Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, everyone! This chapter was nearly impossible to write. I finally sat down last night and managed to churn it out. It's very brief and I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I do hope you enjoy it. The next installment has already been written, so you shouldn't have to wait long for an update. ^_^
Happy New Year!
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Stephenie Meyer's work.
Chapter Seven
Sulpicia does not make it beyond the walls of Volterra. Demetri, Felix and Jane await her, ambush her in the corner of a stinking alley by the city gate.
The moon is faceless. Early frost crusts the muddy puddles that crowd the cobblestones.
Sulpicia does not try to fight them.
She is taken back to the tower and, because Caius insists upon it, tortured. But there is a deeper pain in the air, one that evades her as she writhes on the floor of the atrium, mouth twisting open in a grotesque sob.
No mercy.
When Jane finishes with her, she is dragged to the dungeons and locked within a cell. The act is more ceremonious than necessary, she realizes. Her prison, after all, is without walls.
"Wait!" Sulpicia begs as Jane and Felix turn to leave. Her voice rasps out to them like the scattering of dry leaves against the parched earth.
Jane glances back at her, slightly annoyed, but entirely amused. "What is it?"
"How did they know?"
A moment of aching silence. The dark closes around them. Seeps and breathes through crevices of thought and reason.
It is Felix who answers her. "Master Aro read your thoughts."
They leave, shutting the iron door behind them, sealing Sulpicia in with only her reaching screams for company.
"You knew." This from Didyme, his little sister, who comes to him with hair wild and weeping.
Aro hates to see her cry. He takes her in his arms and cradles her as he used to, so many years again, when thunder would startle them awake at night.
Lightening shearing the sky…
"Will you kill her?"
Her sobs pierce him, tear at his composure until he feels it crack. With some difficulty, Aro clears his throat.
"Desertion is punishable by death."
She looks at him with flooded eyes. Her breathing is an uneasy pulse that surges against them as they stand, embracing.
"But you love her."
Didyme's words catch him off guard. He is stunned. Undone. The crack deepens, widens, threatened by waters running swift and dark.
"And that is why she fled," he replies, vocal cords tightening against each syllable. "Sulpicia hates me."
A moment of weakness. Uncertainty. Aro feels it take hold of him and is rendered powerless. Helpless.
It is Didyme who comforts her brother now. He rests his head against her collar bone, remembers summers of wild flowers and honey.
She left me. I disgust her.
Didyme's hands find his and she wraps her fingers around his knuckles. "Go to her, brother."
He is jolted by the steadiness of her voice. Her certainty. "I think Sulpicia would rather be alone."
And inexplicably, his sister smiles.
"Never," she tells him. "Never, never."
Author's Note: Like I said, short. But I do promise the next one will be much longer, with a boatload of drama and Aro/Sulpicia angst.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read. If you have a spare moment, please leave a review. I would truly appreciate any feedback. So many people have favorited this story, if you could possibly leave a review, I would be forever grateful. J