Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.
Before the storm
Jane had left Anna in Caius chambers, which apparently consisted of more than just his study and his personal library. In fact the room Jane had told her to wait was a huge bedroom. More than twice the size than the room she had stayed in before the vacation and she had already figured that one as humongous.
Slowly she walked over to the bed. It was made of dark oak like most of the furniture in the room. She let her fingers glide over the white duvet. Did he have that bed before? After all he didn't sleep. But then again he had been married and Alice had told her quite a bit of his... past. And of course it wasn't like she'd have any objections against sharing a bed with him. "Not anymore." she smiled dreamily reminiscing about the last time they'd shared a bed. "No, no objections at all."
There was a muffled noise from somewhere in the castle, like two rocks colliding.
Anna smirked. Whatever Aro and Marcus had told Caius he had lost his temper over it. She turned and continued to explore the room. It was neat, typically Caius, but every free space on tables or shelves was occupied by stacks of books.
As she went to examine one stack near the fireplace closer the door opened.
Appalled she whirled around to find Caius looking at her with a slightly amused expression. Not the kind of emotion she would have expected right now.
"Why are you looking at me like I caught you committing a crime?"
That made her grin. "Old habits die hard. The library?"
"Oh yes. I remember." He walked over to her. "But you don't have to worry about that anymore, love. As my mate my chambers are yours as well. You're free to go wherever you want. Except for the dungeons."
"Why not the dungeons? I'm a sucker for dark things."
"As if I hadn't noticed that." He smirked. "But it's too dangerous down there for you. Please promise me you won't go there."
"Okay. I promise." She took his hand in hers and examined his face. Although he seemed calm and relaxed she could see the anger still seething under the surface. "What did they tell you?"
"Nothing of importance."
"Don't lie to me Caius Volturi. I thought we were over that. You've lost it. I heard you, you know. What was it?"
"According to a witness the Cullens created an immortal child, which is forbidden by law since children pose a threat to expose our secret by their lack of control of their new abilities." he explained hesitantly.
"But that wasn't what agitated you, was it?"
"How do you know that? And aren't you upset about your friends breaking the law again?"
"Please, you regarded me as a liability when I first came here and it didn't anger you nearly as much as to make you feel like you have to demolish a wall. And according to the noise I've heard that's exactly what you did. And about the Cullens, I sleep a lot better since I accepted the fact that they're always extricate themselves from everything. I don't doubt that they'll get away with it again. They are every lawyers nightmare."
He just looked at her in amazement. He didn't even notice that she'd just indicated that he would lose against the Cullens again. "You will make a fine lawyer someday."
She beamed at him. "Thank you. So, what did they say?"
He tensed. "Aro did suggest that since you are on good terms with the Cullens they would surrender voluntarily in exchange for your life."
"He did WHAT?! He can't be serious! They would never fall for that. Never. And besides, don't you have anything to say in this?"
"I have." he admitted.
"You didn't...?" suddenly a part of her was unsure about his reaction to Aro's suggestion and she hated herself for it.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. "I told Aro that if he values having his head attached to the rest of his body he would be well advised not to as much as mention anything like this again." he said against her hair.
Anna's body was flooded with relief. "Of course you told him that in this exact manner."
She knew he was grinning a bit. "Of course." His voice went into a whisper. "I made a promise, my darling. And I intend to keep it."
"Wait, I thought I'm off the hook." Anna said crossing her arms in front of her.
Caius run a hand through his hair. He clearly wasn't pleased with what he just had told her either.
The last couple week had been very busy. After Irina's report the Volturi were preparing themselves for a confrontation with the Cullens and therefore they were gathering witnesses from all over the world. Caius had tried to explain the concept of the trial for a case like this to her but being a law student Anna had automatically questioned everything, especially the fact that they were even holding a trial in the first place since the guard, and most notably Caius, were clearly preparing themselves for battle. It hadn't been an easy discussion but in secret Caius had thoroughly enjoyed the fact that he finally had found someone who was genuinely interested in the matter and wasn't afraid to argue with him about it.
In the end a very frustrated Anna had told him to 'do whatever you think right' under the conditions to try not to kill her friends -she had him swear on that one- and to keep her out of it.
After that she hadn't really seen him very often. He'd been absent for a few days and when he came back he spent most of his time in the throne room. Anna had spent most of the days alone as Jane and the main guard were busy preparing for battle or were out to gather witnesses. But instead of dying of boredom she had decided to make the best out of the situation and so she had holed up in Caius library brooding over every book that contained vampire law determined to disburden the Cullens. But it was hopeless. No matter how one laid it out it didn't change the fact that if Irina's accusations were proven true the Cullens had committed a crime and would be sentenced to death for it.
This frustrated her beyond measures. In a last attempt to find a loophole she had taken some of the books to Caius' studies to go over it again. She had just started with the second book when Caius had come in, announcing that they needed to talk. He had looked rather disgruntled and now Anna understood why.
"Why does Aro want me to come too? I thought he had given up on his plan to blackmailing the Cullens?"
"For his sake I really hope he has." Caius gritted his teeth "But he said that the whole coven has to attend the trial and that includes his wife Sulpicia and, well, you."
"And what does Marcus say?"
"He thinks it is a good idea although I strongly suspect that he wants you with us so I won't lose my temper so easily. He values Carlisle."
"Yeah, as if." she eyed him. Something bothered him. She could see it in the way he avoided her eyes. With a tired smile she went over to him and pulled him into an embrace. "Hey, what is it dear?"
He returned the hug, burying his face in her hair for a moment inhaling deeply. Then he let go of her, putting one arm around her waist. With the other hand he caressed her cheek. "Do you know just how hard this is for me? All I want is to punish the Olympic coven for their trespassing but by doing so I would hurt you and I can't do that. I just can't." His voice was but a whisper.
Until now Anna hadn't realised how torn he was between executing the law and trying to protect her from being hurt. He wanted to do both but he couldn't. And it wore him down to know that in the end she would get hurt and he would be the reason for it.
Her thoughts went back to her first day of university. Her professor hat told them that one day they would be representing the law. And to do so wasn't always easy. Sometimes things would affect them personally. And even though that there were times they'd say 'I would have done the same' or 'I would have let this person go' they must always remember four words; Dura lex, sed lex. The law may be hard but it's the law.
She buried her face in the crook of Caius neck not wanting him to see that her eyes were wet. "I won't hate you if you have to kill them. It will hurt, yes. But I won't hate you for it."
"Thank you." he pressed his lips against her hair. "I know it isn't easy for you either. Thank you for trying. I love you my darling."
