CH44 King of Asia

King Pierre blinked us after telling his butlers he'd be right back.
We were in the castle, the floors and walls were white marble with golden designs around the borders, a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, there were portraits hung on the walls too
"I must leave you here Anastasia" Pierre spoke, I hugged him tight whispering a thank-you for everything in his ear, when he let go he kissed the top of my head, and told me to visit him again, to which I promised, he then turned to Damon and hugged him, he then proceeded to hug Dylan and Charlie before he blinked away.
We walked towards some voices I could hear and soon found a man, he was short and 'round' like Danny Devito, he wore a red sherwani, a sherwani is a long knee length coat type outfit that some men of India wear, he also wore an ivory coloured turban with a red ruby in the front. He saw us and furrowed his eyebrows
"I am queen Anastasia, here to see Prince Shakti" I greeted the man
"And does Prince Shakti know you're coming?" The man asked, to which I shook my head
"But we have met" I added quickly the man smiled
"Follow me queen Anastasia" he turned, he told the man he was speaking to, to wait right there, he then took us to an upper floor, he took us to a room, and told us to wait here, he then left, the walls in this room were red, the floor was white but there were red rugs, there was a coffee table and the ceiling was a big potrait, a potrait of the man that had told us to wait here. I looked to Damon as if to say are you seeing this? to which he just shrugged, I heard footsteps and I knew who it was, I went to the door and as soon as it opened I embraced him, Shakti, prince Shakti, he held me at arms length,
"Queen Anastasia, its been a long time" Shakti bowed to me, and I looked at his attire, Shakti wore a black sherwani with a belt around his waist that held a sword the handle of said sword was gold, I proceeded with introductions, we sat on comfortable chairs and got acquainted, I explained what we were doing, and why we were there, Shakti promised he would make arrangements, he then called his father, the king, and when he came I gasped it was the same man that had bought us up here, I proceeded to apologise for not recognising him, but he brushed me off,
"Has my son offered you anything yet?" The king asked to which I shook my head, he smiled and clapped his hands twice, and a man entered the room, the man wore a white kurta that didn't look expensive but didn't look cheap either, he also had a red belt going around his waist
"Ram, get our guests some drinks" the king ordered, the man bowed and left
"Ram" I closed my eyes "Ram was a God?" I opened my eyes to see Shakti smiling and the king looked amazed
"I'm impressed your majesty, Shakti didn't tell me you know of our culture"
"Oh I spent a long time in India, in the mortal world, I picked up the language" I assured, to which the king smiled, Shakti then explained to his father why we were there, and the king, king Arjun was happy, and he, like Shakti, assured the arrangements would be made, the servent came back with four stainless steel glasses, the glasses were huge, they must have been as big as pint glasses, the servent served us each a glass, I thanked him, as did the others, and then he left, the glasses contained a milky drink, and after a taste test I confirmed it was lassi.
"What is this? I don't think I can drink it all" Dylan spoke smelling the sweet curd drink
"It is lassi" I spoke before Shakti or Arjun could answer "lassi is made with buttermilk and yogurt, its nice" I shrugged although I knew I'd have a hard time finishing mine, these glasses were huge.
"So queen Anastasia.." King Arjun started, but I interrupted
"Anastasia is fine" I told him, the king smiled
"Anastasia, Shakti told me what happened with Jonah, I must say, I wish I could've been there" the king took a sip of his drink
"Why weren't you there?" I asked him, his son was supposed to get married that day, the king should've been there
"Ahh, well that's the question, isn't it?" Arjun took another sip, I waited patiently for my answer "I wasn't there because I knew the wedding would not happen" I raised an eyebrow as if to say please elaborate "I knew the wedding wouldn't happen because I'm an astrologer" he smiled, it took me longer than it should have, but I stood up
"It was you, the astrologer that had me killed" I announced
"Anastasia" Shakti began, as he too stood up, but his father stopped him
"Queen Anastasia, yes it was me but...." the king began to explain but I blinked before he could say more, I went home, the home Damon and I shared, I was so upset, the man had been so welcoming, so nice, how could someone like that be so cruel?
I was pacing the room wondering what I should do, and Damon blinked in front of me, but he wasn't alone, Shakti was with him, I took a look at Shakti's apologetic face and calmed down a little, before I could say anything Shakti spoke, as Damon came and hugged me
"Yes my father was the same astrologer, but Anastasia Jonah would've killed you anyway, but would've waited until you were initiated and then he would've killed you, and you would have all those memories now, I know it's not any better but atleast you don't have to remember all those deaths"
We talked some more and then decided to go back to Asia, when we got there king Arjun apologised again but I told him it was fine
If Jonah had killed me later I, right now, would have had memories of all the deaths, that didn't justify what king Arjun had done, but Jonah would've killed me regardless, so having no memory was better than remembering all the deaths.
Shakti then gave us a tour of his castle, it was probably just as big as Pierres and I knew I would get lost in here, Shakti showed us to our rooms, two rooms next to each other, the beds in these rooms were round, they had no wardrobes but they had big wooden trunks that reminded me of treasure chests
"Why don't you guys freshen up, I see you don't have clothes with you, how would you like to wear traditional clothes?" Shakti asked he blinked without waiting for an answer
"You ok?" The question came from Dylan, addressed to me, I just nodded showing him I was fine, we made small talk as we waited for Shakti
Shakti came back with folded clothes, he handed the first part of the pile to Charlie, then Dylan, then Damon,
"Yours will be bought in shortly" he told me, to which I nodded, the men left the room, they went to the room the lycans will be staying in, leaving Shakti and I alone
"You've changed" he began as he sat on the bed, I sat down too "You're just as powerful as you were the first time I met you, but..."
"But I'm no longer hiding in wardrobes?" I joked to which the prince laughed "of course I've changed, I've learnt to control my power better, I'm older and wiser now, not as old as you but still older than I was" I told him
"You are older than me, older than everyone here" Shakti assured to which I furrowed my eyebrows he smiled and went on "You're Evangeline, the oldest witch, can't get older than that" he finished
"Yeah but I don't have her memories, I do worry I won't be as good as them, as good as my past selves" I voiced my feelings so easily to Shakti
"Maybe not but my father said that when he greeted you before he felt that you reminded him of the girl Jonah killed five hundred years ago, the same confidence, the same allure, you might not remember but your conscious does" before we could say anything else the door opened and the men returned with big smiles on their faces.
Damon wore a light green sherwani with a green belt, and baggy pants, Charlie's sherwani was light blue, and Dylans was black, they looked great, they were looking at me expectantly and I smiled,
"You guys look amazing" I assured to which their smiles got wider.
We were talking about the culture of India compared to England, when there was a knock on the door, Dylan opened it to reveal a female servent, she wore a plain yellow saree, a traditional Indian saree, she had a pile of clothes in her hand, Shakti stood up and spoke
"We will leave whilst you get ready Anastasia" he said something to the servent in her ear, who just nodded, I could hear them but because he spoke in Urdu, I couldn't understand some of it, something about food, but thats all I got, when the men left the servent put the pile of clothes on the bed
"What's your name?" I asked her, calling her servent didn't sit well with me, but she didn't understand me and she furrowed her eyebrows at me halfway through unfolding some clothes, I had to think now I knew the Urdu language, I closed my eyes and thought "uh, naam, aap ka naam?" I said not sounding confident at all but the girl smiled
"Sapna" she revealed, with a smile, I smiled too
She finished unfolding the clothes, there were three gowns in total, one was red, one was orange and one was green, I chose the green, it wasn't the same shade as Damons sherwani but I knew we would look great together, I blushed at that. Sapna folded the other clothes, she then came to me and put both her hands out towards me, like she wanted to hug but her arms were not wide enough apart.
"Mein aap ki madat kardu" she said pointing at the clothes then at me, I realised she was telling me she will help me get changed, I closed my eyes again trying to remember Urdu
"Mmm, nahi mein khud karungi" I told her that I'd do it myself, hopefully that's what I said, Sapna nodded
"Toh mein jaaoun?" She asked, which meant should I go? I think
"Ji" I told her yes she smiled
"Mein bahar intazar karti houn" with that she left the room, I tried to think what she said meant but I couldn't, didn't intazar mean market? No wait that's bazaar, and bahar? I'm sure that means mountain, or is that pahar? I shook my head I'd figure it out later. I proceeded to getting dressed, the anarkali dress was so full of sequins and thread it was very heavy, but I managed to put it on, I remembered wearing these in india in the mortal realm the trick was to wear them feet first, and that's exactly what I did. I draped the dupatta around my shoulders and let it flair behind me, now all I had to do was find the others.
I opened the door and saw Sapna
"Chale?" She said meaning shall we? I nodded and allowed her to guide me, we soon came to a big room, a dining room, there was a big table that could seat around fifty people, there were candle holders strategically placed all the way down, there were plates and glasses, when I entered Shakti was the first to spot me, Damon was sat with his back to me, and Dylan and Charlie could see me head on, king Arjun was sat at the head of the table, and Shakti and the lycans sat on his left whilst Damon sat on the right, when Shakti stood up, all the men looked up, and Damon turned to see me, when he saw me it felt like time stood still, the love in his eyes touched my heart and I felt that I would float away, Damon soon came in front of me
"You look beautiful" he whispered
"Thank-you" I blushed, I looked deep in his eyes, and when he kissed me, it was full of passion, I couldn't stop kissing him, I bit his lip and he hissed but I needed his blood, I was hungry for it, how long had it been since I'd drunk from him? The kiss abruptly stopped, as I screamed, we were drenched, someone had thrown water on us.