me. "They should learn to be faster," I muttered.

"Perhaps," Seraphina said as she sat on the arm of the chair I was sitting in. "I see you found the book my husband wrote in," she whispered.

"Yeah, I've only read one note. I didn't mean to intrude on your privacy," I said.

"It's fine, Theron wouldn't have cared. I don't mind much either," Seraphina informed me. She picked the book up, opening it up to the first page with such gentleness, one I'd never seen in her before.

"He wrote a book of notes about how much he loved you?" I asked curiously as I turned in my chair to look up at her.

"He did. Cheeky bastard never told me about it until three years ago. He purposefully hid it here since he knew it wouldn't be safe in his study from me reading it," Seraphina said as she ran her finger across the bottom of the page with a small sigh.

"Why?" I asked.

"I read every book in his study, even the ones behind the locked glass. He hid in the library because he knew I didn't frequent here," Seraphina muttered.

"If you liked reading so much, how come you didn't come here often?" I questioned.

"My son kicked me out of here too much. I like to read out loud and he liked the silence," Seraphina confided to me. "I read to Malik so much when he was a kid that he picked up the love of reading, just not the part about reading out loud. When he was about 8, he started to kick me out of his room. He still wanted a bedtime story, he just wanted me to hold it for him while he read to himself," she said.

"I don't like when people read out loud either. It makes it hard for my brain to focus," I informed her, not knowing what else to say. She sounded like she was going to cry and as much as I was mad at her, I didn't want her to cry.

"Malik said the same thing," Seraphina chuckled as she pulled me close, kissing the top of my head through her veil. "They would have loved you Suzanna, so much," she whispered as her voice broke.