Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, and am making no money from the publication of this fan fiction.

Summary: If Aro had to choose between Sulpicia and Power, he would choose Power. And that was how it should be

THE WAY IT SHOULD BE

I love my mate, and I know that he loves me.

People have said otherwise, hinted that Aro is un-natural because he would sacrifice me to keep his position as ruler, but they do not know the truth. Aro would sacrifice me if it came to a choice between love and power… and that was how it should be.

When the Volturi coven first came to power, over Volterra (which Marcus still complains about, his Pagan roots rebelling about being a Christian Saint) and over the Vampire world, we inherited a world of chaos.

The Romanians cared only for power, but none of the responsibility that came with it. They let vampires range free, not caring who witnessed their feeding. They did not bother to lay down laws and restrictions, or would simply destroy a coven, not caring if they were innocent or guilty, as long as they had someone to punish. They would have allowed the Southern Wars to rage, not caring about the potential exposure.

They humans developed with the times, while most vampires do not. When someone protests that a single vampire is equal to one hundred humans, we counter with the argument of 'What happens when the humans number one hundred and two?'

Before, perhaps there would not have been a problem, with only the occasional human mob carrying torches to pose a threat, as they did when our dear friend Carlisle was changed. Now, they have weapons that can kill from a distance of miles, faster than a vampire could run or escape. They have people trained especially for covert operations, and ways to tell if a body is alive or dead, which nullifies at least one method of hiding, if we were discovered.

Our laws seem harsh, but they are for the protection of our kind.

The Southern Armies were given the opportunity to stop drawing attention while they fought for territory. The Romanians were put under House Arrest, as long as they promised not to stir up trouble. A video conference or quiet visit would have confirmed that Renesme (and what the poor child ever did to Bella to deserve a name like that…) was a damphir, not an Immortal Child, rather than forcing us to raise an army in order to match the one that the Cullens were assembling, and we departed in peace once the truth was known.

Though perhaps we should have had a word with Eleazar, first. We spared the sisters when it was clear that they had not known of their mother's crime, but someone needs to teach them that offering a 'tuppenny upright' or attempting to seduce you way out of trouble (especially when the attempted seducee is not interested and has a mate standing right there) is a bad thing.

You'd think they would have learned when Caius wanted to have them killed for trying it the first time around.

The Volturi rule with an iron fist, because if we did not, the world would fall into a thousand covens and nomads too busy fighting each other to fight the other threats, and we would become extinct.

Being sacrificed for the good of all is the risk that all rulers take. If a country is defeated in war, the ruler is killed, but the people survive. Anne Boleyn gave England a child, who would number amongst its greatest rulers, and allowed History to condemn her, because England of the time needed a male heir, and after all he had done to take her as wife and queen, Henry VIII could not cast her aside while she lived. She did not condemn Henry when she stood on the scaffold, but spoke in support of him.

After Didyme was killed, Marcus found the strength to live, keeping the triumvirate whole, because he could not let the sacrifice be in vain. Caius loves Athenodora with all of his being, and would never willingly give her up, but as a former general, a leader, he would remain if she predeceased him.

To keep our Coven in its place, to remain in power as law keepers and protectors, Aro would sacrifice any of us. He would grieve the rest of his existence, but he would do it.

Because I would make him.

As a human, I was the wife of a Roman Governor, and knew that my power was not in the leadership of men, but in the support I could provide behind the scenes, the appearance of a united front, taking care of the little details that the Governor could not.

Lady Sulpicia Volturi, wife of Aro, seldom left Volterra, so I was not well known enough to be set up as a gentler, more malleable alternative to the three Lords. I kept my ears open, corresponded with distant covens, and learned the details that people did not come running to Volterra to report.

I knew, and accepted, that if it ever became necessary, I would sacrifice myself for my husband's sake, because there is a price everything, and the price of power is sacrifice. If the choice came, I would die, because the world needed the Volturi in power, much more than it needed me alive.

And that is the way it should be.

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A/N: Probably a bit of a controversial piece, but the interview had me wondering, and a history debate on the wives of Henry VIII got this going. The bond between Vampire couples is supposed to be all-consuming, and if Marcus was really determined, he could have simply waited until everyone's back was turned, and set himself on fire.

In Breaking Dawn, Edward says that people don't see the Volturi as evil, because they enforce the laws, and keep the Vampire world safe from exposure. SM says that Sulpicia knows that if it came to a choice between her and power, Aro wouldn't choose her. In a situation like that, most sane women would leave, but the spouse of a powerful leader knows that there are times where duty comes first, and 'personal' isn't always the same as 'most important'.

Ask nicely, and I may do a companion piece on Aro or the others.

Anyway, constructive criticism is always appreciated. Flames, on the other hand, will be ignored, or possibly used to burn the small mountain of tissues that have been used up while I had the 'flu.

Thanks, Nat