Chapter Two
Bella
Lions don't lose sleep over the opinions of sheep
I wore the dress that Alice predicted to amuse her, but it was a lovely design. Not too low cut, but it hung off the shoulders and would be eloquent enough for the purpose of the meeting. Heidi had curled my hair into perfect ringlets that would gather at my back, then a jewel encrusted pin that Aro had gifted to me on my birthday.
I hung my Volturi pendant, a valiant and smaller replica of Aro's, around my neck and made sure that it hung right.
After the scheduled dress fitting, which was very much unneeded at this point, Heidi locked up my wedding dress in her wardrobe and slipped the key into the pocket of her stylish pantsuit. "Don't worry; no one's going to get even a peak at this dress." Heidi swore.
"I don't understand why he had to go and call it a meeting. He's going to scare someone wrong, one day." I muttered and applied a coat of lipstick under Heidi's critical eye.
"Well, Master Aro has always been a fan of the dramatics."
When we finished getting ready we hurried into the adjourned throne room where fifty or so guests, including the guard, were gathered in wait for me. The doors remained closed for the announcement and I took an unnecessary breath to steady myself for the reveal, listening to the voices inside.
"Do we get to know the nature of our visit?" asked an unfamiliar voice, heavily accented.
"Or why you are smiling like a Cheshire cat?" hissed another, one that I was quick to identify.
"I think that was Edward Cullen." Heidi rolled her eyes hard and groaned.
"Ugh, he's here."
"What's wrong with him?" I asked, keeping my voice low as if it made a difference.
"He's a mind reader; Aro's been trying to recruit him for decades." Heidi shook her head, her dewdrop earrings quivering as she did so. "It's just not right, peaking into someone else's private thoughts." I hid my cringe and sighed.
"I don't think he can help it, Heidi."
"Still," Heidi said, seeming irate. "He's rude. He's rude to everyone. That's why everyone thinks he's such a wanker." Frowning, I turned my attention back to the conversation inside.
"Why are you guarding your thoughts from me?" Edward again.
"He's going to cause a bloody uprising in a minute." Heidi scoffed and tried to meet my eye. "Told you he's rude."
Aro's voice rang out, loud and clear, "I have brought you all hear with great news to share." Aro paused for a moment. "I wanted to present, my mate and fiancée, Bella Swan."
On cue, the double door drew opened and I stood tall as all vampires turned, acknowledging the newcomer entering the ballroom. Demetri fell in step on my left flank as Heidi remained close to my right, creating the allusion of bodyguards as I carried myself through the crowd, towards my fiancé.
Aro was standing on the dais in a black Armani suit, his long hair free around his shoulders and his gentle smile apparent on his features. I got a little thrill feeling everyone's eyes on me as I floated through the crowd, proud and tall and dangerous. All eyes—red and gold—were on me, but Aro's gaze was the only one I met.
Under the barrage of stares, I was also met with clippings of thoughts.
"—she's lovely."
"A true lady, like the noblewomen from the old days."
"A queen? They give us a queen?"
"We came across country for a wedding?"
And then: "Fool."
My gaze wavered from Aro's for a moment as the insult struck me. I was used to banter and the occasional unkind thought. I knew that within the guard that emotional attachments of like were hardly necessary, but respect was demanded.
I had earned the respect of the guard, as a gifted vampire and a fighter. After a millisecond, I realized that the voice had not come from a guard, like I had originally thought, but a guest, a Cullen.
My gaze fell to Edward and the moment our eyes locked, I watched something dark settling in those honey eyes of his. That moment I knew, he had been the one. He stared me down, eyes heated and jaw clenched and I tore my gaze away.
Lions and sheep, I thought, momentarily lifting the shield and did not look, but imagined the shock that played across his features as I continued my march towards the dais to join Aro. I took his outstretched hand, standing beside him and leaned up to kiss him, gently on the mouth. I am happy. Aro squeezed my hand in response and stepped back to smile as the throne room reigned into thunderous applause. I love you.
The Denali coven were not the first to come up to greet and congratulate us, but they were the only other coven I met with eyes like the Cullens'. They were, in fact, friends with the Cullen clan, posing as distant family on occasion for humans.
Their leader, Eleazer, had been very keen on my abilities, as that was his power, the ability to decipher which vampire would be gifted and what they would be gifted with. "You have a remarkable shield; I have never seen one like it before." He said with some marvel and a charming smile. "You're able to extend it over everyone in the room?"
I was currently maintaining the shield with the same amount of effort it took for someone to keep the tips of their fingers together.
"Of course." I nodded and watched as his eyes narrowed a little.
"And you can tamper with other shields too, I see, like a mind reader can."
Aro took him aside to speak with him and for the first time that night, I was alone, but quietly surrounded by member of the Denali and Cullen covens. The mass of vampires had adjoined to the ballroom in order to better fit everyone after the announcement. Here there was a formal dancefloor set up with music and fountains of blood set up on either side of the room: one animal, one human.
"How long have you been a vampire?" asked Carmen, Eleazer's mate.
"Oh, ten years this December."
"And how long have you been with the Volturi?" Rosalie, the blonde one from the Cullen clan, asked. She looked as skeptical as Edward did, skulking about, but she, at least, had her mate to keep her company. He was a teddy-bear of a man, little or less with the same body build as Felix.
"The same amount of time, Aro was the one who changed me when I was human." The questions petered out into idleness as we exchanged stories and like about out turnings and mates. When it was my turn, I felt embarrass to confess, a much more tamed story than the others.
"Aro and I met when I was traveling in New York with my mother. I was eighteen and, I don't know, the moment I was him, something about him just kind of clicked for me."
Had I known them better I would have given them more details about my mother finding out about my torrid affair with an older, assumedly married, man. The months of anguish and pining and letters and late night visits, before I was sent to live in Forks, Washington, with my father to be sent away from him. Not that it had done any good.
Later on in the evening, I found Aro with Carlisle and Edward in deep conversation. I was hesitant to approach the bronzed Adonis, but regardless, we needed to circulate the room with everyone this evening. Aro smiled when I approached, wrapping around my waist. "Carlisle, I believe you met my bride-to-be earlier."
"That I did." Carlisle took my hand in his own. "I am so happy for you, for the both of you, after all this time it seems you have finally found someone to share your life with." I caught Edward's dejected expression and, for his sake, hoped Aro had not noticed. From the way he allowed Carlisle to carry on, he was pleasantly oblivious to his blatancy.
"—and after a few years in Alaska, we thought we would move back to the Olympic Peninsula. Esme and I have been renovating a house in Forks. It's a small town, quiet, in need of a doctor."
"Forks? Forks, Washington?" I asked, voice keying up a little at the end in my own excitement. "I'm from there."
"Really?" Carlisle nodded.
"Born and partially raised," I added. "I was sort of between houses a lot when I was a teenager. Forks was the last place I lived before I came to stay in Italy."
"Small world." Carlisle mused.
"Do you have any family there?" Edward questioned and I watched the sharp looks that followed up to it. It seemed that, human family was not a high topic of conversation. To be honest, I had put all thoughts of Charlie and Renee out of my mind for the last ten years.
I had wanted to reach out, during my newborn year, my mind reeling with memories and daymares galore. There had been so much change jammed into one little year: meeting Aro, moving to Italy, becoming a vampire, training in combat, adapting to a new etiquette and language. There had been a part of me, young and pliable, that had longed for the warmth of my parents. I wanted something familiar, I wanted to be just Bella Swan again—not human—just Bella with no title or status.
But, I could not go home. I was dead to them, probably quiet literally.
"I haven't thought of it." I lied and tried to make my voice as even as possible.
Carlisle and Aro worked to change the topic to anything else while I met Edward's glaring eyes.
He was staying in my old suite.
After the party had been closed with a final dance and jeering laughter, Aro and his brothers stepped aside to talk. I, on the other hand, demanded to see the listing of the Cullens' housing arrangements and found that Edward had my old bedroom. I quickly cut through the corridors under my velvet cloak, trying to maintain anonymous status.
I wanted to confront him, demand to know what his problem was, and I was determined not to leave until I got answers.
Before I could knock at the door, Edward answered it, his expression confused and his suit from tonight falling open to his reveal a creaseless button up. "Bella," He said, looking confused for a moment, but it was quelled under my heated glare.
"Have I offended you in anyway?"
I watched the confusion toil across Edward's features and then he answered, a short, clipped, "No." He composed himself, letting the door to the room fall open. "No, you have not." My gaze flickered behind him.
I noted that the bed had been joined by a mattress and lush bedding with an expensive duvet and a thousand pillows. It was a waste for those who could not sleep, but quite comforting when someone wanted to relax in an actual bed.
"Was there something I could help you with?" Edward asked acid in his tone.
"Yes," I snarled, feeling the foreign heat of anger rising within me. "I want to know what your problem is with me."
"My problem?"
"Yes."
"I have no qualms with you, Isabella." Edward said, slowly and I felt my teeth grind down.
"This is not high school, Edward. I would like it if we could settle this as adults. Tell me what ever great offence I have created against you, so that I can apologize or—"
"Apologize? Why would you apologize?"
"Maybe you did not realize, but this is my wedding next week and I would very much like it if I was on good terms with all of my guests. Besides, your family is favorite guests of Aro and I would like to get to know you." Edward stiffened at this. "I am extending an olive branch and asking for peace."
Edward was quiet for a long moment, eyes darting to the pendant at my throat and then my eyes again.
"You made it quiet."
"Excuse me?"
"You can extend your shield and block everyone's thoughts from me. I don't remember ever being in a crowd of people and it ever being this quiet before I became a vampire. I don't think I knew how to really react."
"I'm sorry?"
"No, thank you." Edward shook his head. "It was . . . wonderful to finally get some silence."
"You're welcome then." I smiled, rage deflating. "So, are we calling a truce?"
"I suppose so." Edward nodded, mouth turning up into a crooked smirk. "And I do appreciate the room change, thank you."
"It was my old suite when I was human. I haven't had much use for it since."
"It's a wonderful view."
"Yes, it is." I said, letting the silence lull between us before pulling up my hood again. "I need to go now, thank you for speaking with me." Catching my skirts and cloak in my hands, I made my way back down the long corridor, passing other guests as I went, but kept my hood low.
—queenchesh, 1/5/16