Cherish

I follow behind Andrei as he leads me to the large dining room my father wants us to eat in tonight with Xander and Kade a couple steps behind me.

I voted against wearing a dress, instead opting for a pair of jeans and a dark long sleeved shirt that's long enough to cover my mark without needing to paste a shit load of makeup on my arm.

If the looks I'm getting are anything to go by on my way to the dining room, the fact that I'm not all dressed up is offending a lot of people.

Hmm. Well, I wasn't born to please others, so they can kiss my ass.

When we get to the dining room, every eye at the nearly full table turns my way. Since my father is already here the nasty looks are at a minimum, but that doesn't stop a few from glaring daggers at me.

I raise a brow at them until they look away and talk among themselves. Andrei leads me to a chair to the side of my father and pulls it out for me to sit. Once I'm seated he pushes my chair in then goes to stand at the wall with Kade and Xander.

One glimpse at all of their expressions shows that they didn't miss the dirty looks when we came in here because all three of them are scowling, looking extremely pissed.

"You didn't wear a dress," my father says, his voice dripping with amusement.

"I only wear dresses when I absolutely have to," I answer honestly. "I prefer jeans."

Someone scoffs at the other end of the table. "That's what happens when you bring a common, pathetic human into the kingdom," a female voice mutters quietly.

Though, not quietly enough because my father stands up, slamming his hands on the table, making everyone jump.

"What was that, Liese?"

"N-nothing, My Lord," she stutters.

I reach out and place my hand over my father's and subtly shake my head. It's really sad that in the short amount of time I've been here I'm used to it already.

He shoots her a glare that promises retribution if another word is said against me and she pales considerably before looking down at the empty space in front of her. He sits down, looking slightly mollified.

I look at my brothers across the table from me and give them a weak smile that they each return with a simple nod of the head.

Oh yeah. Totally feeling the love, here.

Two hours later dinners been served and everyone's finished eating. Well, everyone except for me. All of the negative feelings I'm feeling are making me dizzy and nauseated. I frown when I realize that the negative emotions aren't actually coming from me. They're coming from other people in the room.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Dago, my brother who's two years older than I am, asks when he pulls back from a conversation with our middle brother Forrest.

I shake my head. "I'm not feeling so great," I say quietly. "I think I'm going to go lay down."

My father nods, his expression full of concern. "Of course, get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."

I bob my head in an affirmative but the motion quickly makes the room spin faster and I let out a groan. I wait for the room to ease on the spinning before standing up slowly. Once I'm sure I can walk without falling on my face, I make my way to where the guys are standing. They each straighten off the wall, confusion and concern across all of their faces.

Kade steps up to me first and places a hand on my back, leading me out of the room.

"Is everything okay?" Andrei asks after we've exited the dining room and are a decent distance away. I stop walking and lean against the wall, slowly dragging myself to the floor. The nausea is gone, but the dizziness is still there a little.

Putting my head in between my knees, I take deep, even breaths. It takes a few minutes for the dizzy feeling to leave me but after it's gone I lift my head and lean it against the cool stone behind my head.

"I-I don't know what that was, but I don't ever want to feel that way ever again," I mumble, closing my eyes.

Xander crouches down beside me. "What are you talking about?"

I swallow hard. "I, um, I'm really not sure. I couldn't eat just because I was feeling so angry, disgusted, and just pissed off. It was making me nauseous and dizzy. The thing is, I'm pretty sure those weren't my feelings I was feeling. I was slightly annoyed at the bullshit, but I wasn't really angry." I pause, looking at each of the serious faces of the men in front of me. "Does that make sense?"

Kade tilts his head to the side. "Hmm, empathy could be one of your abilities. Now that they've been unlocked, your powers will slowly start to show themselves to you."

"Well it fucking sucks. Father Dear can take that shit right back," I gripe. "I can barely handle my own fucking emotions right now, let alone everyone else's."

Xander and Kade's lips quirk up and Andrei shakes his head. "You'll be able to put a blocker on the empathy once you learn how to control it. It's hard to control, but it is possible," Andrei says.

"Yeah? You have experience with it?" I ask.

"Not me, no. My sister is a strong empath and healer. Normally those two things go together, so there's a chance that you'll have healing of some form too."

I sigh. "Well the empathy can go to hell. Having all of those negative emotions beating at me? I can't handle that every time I'm expected to be in the same room with a bunch of people."

Xander snickers and stands, holding his hand out for me to take. "You'll get the hang of it. This is all still very new to you," he says.

I grab his hand and allow him to help me up. "I think I just want to go to bed for now," I mumble, feeling lethargy creeping in.

"You got it, princess," Xander says softly.