.:supra leges:.
"There is a…visitor here," Aro tells Sulpicia one morning. "We will be receiving him in the throne room. Will you attend?"
She smiles knowingly. Visitor is the polite synonym for condemned prisoner, and she remembers the march of Felix's heavy steps, dragging the unlucky soul across the marble of the entrance hall.
"I will be there," she agrees. "Must I wear a cloak?" She dislikes the inky darkness of cloth enveloping her in high summer, but there is a certain air of the untouchable lent by the smooth fabric.
"No, love, of course not. This is a private affair."
Sulpicia loops her arm through his and listens as Aro lists the law-breaker's transgressions. The man transformed a woman, who proved to be an unpredictable newborn. In mid-afternoon, she killed a human in full view of Rome's main forum.
It is a crime of oversight, a common, petty thing.
-
Aro sits in the middle throne, and Sulpicia stands behind him, a beautiful shadow. She understands the necessity of this placement; there is no value in flaunting a leader's emotional ties. In a quick movement, Aro reaches back and catches her hand in his, then places her palm on his shoulder, an obvious mark of tenderness. Caught off-guard for a moment, she comprehends the subtle imagery of the gesture. There is something terrifying about watching your judge and executioner play with his lover's fingers as he decides your fate, and Aro is fully aware of that.
"He won't do it again. Spare him," Didyme says softly, her voice shimmering and distant as the stars.
Marcus nods, because Didyme's opinions are his laws.
"This idiot unleashed a newborn into a city of a hundred thousand superstitious, panicked humans. Death is the only adequate punishment for such carelessness," Caius says coolly, not sparing a glimpse at either the accused or his sentimental brother.
Sulpicia remembers Caius' explanation that there are only three causes of crime: ill will, good intentions and terminal stupidity. This man's misdemeanor strikes her as the latter, which assures a repetition of past mistakes. "I agree with Caius," she says in a whisper, because condemnation frightens the sweet girl that still holds a corner of her thoughts.
Aro brushes a kiss over her knuckles and purrs, "You read my mind, Sulpicia." A slight incline of his head, and the man forced to his knees is ripped apart and burned in instants.
When the acrid smell has faded, Aro glances at his mate and says, "You are quite insightful, dear one. Your vote would be valued, if you should choose to attend future judgments."
Sulpicia looks at Marcus briefly, and decides that he is so enthralled with his love and ideology that he would not care who ruled beside him, while Caius likes her enough to raise no objections.
Aro…Aro is dangerous. She knows that her novelty is not eternal, and the thought of a rival (just as vicious, intelligent, seductive) will only trouble her mate. She shows her most brilliant smile, and turns down the offer.
Author's Note: The title of this drabble translates to 'above the law'. It is part of the motto carved around the Volturi throne room in the New Moon movie, which was a very nice touch that made my inner Latin nerd gleeful.
This drabble hints at some of Sulpicia's reasons for avoiding public leadership; she has quite a strong understanding of Aro, coupled with necessary self-preservation.