"Cheese_123 For loving my book :))" - Abbie

A/N *Guys check out my new book Double Trouble and vote and comment please??*

Chapter Eighteen

Iris’s POV

I woke with a start.

“Morning miss,” a new maid said as she placed a tray of food on my coffee table. “You have been sent these too,” in a glass vase sat a bunch of dark red and coral roses. A smile appeared on my face they were beautiful.

“Who are they from?” I asked as she placed them on top of the fireplace.

“From Prince Robert Miss,” she said as she rushed over to me handing me a white lace dressing gown.

“Well, tell him thank you if you see him,” I smiled as I tied the aqua blue ribbon around my waist. I made my way over to the rose and took in the beautiful scent, I smiled.

“Which is your favourite coloured one?” the maid asked with a small smile. The maid was small with chestnut brown shoulder length hair and olive skin; her eyes were royal blue and her lips full and pink.

“I think the coral coloured ones,” I touched the velvet petals.

“That means desire miss,” she said.

“I am sorry?” I looked at the maid confused.

“The colour means desire,” she said.

I sat down. “So the colours mean something?” she nodded. “So what does the red mean?” I asked.

“Dark red means unconscious beauty,” she smiled.

“What?” I frowned.

“Well what he is trying to say is, that you are beautiful and are unaware of it and that he desires you,” I blushed scarlet.

I coughed. “Err I have no idea how to respond to that?” I muttered as my checks set a blaze from the meaning of the roses.

“It is alright miss,” the maid chuckled. “I have brought you your breakfast,” I nodded looking at the tray of food from toast to pancakes. “What would you like?” she asked moving to my side.

“Err...” I paused. “I think I would like pancakes,” I grinned. “Yeah pancakes and bacon,” I nodded.

“Would you like maple syrup with that Miss?” I nodded as she put together what I wanted. What would you like to drink?”

“Just some orange juice please,” I smiled as I took the plate from her. “Thank you,”

“That is okay Miss,” she stepped back.

“Please call my Iris,” she nodded. “What is your name?” I asked taking a bite from the pancake.

“Poppy,” she replied.

“Well Poppy,” I smiled at her. “Would you like to join me for breakfast?” I grinned.

“Err... I couldn’t Miss, I mean Iris,” she stumbled over her words as she looked at me in shock.

“Come one,” I grinned. “There is way too much food here for just me to eat,” I looked over at her. “Please?” I batted my eyelashes and she finally gave in.

We sat and ate breakfast together.

“So where did Robbie get the idea of sending my roses from?” I laughed.

“Well Princess Elizabett might have,” Poppy smiled. “She loves flowers but Robbie does have some a Italian in him so he’s romantic so he might have come up with it himself,” Poppy munched on a strawberry.  

A knock came at the door. “Come in,” I laughed at Poppy. “Yeah but I think its Eliza who came up with it,” Poppy nodded as I looked at the person at the door.

A young man all in black stood there with another bunch of flowers.

I frowned. “What are they and who are they from?” I asked.

“They are from Prince Robert,” the young man said placing them in front of me. This bunch was a mixture of flowers; white orchids, white roses and sugar pink camellias.

“Thank you,” I looked at Poppy. “You are can go,” I send to the young man who nodded and left. “So Poppy do you know what this bouquet means?” I asked with a smile.

“Yes I do,” she leaned forward. “Well white roses mean heavenly I think,” she touched the sugar pink flower. “The camellias mean Longing for you,” she grinned at my blush. “And the orchids Delicate beauty,” she smiled sitting back. “They are very beautiful,” she commented.

“They are,” I agreed.

“I wish a man would do that for me,” she giggled.

“He’s being very sweet,” I nodded.

“I think it is very cute that he is sending you flowers,” She said. “He proably trying to say he’s sorry for something,” she laughed.

“Yeah maybe he’s saying sorry for scarring the carp out of me,” I said more to myself than anything.

“Oh how did he sacre you?” Poppy asked.

“His wolf surfaced,” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Oh,” Poppy nodded. “That is common with wolves and their mates,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well,” she leaned forward. “I take it you haven’t, you know, mated yet?” I blushed a deep red almost the same colour as the roses from earlier.

“No,” I muttered shyly.

“Well then you are still in danger of having another mate take his claim,” She explained.

I frowned. “I’m not sure if I understand,” I commented.

“Well,” she thought for a second. “You are not truly his until you do the nasty,” she winked as I blushed.

“But how does that work?” I wanted to find out everything there was to know about the mating process as my family never explained it to me.

“So okay,” she paused. “When you have sex with your suitor, mainly a werewolf male though a female could do this on a human, their wolf surfaces and bites your neck,” I winced as I paled. “Oh no, it doesn’t hurt,” she grinned. “Let’s say that it’s nice,” she winked.  

I blushed. “So that’s the males claim?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “They have claimed you and your scent gets mixed with his and a new mark appears,” she explained.

“So your pack mark is gone?” I frowned.

“No,” she shook her head. “It does for a few days, but a new mark appears where your heart is and if you are female, then you join the males pack so your pack mark changes.”

“I think I understand,” I said. “So you get a new mark where your heart is and your pack mark,” I pointed to the wolf surrounded in chains that sat at the base of my neck. “Disappears for a few days and they your new pack mark grows,”

“Yeah, you got it,” She smiled. “So they the second time you mate they female must bite the males neck to seal your bond,” I nodded. “However after the second mating you go into heat at the next full moon,” Poppy explained.

“What is heat?” I asked.

“Oh god, my dear girl,” she laughed. “It is the most painful thing other than child birth,” she winced. “You have this burning inside of you that only your mate can get rid of,” I frowned. “Basically you have sex with him again, werewolves love sex,” she laughed and I couldn’t help but join in as her laugh was so infectious

. “So have you mated?” I asked.

“Yes I have,” she giggled like a school girl.

“When you’re not much older than me,” I commented.

“I as mated at 18, I am 19 now,” she said. “I love my mate to bits even though it was an arranged mating,” she said.

“So you were forced into it?” I narrowed my eyes.

“Oh no I agreed to the arrangement but I did it to help my family,” she smiled. “My little sister was ill and the only way we could help her was if I mated to a Alpha so I wooed Alex the Alpha of the Luna d'Oro Clan,” she smiled.

“So if you are a Luna why are you working here?” I asked.

“Well every important Luna must serve for the Royals for at least two years,” she frowned at me.”Didn’t your parents teach you this?” she asked.

“No I never shifted so they didn’t see the point,” I shrugged. “Then it turned out they weren’t my parents and I wasn’t a werewolf,” I grinned.

“So what are you?” She asked.

“I am a Phoenix,” I replied. “Well the only Phoenix,”

“That is amazing,” she grinned. “Do you turn into a bird?” she asked.

“I have no idea but I can set myself on fire,”

“What, really?” Poppy grin widened. “Show me,” she clapped.

“I can’t,” I said looking at the floor. “I’ve only done it once and that was when I was in danger,” I said.

“Oh that’s okay,” Poppy waved it off. “Anyway you need to shower and get ready for lunch,” Poppy slapped her thighs and stood up. “The Queen has ordered Lunch in the gardens today with a few guests,” A small smile played on her lips. “And I have been ordered to get you ready,” I nodded heading for the shower.

Robert’s POV

“What did she say?” I asked the footman as he re-entered my room after taking my flowers to Iris.

He bowed. “She said thank you, your highness,” he stood with his hands behind his back, stiff as a board looking straight ahead.

“I always like these men in black,” Eliza commented as she lay on my bed. The man didn’t react but stood as still as he could. “Not even a blush,” muttered Eliza shaking her head.

“Maybe I should send her some more?” I paced up and down the room. I had to make it up to her.

“Or maybe you should say sorry and kiss her like no tomorrow?” Eliza sat up. “You can’t but her sorry, you have to earn it,” she shook her head at me.

“But how?” I sighed. “The flowers were romantic, right?” I looked at my sister.

“Yeah the first one but did you send the second ones?” she asked.

“Because they meant something,” I said.

“Well I know the first ones meant that she was beautiful and doesn’t even know it and that you desire her,” I blushed I forgot that Eliza could read flower langue.  “What did the second mean? I didn’t catch call the flowers in the bunch,”

“Heavenly, longing for you and delicate beauty,” I muttered the meanings of each flower.

“Oh pretty,” she nodded. “Well why don’t you take her to look round the gardens after lunch and then say how sorry you are and say that if doesn’t want to be your mate then you understand,” I growled low in my throat.

“I will not say that,” I barked.

Eliza rolled her eyes. “She won’t leave you but it shows you are trying to understand her feelings, you are, aren’t?” she raised her eyebrow.

“Yes,” I nodded. “Should I give her something?” I asked.

Eliza sighed. “No, as I said you can’t buy her forgiveness just take her to the cherry blossom tree and kiss her,” Eliza laughed.

Iris’s POV

“Here put this on,” Poppy handed me my dress. I slipped it on and looked at it in the mirror. The dress was powder blue and finished just above my knee, the lining was silk and the over dress was made from a see-through type fabric that folded into plates. It had a sweetheart neckline and went in at my waist; a pale blue ribbon went across my shoulder.

“It’s pretty,” I commented as I step into my shoes which were the same colour as my dress but it had white roses on the back of the heeled court shoes.

“It is, it was designed for you,” Poppy curled the ends of my jet black hair.

“By who?” I frowned.

“The Royal cloth making,” she laughed. “The Queen asked for a dress to be made for you,” She spun me around. “Sit,” I did.  She applied natural makeup before twisting the front of my hair to form a ‘v’ and clipping a white rose in to keep it in place.

A knock came at the door and before I could say enter the Queen walked in  a pale green cocktail dress and a black shawl wrapped around her shoulders.

“Here,” she handed me a navy blue velvet box. “Something to wear at the lunch,” she said before leaving. I opened the box and there sat a locket made from white gold, it was engraved with roses and a small sapphire gem sat above the locket.

“Come on put it on,” Poppy grinned. “You’ll be late,” she laughed as I shakily put the necklace on and then put the sapphire earrings on to match.  “You look beautiful,” Poppy smiled as I stood up.

“Thank you,” I smiled back.

“I’ll go get Prince Robert,” Poppy left the room as I stood by my window waiting.

Robert’s POV

“Sir she is ready,” Poppy knocked at my door. I smiled at my cousin; well she was married to my cousin.

“I am coming,” I said following her Iris’s room. I knocked and waited for her reply.

“Come in,” her voice was soft through the solid door as my heart hammered in my chest. I opened the door and stopped dead. She stood at the window the window gently blowing the net curtains and the sun bathing her golden skin with its rays. I smiled at the beautiful girl in front of my.

“Robbie,” she gave me a small smile as she bowed her head slightly blushing.

Poppy elbowed me in the ribs, I winced. “You look beautiful,” I breathed.

“Thank you,” she shyly muttered blushing scarlet.

I grinned. “Like always,” I watched her flush again and I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped my lips.  I made my way over her and kissed her flaming cheek. “Come on sweetheart we’ll be late,” I grinned as I watched her blush again. I loved seeing her blush and I wanted to make her blush more and more.

I took hold of her small hand and then wrapped her slim arm around mine so that they were interlinked before letting go of her hand.

“See you later Poppy,” Iris waved goodbye to the maid.

“See you later Iris,” Poppy started clearing up after breakfast and getting Iris ready. I smiled down at the beautiful phoenix that I had on my arm, my heart swelled and I felt whole for the first time since Aletta, was looking forward to spending more time with and making it up to her.

___

So the next chapter, sorry it is late (please don’t kill me I made it longer than normal :))

I don’t like the last couple of sentence but I don’t mind this chapter. Also I might upload tomorrow yet because I am still buzzing to write the next bit!! I know what I want to write and I really wanna know what happens too eek!!

So my question to you is, what do you want to happen next? :))

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