Three visions awaited, faces unreadable. One ethereal, one severe, one lovely. It had not been what Bella had been expecting as she'd trudged through tunnel after tunnel; though, in retrospect, she wasn't entirely certain that she'd expected this quantity of spelunking, either. She couldn't help the blood rushing to her cheeks - she tried to tell herself it was just exertion, but an undercurrent of her couldn't help but think: But you, O blessed one, smiled in your deathless face.
The ethereal one was in the middle of the trio - sitting centre stage, eyes drawn towards her like moths to a flame. She was honey-haired, and golden. She looked at them with interest as they entered, covered in a red-violet - what Bella could only consider to be a - gown. She looked picture perfect, like a doll. Except for the eyes.
To her right sat the severe one, blonde, too, but like ice. Pale and sharp. Her eyes made Bella think of marksmen and laser sights. She was cool steel to the other's honeyed spice. Bella wouldn't particularly pride herself on her ability to read people but she could feel the blonde's inorexible aura from her place halfway across the domed room. She wore high contrast - a white shirt buttoned to a high collar tucked into wide legged midnight black trousers. Bella looked at her and thought: weapon.
The lovely sat on the furthest left. She had a face like coming home; tanned and dark haired. Her hair fell in tight, wild curls around her shoulders, shiny and soft. Everything about her oozed warmth and honey, down to the bright silk she wore. There was something special about her, and Bella could spot it from across the room, something warm and cosy leeching off her like heat into an otherwise cold room.
As they approached the middle of the domed room, Bella looked over the trio of women, before glancing at Edward, as if he would somehow be able to answer all of her questions with nothing more than a look, but they were far too complex for that. They stopped walking, and Bella nervously looked to him again - partly for the reassurance and mostly out of her building sense of dread.
The ethereal one rose from her seat, approaching Edward and Bella. Bella looked between the blonde and the bronze. She let out a breath as she felt a sudden cold wrapped around her wrist, and then her body was yanked behind Edward. His grip on her wrist was a little too rough, and she rubbed over the tender area as soon as he let go. She peered out from around him, at the blonde woman in the centre of the room, looking commanding and regal, despite her short height.
"Edward," said she, sounding exceedingly pleasant but still full of threat, her accent difficult to place, "I did counsel you that your intentions were hasty."
"So you did, Sulpicia," Edward replied, his voice terse.
"Am I not wise? How magnificent it is that Isabella is alive and well!"
The blonde - Sulpicia, apparently - clapped her hands together once, a happy smile on her face, which soon dropped into cool indifference. Her entire demeanour seemed to shift from warm fire to cold ice; Bella couldn't say it didn't suit her, in the woman-in-charge kind of way - luxurious woman, ruinous god.
"Of course this presents some issues, doesn't it, Athenodora?"
Bella watched as the woman - more icicle than person, she was sure - shifted slightly as the room's attention shifted onto her. Her face did not move from its stony mask, impossible to read.
She spoke in a voice that made Bella shiver, and think of cold, sharp steel: "It does."
Athenodora's red eyes locked onto Bella, even through Edward's body. Bella shuddered, and tried hard not to think about all the death those eyes represented - how hers wouldn't be anything special.
Edward, unnecessarily, cleared his throat. "I don't see how," he said, with all the recklessness of eternal youth, "I wasn't actually exposed. Sulpicia, you were right, and I'm more than willing to accept it, and be thankful you didn't accept my request."
"You know better than this, Edward. I know you do," Sulpicia sounded like a chiding parent, overly fond and patient. "That's not currently the issue, is it?"
"I won't let it happen to her! Not to her!"
"Then you already know my response. Would you rather her alive, or not?"
"It's no life that I'd be sentencing her to."
"So you choose definite death over the blessings of immortality. Interesting."
"I'd choose it over damnation."
"Damnation?" Sulpicia looked delighted at that revelation. Her hands clasped together like a child. "Even more interesting!"
"You would take delight in my moral quandaries."
Sulpicia looked as close to rolling her eyes as was physically possible without actually doing so. "Really?" she asked, rather blandly.
The final of the trio spoke up. "I think it's romantic," she said, honey-voiced. "Though," she added, a little more playfully, "isn't it usually the hero sacrificing himself for the heroine? Not sacrificing the heroine herself."
A flicker of a smile crossed over Athenodora's face, and it lit it up in a way that resembled marble statues and goddesses of war.
Sulpicia herself was less shy of hiding her smile. "Quite the romantic you are, Didyme," she said, her fondness sounding genuine this time.
"I merely appreciate a good story," apparently-Didyme replied.
"Don't we all," Sulpicia hummed, as though they were discussing something other than Bella's imminent death. I was definitely right, she thought, my death is nothing special to these. "Edward, however, I must say - I can't imagine Carlisle neglected your education on the ways of our world, not with how long he spent here. I don't believe you're ignorant, and that must mean you're playing games with me. I don't like that. I don't appreciate that." There was a sharpness to her words again, and it still seemed like a perfect match and ill-suited all at once. "You may be Carlisle's exception but you are not ours."
Bella shrunk back behind Edward, who seemed to glower at Sulpicia - the behaviour of a child coddled by their father figure and fully believing that's just the way the world was.
"You - you can't just- who will she tell?"
"That doesn't matter. Her knowledge is an infringement of the law in and of itself, not only on the contingency she tells somebody." Sulpicia paused for a moment, considering, calculating. "I will allow Carlisle to be present for these dealings, considering our amicable relationship, but this is on one caveat: Isabella must remain here. I will not tolerate any risk, and it is clear that your coven has infringed the law and thus requires a trial. The chance of Isabella revealing our truths to others, while you may posit is zero, is still too high for her to return with you."
"No!" The word ripped out of Edward, violent and incredibly fearful. Bella couldn't help but wonder if it was something in Sulpicia's thoughts which made him react so.
"I'm being incredibly lenient, because of my goodwill," Sulpicia said, with a shark's smile. Bella couldn't decide if she suited the softness or the sharpness more, but it was clear the other woman oscillated between them with practiced ease. Bella found herself wanting to know her true face, the same way you wanted to know who the murderer was. So much it was consuming, so much it was bad for you.
"You… you're plotting!" Edward struggled to find the right words and drag them out of his chest, and Bella couldn't help but press against his back - she wasn't sure what on earth was going on, all she was aware of was that Edward - regardless of how long he'd left her for - was synonymous with safety.
"We will not stand for insolence," Athenodora's sharp, gunmetal voice cut through the air with a practiced precision. Her aura was of dutiful competence, and efficient confidence. It was clear, even to Bella, that she was a person exceedingly used to being obeyed.
"Athenodora is correct," Sulpicia said, "we are not here to negotiate. As we say is as it will be done. Are we clear?"
Edward swallowed unnecessarily, and rather regretfully, muttered, "...yes." He turned his head to look behind him at Bella, who met his gaze. They exchanged a look, a look of love, and concern, and eternal devotion. Bella grabbed onto the fabric of the hooded cape covering his frame, so hard that she watched her knuckles as they turned white.
"Excellent," said Sulpicia, much more jovially. "Isabella, I'll have someone show you to where you'll be staying."
"Wait," Bella said, finding her voice throughout the fear freezing her blood, "I can't! I can't stay here! What about my family, my friends-"
"I'm sure the Cullen coven will come up with a suitable reason for your absence," Didyme said, delicately cutting Bella off. "Felix, do show Bella to a guest chamber," she instructed, waving her hand to Felix.
Felix stepped towards Bella, holding his hands behind his back as he waited expectantly. Bella looked to Edward rather than making any move to follow the stranger, her face scrunched together in a mix of confusion and anxiety. Her blood felt somehow frozen and practically caffeinated. All of her muscles felt tense, ready to make a run for it.
"It'll be alright," Edward said after a little bit of hesitation, his jaw tense. "It's what needs to be done."
Bella reluctantly moved towards Felix, looking over her shoulder to Edward as she was led out of the room. Her footfalls were heavy compared to the surprisingly light-footed vampire. They left the vaulted chamber, into more of the same hallway they'd already been travelling through to get to the anteroom. Bella looked around, trying to take in every detail other than the imposing figure showing her where to go. Her heart refused to slow, her hands shaking enough that she balled them into tight fists.
"Do you think I'm going to eat you?" Asked Felix with a trademarked smirk and a strange accent, walking a little faster than Bella found comfortable.
"I- I- what?"
"Because I won't," he continued, as if Bella wasn't the dictionary definition of confused. "Not after I've been told not to. So you don't need to worry about that."
"Uh, right," Bella said, rubbing the back of her neck as she felt a blush flush through her body, still walking. He seemed …. nice, at least. Nice for a human eating vampire, that was. "Can… can I ask you what's going to happen to me?"
Felix reached the room, her room, she supposed, and opened the door, gesturing inside. "I… suppose I can take some time to clarify things for your ease of mind," he said, as Bella moved into the bedroom and he followed in after her after a little pause.
Bella looked around the room; it was ornate, gilded - the bed had a carefully wrought headboard, the chair was covered in lush fabric, the furniture all crafted out of a dark wood, with intricately carved details. She took a seat on the edge of the bed, hands brushing over the lush fabric. She looked at Felix, looming above her, and her eyes flickered to the chair. He took the hint, and took a seat.
"Now, little human," he said, intoning the phrase as though it was a term of endearment and not a slightly alarming thing to hear. "Begin your questioning."
Bella sighed and chewed her lower lip, she smoothed a hand over her damp jeans and looked over Felix. "Okay," she said, "I.. thank you for doing this. But what's happening? Why am I staying here? Where's Edward going? I don't understand."
"Many questions," Felix commented lightly, even though he was a bit too still for Bella to feel entirely at ease with him. "I'll do my best to explain. Are you aware that your knowledge of us is against our laws?"
"Yes, but, but nobody told me! I figured it out by myself! It's nobody's fault!"
"I never said it was anybody's fault, little human, just that you know and that is illegal. It doesn't matter if you found it yourself or if somebody told you. You still know."
"I- I suppose that makes sense," Bella admitted reluctantly.
"It does," said Felix, with an abundance of assuredness. "And because of that the Cullens must come here in order for an, an," he paused a moment, trying to pluck the right word from his brain, "inquiry, I suppose."
"I still don't understand why I couldn't have gone with Edward," Bella said, barely able to bring herself to make eye contact, instead she methodically pulled at a loose thread on her t-shirt, keeping her hands busy. It was easier to focus on that than to let her mind wander into how messed up of a situation she was in. She bit the inside of her cheek, trying to centre herself once again. Anything and everything she could do to stop herself from panicking seemed like a good idea to her right now.
"As upsetting as a phrase as I'm sure this will be, little human," Felix said, as though 'little human' was itself not an upsetting phrase, "you are a guarantee."
"A … guarantee?"
"It is the best way I have to describe it," he said, "to make sure they will actually come back and not have us have to chase them halfway across the globe. And, obviously, to ensure that you can't tell anyone."
"But I wouldn't tell anyone!" Bella protested.
"Regardless, that is just your word," Felix said, placatingly. "And we cannot run even the slightest risk of that happening." Felix let out a low sigh, a startlingly human action from a noticeably inhuman man. "You must surely understand the nature of our secrecy, and its importance."
"I-I mean, Edward mentioned it a little. That, y'know, the only law there really is is to keep everything secret," Bella admitted, feeling like this was something she should keep close to her chest, but she was tired and confused, and everything came spilling out of her. It was too late to keep it bottled up and held to her chest, nice and safe. "But I disagree that I'm somehow inherently more untrustworthy because I'm human."
"That is… absolutely not what I'm saying. How do you say?" He paused, thinking. "Ah! Yes! You have the wrong end of the stick, I believe is the phrase."
"Yeah, that's right," Bella said, a little distractedly as she tried to absorb this new information - it felt a lot like trying to add more clothes into an already stuffed suitcase. "So- it's not because I'm human?" she asked, and then - because Felix seemed the kind of man you could be honest with - added, "because it's not like it's not a bit scary."
Felix let out a laugh, before covering his mouth to try and smother the sound. "You spend…. A lot of time with vampires, and we're the scary ones? I guarantee even the weakest amongst us could go head to head with that boy of yours in terms of control, and you trust him just fine."
"But I know him!"
"I suppose you're right," said Felix, sensing he wasn't going to get anywhere with the issue. "How about this. I'll go scavenge some sleeping clothes for you and you can unwind. Is there anything else you need?"
Bella thought about food for a moment, before deciding that her stomach was far too tied up to eat. She was fairly sure it would just make her sick if she tried. "Maybe… maybe a book?" she asked hesitantly.
"A book," Felix confirmed. "Any requests?"
"I'm not too fussy," said Bella. "Just anything. Reading helps me relax. Maybe some poetry?" she suggested.
Felix nodded in a wise way, despite not being particularly sage. "Okay. I'll see if I can't wrangle something in English, for you. Unless, you don't happen to speak Latin, do you? Or Greek?"
Bella shook her head.
"English it is," he said, a little resigned. "I'll be back shortly."
He made a quick exit - Bella's eyes barely registered the sight. Bella let out a sigh, and ran her hands through her hair. She reached out to the footboardof the bed, and traced over the carved patterns with gentle fingers. How old is this? She wondered. How many decades, maybe centuries ago, did the hands that made these carvings live? It was certainly good craftsmanship, as far as Bella's untrained eye could tell.
Her mind wandered, thinking of the life this woodworker may have lived, a flight of fancy into a historical world. Her mind barely registered the time passing - not that it was particularly long between Felix's abrupt disappearance and his later arrival - announced with a soft knock on the door.
It was enough to break Bella's train of thought, and she cleared her throat. "Uh… come … in?" she said, uncertainly. The door opened, sure enough, to reveal Felix, with a bundle of clothes and a modest stack of books.
"Here," he said, as he made his way into the room and set down the books on the nightstand. "I thought perhaps options might be better," he said, and neglected to mention that these were books from Didyme's personal library. "Just take care of them, they're …. Old. everything here is old." He shrugged, and put down the pile of clothes next to Bella. "And some sleepwear for you. I'll take my leave proper, now," he said as he made his way - human pace - back towards the door. "If you need anything… well, just saying my name louder than normal will be sure to alert me, and I'll come as soon as I'm able, okay?" he asked, and didn't exit until Bella's swift, sharp nod.
As soon as Felix departed, Bella made short work of undressing and putting on the pyjamas - they fit a little oddly, but they were soft, warm, and dry, and Bella couldn't find it within herself to care about anything other than those criteria. She collapsed onto the bed as soon as she could, even if it were only a little past midday, and reached out for the books.
She examined the pile: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Le Morte d'Arthur, Sappho's poetry, selected poems of Yeats, and Rossetti, and Edgar Allan Poe… in all honesty, far more options than she had been expecting. She carefully selected the translation of Sappho, and put the others back on the nightstand with gentle hands. Bella settled herself under the cover, into the comfiest position she could manage, and cracked open the book, soon finding herself lost in Sappho's pretty words.