Their pathetic, unnecessary silent-treatment went on for a few days, a few horrendous days. On the plus side, Chelsea and Corin's punishment had been removed which the pair was very thankful for, so maybe I was getting somewhere.

I spent every day trying to get their attention, but literally nothing worked. At first, I just continued pestering them, then I progressed to playing 'My Neck, My Back' on repeat to Caius but he just walked away, and I even tried very hard to seduce them, but it was as if I genuinely wasn't there. Why they were acting like a bunch of losers and man-babies, I didn't know, but I was seriously getting desperate. I didn't even know what they were trying to achieve at this point. An apology from me? Already given, several times. Me in pain? Continuously, literally every time they rejected me.

It got to the point where I started questioning why I was even trying. Did they love me? What if this whole true mate stuff was just made-up bullshit? If they really cared about me in the slightest, why were they treating me like I meant nothing to the world? Maybe they just got bored of their previous wives and wanted someone new to take their place, maybe they truly didn't give a fuck about me. Now I really did want to leave them, I mean, I could've probably gotten Santiago or whoever to help me sneak out, I could move in with the Cullens or the Denalis or something…

I stood up from my bed. "I'm going."

"You're what?" Afton peered over his book at me.

"If I don't get a reaction from them this time, I'm leaving this hell hole, tomorrow," I announced.

He stood up panicked. "Eli, no, you can't do this, what about-"

"About what? What's left for me here? I have supposed true mates who have too much self-pride to admit they're dicks, and the guard who quite frankly can't help me now. I have nothing left to lose," I shrugged.

"Come on," he pleaded, "this thing will blow over, and-"

"Will it though? Will it? Because I've been promised that for a week now, and look where we are," I let out a manic laugh and gestured around me wildly, "I'm sitting depressed in a dark, cold castle in Italy, while I could be thriving with the Cullens or Denalis or whoever, I don't care to be honest!"

"Please, just think this through, you'd really leave?" he raised an eyebrow.

I paused. "Yes, I'm sick of this bullshit, and I have plenty of places I could go. Why should I stay here if I'm being treated like I'm worthless? There's a whole world out there, Afton."

He sighed. "I'll support you in this, El, and I'm sure the rest of the guard will too, but only if you are absolutely certain that is what you want to do. You truly want to leave Volterra behind and join a different coven, or alternatively start a completely normal human life?"

I inhaled sharply. "Yes, yes I do. First, I want to give them one more chance, though. If this goes south, I'm packing a bag."

With that, I mustered up all the confidence I could gather and strode out of my room. I assumed they'd probably be in their quarters or something, but when I walked past Aro's office, I heard their voices echoing through the corridor. Ugh, I'd missed the sound their perfect, angel-like voices. No, stop thinking like that, you're leaving, remember?

I couldn't hear what they were talking about at all due to the door being closed, but it seemed like a pretty heated discussion, so heated that even Marcus was getting involved which was a rarity. They suddenly stopped talking for some reason. Damn it, stupid heartbeat, why did I have to be so alive?

Now that they knew I was there, I took a deep breath and pushed the door open, strolling over and sitting myself down on the sofa beside Marcus. They all stayed in absolute silence and ensured their gazes were aimed anywhere but at me. Way to make things awkward.

I sighed, already trembling slightly. "I've already apologised for leaving temporarily time and time again, and nothing. Not a peep, not even a glance, not any recognition of my existence. I'm sorry okay? I don't know what else you want from me. You now have several apologies from me, and I'm in pain from bond rejection every minute of the day, mission accomplished. Look, please, just…" I breathed in sharply as a hot tear ran down my face, "you clearly hate me, detest me at this point, you wish I wasn't your mate, but p-please just say it to my face."

Still nothing, not a word. Taking the message as the tears now poured down my face, I briskly left the room and slammed the door behind me, running at full speed back to my room. Once I got back inside with the door closed, I hurled myself onto my bed and let the tears fall, interrupted with the occasional sob.

Afton worriedly sat himself on the edge of my bed with a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, El, I really am. I'll be down with the rest of the guard in the guard's quarters if you need me."

I nodded as he quietly left the room and closed the door softly behind him. Enjoying the blissful silence, I buried myself under the many blankets and covers on my bed and allowed the endlessly flowing tears to soak the pillow underneath me. They hated me, god they hated me. Of course they did, I was stupid to ever believe they would love someone as weak, naïve and stupid as me. Feeling overwhelming amounts of self-pity, I curled up into a tight ball and nuzzled myself further into my bed, feeling alone, so goddamn alone.

I must've been crying for hours and the pillow underneath me was thoroughly soaked in my tears. My eyelids were just beginning to droop as a cold hand placed itself on my shoulder from over the covers.

"We will never hate you, cara mia, quite the opposite."

I didn't need to look up to know that it was Aro. The bed dipped on either side as Caius and Marcus both curled up beside me. Oh, so now they wanted to talk? I refused to make eye contact with them and stared down at one of the light coloured pillows surrounding my head.

Caius pulled the blanket back from my face slightly so he could press his lips to my forehead. "Please talk to us, carissima."

I didn't respond, instead curling up tighter away from them with my knees drawn to my chest. Marcus wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed himself into my back snugly. They really had the nerve to ignore me for days and then expect me to talk to them as if nothing happened?

Hesitant of his actions for the first time ever, Aro placed his hand on the side of my face while the rest of my skin was hidden under the many blankets and pillows covering me. Pulling away, he shot me the most remorseful expression I could ever imagine seeing and leant over me, holding my body as close to his as he could. Caius and Marcus both shuffled back slightly confused as Aro tugged me out from under the covers in one swift move and placed me down on his lap while I was still wrapped warmly in a fluffy grey throw blanket.

"I am so incredibly sorry, cara mia, I'll always love you, I am so sorry, please forgive me," he whispered repeatedly as he cradled me in his arms delicately, almost as if he was afraid to scare me off. Now that was the response I'd been waiting days for, phew finally!

"Aro?" Marcus questioned and placed his hand on my leg.

I vaguely listened as Aro spoke hurriedly in what sounded like Greek. Between every few sentences, his grip on me would tighten slightly or he would press his lips softly to my forehead and run his fingers soothingly through my hair. From the sounds of things, he was explaining to them how much I thought they hated me and how I was going to leave Italy for good, and I even heard the Cullens and the Denalis mentioned.

Once his explanation was over, I felt myself being lifted up and placed down in Caius' lap as he held my head to his chest and nuzzled into my hair. Unlike Aro, Caius was a man action rather than words which was made clear by the fact that he didn't seem to verbally apologise but instead held me as closely to him as he could without hurting me and refused to let go. I still wasn't in the mood to talk about it, what with the unnecessary emotional hell they'd just put me through after a simple shopping trip.

Marcus pulled me over from Caius' lap onto his and surrounded his arms around me tightly. "I am so sorry, tesoro, please forgive me, forgive us, I love you so much."

"Please say something, carissima," Caius murmured, pressing his cold nose into the soft skin of my neck.

I sighed a quivered breath. "Why should I? You refused to say a single word for over a week."

Aro cupped my cheek with his hand and ran the pad of his thumb across my cheekbone. "We feel terrible about punishing you, truly. In that moment, when we assumed you'd left, something completely overtook our actions. The thought of you leaving us…we are incomplete without you, cara mia."

"What, so you lock me in my room for three days and refuse to talk to me?!" I snapped before taking a deep breath to calm myself and gazing down at my lap, "Damn it, do you have any idea what your unjustified punishment did to me? I thought you hated me, I was going to leave permanently this time. You seriously, even for a second, thought it was okay to lock me in my room for going on a shopping trip? I'm not a child, and I don't need and will not tolerate being scolded and punished for bad behaviour like one. You're not my parents, nor am I your property, nor am I below you, you're my mates, so prove it and treat me as an equal. I don't give a crap about who is dominant in this relationship, but it doesn't give you permission to push me around like some kind of item you own. I'm a grown adult, I can make my own decisions and go wherever I goddamn please, and I don't need you punishing me like a small child for spending a few hours outside of this castle. I'd never do the same to you, so don't do it to me.

"And even after all of that, when I tried to make amends, I tried to apologise for worrying you about leaving like the nice, sensible person I am, and you ignore me? Geez, you were the ones who locked me in here in the first place without giving me any chance to explain myself, which was a dick move, may I add, and then you give me the silent treatment like I was the one who messed up? Thanks to your immature bullshit actions, I spent days dealing with the affects of bond rejection, my eyes are so red and blotchy from hours of crying that I don't think they'll ever recover. And you really expect me to forgive you? Just like that? To move on as if nothing happened?"

Marcus tightened his hold around my waist and softly kissed my hairline. "We do not deserve your forgiveness for any of our foolish actions, tesoro. All week, I longed to have you in my arms again, I watched the bond dim on your side while I longed to hear your angelic laugh, to inhale your perfect scent."

"And that could've happened sooner if you would've just said something," I retorted.

Caius quickly tugged me onto his lap and cradled me gently in his arms. "I promise, I swear on my life, nothing like this will ever happen again, carissima. We were fools to treat you so disrespectfully in that way," he kissed my cheek carefully, "I love you, Eliana."

I nodded dismissively in response rather than the usual 'I love you too'. I wanted to be able to forgive them, I did, but the way they fucked up really didn't make things easy for me. It was going to take them some time to earn back my trust, and I definitely wasn't planning on making life too easy for them for the next month or so.

"On another note, you should have seen Aro's mood swings all week," Marcus chuckled.

"I did not have 'mood swings' thank you very much," Aro snarled.

"Aro, you were sat at your grand piano brooding for hours. You almost turned into Edward Cullen for a moment," Caius quipped, his lips curing up into a smile.

"Cara mia, ignore these two, I was not brooding. I was simply…deep in thought."

I cocked my head to the side. "Isn't that the definition of brooding?"

He paused. "I don't think so," he said hesitantly.

Marcus quickly dashed in a blur out of the room, returning with a large dictionary in hand as he eagerly flipped through the pages. And to think they originally came in here to apologise to me, huh, typical boys, so easily sidetracked.

"Aha," he pointed to one of the old, creased pages, "the dictionary definition is 'engaged in or showing deep thought about something that makes one sad, angry, or worried'."

"I told you!" I taunted and pointed a finger at him.

"Regardless, I was not brooding," Aro assured.

"Mhm," I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I wasn't," he insisted.

"I said 'mhm'," I reminded him.

"No, no, that was a sarcastic 'mhm'."

"Fine, I'll make it more genuine," I took a deep breath, "of course, Aro of the Volturi, you were not brooding despite you defining the word brooding to me just a second ago, oh no, you were simply 'deep in thought'," I nodded exaggeratedly and held my hands together, mimicking his usual actions.

He seemed like he wanted to snap back with something but knew that he was already on my bad side, so wisely decided to keep his mouth shut. The corners of my lips turned up into a subtle smile; eh, I had these idiots wrapped around my finger. This was going to be a fun few weeks of them sucking up to me.

Author's note: I didn't want Eli to forgive them instantly, and she doesn't even in this chapter, because let's be honest; the kings fucked up. I definitely feel like this was a learning curve for them all to be honest, and I know this whole section of the plot annoyed a lot of you but I'm sorryyyy. I basically wanted Eli to learn from this how to stick up for herself and that she's not some kind of pushover but instead an independent woman of the 21st century, and I hope this chapter did some justice here.
Anyway, next chapter will be the final one of the story UGH but it's fine, it'll be a fun chapter I promise (way more fun than these last few in anyway). Thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because it's that that's been motivating me to even finish this story aha, thank you for sticking with me through this, stay safe, and ily lots!