Felix

I was impressed by Emmett. As we went through procedures, he pointed out where he missed things when he was with the Cullens. I admired a man who was willing to acknowledge their mistakes and strive to do better. We covered relocation processing on the first day. Before we got into complicated matters I wanted him to know how to clean up after the Cullen's should there ever be the opportunity again.

Then, I walked him through all the records and we covered the Cullen's tracks moving away from Forks. Luckily training a vampire wasn't as long a process as training a human. Photographic memories were useful in our work. This was just one area where they came in handy.

By the end of the day, the Cullen's school and work records were all gone, Carlisle's patients were reassigned and the only person with electronic copies of their information was the lawyer who regularly did their fake identification. I saved him for last so I could watch as Emmett took care of him with a few keystrokes. They would be here for too long for the man to do him any more good.

While I was thinking about it I had Emmett create an electronic history for Bella and order her credit cards. She was Isabella Volturi and was twenty. She would appreciate the ability to go to the club after her newborn year was over. She had gone to school at a prestigious and somewhat pretentious high school and was a straight A student except for Italian which had dropped her GPA to a three-point nine.

Emmett seemed to enjoy the work and definitely took to it. I would reassure Demetri that I thought his placement would work out. I knew he was still unconvinced and only gave him the trial to keep Bella happy.

We were talking about their night of video games when we left the offices and Emmett had challenged me to a fight by the time we reached the stairs. I expected to find Bella in the training room with Jasper but she wasn't there. They weren't in the training room either. I gave up and pulled out my phone calling Jane to ascertain their location.

When she picked up I relaxed immediately.

"Where are you and Bella?" I asked.

"We're in the tower with the wives," Jane informed.

"How much longer will you be?" I asked hesitantly.

"Not long I expect. Bella's been rubbing her chest all afternoon."

"Keep her busy for another hour and a half or so?" I requested.

"You got it," Jane said and hung up.

"An hour and a half?" Emmett inquired.

"Want to help me pick out an engagement ring?" I smiled at the big guy's surprise.

"I'm glad you're making an honest woman of my little sister. Let's go." Emmett agreed.

On the way to the jewelers, Emmett talked about the way Bella had been when she was with Edward. "She was a quiet, meek, shy thing. She's really come out of her shell since meeting you. She seems more confident. More comfortable in her own skin. You're good for her. Keep it up."

The conversation made me happy. My mate was acting more herself in my presence and coming into her own strength. It made me proud. I would always be happy to watch her succeed and would help her along the path as much as I was able.

I picked a two-carat ruby surrounded by diamonds but Emmett stayed my hand. "Bella is a less is more kind of girl. Plus, she is a more active person. Go smaller but keep the style."

When he explained it like that, I had to agree. I went with the one-carat diamond surrounded ruby and I knew that I had picked the winner. It would match her beautiful eyes and sparkle like her crown. I purchased it and started thinking about how I would ask her.

We headed back to the castle and I looked at my watch. "We still have time to spar if we hurry," I informed Emmett and we made our way a little quicker.

Bella

The wives' tower was out of the way and very well guarded. I counted ten guards visible and I bet there were others. We were allowed to pass until we reached the door to their entertaining room. I was impressed with their security.

"Hello, I'm Corin. How can I help you, princess."

"I was hoping to speak with Sulpicia and Athenadora. I have not met them yet."

"Let me check with them and see if they are ready to entertain my lady. I will be only one moment." Corin said.

"Of course," I smiled. She was very good at her job. Jane and Jasper stayed back and let me talk. I looked back at Jane and smiled. Perhaps I was getting the hang of this princess thing.

We waited patiently, I was a little nervous, but I breathed deeply and calmed myself.

"They will see you now." Corin said as she exited the room "Please come with me."

Athenadora and Sulpicia sat on matching chairs. One was a raven-haired beauty and the other was a golden-haired goddess. We walked in and Jane and Jasper bowed. I followed their lead and the dark-haired beauty smiled.

"Not you child," she said to me. "You bow to no one princess. I am Athenadora. You can call me Dora. We are going to be great friends, I can tell. Please come sit with us. We get so few visitors." I sat in a chair opposite them while Corin made herself at home standing between the queens.

"I am Sulpicia please relax and be welcome. I have heard about you from both Aro and Caius when they visited. They love you very much. Will you tell us your story? We hear new stories so rarely up here."

I started to talk and they listened to my tale with such rapt attention that I didn't feel self-conscious talking so much. When I finished they looked at each other with surprise.

"And when is the wedding?" Dora asked.

"He told me while I was changing that he wanted to marry me but he hasn't asked me yet. Hopefully, he'll ask soon." I admitted.

We talked about their lives which seemed very sheltered to me but they seemed very happy with their fate. I made up my mind to visit them frequently with tales from the guard and our judgments. Perhaps they would like new stories.

"Your Felix sounds incredible," Sulpicia said. "He's a lucky man."

"Thank you. I'm so glad I came to meet you I think we're going to be great friends too." They both smiled at me with genuine happiness.

I told them about upsetting Felix by hugging Demetri and they both laughed at our antics. I was finishing the story when Jane's phone rang.

When she hung up she said, "We only have another hour or so till you need to be back, Bella."

"Okay," I agreed.

"We should set up a shopping trip sometime," Dora suggested.

"I'd love to," I agreed as Jasper suppressed a grin. I admitted, "One of the Cullens, her name is Alice, Jasper's mate, she's taken the position as my personal shopper while I'm a newborn. But I have more control every day. I'll let you know when I can handle it."

We were chatting like old friends by the time my visit was over. Corin bowed us out when my time with them was over and I planned to return soon with more tales to tell.

I was so excited to see my Felix that I rushed our way back to our apartment. He wasn't there. Then I heard laughter coming from the training room and found Felix and Emmett in there having a sparring match. I watched, admiring my mate's deadly grace for a few minutes until he had Emmett in a headlock. Felix looked up, saw me there, and let Emmett go, walking over to me. I ran to him and jumped into his arms, kissing him all over his face. He kissed my forehead and put me down.

"Did you two have enough time to play? I can sit over here and give you time for another match." I asked.

"I need to be getting back to Rose and see how her first day went," Emmett admitted and waved as he left.

Felix asked about the queens and we talked about my visit all the way back to our rooms. As the door closed I realized that I was emotionally spent. I wanted to relax with Felix for the night. It was like he could read my mind, he took my hand in his and led me to the couch. Then he went and turned on some music. He asked me how my training had gone and I admitted I felt inadequate in the training room and was nervous about actually hitting someone. He promised to talk about my training program with Jasper and see what I needed to work on. After that, he sat with me and I curled up on his lap, inhaling his scent and just relaxing, enjoying each other's touch.

Eventually, we made love slowly, passionately. We spent the night wrapped in each other's touch and taste and scent. It was perfection.

Demetri

The afternoon passed in flashes. Alice schooled me how to take advantage of her gift. Surprisingly, she also educated me on how to get around it. We decided that her schedule would be more fluid. That when I didn't need her services she would work with the investment brokers in the evenings growing the size of our bank accounts and would be on call to help the kings in case of emergency or difficult judgment. I felt a lot more comfortable with her at the end of our session. She really is a nice lady, once she stops talking fashion advice. I chuckled at the memory of her dragging Alec out to shop for Bella.

The rest of the evening was filled with the tedium of managing the guard and reading all the reports that had come in. I needed to send someone to check on the Romanians. They usually started trouble every decade or so and it paid to be ready far, far ahead of time.

When I finished the piles of folders that had been accumulating on my desk it was already ten pm and I headed up to the recreation room to see who all was there. I felt like a few glasses of wine this evening. A card game might be nice too. I'd see if Alec and Felix wanted to join. Then I remembered Felix now had a mate and nixed that idea. I'd see if Alec, Jasper, and Alton wanted to play.

I tried not to be but I was envious of Felix now. It wasn't that I wanted Bella. She wouldn't suit me, I didn't think. Even if she didn't belong to Felix, she wouldn't be mine. But I wanted someone to share the nights with. I wanted someone to hold and tell my secrets to, not that you could keep a secret in the palace, but still. I wondered if someday my mate would walk through those doors. I would keep hoping.

I forced my thoughts back on a card game and away from melancholy. Cards would be perfect to play tonight. Alec was ready to play. Jasper wasn't able but Alton was. I had my wine and Alton shuffled the deck and dealt the cards. We played into the morning. I won. It wasn't a very profitable night but it was a lot of fun and that was the point.

Morning found me back in the training room sparring with Jasper, who was waiting for Felix to drop Bella off. He'd already brought me up to speed with Bella's activities and training, and though I hated to admit it I might be hard-pressed to beat him if he was really determined to win a sparring match. But for sparring, he was a really good partner for me. I got more of a workout than I'd had in a good three hundred and fifty years. I made a mental note to spar with Jasper more seriously one day.

Felix and Jane brought Bella to the training room a little late but we hadn't started yet, so I didn't say anything. Bella went promptly to Jasper and started working on a hip toss and I started training with everyone else while Felix went back down to the offices to train Emmett.

I heard Jasper say, "You can't be afraid to hurt me, Bella, let's try again."

Everyone else seemed to be having a lazy day just doing the minimum necessary to get by. I thought about it for a minute and decided to change the exercise to challenge them a little more. The first thing I needed to do was take part in the training so someone had to fight me, and next, they needed to stop holding back.

"Everyone stop," I called and chuckled as Jasper got through Bella's guard. "Okay. Multiple opponents, no gifts. Everyone can take me on first." I heard good-natured moans and groans but everyone perked up. Jasper stopped Bella and had her watching.

"Ready, Begin" I called and training started for the day.