THE POPE'S DAUGHTER

Chapter 17 - The Underground Library

Soon the dance was over and the banquet was finished. It was time for the guests to leave and the ball ended .

It was later in that night when everyone has already retired at their chambers. That night mark and Venezia were very much restless .

Mark kept thinking on how he can get back to her , and now that everything is finished there still might be some hope . He couldn't sleep, and his restless kept Venezia in his thought continuously. He just couldn't resist himself that night even after spending a whole banquet together and as always , his first thought was to make an escape.

Venezia was restless too , the thought of finding an escape to this situation bugged her to death. The fact that she couldn't do anything for mark in return didn't let her mind go to rest. After trying so much , how could she loose easily. That troubled her. Losing so easily , no she wasn't made to lose this easily. Atleast now she knew , she couldn't be Mark's at all , even after how much she wanted him , but she could provide him happiness. She could make his future bright , there should be someway she can make mark reach to Windsor. "Windsor , there must be a way to reach there , oh yes !" She spoke to herself while lying on her bed , straight and immediately got up in excitement.

Mark jumped from another wall after tying down his stallion aside and looked around. It was dark and he could barely see through the dark and huge walls of the cathedral but the moonlight was enough to let him see through the corridors. His eyes studied the corridors well enough in order to search for a way to get in but then got stuck at a women around around through the corridors , holding a candle stand.

She looked like a lost shadow running around , but she wasn't lost . She knew very well where she had to go. When mark looked closely , he noticed that it was Venezia's dark hair. She was just wearing a skirt of a corset and took nothing else to cover herself. "Oh Venezia what was the hurry?" He said to himself. He wasn't surprised though. He knew that she would've also been restless like him and was upto something twisted now. So , he decided not to bother her , instead he followed her secretly from behind.

It was quite dark underground the stairs when Mark entered behind Venezia. Not having a candle stand made him realise that it was a big mistake , still she didn't loose track of her. It was the library where she entered in. The huge dark and hidden library looked ages old to mark. He never would've imagined such a thing could exist.

Venezia searched around in hurry , keeping the candlestand on the table. She climbed up to the stairs and settled down on the platform , still searching around and panting heavily. Each second passing made her even more anxious. The amount of worry she was having made the scene even more unbearable for mark to look at in secret so , he showed up and called her out with a frown on his face . "Venezia!!!"

She tilted her head but weren't surprised to spot mark at the library , instead her anxiety overwhelmed her when she saw him. She turned away and started searching more frantically. "The map should be here only , I know it is here"

She spoke breathlessly.

Mark climbed up the stairs and she found the book she was looking for , she turned the pages in panic and marked reached upto her. He held his shoulder from one hand and pressed it to make her calm down.

"No I can make it to you , look I found the map" she looked at him in worry and panic and tried to show him the book.

"venezia , VENEZIA!!! Calm down"

Mark pressed her shoulder more strongly this time.

"Mark... Mark I-" she panicked more so and when she looked him , worrying about her , she slowly broked down.

She rested her hand back on his shoulder , and stared at the dark ceiling while tears slowly fell down sideways.

Mark held her close to him and comforted her for a while. His hands holded her arms down and he kissed her shoulder when she was finally silent after a while. She closed her eyes and More Tears rolled down sideways falling on his shoulder.

He titled his head a little and looked at her wet face. She was sweating and crying at the same time. He noticed. He moved her slowly and tasted her tears before falling , gesturing her to stop crying. She felt something. The feeling always pulled him whenever he was this close to her and no thought came in her mind.

She slowly opened her eyes half and her blurry vision can see his already wet lips.

Lips which were wet from her tears. She stared at them and the tension between them grew more and more until she could not resist it. They kissed each other , first slowly and then passionately.

He turned her around , and pulled her towards him. They kissed each other more passionately. It was a genuine desire that both avoided but could not resist now.

They stopped for a moment , catching breath but by touching thier forehead together , they did not want to let each other go away. So mark directed her down and Venezia followed along. He kissed her which made her lay on the ground.

This time she let her gaurd down. He continued kissing her from her lips , to her jawline , up until her neck. Thier finger locked and she could feel each inch of her body belonged to him. She was left breathless and pulled him up to face him. He stopped for a moment , looking into her eyes , lying on top of her .

They weren't happy , or satisfied. They were worried and angry. That was a warzone for both of them. For that one moment they felt , that nobody could come between them. Nobody would object ,or stop , or put restrictions. That is why they were unstoppable at that moment.

Mark gave up , he layed beside her . Side by side , both stared at the ceiling.

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After a while , both continuously staring at the ceiling , mark asked "why do you do this? Why do you put other's feelings in front of yours?" Tears welled down slowly sideways from his eyes now and he could feel the pain she felt , everytime she avoided him.

"I don't -" she replied , having a straight face. "I don't know , I've never cared so much before" her lips parted.

"Exactly..." mark replied.

But the she interrupted . "Always a scared loney child At the Vatican , Nobody knew me and I avoided everyone. My thoughts didn't match and I used to rebel sometimes. But then the sisters would harshly put me to discipline. They would tell me scary bizarre stories about what will happen if I rebel. I used to be very scared. I mean that what a child does right?"

Mark's face turned sideway at her in surprise. He never could've imagined what she has gone through more.

"Anyways!" She got up immediately and picked up the books up from the stairs.

"We have to get going..."

Mark got up in panic after her and when he saw her rush , turning pages again... "no Venezia , aha... you don't understand " his tone was low this time but then he spoke out loud in frustration

"YOU BELONG TO ME !"

She teared the map out of the book and shouted at him immediately

"I WAS NEVER YOURS !!!"

Endnote : hope you're loving the story till now , and the dialogues too . (' . .̫ . ')

Please vote and comment if you do !!