Author's Note: Hello lovely readers. So I wanted to try something with the story and that is signaling a memory from the past by using italics. I just felt it might be easier. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
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It's been about five and a half months since my first day (awake) at the castle and things are going well. I talked Maxum into staying for a while- which will hopefully get him to be more open minded that his little sister has been falling in love with, what used to be, one of our enemies. Juana and a couple of the others survived that incident and it is mainly thanks to them that I'm held in high opinion by most of the guards. Some of my Queenly duties started after a couple weeks of getting used to everything, but it has been a slow integrating process. I appreciate that though because there is a lot to it. Right now they have me handling some of their business' finances and they have me sit with them in the throne rooms. Trials are rare, but usually end in the accused's death.
Currently my mates and I are lounging around our more personal throne room. It's the same room that we first had sex. Ahh, memories. We were sitting at the same desk with an added chair for me that was softer with a bit more cushion then theirs. I sat with my elbow on the table, lazily rereading one of my favorite books. We've been sitting around for hours now and I was starting to get antsy. I never understood how vampires could just be okay with being still for so long. Even Caius can sit put at least 3 times as long as me.
As I sat there, I went over Italian words and sentences that I've been learning from Marcus in my head. The other two helped here and there but after what Caius did… yeah I only trust Marcus. I still blush with horror from what happened.
"Caius, can you help me? I want to surprise Marcus by saying a few things in Italian that he hasn't taught me yet." Caius looked up from his book with a wicked gleam in his eyes. "What would you like to say?" He asked with a smirk. "I don't know. Maybe something like 'Is there something special on the menu tonight?'" I shrugged, "Just something I could say to the waiter or waitress I guess." After a few minutes of him mulling it over he responded. "Mettimi sul letto e prendimi come una puttana sporca," He uttered, "Now repeat." I repeated those words until I had it sound mostly correct and kissed Caius in excitement.
On Marcus' and my date, he took me to a fancy restaurant. When the waiter came to our table with greetings, I fluidly said, "Mettimi sul letto e prendimi come una puttana sporca?" Marcus and the waitered sputtered and Marcus' mouth hung open. In a rush Marcus quickly spoke in Italian to the waiter. Confused, I thought maybe I badly misspronounced something. "Did I mispeak?" I asked once the blushing waiter dashed off. "What do you think you said?" He asked.
"Umm, I thought I asked about if there was any specials on the menu... I practiced for a long time with Caius. I wanted to... surprise you. I'm sorry," I frowned and looked away, "I messed up the pronounciation didn't I?" By the end of my sentance, Marcus had on a full smile and seemed to be trying really hard to stop himself from laughing.
"He is such a child. I will kill him upon our return," He shook his head. "What? What did i actually say?" I asked with horror filling my tone. Marcus seemed to be debating wether or not he should spare me the embaressment before he responded.
"Someone will tell you anyways," He conceeded. Bending across the table Marcus spoke softly, "What you said my dear was, 'Lay me out on the bed and take me like a dirty whore.' Caius probably wanted you to say that to him and thought of it as a bonus that it would later cause the both of us this embarrassment." My eyes about bulged out of my skull as a blush turned my face tomato red. In a hurry we exited that restaurant and went to get fast food, where he did all the talking.
I shook my head. I still got to get Caius back for that the bastard. After another 40 minutes, going over Italian became tedious, and again I was left feeling bored. "Can I go run a couple laps or something? I'm about to burst with energy," I puppy whined while letting my head fall on Caius' shoulder.
"I would think you'd still be tired after this morning," Marcus teased. Blushing, I tried to keep pouting, but a smile crept through.
"Well we did give her a break the night before," Aro added with a smug tone.
"I know something much more fun than running my sweet," Caius purred into my hair.
"Fine, but you'll have to fight me if you want to be dominant this time," I teased while poking out my tongue. I loved these games I played with my mates and fighting with Caius is one of my favorites. I smiled as I remembered how our last match went.
I teased Caius relentlessly until he got properly pissed off. When he lost it, he grabbed me roughly by the waist and led us to our bedroom. After slamming the door shut, Caius threw me down onto the ground and we looked at each other like feral animals. At the same time we pounced at one another. Rolling on the floor, both of us tried to claim dominance over the other. I landed a couple punches but he got me back twice as much. He was a strategic and strong fighter which was a pain to deal with. Caius tore my clothes to shreds and while he was tearing at me, I landed a few more hits on his mid-section. I was able to straddle him and caught him off guard with a ferocious kiss while my hands felt his rock hard body through the tears in his shirt. With a growl he flipped us so I was pinned to the ground. Undoing his pants, he bit into my skin while he entered me. We both moaned at feeling of his cold filling my heat. "Sottomettermi (submit to me)," Caius snarled. I bit my lip and shook my head. He lifted my shoulders up slightly and slammed me against the ground a couple times and then continued his onslaught of dirty muttering and thrusts. "Sono tuo (I'm yours)," I whimpered. "Again," He ordered while his thrusts became more erratic. I groaned out again and again that I was his until he our long session ended. Afterwards, we laid together with my head on his stomach and his fingers massaging my head. When Aro and Marcus came in that night they saw us in that same spot laughing together.
Yeah, good times. Caius' eyes flashed with carnal desire- likely remembering our last session, but we were interrupted by a few knocks on the door. Within moments a black-haired woman strode in wearing the super showy clothes. I changed the dress code around here so it wasn't sexist nonsense anymore. Seriously, I nearly burned the rules on dress code when I read it. Examples included things like, 'Woman had to wear makeup that highlights their features, dresses only, nine inch heels, hair done up, only wear form fitting clothes, and a bunch of other bullshit specifications.' Now the rules just state that you are to wear formal attire with some restrictions that I thought seemed reasonable, but most of these women's fantasies included capturing the dead heart of some vampire and I guess they didn't think they could do that wearing comfier clothing. It was extremely irritating just how many thought they could undermine me specifically. Yeah I may not be as pretty as them by society standards but they were fools if they thought that my mates would ever trade me in for one of them. On the bright side, we are now hiring more male secretaries, although Caius threw a fit about it. He was convinced that I just wanted to gawk at some pretty men or something, but he shut himself up when I responded in a long, angry, monologue about the sexism going on in the castle.
"What do you want," Caius asked as smoothly as a knife slicing open skin. He was not pleased that his plans with me were interrupted. The woman in question looked to be sweating bullets.
"The Cullen Coven has asked for your audience," She stated in a false tone of confidence. Aro perked up at that and instantly his book was abandoned on the table as he stood. Taking in a deep breath, he sighed.
"Ah. I guess I didn't notice their arrival because I was too preoccupied in my charming flowers' scent. What exciting news!" He clapped once in glee, "Have them come in." The woman bowed her head before striding out of the room. All four of us went to our thrones while we waited.
"I didn't notice their scents either," Caius huffed before finishing, "Mate you are too transfixing." I smiled.
"Yes, she could very well be the death of us," Marcus chuckled. Within moments the doors opened to reveal the whole Cullen family. Odd. I heard a very faint heartbeat. For a moment I was concerned that maybe Bella wasn't changed but when I sought out her face, her eyes were the same honey color as the rest of them.
Aro seemed to be looking for the unexplained heartbeat as well, which actually gave time for Carlisle to speak first.
"Hello Aro," he said politely. Aro smiled, not giving any hints aside from his delayed speech, that he was confused. Standing, Aro left his dais and strode towards Carlisle. "My dear friend it is such a present that we have crossed paths so many times within so little months." Aro stopped in his tracks when he noticed Edward, Bella, Rosalie, and Emmet become defensive. When I notice them get defensive, I automatically went on defense by vacating my chair to be by Aro. I didn't even realize what I did until Aro's hand was entwined with mine. I was really confused with just how overpowering the bond can be sometimes.
I must have shown my bewilderment on my face because the tension in the air left immediately when Aro started laughing at me. I pouted, but ended up smiling when he kissed my forehead. Turning his attention back towards the coven, Aro's gleeful attitude turned into a false sadness.
"I suppose you aren't here to catch up on old times, are you my friend?" Aro sounded like a kicked puppy. Carlisle gave a wry smile.
"No, I'm afraid not." Carlisle stepped away from his tight circled family and offered his hand. Without a moment's hesitation, Aro released my hand to clasp both of his hands around Carlisle's. After Aro dazed out for a moment, he muttered, "May I see her?"
Cautiously the circled family gave each other nervous glances. Only when Carlisle and Bella nodded to the others, did they slowly disband to expose a young girl. Most of our guards hissed, but were silenced with a lift of Aro's hand. She seemed human- with her flush face and brown eyes, but her unreal beauty and odd heartbeat suggested otherwise. Aro bent down and held out his hand to her.
"Hello Aro," the girl stated calmly. She looked to his hand for a moment before she rested her hand on Aro's cheek. This is one of the very few times I have ever seen Aro truly caught off guard. He backed his face away a bit until she made contact, but his eyes were wide with surprise.
"Magnifico," Aro whispered. His hand rested over hers for a moment before he backed away.
"This girl is half mortal, half immortal. She was carried by this newborn," Aro announced while gesturing towards Bella. Shock filled the room, including me. I have seen hybrids before, but I have never known of a human who survived to tell the tale of giving birth to one. I smiled towards Bella. I'm grateful she lived, but was somber at the thought of just how many women could've been spared had the doctor cared enough to try and keep them alive after they gave birth. I bent down and smiled widely at the young girl.
"Hello there. What's your name?" In return the girl grinned and repeated her gesture that she did with Aro, with me. Instantly my mind filled with warm memories of her childhood. Everything from first seeing her mother until now. The girl, Renesmee, emphasized the concerns of her parents about her aging, the fear of going to the Volturi, and what they told her about me. The young girl didn't really feel out of place because she knew how loved and cherished she was, but she sometimes did feel odd. She was happy to meet me… someone who was also rather odd. I noted that at first the family was against ever telling us about her, but thanks to Alice, they changed their minds. Alice was confident that no harm will come to Renesmee (which is accurate) and she didn't want to try and keep anything secret from us (more specifically me).
My smile widened. "Oh, you are a wonderful thing aren't you?" I nearly laughed while pulling her into a tight hug. Raising, I looked back towards Bella. "I'm so happy for you. Congratulations. And thank God you're alive!" I exclaimed before tilting my head, "Well sort of alive anyways." A ghost of a smile splayed on her lips before concern glossed over it again.
"Have you seen this before?" She asked me. I nodded.
"Yes, I have and to address your concern, she will stop aging and live on for a very long time. We usually don't have such simple mixtures, so I've only seen three with purely human and vampire DNA, but they all seemed to grow up after 7 years and then they stay the same. One was over 200 years old if I remember correctly." That's when Bella and the rest of her family took part in a simultaneous moment of ease. It was fleeting though because of the circumstances.
I soon realized that I missed several conversations going on in the room while I was focused on Renesmee's past and talking with Bella. The conversations were fearfully fueled hateful speech towards the girl and most of the nonsense was being spouted by none other than my mate, Caius. "She isn't something we know about. We can't trust what she'll do," Caius hissed. I frowned because his words seemed to resonate with most of our guards.
I tapped my foot while giving Caius a look. "We will not kill her just because you aren't sure about what she is capable of. She is not like those creatures we fought before. Some of them were mindless, while the others were the products of their terrible upbringing. This girl is growing up in a loving home," I turned towards the Cullens with a smile and then looked back towards my mates, "She will not be a problem- if anything, she'll be able to keep our secret better than a vampire. I see no reason to punish them." Aro regarded me carefully with a smile on his lips and when he spoke, his tone was wispy and gentle like a breeze.
"Amaryllis is right, we shouldn't fear this new creation," Aro gave me a loving gaze as he said his next sentence, "She is a miracle- a wonderful gift that shows use something different and exciting."
Caius suddenly looked like he ate something bitter- his eyes widened as they stared at me and something seemed to suddenly dawn on him. He recovered fast, turned his attention to the crowd, and spoke, "Your right brother….we shouldn't hold ill will towards something we don't understand, but I would like for us to keep tabs on her just to ensure that she is harmless." Aro nodded with a bright smile, "Of course! I was thinking the exact same thing."
Caius' gaze fell on me again and he still seemed utterly disturbed. His mouth opened and shut a couple times before he spoke again. "I apologize for my hasty judgments and spiteful speech." At that point I felt really stupid, and completely understood why Caius was being so apologetic. Saying anything bad against her and fearing the new and strange was essentially like a slap in my face. I guess old habits die hard so he spouted hateful things without considering how they related to me. A bloom of warmth filled my chest. Caius is not an apologetic man and he never likes to show any kind action that he deems as weak in front of others, but for me he worked up the courage to apologize- in front of our guards no less- and people he despises! I gave him a bright smile which seemed to calm him down somewhat.
Aro, who was gleaming at the two of us, now stepped to Carlisle and put his hand to his own chest, "Thank you for bringing this to us instead of trying to hide it. We see no reason for punishment today, but please, won't you stay for a while? I would love to have a chat with you, and while you stay Amaryllis can show you all her favorite spots around town. Our city has beautiful features that I'm sure little Renesmee would enjoy." Carlisle seemed a bit hesitant so Aro added on, "You staying would provide a chance to show the rest of the coven that she is nothing to be feared." At that Carlisle forced a smile and agreed. Those in the family that liked me were happy- Alice waved at me excitedly and Bella smiled for example- while others were not so thrilled. Renesmee grabbed my hand.
"Can my friend Jacob stay too?" I looked from her to Aro. We both knew through the girl's thoughts that Jacob was in the city as backup if things went wrong and that he was essentially a part of their family now. Caius was still unhappy with the scent of wolves around though and the others haven't been thrilled either. Aro sighed, "We would be remiss if we excluded a member of your family. Go on and welcome him in," Aro motioned towards some of our lower guards and they escorted the Cullens out. As they left Aro went to my side and rested his hand on the small of my back.
"You can leave the city too if you wish to do something with them that extends beyond our walls. Just keep you're assigned guards on you," He stated calmly. I looked at him like he had worms wiggling out of his ears. That was the one problem with my mates- they were a bit suffocating. I learned from Caius that they had slowly restricted their previous wives more and more until they were locked up in a tower, and it seemed like that now. They did not like me approaching anyone from outside the castle- hell they don't even feel comfortable with me approaching people in the castle sometimes. They always hound me if I want to go outside, and it gets much worse the further that I want to go; they also assigned the whole elite guard as my personal body guard and since they were out on a mission I have the ex-wives body guards, Juana, and even Renata (Aro's personal bodyguard). I thought it was kind of funny that he assigned her to me since I think he needs her more, but I let it go. Granted they have been trying to loosen their restraints, and I know they are just looking out for me, but it can become quite vexing having to constantly push back against their rules. I just know that if I let them walk all over me, even if they don't wish it, they will end up caging me up.
Still, I more so take their rules as suggestions and quite frequently ditch the guard to leave the castle or to have alone time, and I do stand up to them if they are overstepping their boundaries too much. So anyways, yeah the fact that Aro just said I could leave beyond the wall without me putting my foot down and demanding it, was a first and a big freaking deal.
"You mean that I get to leave the castle without you hounding me for a change?" Aro hmphed before begrudgingly stating, "You've been lonely as of late so I want you to go have fun with your friends without my nerves chaining you down," his tone lighten considerably for his next sentence, "Please text me by the hour to let me know you're okay and possibly call with an update once during your outing?"
"Hoow about I text every couple hours and tell you all about my adventure when I get home?" I asked sweetly. He shook his head and smirked, "I'm so close to caging you in our room, yet you wish to test me further. Text every hour….and tell me about your day when you get home." I chuckled, "Alright deal," and then kissed his cheek.
"Anyways," I started, "you don't need to bully my friends into staying hunny, and I'm not lonely. I have made many friends here and I have my three wonderful mates." I nuzzled his neck and listened to the soft rumble of content in his chest.
"I know darling but you still miss your daughter. I believe having little Renesmee around and going out with your friends that you haven't seen for a while will do you good," He purred. Sadness seeped into the forefront of my mind. Aro was right- I was missing my daughter like crazy. I kept going into that empty room they made for her and imagining how great it would be to have her here. I often would fantasize about doing mommy daughter things at the cottage, but I knew that things weren't ready yet. Now however, I can offer her the protection she needs and I'm just ready to have her back in my life.
"Maybe we can call Ezra again and try to encourage them to come," Aro suggested. I sighed. Many people from my group have actually made plans to visit soon, one faction of my group is even planning on staying for protection, while my more proactive part of the group has gone off with Demetri and our elite guard to explore leads and take down scientists. It's amazing how much gets done when you have a powerful vampire coven that holds all the authority in the vampire world, pluuus their old so they know a thing or two about hunting people down. It took years for my group alone to close in on a scientist and now we are already tracking one down after only a few months! I should've banged the Volturi kings ages ago!
Yet, with all of the acceptance I've received from my family, there are sections that will not visit because they want to stay in hiding and visiting someone who is now publicly famous in the vampire world is not a good idea if one wished to lie low. There is also a group that Ezra is in charge of that still views the Volturi as something not to be trusted.
I forgot that he was just as stubborn as me, but I've backed off of the issue for now because the Volturi haven't really proven themselves yet. Maybe after we take down our first scientist, the distrustful ones will come around. I understood the consequences of having them come visit which also is why I haven't pushed extremely hard or went out to take her. Regardless, a part of me was pissed that he was withholding my daughter from me still, and I'm starting to think that he isn't doing this just for Lilith's safety.
"Maybe." I tried to keep the sadness out of my tone, but it was difficult. I kissed Aro on the lips again and then walked over to Caius. Sitting on his lap, I cuddled against him and planted kisses all over his face. "I don't know about you but I especially could use a break right now," I muttered suggestively in his ear. Caius genuinely smiled and returned my kisses with fervor. We left to our room and instead of roughhousing, we made love. He was gentle, tender, and sweet and afterwards we decided to just take the day and snuggle while watching T.V.