AN: I'm going to post the last two chapters of this lot together so we can get it finished off. Still finishing off the next set so there may be a little wait for chapters after this, but I'll get them up as soon as possible.
Guest: no, I can't say that I do 'like' this tbh, but I when I set out this project I had certain things, (themes, scenarios, character types, etc) that I wanted to try my hand at writing for the experience of actually writing them. This is largely an experimentation piece for me to feed into other works. I selfishly inflict my efforts on you all to keep me writing, to keep trying different things…
Anyway, Aro is in the cells and I'm here waffling!
EXONERATION
"Just sit still!" Caius ordered as his co-master pulled away from the wet rag cleaning his face. "You look rough enough without dried blood all over you."
Aro's head was healing, thanks to Caius … and only thanks to Caius. Basileus had dragged his unconscious son to the dungeons and thrown Aro in a cell three days before and Caius had been the king's only visitor in that time.
"You're clean," Caius announced. "Now Let's bandage you back up."
"Who knew you would make such a good nursemaid?" Aro jibed with a crooked smile.
He was grateful to his co-master, both for his assistance and for his loyalty. Aro had told him everything that had happened, all that of which he'd been accused. Caius didn't even do him the disservice of asking if there was any truth to it. He trusted his coven leader implicitly and there was no need to ask in Caius' eyes. He knew how much Aro loved his daughter and there was no way, no possible way, that he would bring the child harm.
"You are healing pretty well, brother," Caius said, appraising the damage.
The crack in Aro's skull was healing, though a soft groove could be traced from Aro's hair line down to the top of his nose - a sign that the bone needed more time to repair. The red and angry looking scar would fade in time, too.
"You don't have to stay down here, you know."
Caius had stayed with Aro for his entire imprisonment so far and for that Aro felt a bit guilty.
"I have nowhere else to be, brother."
Caius told Aro about his fight with his mate. Neither were surprised it had happened – whenever Caius went home tanked up on dungeon blood he always ended up fighting with Athenodora. Magnus had heard the commotion from his chambers and intercepted Caius before he could do too much damage, but Athenodora wouldn't be unlocking the door for a few more days yet.
Aro shook his head to Caius' short tale. "Why do you do it?" Not that he could claim to be much better behaved on dungeon blood.
Caius shrugged. "I'm trying to temper my usage," he explained, "Magnus gave me a round of fucks for it already – I don't need to hear it from you, thanks."
"Magnus?" Aro questioned. "Is he playing 'superior' again?"
Caius laughed. "He's my moral superior, maybe, but that's as much rope as I'm giving him."
Aro watched as Caius rolled up his sleeve. "You are going to run out of blood at this rate, brother."
"l'll be fine." Caius shrugged and offered Aro his wrist. "It's the only thing I have to offer you, Aro. The only thing that will help, anyway."
Aro took a good few gulps of Caius' blood before pulling away. "You have something else," he said wistfully.
"I'm not giving you dungeon blood," Caius returned sternly. "That's the last thing you need right now." Or me! Basileus would actually kill me! he thought.
More than that, though, Caius felt sure that the creator would come to his senses and take Aro back. Finding out that he had been supping dungeon blood would only end in more pain for Aro.
"I'm going through hell!" Aro complained, holding his bandaged head.
"Well," Caius mused, "unless you want to stay there, you had better keep going."
Atia's voice floated into the dungeons as she came down the stairs.
Aro couldn't be bothered to move, not for her. You condemned me to this pit with your lies, he thought.
Caius went out instead to call Atia over. When she came face to face with Aro in the holding cell, her stomach flipped. Partly she was relieved to see her boy alive and relatively well, but the blood-soaked rags at Aro's side and the crudely fastened bandages around his forehead made her feel so very, very sad.
"What do you want?" Aro snapped.
Atia turned to Caius and handed him the cleaning equipment he had used on Aro so she could take the seat next to her son. "Could you give us some privacy, please?"
Caius was only too glad to leave them be, and he hoped that Atia had come to take Aro home with her.
"I want to talk with you, son," she began, stopping upon hearing her boy tut in disgust.
"More sordid and incestuous accusations?" Aro sneered. You have nothing to say that I want to hear.
"No, Aro," Atia said gently, resting a hand on his. "I want to hear what you have to say."
Aro snatched his hand away sharpish. You only want to touch me to search my memories for proof of your accusations. You'll find no proof, bitch.
"I have nothing to say," he said, continuing to think murderous thoughts to himself.
"That is a shame, son," Atia had no intention of going through Aro's mind, but she retook his hands, pulling at them firmly so he was forced to face her, "because I want to help you."
"You?" Aro scoffed. "You want to help me?" His tinkling laughter filled the prison cell and beyond. "That's the only help I don't need."
"Your daughter has requested that I do." Atia stressed 'daughter', though she hadn't needed to. Just hearing mention of his child ripped through Aro's heart.
"My daughter," he repeated with his eyes closed to hold back the tears.
His baby was still in the south tower, probably with Lucius. That lying conniving, perverted snake is there with my daughter and I am stuck in here, useless to protect her!
Aro's self-pity lasted only a moment when sudden panic took over his thoughts. "Is Renata still up there?" he asked, praying the coven blocker would be protecting his family.
Atia confirmed that she was and Aro immediately went back to his self-pity.
Giving her boy only a moment to think of his own pain, in typical Atia-fashion, she was soon back to chiding her son. "You need to pull yourself together. That child is up there defending you and she is a lone voice in that room!"
"What exactly do you expect me to do about it, Atia?" Aro asked to the audacious statement his mother had offered. "My own father caved my head in and threw me in this place! My solitary visitor has been Caius."
Atia checked outside the cell. She could hear Caius rattling around in his torture room some distance away. "Have you told him what happened?" she whispered.
Aro nodded.
"Does he believe it?" Atia pushed, still using hushed tones.
"No!" Aro said forcefully. Fuck! His head hurt too much to shout. No more shouting, he said to himself.
"Was it wise telling him?" Atia asked in concern. "He could tell the other masters, the guards, he could use this information to take hold of the coven!"
"He would never do that to me," Aro said confidently. "That's the thing about Caius, I know where I stand with him." He smiled to himself thinking of his oldest and loyalist friend. "He will rip me to shreds to my face, but behind my back … he's ALWAYS true to me. You may not like him, his methods or whatever else, but Caius has NEVER let me down."
"I don't dislike Caius," Atia insisted, honestly. "I'm worried about our coven." With a gentle hand under her boy's chin, she manoeuvred Aro so they were eye to eye. "I am worried about you."
"You are the only one who is." Aro was touched by Atia's concern, and from what he could tell it was genuine, but she was a lone voice. "I thought Eleazar would call on me at least."
"Basileus will not allow anyone to come down here, Aro," Atia replied. Seeing Aro's questioning look as to her flouting such an order, she added, "your father has no power over my choices."
"Maybe not," Aro agreed, "but you rarely go against him. Why now?"
"Because I know you, Aro, and I know the man you are."
Atia stood and walked a small circle around the prison cell. "We may not have always seen eye to eye since I arrived in Volterra, but if roles were reversed you would help me."
Aro smirked, suggesting he would not.
"We are family and you would help me," Atia said with great conviction.
Aro folded his arms across his chest and looked quizzically to his mother. "So you are helping me because in some hypothetical situation where you were sat in this pit you believe I would help you?"
"Yes, you know you would." Atia fixed her boy in her sight. "You can pretend otherwise, Aro, but I know you, you always do the right thing … eventually."
Aro continued to smirk for only a moment before he realised his mother was bang on the nail.
"I would help you," he admitted with a sigh. "It appears we are the only ones who believe in family, my lady."
"That isn't true. Your father knows something is amiss, he just doesn't know what."
"And you do?" Aro held his breath, waiting, whilst his mother worked out her response. He was overwhelmed with how desperately he wished for her to believe him. He really needed to hear her say that she did.
"Lucius … he cannot use his tricks on me, my guard is too strong. But your father is only protected by my guard when he is around me and he takes Lucius with him everywhere."
"Are you saying you believe me over Lucius? Really?" Aro pushed.
Atia looked into her son's eyes. He seemed so much younger than he usually did, so much younger than all of his years. He looked lost.
"I do," she told him truthfully.
Relief flooded Aro's body, but he needed more reassurance than that. "How do you know I am telling the truth?"
"As I have already said, Aro, I know you, son. You would never harm that girl."
"But Basileus saw the … acts … himself." Aro couldn't bring himself to say the words of all the things he had been accused of. 'Acts' was as close as he could get verbally. "You used his gift to see the same in Jane's mind."
"I did, and I can never unsee such a thing." Atia looked ready to bring up her last feed as the images of her son raping her only granddaughter briefly traversed her mind.
Aro knew what she was thinking about by the expression on Atia's face. "Basileus will never take me back whilst he believes me capable of such a crime. I wouldn't if the roles were reversed."
Atia shook her head softly, removing the last of the invasive memories from her mind. "Your father raised an issue with me regarding one of Jane's memories - it wasn't her point of view."
Aro cocked an eyebrow hearing that. It was odd, for sure.
"One of the times in Jane's memory where you …"
Aro threw both hands up defensively and cut his mother off. "Please don't say it, please."
"Where you," Atia started again, wondering how to phrase it, "well you know what you are accused of. It was as though someone was watching and it was their view in Jane's mind."
"That doesn't make any sense," Aro said to himself. He was quite used to visiting others' minds and seeing through their eyes, but it was always their perspective, as it could only really be.
Atia continued, "and then of course Jane is completely denying any of the things that have supposedly happened. She doesn't even believe Lucius touched her."
"What?!" That had Aro sitting up and paying attention.
"I have talked with Jane," Atia began, "and I have gone through her memories again after Basileus raised the issue of the point of view and they are … her memories are … missing."
Aro didn't know what to make of that.
"Could she have blocked it out? On a subconscious level? Self protection?" He was really voicing his thoughts as quickly as they came to him.
"Or it, none of it, ever happened," Atia suggested. It was the only thing she could think of. Though why Lucius would want to persuade Jane that he had raped her was beyond her imagination. "One thing I know for sure, son, Jane is adamant that nothing and no one has ever been intimate with her."
"How can she be so sure?" Aro asked. He wished he could erase what he had seen in his daughter's mind, but it was still there, tormenting him viciously.
Atia didn't really want to go into any great detail. "A woman knows, son," she offered.
Aro caught her drift and grimaced. That's great news! he thought. If its true. Though … why would the little snake want Jane, would want all of us, to believe he had raped her? What possible benefit would there be?
He slouched into the wall behind his bench seat. "None of this makes sense."
They fell into a contemplative silence as Aro tried to work out his next move.
"Are you going to say anything?" Atia pushed after what seemed like a long pause in their conversation.
"Lucius has put those thoughts there," Aro said darkly, coming from his musings.
Atia scoffed. "Say something reasonable, Aro!" she insisted. "Something I can use to help you! The boy can persuade, nothing more."
"I am being reasonable, mom," Aro implored. "Lucius can do much more than persuade."
This was an idea he'd had for a while but he hadn't had any proof. The odd view in Jane's memories was proof positive in Aro's mind.
"I cannot access Lucius thoughts, neither can my father or you. Eleazar said he is incredibly powerful but his gift of persuasion doesn't match that."
The sparkle returned to Aro's eyes like an excited child who had just solved a particularly vexing puzzle. "Everyone in this fucking coven loves him except for me and Jane."
"What are you saying?" Atia asked. She had an idea where Aro was going.
Aro nodded to himself before he spoke, cementing the idea in his mind. "His gift. It's a banned gift - he can possess minds. He can control thoughts, even actions, possibly."
Atia had been right in her assumptions, though she wondered if it could be possible. "That would make sense if he had infiltrated your mind too, Aro. Or mine. But he hasn't."
"Your mental guard is clearly stronger than his gift - Renata's is and she is nowhere near as powerful as you." Aro remembered what Renata had told him when Lucius arrived. "Defensive gifts are always stronger," he said, repeating the guard's words. "But he didn't need to convince you … you knew him as a young vampire, maybe even before he realised the extent of his powers."
Atia looked sadly to the flagstone floor. "He is a different boy to the one I knew. I can see that now."
Aro missed his mother's upset as he pushed forward with his reasoning. "Lucius hadn't gotten to Jane until a few days ago either. I was wary of him from the moment we met and in all the time he has been living in this castle I haven't ever been alone with him. I have had Renata at my side throughout. Jane has stayed with me, until …" Aro trailed off for a moment, thinking of the guard party, the dungeon blood, finding his baby girl naked in her bed with that little bastard's scent all over her … cunt!
"That's must be how he's doing it - he gets people on their own and he plays with their mind, makes people like him and then he can do whatever he likes. I have asked people why they like him, why they trust him and no one can give me an answer beyond 'he's a nice kid,' and 'I like him'. No reason. He put those memories in Jane's mind, I would put my life on it."
All Aro had said made sense to Atia, but it was merely a supposition, they had no real proof.
"Your life IS on it Aro, you must be sure," she said firmly, hoping he understood the gravity of the situation.
"I am," he replied. Oh, he understood alright!
"What can I do about it though?" Aro asked, his earlier excitement fading as he looked around his new home. "No one will believe me - Lucius is inside all of their minds!"
"Basileus would believe you, son, they all would …"
Holding a hand to his broken skull, Aro raised his eyebrows. "Under normal circumstances, maybe. But right now their minds aren't their own."
"I will talk to Basileus, I know he is wavering already, Aro." Atia began to formulate her own plans. "How strong do you believe Lucius' gift is?"
Aro didn't really have an answer for that, and he had no real way of testing the boy's gifts. "What are you thinking?"
"If we could get Lucius out of our tower … perhaps his hold over their minds would fade?" Atia was lost to her own thoughts which, thankfully for Aro, she verbalised as they came to her. "I think that is already happening. Our whole family is gathered in your chambers - Renata and I have been there the entire time and today Basileus brought up the question of the view in Jane's memories."
Aro nodded along as his mother continued.
"So that shows Lucius' hold fades. Jane's memories of the … events … are disappearing from her mind. If I could get him out of the tower, I could get him down here and into a cell. And, then take you up."
Aro felt truly hopeful for the first time since they had met that little bastard in the woods nearly a year since.
"What if he gets into my mind whilst we are in the dungeons together?" he asked, the very idea sending a shiver down his spine. "Are you sure you can keep him out of my head? Like you said, Mom, my life is on it."
Atia smiled kindly, indicating that she could, and would, and then took her son's face in two hands. "Aro, whatever happens, revenge is not something to get drunk on." She had seen good men go bad in their pursuit of ultimate pay back and she didn't want to lose Aro that way.
Aro returned the smile his mother offered. "Neither is grief," he said, hoping Atia wouldn't take her long-lost surrogate son's death too hard. That bastard is going to die for what he has done to my coven.
…
When Atia returned to the top floor suite, Basileus sat alone, slumped in the window seat with his aching head resting against the cool glass. For a man usually so active and animated, he appeared a shadow, hollow even, as every year of his immortal life sat on his sunken shoulders.
"My dear," Atia called softly. "I am taking Lucius out of here for a while."
Basileus looked back blankly.
Combing her fingers through his black hair, Atia made use of her mate's gift. From Basileus' most recent thoughts, Atia surmised that the plan she and Aro had come up with would work and Lucius' control was definitely slipping.
"I think Jane needs a break from him," she added, watching closely for Basileus' reaction.
"Has she said so?" he asked, seeking out his granddaughter across the room with her mother.
Atia breathed a short sigh of relief. The concern was there, and it was there for Jane. "Call it grandmother's intuition."
Basileus bobbed his head, mainly too himself, and made to stand. "I will come with you."
"No, my dear. Our family needs you here." Atia pushed him back down. It wasn't difficult to do with the creator in his current state. "You want everyone to stay in these chambers, do you not?"
"Yes," Basileus replied quickly, though his head immediately pounded in response. He knew 'yes' was the right answer, or rather he thought it was, though he couldn't understand why.
"Then you will have to keep them here, my dear." Atia smiled lovingly to her poor misguided mate. "I will return soon." And then all of this will be over.
"Lucius," Atia clicked her fingers to get the boy's attention. "We are going for a walk, my dear one."
Lucius narrowed his eyes, first to Atia and then to Basileus. Nothing happened. He heard Renata laughing lightly behind him and he knew the guard was preventing his gifts from working. Spinning around to face the woman, Lucius concentrated all his effort on breaking down Renata's guard but, again, nothing happened.
Renata smirked at the boy's efforts, it was such a condescending smirk that Lucius dropped his own calm facade and attempted to rush the women, fully intent on taking her out.
Atia deftly intercepted his efforts. "Lucius, my dear one, I'm sure you will enjoy what I have planned," she crooned. "I'm taking you to see Aro." Atia wrapped a comforting arm around the boy's shoulders, drawing him in close as she fed him her lies. "No one else here is up to the task, but someone needs to tell the vampire king that his depraved rule is at an end."
"I can tell him?" Lucius asked, hopefully.
Atia smiled. You foolish child, she thought. "Of course, my son," she lied again. "I can think of no one better suited, can you?"
Lucius, just like the child that he really was, skipped out of the top floor suite with Atia, hand in hand. He ran ahead when they reached the dungeons, but Atia made sure to keep the boy within her guard. Lucius came to an abrupt halt in front of Aro's cell and peered inside, ready to gloat at the failed king for his fall from grace.
"Caius, if you wouldn't mind releasing my son," Atia called over, taking a firm hold of Lucius before he could attempt to flee.
"What's going on?" Lucius questioned. "You said he wanted to apologise to me. You can't let him out! He's a monster!"
Atia felt her flash of guilt for the boy, though it only lasted a moment and it was more for the child she had known rather than the one stood before her now.
"Yes, and your ego allowed you to believe it. Aro is not the monster here."
Caius shoved the youth aside and happily released his covenmate.
The second the lock was opened, Aro flew out of his cell and took Lucius around the throat.
Atia pulled him back. "Aro, you don't have to hurt him."
"Hurt him?!" Aro echoed in disbelief. "I want to fucking kill him!"
Looking at the pain in his mother's eyes stopped Aro from snapping the boy's neck. Instead, he threw Lucius into the cell and slammed the door.
Lucius crashed to the floor, rolling into a heap. "You can't put me in here!" he complained loudly.
Atia took the keys from Caius and locked the cell herself. The child had only been welcomed into the coven because of his link to her and she, for the first time since she had even met Basileus, questioned how their relationship would last once her mate fully understood the truth.
"The thing is, Lucius," she said, turning the key, "it really isn't up to you. Your games are over."
"It isn't up to you either," Lucius growled in reply. "I demand to see Basileus … he would never allow this."
Atia heard Aro struggling in Caius' hold to get back to the boy and rip out his guts. We don't have time for this, she thought, her mind drifting back to her confused and broken mate in the south tower. Will you ever forgive me? she wondered. Even the thought of losing her mate, her entire family was agony to the vampiric witch.
Turning to the coven masters, she ordered them to leave. "You two need to go and wait for me at the top of the stairs."
It took some effort on Caius' part but he managed to drag Aro away and out of the dungeons.
"Your hold over my mate is already fading," Atia explained to her one-time son, "and you can demand all you like, but down here, all alone, you are nothing more than a little boy who has overstepped his mark."
Lucius stalled for a moment wondering how she could possibly know what he had done. "I don't know what you are talking about," he lied, avoiding Atia's eye.
"Oh yes you do," Atia said, reaching through the bars and taking tight hold of Lucius' face. "You don't want to say because you mistakenly believe Basileus is the one who can save you. But you see, my dear, he doesn't rule this coven alone."
"No, Aro does," Lucius scoffed at the idea of Aro ruling anything. "And look where he ended up."
"And look where he is now. And more importantly, where you are," Atia pointed out. "Now think about this: who released Aro and who brought you down here? And without even a raised voice."
Lucius growled in response, desperately trying to worm his way around Atia's guard and into her mind. When his renewed efforts proved futile, he roared in rage.
Atia smiled. The boy sounded more like a little lion cub than the ferocious men to which she was accustomed.
"Basileus will release me when you return without me." Lucius had been working on the creators mind for a whole year - he was confident of the grip he had on the man.
"You think so?" Atia asked, sounding ever so condescending. "Your control over my family's minds is already slipping. Three days with Renata and I blocking all of your efforts has hampered your gift somewhat hasn't it."
It wasn't a question, there was no doubt about that in Atia's opinion based on Basileus' behaviour over the last few days.
"Basileus only took you in because of your connection to me." Saying that brought an uncomfortable lump up into her throat, but Atia pushed on. "Aro saw through you straight away but Basileus let you get close because of his love for me. I failed to protect him from your control … but it's over now."
Lucius started sweating, the panic really setting in as Atia exposed all he had done to the royal coven, the royal family!
"Do you know what the sad thing is?" Atia continued. "You would have had a place in this coven if you had been honest. Basileus would have grown to love you if you had given him the chance. But instead, you implanted the idea that he loved you in his mind and by doing that, you prevented him from ever having the chance to develop those feelings on his own. So now that your mind control is slipping away, all he will be left with is the love he has for Aro, and he will feel nothing for you."
Releasing the boy, she took a step back, making peace with what was to come. "You will die for this, Lucius," she said with tear filled eyes.
"Wait!" Lucius called Atia back. "What if I confess?" he asked in desperation.
Atia feigned confusion. "To what, my dear?" she needed Lucius to admit his crimes so she could show Basileus later.
"To controlling their thoughts, to putting images in Jane's head for Basileus to find, all of it."
"Thank you, Lucius," Atia said sadly.
She knew the only reason Lucius had been so easily manipulated was because he was a child. For all his scheming and plotting, all the horrible things he had brought to fruition, he was still a child. She had to turn her back on the boy.
Lucius' fear turned immediately to anger. "You raised me!" he shot to the woman's back. "What kind of woman can turn her back on her own child? You cold hearted bitch!"
Atia arrived at the top of the dungeon stairwell to be greeted by a very unsteady coven king, an oddly anxious Caius, and Renata … who had managed to slip out of the tower. Atia wiped at the stray tear on her cheek and returned to her usual state of reserved dignity.
"Renata, you must stay here and keep your guard up," she instructed.
Renata was only too happy to oblige. She had performed her duties faultlessly for the last twelve months, and she was pleased to have done so, but she missed the other guards. Lucius' influence was definitely at an end and she believed, rightly, that very soon she would return to the guard hall for a well-earned break.
Atia locked the door at the top of the dungeon stairwell. The door was rarely closed, let alone locked, and Caius eyed the woman with confusion when she concealed the key in her own cloak rather than passing it back to him.
"Caius, you are to ensure nobody goes through this door," she said. "And to ensure no one does, I will keep the key."
"I understand, my lady." Caius nodded and watched Atia and Aro leave, the latter a little unsteady on his feet with his damaged skull affecting his balance.
Eleazar spotted his brother first, blurting out his name in surprise. "Aro! You're alive!" The relief in Eleazar's voice was palpable, and the sentiment echoed around the room.
Basileus, however was less pleased to see his son's recovery. "What the hell are you doing here?" he sneered, catching Jane as she tried to race past him towards her father.
Jane set the creator on fire. She offered short, sharp bursts of pain to any and all who intercepted her efforts to reach Aro. When she made it to the coven king, Jane wrapped both arms around his neck and pulled herself up into his embrace. Aro heard his girl sobbing softly into his ear, apologies rushing forth from the child.
"You have done nothing wrong, princess. Nothing at all," Aro replied, holding her tight to his chest. He wasn't quite fit enough for the task, but he pushed through his pain to console his girl.
Basileus attempted to pull Jane away from her father, still believing his son had committed the depraved acts he had witnessed through his granddaughter's memories. He was without his usual force - his mind was weary from all the tampering Lucius had managed to inflict on the creator.
"Unhand that child now!" Atia said firmly to her mate, walking Basileus back and away from Aro and Jane.
"Where's Lucius?" Basileus asked, finally realising the boy was not with the two who had returned.
Aro replied before Atia had the chance. "That little bastard raped my daughter so he's in the dungeons, where he should be."
"Stop saying that!" Jane begged, eyes shut tight and shaking her small head.
She had been interrogated by every member of the Volturi family in their well meaning attempts to get the to bottom of the whole debacle and she just couldn't take anymore. There were only so many times she could refute the claims and Jane was feeling as 'on trial' as her father had been.
"Nobody's touched me. Not ever! Just stop saying it."
Atia could see her boy was about to respond, and she didn't want him to say the wrong thing and upset Jane further.
"Now, Aro," she said calmly, "that didn't happen." Before Aro could object, Atia hushed him. "Not that it changes Lucius' fate in any way," she added, bringing him some relief.
Basileus sneered at Aro, but he didn't answer him. Instead he attacked Atia. "I can't believe you went behind my back and let him out," he roared, Aro being the 'him' in question.
Atia paid little attention to her mate's bolshie attitude, as she saw it, and took a seat on the sofa, inviting the rest of her bewildered family to do the same.
All in attendance were dumbstruck by recent events. Aro looked around to gauge the reception of the room. They don't believe it, I know they don't. He thought of the wild accusations Basileus had made. There was a lot of confusion to begin with on first hearing what Aro was alleged to have done, but Jane had remained consistent in her defence of her father for three whole days and everyone, other than Basileus, believed Aro to be innocent.
"Shouting is very helpful, I am sure," Atia said in her school ma'am voice once everyone was seated, (other than Basileus, who stalked unsteadily around the living chamber like a caged animal). "But unless we wish for the rest of the coven to know our family's dirty laundry, I think we should all take a moment to use our inside voices."
Basileus spun on the spot to face his mate. "You know what he did, Atia, you saw the same as me."
"I did," Atia confirmed, "and we both saw how odd those memories were."
"It didn't do it," Aro insisted.
Sulpicia laid a hand on her husband's arm to show her support, wincing at the state he was in. Blood encrusted clothes and a thick bandage around his head, the tip of the angry red split peaking from the top of his forehead.
Jane stayed in his lap, clinging on to Aro for dear life.
"You would say that!" Basileus spat. The force of his words gave him a headache. For not the first time, Basileus wondered if his immortal body had lived too long and was now, in fact, dying. Such was the pain across his eyes.
"I would know if I did it, wouldn't I?" Aro insisted, a little nonsensically.
Basileus wiped the back of his hand across his brow. Sweat? he questioned seeing the dampness on his skin. What the hell is wrong with me?!
"You aren't making any sense, Aro," he said softly, the force of his tone already faltering in his argument with his son.
Aro's tinkling laughter filled the air as he looked around his assembled family, all looking back with confused expressions. "I am making perfect sense, you just aren't keeping up because that little cunt has addled your minds!"
No! This isn't Lucius' fault, Basileus thought. "I have read the entire despicable debacle in Jane's head."
Aro narrowed his eyes to his father. "I don't give a fuck what you have read in her head, it isn't in my fucking head, is it?!"
Basileus stalked over to his son. Actually, it was less of a stalk, and more a purposeful stagger. "You dare to speak to me that way now?!" he growled.
The effect was far less fierce than usual with the creator suffering the effects of his muddled mind repairing itself as Lucius had lost access to it.
"Just check my head, Dad," Aro implored.
He tired, he really did, but Basileus just couldn't hear his son's thoughts. It was as though he had spent the night on the booze and he couldn't work out which thoughts were Aro's and which were his own, or anyone else's!
Aro could see his father's gift alluding him and offered his hand to make the mind reading easier. Contact often helped in a crowded room, or when he was drunk. Covering from mind control would be just as disabling, Aro assumed.
Basileus took the hand Aro offered him, and Atia took the other. Basileus spent what seemed an eternity searching through Aro's memories, trying to find a match for the events he had seen in his granddaughter's mind.
"There's nothing there, is there?!" Aro asked, confidently.
Atia immediately confirmed her son's innocence but Basileus refused to answer, he had to be sure first (doubly sure) that Aro was innocent before he would proclaim as such. Every interaction Aro had with Jane was wholesome.
"IS THERE?!" Aro repeated to his father. He needed everyone to hear he was innocent and he needed Basileus to be the one to say it.
"No," Basileus finally answered. It sounded like Basileus' life had been turned upside down and the rush of nausea he felt had the creator crashing to his knees before his son.
"I told you my dad was innocent!" Jane spat, glaring at everyone. They had all believed the accusations, even if only for the very briefest of times and it sickened her to think her family could be turned so easily.
"It isn't his fault, Jane," Aro said sternly to his girl before she could burn the man at his feet.
Atia pulled Basileus into her own vacated seat. "Basileus, how do you feel?" she asked.
He held his head in his hands and could barely babble a response.
"You have a headache, don't you, my dear?" Atia pushed.
"A little, it's all the stress," he explained through his thoughts.
Atia shook her head. "It isn't, my darling," she told him, offering her own hand to show Basileus the conversation she'd had with Lucius in the dungeons.
Basileus took even longer to read the brief event than he had searching Aro's mind. His gift was failing him, he couldn't concentrate well enough.
In the end, Atia placed her hand on her mate's sweaty brow and, making better use of Basileus' gift than he could himself, injected the memories into his mind.
When Basileus heard Atia explain all that Lucius had done, everything started to make more sense, but his mind still resisted the idea, such was Lucius' power over his thought processes.
"No. That can't be right?" he questioned, pulling away from his mate.
Atia fixed her hand back n position. "You need to listen to it all," she explained.
When Basileus heard Lucius' admission in the dungeons, it was as though the spell had been broken. "How did he do that?"
"Lucius has a banned gift, Dad - mind control," Aro offered. "I'm sure of it."
A gasp coursed around the room like a Mexican wave as everyone in attendance thought of their own curious behaviour over the last twelve months. Everything made sense. Felix beating up Turk, Demetri and Alec fighting in the guard hall, Alec branding Lucius, Carlisle stealing the guards' goods, serving the bloodwine, the drink, the drugs, the sex, the odd interactions … everyone there had something to think about.
Atia wasn't thinking much about any of that though, her concerns were for Basileus alone. "Lucius has been using your mind like a toy," she explained. "Something to twist and bend to his will. Your mind is returning, my dear. You must rest and wait for your full faculties to return."
Basileus nodded along as Atia spoke. His eyes shut tight as even the dull December sun proved too much for his senses.
"You have felt his control slipping over the last few days - the headaches, questioning the things you saw, things you previously believed not making much sense …"
Asking for Aro's hand once more, Basileus went through every event since Lucius had arrived in he coven. He witnessed his own interactions with his sons, their mates and his grandchildren as Aro had seen them at the time.
Basileus saw Alec lying in bed with the broken leg he'd given the boy; the state of Sulpicia's face after he had slapped her; the wrecked state Carlisle was in after he had caned his youngest son. He had acted cruelly, viciously, like an animal. He travelled through Aro's mind until the moment he had smashed his demi-god fist into his son's face and split his head in two.
Aro's memories stopped.
Basileus left his seat and sunk back down to his knees before his son, one hand tight in Aro's, the other covering his eyes as tears of pain and shame spewed forth.
"I'm so sorry, son."
Basileus' voice was thick with emotion, but barely audible through the pain in his heart.