A/N: Didyme was killed by the Children of the Moon in this fic, and all the three Volturi kings are beautiful and in their mid-twenties! Caius' viciousness is only a façade, Aro is the as cunning as he is in the books (only more caring and friendly), and Marcus inside is a fierce, vicious warrior, but kind with who deserves it.

FELIX'S POV

I was going to kill myself.

I had stepped in the gardens of the Palace not more than twenty minutes ago, and I was already tired of this shit. Not of the soiree itself, but of the attendants. Well, in truth, only one attendant—our human secretary, Gianna.

I had barely finished admiring the white and bronze gazebos that occupied the space in the blooming garden, the couches and sofas placed everywhere, and all the ill-smelling human food piled on some tables along with bottles of blood ale, when I felt her warm, minuscule hand snake on my arm.

For a second I thought it was Bella's hand, but she would have never touched me without my consent, and she most certainly smelled and felt far better than this pathetic female.

"Felix! How nice to see you" she had exclaimed, with a sickening smile. Probably, she was supposed to look seductive dressed in that tight and very much inexistent dress, but she was only succeeding in looking like a slut.

"Gianna, remove you hand" I had ordered her. She had pouted in what she must have thought was a cute way. "Now" I had growled, when she hadn't done as told. Her heartrate had speeded up, and finally she had released me.

But then she had started talking. Talking about famous shops and designers and nice cities she wanted to see after she would be turned into a vampire. I had almost scoffed at that. The woman was more likely to become a meal than a vampire. I would see to it.

And she was still talking. Her voice was nauseous—so acute and piercing, so childish. I was set on ripping her tongue off right then and there, until a hand fell on my shoulder. I looked at the owner of said hand and met Caius' amused gaze. I glared at him and he snickered, before taking action.

"Human" he snarled at Gianna. She immediately froze, and her heartrate skyrocketed. I was pleased by her fear, as was Caius.

"Can't you see that we are sickened by your presence?" he told her, disdain evident on his face. I smirked. He was an innate bastard, and many knew that. What most did not know was that, under all the layers of bitchy-ness, he was a loyal and kind friend to those he deemed worthy. Those few people being namely: his brothers, the wives, and the Elite Guard—which was composed by myself, Demetri, the twins, Heidi, Santiago, Afton, Chelsea, Renata and Corin.

Gianna was not part of the lucky group, though, and she started crying at Caius' words. The sound of her weeping felt equally nice and annoying to my ears. It seemed like Aro thought the same thing—well, everyone thought that, no one really liked Gianna.

"Gianna, you may leave us for the night. We'll see you tomorrow at seven am" he smiled at her. There was an hint of wickedness in the smile, and I knew why.

Tomorrow at seven am. When Heidi would bring us our food.

I smirked inwardly. Finally the useless would be gone forever.

I looked as she scurried away, still crying, and I heard Caius chuckle. "What's funny?" I asked him.

He shook his head, "You looked like you were about to rip her heart out."

I nodded, "I was actually thinking about going for her tongue."

He laughed at that, saying "Well, luckily I stopped you in time. Even though I wouldn't mind seeing that filthy human dead, her blood would have ruined the atmosphere" he spread his arms to encompass the entire garden.

"Miss Bella is coming" someone said; and we then heard Heidi's steps, along with the three sisters'.

I was suddenly nervous. Why was I nervous? Never mind that. Now I could hear Bella's steady heartbeat nearing.

Two minutes later, the doors opened and four women stepped in the gardens. The first one was Heidi, wearing a pretty salmon dress, then came the three Cullen sisters. Bella was in the middle of the trio, with Rosalie at her left and the seer at her right. She looked beautiful dressed like that. Blue did wonders for her creamy skin and the neckline showed her perfect boobs—wait, what? What the hell am I thinking? Jeez, I need to get a grip.

I mentally shook myself when I heard their gasps. Their eyes lit up with wonder when they took in the gardens and the blooming flowers. "Oh my…" I heard the seer mutter.

Then, their attention was ensnared by Aro, when he lightly cleared his throat. "I take it you like our gardens?" he gently asked, and they smiled.

Oh god, Bella always looked radiant, but when she smiled like that—stoooop. What the hell is wrong with me?!

I focused again on them when I heard Bella speak, "Your gardens are beautiful. Also, thank you for your invite" she said, and eyed the gazebos with all the food questioningly.

Master Aro followed her gaze and grinned, "We hired a human chef to prepare food for you. I hope you will like it" he told her, smiling at her fondly.

She blushed prettily and smiled a shy smile, "Thank you, Aro. It really wasn't necessary—"

He interrupted her, "Nonsense, it was my pleasure."

She bowed her head, "Then I thank you."

He smiled at her, then turned to the two vampires flanking her. He told them something about animal blood in certain bottles, but I wasn't listening. My mind was focused on Isabella—more precisely on how she was playing with a lock of her hair, and on how she was lightly biting her lower lip as she listened to the conversation.

Suddenly, I felt a stare pierce my back. I looked at the source of the glare, and found Marcus glaring daggers at me.

What the fuck?

Although I was happy that he was showing some emotion, I didn't understand why he was so angry with me all of a sudden.

I was freed from his piercing glare when he turned to look back at Bella, and his expression muted to one of deep love. My chest tightened at that, and jealousy shot through me.

Alright, what the fuck was happening to me?

I hadn't noticed that Aro had finished speaking with the Cullen women and that everyone else was now enjoying themselves. Every vampire had a glass of blood in their hand, and Bella held a plate with some shrimp on it. She was eating it while enjoying a conversation with Chelsea and Afton. She was laughing at something Afton said, and her smile was refreshingly beautiful.

"Dude, you ain't gonna grab some blood?" I heard Santiago ask me from where he had appeared beside me, as he slapped me on the shoulder. I realised I had no glass in hand. I nodded and went to grab a flute and poured some blood in it.

I went back to sit on a couch, diving in in a conversation between Santiago, Demetri and Alec. I noticed that Rosalie was engrossed in a conversation with Jane and Heidi, while Alice was speaking with Aro and Corin.

Where was Bella?

Ah, there she was. With—oh God! She was speaking with Marcus!

I elbowed Demetri, who was sitting beside me, and when he asked me what was wrong, I simply pointed to them. He saw them, too, and his eyes bulged in disbelief.

It had been decades since we had last seen him actually speaking to someone, but now there he was, speaking with Bella Swan as if he did that every day. I was speechless.

He was saying something, too low for anyone else to hear, and he seemed happy about what he was telling her.

Suddenly, she smiled and set the now-empty crystal plate on the stone bench where they were seated, near a rosebush. Then she did something completely unexpected. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.

"Holy shit!" Demetri hissed, low enough for the pair not to hear but too loud to avoid being heard by Jane, Heidi and Rosalie, who turned toward us and then followed our line of sight. They gasped too, attracting the attention of Aro, Alice and Corin, and everyone near them. They saw the scene, too, and gasped as well.

Soon, every vampire was staring at them, astonished but delighted—and they had yet to release each other from their embrace.

Bella was the one who retracted first. She had a bright smile on her face—a smile that fell when she noticed how everyone was gaping at her.

"What?" she asked, worriedly.

Master Marcus then chuckled. Chuckled.

This is not a drill. I repeat, this is NOT a drill.

"Brother?" Caius looked at him with a curious expression on his face.

Then Marcus cleared his throat and stood up, and for the first time in many centuries, I saw him standing straight and tall. He now looked like the true, fierce warrior he had been before his mate's death. He exuded an aura of power that was both intimidating and invigorating.

"Brothers, loyal guards, esteemed guests" he started, and his voice was as powerful as it could be, "May I present to you my beautiful Protected?"

I though my jaw was splattered on the floor.

He then took Bella's hand in his own, and she stood, going to stand behind him.

Damn, she was absolutely beautiful. She looked like a fucking goddess, or an empress. And in some ways, she was. She was the protected of our King. A Protected was considered, in the vampire world, like a son/daughter to the Protector, and said Protector would be extremely protective and caring toward his/her Protected. Her bond to him made her automatically our Princess.

As if everyone else realised that at the same time I did, they all dropped to their right knee and bowed deeply. Even the two Cullens.

Only the brothers weren't required to kneel, so they went to their brother and new-acquired niece.

"This is a great day! I'm so happy for you!" Aro exclaimed placing a hand on Marcus' shoulder. Caius went to hug Bella, "Welcome to the family, Princess Isabella, dear niece" he said to her, kissing her on the head. She blushed furiously.

"You can all rise" Master Marcus then commanded, and we all rose. Then, everyone started clapping and cheering. We were all happy that our Master had finally re-found happiness, not in the form of a mate, but a Protected.

Princess Bella—she insisted for us to call her Bella and not Isabella. She didn't even want the title, but Aro was having none of it—was blushing and thanking everyone, all the while standing glued to her Protector's side.

Caius and Aro were standing beside her, as well. Caressing her and kissing her head more times than I could count.

I felt a jab at my side. It was Demetri. He offered me 100 bucks, smirking at Caius and his adoring eyes while he looked at Bella. "Apparently you won our bet" he said, and I smirked putting the money in my pocket.

"I am glad I did" I told him, smiling at the happiness that now seemed to surround us all like an eternal aura.

"So am I, my brother, so am I."