CH 65 Magic painting

Damon and I talked, we planned, we thought, and we came up with a plan.
The next day we asked Pierre, during breakfast, where Mary's room had been when she came here, Pierre did one better and showed us where it was, the room was locked, and Pierre couldn't open it,
"It's spelled, only Mary can open it" he revealed my shoulders slumped "wanna give it a try?" Pierre smiled, his smile was contagious and I smiled wide as I tried to open the door, the door opened as if it had never been locked, I looked inside and saw everything was immaculate, like the room had just been cleaned, but the room had been sealed for five hundred years, "it was spelled to stay closed, maybe it was spelled to keep it clean" Pierre assured.
The three of us proceeded to look for the book, we looked in drawers, and in chests, and in the bed, after thirty minutes of searching I sat down on the bed defeated, maybe the book wasn't here, maybe it was somewhere else in the palace, or somewhere else in the world
"Your majesty, Graham is here, he is waiting in the throne room" a member of staff came to call Pierre
"Oh, I'm sorry Anastasia, I must go" Pierre told me sadly
"Is it ok if we stay for a bit?" I pleaded
"Of course, stay as long as you need" Pierre smiled before leaving, I noticed Damon looking at a painting, I walked over to him to see what was so great about it, it was a painting of a house, a small stone house, with some bushes and a tree, there was also a well
"Damon? What's the matter?" I asked my mate
"This painting, it's out of place" Damon explained to which I raised an eyebrow, "there are no other paintings in here" he looked around for emphasis, and I looked too, he was right "so why is it here?" Damon asked no one in particular, I was curious too, I walked forward and looked at the painting closely, the brush strokes were smooth, I wasn't an expert but shouldn't the strokes be rough? In some places the strokes were smooth and in some the strokes were rough, the painting, it seemed, was pulling me in, inviting me to touch it, so I did, but my finger disappeared I gasped and removed my hand, my finger was still intact
"Did you see that?" I whispered, Damon moved closer to me and I did it again, when I went to touch the painting my finger disappeared
"Woah" was all Damon said before he too touched the painting but his hand didn't go through, his hand stayed on the painting "that's weird" he told me "put your hand in again, tell me if you feel anything" I did just that
"There's nothing, just air" I removed my hand
"Maybe it's a portal" Damon sounded amazed
"A portal?"
"Yeah, portals were created to get magical beings here, maybe Mary or another queen, created a portal only she could control" Damon explained "put your head through" Damon adviced
"What!? Are you crazy?!" I whisper shouted
"You created the portal, it won't hurt you" Damon reminded me I hmmed, before putting my face close to the painting, I felt dumb until I saw it, a room, a wooden table with a chair, candles books papers an ink well, with quills, I removed my head
"It's a room" I told my mate, "there are books too, I'm thinking one of them belonged to Evangeline" I hoped, I stuck out my hand and my mate took it, I decided to go inside with my mate, I stepped through, but my hand was stuck, the hand that held Damons hand, I felt Damon kiss my hand then let go, my hand came through the portal, I guessed no one else was allowed in here no matter what, the wall on which the painting hung was full of shelves the shelves contained vials of different coloured liquid, red, yellow, blue, green. There were also jars, some were empty some contained odd things, one seemed to contain fur, the label read 'fur of a male warewolf' another read 'tears of a unicorn' I turned away from the shelf and walked to the desk, the books on the desk were all leather back books and each book had a name written on the front, Mary, Delores, Anne-Marie, Josephine, Agatha, Evangeline, I picked up Evangelines book and flicked through the pages
'To get rid of warts' I made a disgusted face another read 'to heal fatal wounds' I smiled this was her potion book, I found it, I decided to leave now, so with book in hand I walked towards the painting, I walked out but the book fell, inside the portal, I couldn't bring it out
"Damn it" I was frustrated
"What happened?" Damon asked I noticed that Pierre was back
"I found the book, but I can't bring it out" I told him, wanting to pull at my own hair, how am I supposed to learn if I can't even bring the books out? "I'm sorry Pierre, but it looks like I'm going to be visiting a lot, I have so much to learn" I told Pierre nearly in tears
"You know you are more than welcome to visit all the time, but you can take the painting with you" Pierre announced, I looked at him with a smile
"Really? You don't mind?" I asked him
"Of course not, the painting belongs to you anyway, Mary bought it with her when we first came here, Evangeline painted it, that was her house" Pierre explained pointing at the house in the painting and to show that it really was fine, Pierre walked over, and took down the painting off the wall, and handed it to me
"Thank-you" was all I could say as tears fell from my eyes, Damon gave me a sideway hug.
"Come, let's eat" Pierre offered, Damon took the painting off me and we walked out of the room, Pierre closed the door, and then tried to open it himself, happy that it doesn't open we walked to the dining hall, food was served and I ate slowly, my mind elsewhere, so much was going on in my head, I could hear Damon and Pierre talking but I couldn't hear what they were saying.
I was being shaken, Damon was shaking me
"You ok?" My mate asked to which I smiled and nodded
"We must head back now" I announced as we stood
"Do visit again Anastasia, it was lovely to see you again, as always" Pierre kissed my hand and I smiled promising to visit again.
We blinked to the hallway, removed our shoes and I saw near the front door, an invitation, a blue envelope with my name written in white cursive, I picked it up and followed Damon into the living room
"Where should we hang this?" He asked me talking about the painting
"You don't have to hang it up in here, it doesn't go with the decor, I'll put it somewhere where you don't have to see it" I told him, who wants an old painting like that in their modern home?
"Don't be silly, I love it, we will hang it up riiight here" he held it up on the wall near the window "yes it'll look perfect here" Damon put the painting down against the wall and left, I opened the envelope in my hand
'Anastasia you and Damon are invited to celebrate my five hundred and twenty-third birthday party on the seventh of March the party will go on all day, come whenever you like'
I smiled at that five hundred and twenty three, wow.
Damon came back, with a hook and a hammer, he winked at me as he walked past, I smiled in answer, he hammered the hook into the wall and hung up the painting, I walked over to him when he was done
"Perfect" he told me giving me a side hug
"Are you sure about this? You don't have to leave it up" I told him
"Hey I think it's perfect, I like it, and besides that is Evangelines house, I'll keep it right here" Damon kissed the top of my head and I nearly cried again
"There is still something I don't understand" I began to voice my thoughts "there are jars, of ingredients, there's paper, ink, books, how did they get into the painting, when I can't bring a book out?"
"Maybe there's a spell?" Damon suggested, I hmmed at that, I would have to read the books cover to cover to find this spell, and I couldn't wait to get started "I know what you're thinking, and no, you should eat something first Anastasia" I opened my mouth to argue but my mate stopped me "you didn't eat at king Pierre's castle you should eat something, please, for me" he kissed my hand was this classed as blackmail? I think so
"Fine" I rolled my eyes "but something small and fast" I suggested, so my mate and I walked to the kitchen and I decided to make sandwiches, we made a cucumber, tomato, and cheese sandwich, and I quickly ate with a glass of apple juice to wash it down
"I thought you said the only thing that goes well with sandwiches is blood?" My mate reminded me
"It does, but I don't have time" I laughed "I want to get started" I explained
"Well it just so happens that I need to feed" Damon whispered, I rolled my eyes at him his eyes weren't red, I could see no black veins, he was lying "ok truth is I just want to spend time with you, I go back to work tomorrow and you will have the whole day to be in there" he pointed in the general direction of where the painting was "please baby?" He asked
"You're right, I'm sorry, there's no rush" I told him as I hugged him
We decided to go out and walk around the coven, I walked us towards the council house,
"Your majesties, how lovely to see you" a woman greeted us just outside the council house, I nodded in acknowledgment and we walked past the council house and carried on walking soon we came to a bench overlooking the whole coven I sat down remembering the first time I sat here, Damon sat down beside me
"The first time I saw you sat here, you seemed so lost, so deep in thought" Damon told me "and I wanted to help you, I wanted to take all your problems and all your sadness and lock it all way, so that you'd always be happy" I started to cry, as Damon revealed this
"Thank-you Damon" I cried
"What for?" He shrugged
"For making me happy, when I'm with you I'm never sad, I forget every problem I have ever faced, when I'm with you I see nothing else but you" I told him honestly, we hugged and we kissed and I felt like the world was complete.