Aro had summoned her in his study one bright morning. Jane's footsteps echoed loudly against the marble floor going to his study. Her cloak sat on her head perfectly as the raven-haired vampire looked up from the documents that he was studying. Jane wore a neutral expression on her face as she faced him.

"Master, you called for me?" Jane asks and her bell-like voice rang inside his study.

"The black cloak suits you," he complimented her as she took a seat quite a distance from him. The head guard remained silent and awaited his command. Jane did not exactly know what was the intention's of the raven-haired vampire when he summoned her. She wore a mask devoid of any emotion in order to play it safe.

The Volturi king pulled a chair closer to her and sat down. She met his gaze, in his eyes she could see his apprehension and nervousness perhaps? The blonde haired vampire rarely seen him like that. Jane would usually witness a calm and collected master. The raven-haired vampire in front of her was quite the opposite of that.

"I would like to apologize for what i had said at the ball." His concerned eyes met her cold eyes that were devoid of any emotion. Jane's gaze softened and she smiled faintly. The atmosphere around his study somewhat felt a bit lighter. The Volturi king somehow relaxed from the tensed state his posture was in.

"You do have a habit of deceiving me don't you?" He remarks as the blonde vampire's smile falters and she bows her head low.

"That is not true, Master." Jane said politely. Aro chuckles at her crestfallen face. He softly swept her hair that framed her face. There was no direct contact yet there was a form of intimacy between the two of them.

"I was just trying to lighten the mood, my dear." he said. "I hope you are not mad at me, dearest. With the cold shoulder and aloof nature you gave me, I assumed you were cross with me."

Jane chuckles softly.

"I am not mad at you, Master." There was a hint of sincereness amidst the cold tone she currently uses. The Volturi king was no fool after all, he saw through her mask. "If there was any hard feelings i had for your words, consider yourself forgiven."

Silence engulfed the Volturi king's study. It was the sound of silence that deafened them the most.

"I assume you met Sulpicia?" Aro's inquisitive eyes met her cold but demure gaze. Jane slowly nodded as he clapped his hands. "Magnificent, what do you think of her, dear?"

The Volturi guard schooled her features and played his game slyly. Jane knew it in herself to tread carefully especially around her master. One would say how a delicate and precious flower would thrive in this lonely life of Volterra.

Yet Jane was no flower after all.

"She speaks her mind freely and she bears the same energy as you have, if i were to speak freely: it is a match certainly made by the heavens. I can say that I approve of her."Jane said without a single hitch in her voice. She had lied straight in his face multiple times, another one would not hurt. Her words rolled off her tongue with fluidity and grace, but it was like swallowing poison instead.

Jane was poisoning herself with her own words. With such poison, was it because someone had caught his eye that easily compared to her who worked hard for that attention?

"You do know I value your opinion, dear..."

'Then why would you foolishly rub it in my face?' Jane questions him internally. Aro himself was full of surprises after all.

"If you may excuse me, Master. I will take my leave, I cannot simply part myself away from my books."

Her words echoed around his study. It suddenly dawned on him that from strangers they became friends. Friends to Lovers? Apparently not. To see her to be fond of books, Aro knew it in himself that he does not know her anymore.

It was as if they were strangers with hidden memories.

Didyme found it odd for her charge to suddenly pick up the books she had tried for Jane to read. It was a peculiar sight to see her in the library all day. The blonde vampire's back was turned away from her yet Didyme was surprised to see books stacked upon the table. Jane was absorbed in reading that she did not notice Didyme pull up a chair right beside her.

"I never thought I would see you here. I was looking for you in the music chamber and all throughout the gardens. I happened to come across Felix and he told me that you might be here." The raven haired vampire attempts to start a conversation. She softly strokes the blonde vampire's hair. "Can we talk? Don't worry, not here. There are too many eyes and ears on the walls."

Jane wordlessly stood up and headed out of the library. The raven haired vampire wordlessly fell in step after her blonde charge. Jane set down the books on the table as they reached the comfort of her rooms. Once away from the prying eyes and eavesdropping ears, Didyme grabbed her the blonde vampire's hands and squeezed it.

"How are you?" She asks plainly but Jane just chuckles.

"I am fine, mada-" Didyme did not let her finish.

"Do not try to deceive me, Jane. Athenodora may have brushed off everything and turned a blind eye but i know something is wrong. Why the sudden silence, and burying yourself in things you do not like? This isn't you, my child."

"Desert your false self." Jane utters quietly. "Because i simply do not know myself anymore. I deserted that childish spirit with me, because, if i hadn't: it will be my greatest downfall."

The raven haired woman inhaled sharply. She could barely recognize her charge in front of her. The face was still the same. Her scent was still the same yet it was as if there was a different person in her.

Jane had changed. Didyme knew she was responsible for her charge to turn out this way. Not doing anything at all also made her guilty.

Didyme knew she was to blame as well.

"Is it Sulpicia?" Didyme asks with a strained voice. "If she made you feel this way, piccolina. I would not hesitate to get rid of her."

Jane chuckles darkly.

"You are not Aro,"the blonde vampire simply stated. Jane knew it in herself that Didyme and her master may be siblings yet there was a stark contrast between the two of them. Didyme stared at her,

"Yet it is our instinct to kill. If my brother is able to kill, then so could i. His venom runs in my veins, I also have those same monsters lurking in the darkness." Her once compassionate eyes hardened. "You are not in the disposition to make a judgement of one's character."

The raven haired vampire turned her back to her charge. Didyme then spun around when she heard a faint sound of sniffles. The raven-haired vampire remained unmoving.

"To love my brother is a losing game, Jane. Be grateful, you are not in the shoes of Sulpicia. Consider it as a blessing-in-disguise, dear one." Didyme opens the door and she glances at her charge.

Jane was young and innocent despite what she had gone through.

"You always say that you want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. But the question is: can you handle the truth?"

For Jane to be in the position of Sulpicia, the bitter truth would be that the blonde vampire would be in so much more danger than she would have known.

The blonde vampire was too precious for the world to not do anything to save her from a horrible fate, even if it means Didyme will risk her own lives.

Whether she got the chance to gaze at her charge's blood red eyes, Didyme saw something ominous.

It was the blonde vampire's downfall that reflected in her eyes.

AN:

Its been a while since i posted and i apologize for the delay. This one is a bit shorter than what i usually do and I'm still getting a feel on what to write since i stopped on one of the turning points of this story. But yeah i'm back and running.