Disclaimer: Not mine! But if they were... I'd generously share Sulpicia lol lol lol
I don't know when I've become fond of her... it's probably cause my version of Sully(using endearment diminutives now... o.O)wasn't written before... and perhaps because her non-present character in the books gives me what to work with. So I keep my idea of her being somewhat similar to what Aro is trying to pull of: cold, calculating... actually I'm picturing her even better than him at this. While the cold calculating Aro is a façade that hides a rather deep, somewhat noble despite his greed for power, obsessive, passionate man... all together a very complicated and contradictory character, it is not a façade for Sulpicia, it's her nature. She is not emotional... she is loyal and fair, she is not shallow but emotions are just not her thing at all.
So now a confrontation with Jane... from my favourite POV(Jane's obviously, for she is so emotional and impulsive and wild and insecure and melodramatic all the way(insert "Oh, how could I ever live without him? Oh, does he love enough? Am I enough?" here) I can relate to her and I LOVE her, I do!):
I walked silently on the grey halls. My head still a mess…
I feared! I feared for him more than anything else… I didn't matter but him…. He was the reason for my whole existence. Life after him was unconceivable.
I was his, just like that! I belonged to him with every cell of my body, with every thought with every emotion. There was no way out of this, I knew.
And I feared, tremendously and passionately. I had known no other way to do things than passionately.
"Jane…" the soft melodious voice behind me should've made my blood froze in my veins, were I still human. But I wasn't so I tried to compose my usual mask of apathy and turn towards the blond apparition. My worst nightmare, in all her glorious, statuesque beauty, my rival…
"Mistress Sulpicia… can I help you?" I try to keep my tone polite and amiable. Oh, but I hated her, I hated and envied even her shadow. And feared with every fiber of my being that she could read on my face what I've been to up earlier.
Stupid Jane! How could she know?
Then why did I feel so uneasy…?
"I think we could drop the etiquette dearest… since you are sleeping with my husband…." She said nonchalantly and slightly… amused?!
She didn't want to rip my head off, she was finding it amusing. Of course she did! She must think I am ridiculous and pitiful, that I was nothing but amusement for Aro… has this occurred before? Have there been others he amused himself with?
I felt like breaking on the inside… could I have been so cruelly mislead, could he…? The simple thought made my head spin, I felt sick… if only a passing thought would do that to me… the realization of the fact would certainly kill me. I am sure I'll simply dissolve in my pain if…
No! No! Good Lord no!!
He loved me!
He loves me! He loves me! He loves me!
"Would you please compose yourself, dear? I'm not here to threaten…" she began so sweetly it made me even sicker.
"Mistress Sulpicia… I have no idea where you got the idea. I am beyond shocked." I say so convincingly I could've believed myself. Oh, you are such a skilled liar Jane, not only the whore of a married man…
"Wonderful skill, Jane!" she claps but she doesn't get in anyway furious. She still has that amused expression on her face. "I would've believed you, you know, if I didn't get this piece of information from my husband, himself."
"Aro… Aro told you…" my voice was barely a trembling whisper. Sobs threatened to erupt from my chest at any time. He was fooling me… oh, good God… why else would she be so at ease with this… how…?
"Aro and I… how do I put this Jane? We respect each other, we're partners." her words cut me like knives. I was nothing… I was nothing… my mind screamed at me but my stupid unbeating heart repeated my mantra for the past weeks.
He loves me! He loves me! He loves me!
"I am not having this discussion, Sulpicia!" I furiously hissed the words low enough to remain between the two of us.
"Jane, you'd better listen!" she was firm and serious. "I don't care what you do with Aro, as long as it doesn't threaten my position! Is that clear?"
"No, actually, it's not!" I was getting angry. "I have no idea what you are trying to tell me! I am not known for being subtle Sulpicia, or for taking hints, so do please tell me what the hell this is about!"
"Calm down Jane! I am not trying to fight or break you two apart." She waved her hand in indifferent dismissal. "Who am I to break mates apart from each other?"
"What did you just call us?" I managed to breathe out in shock. What in the world did she know and I didn't? Sure, I belonged to him; I knew that much but… mates? Sulpicia thought we were mates? Were we? Sure it would make sense this way but…
"Oh, come on Jane, you know how love works for our kind. It's the only unbreakable bond for vampires… the kind Chelsea can't touch, the kind that leads one to perdition when their half is lost. And it isn't in anybody's best interest for Aro to become a copy of Marcus…" she was serious and calm while a thousand emotions washed over me like a torrent.
"Certainly not!" I agreed still in shock.
"I am here to do what I do best Jane! Propose an alliance." She added coldly.
"Alliance?" Oh, Aro's manipulations and schemes were nothing compared to this… an alliance with your husband's mistress…
"Yes! Like I said you and Aro can do whatever you like… I honestly don not care to know of such things. But I will not have you threaten not this empire nor my reputation. I will not have my perfect life ruined by two emotional idiots. So you and Aro would rather keep this a secret, because if you don't… hell will break loose and I cannot guarantee what side I will be on. I will save my neck, child but I'd rather not have it come to that. I wish you two no harm… I find you slightly twisted but… who am I to judge?
Don not even begin to excuse yourself. If you tell me you're sorry, you're a hypocrite! If you actually feel sorry then you're stupid. And I believe you to be none!" her voice was cold and emotionless. She was negotiating… just like Aro did so many times. He never failed and I never thought anyone to be so cunning and talented at that. And here she stood… beautiful, glorious and totally untouched by emotion. I finally understood what Aro saw in her… Sulpicia was the perfect diplomat, cold, calculating and persuasive.
"Don't look at me that way, Jane… he was just like me before you came along." She smiled shrugging. "But I always felt it in him, beneath the perfect façade… the emotional torrent that was his sister. They were siblings after all… and he tried. The only difference is that she was at ease with her emotions… he's not. She embraced them while he tries to reason with them. And you cannot. "
"Have you no heart?" the words leave my lips before I could think and she laughs softly and I cover my mouth as if I could prevent other idiotic comments from escaping.
"A heart? Hmm, yes… maybe… who knows, Jane? "She ponders for a few moments. "Yes I do. If I hadn't I wouldn't have allowed this. I care for him Jane… I think… at some level… I don't love him. Why lie? None of us ever pretended things to be any other way." She smiled again absently. "I think I made my point Jane. If this goes public, Aro cannot expect any support from me… if something happens to Aro on account of his ridiculous love for you, I will personally dispose of you. So you would better keep that lying skill at high levels, alright?"
"Yes, Sulpicia." I agreed realizing the brutal truth of her pleas.
"Have a nice day, dear!" she smiles sweetly. "I believe my husband failed to explain my special talent…"
"Yes!" I admitted. The last thing I ever discussed with Aro was his wife.
"Reason and persuasion" she says calmly. "Don't worry, Jane, I cannot affect emotions… I cannot convince him to leave you, if that's what you fear." She laughed and walked away proudly, victorious.
I feared her. Not as a rival… she was not a rival, but she could become an enemy and I surely didn't want that reasoning monster against me and Aro. We'd stand no chance.
So alliance it shall be.