Author's Note: See, didn't I promise regular updates? Thank goodness for summer vacation. This installment mostly deals with Sulpicia's relationship with the Volturi guard, something I really haven't explored so far. Chapter Fifteen, which is in the works, will cover her dealings with the other wives and finally, her past in Egypt with Amun and his coven. Then I hope to move on to Didyme's death, Carlisle Cullen's arrival and the initiation of a new OC into the Volturi.
As always, I want to thank each and everyone one of my reviewers, hopeforastalemate, Kyilliki, Princess Mishawaka, Aztilen-chan and ebony fox, along with everyone who has taken the time to read or add this story to their favorites/author's alert. I'm a little bit behind on my review replies, so I do hope you'll forgive me. I truly do cherish all feedback I receive. Thanks for stopping by!
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Stephenie Meyer's work.
Chapter Fourteen
Felix believes that Mistress Sulpicia must detest him.
His mind, which Master Caius had always called simple, deduces facts from reasons, eschews emotion and comes to a conclusion that leaves him unsettled. Unsettled and watchful.
Sulpicia must hate him, because it was he who followed Amun's summons to Egypt. It was he who found her in Alexandria all those years ago.
Time has passed, eroding memories like fine-grained sand along a river bed. And now the river is a chasm and in the depths, uneasy waters gurgle, reminding him of the East and palm fronds and wicked incense. Incense that lingers in air thicker than blood itself.
He remembers finding Sulpicia. In the dark…in the night…hunting amongst the caravanserais, feeding on stringy traders and men with black, beetle eyes.
Felix knew at once that she was the vampire Master Aro had sent him to find, because she walked within the breath of the oud and the wail pf the lyre.
And oh, how ungentle he was with her. Ignoring her screams and pleas. Breaking both her legs so she could not run, and throwing her over his shoulder as he carried her back to Italy. Back to his Masters, who were curious about the vampire who heard only music and spoke of songs.
Now, centuries later, that tormented creature is his mistress, her legs healed but still scarred, her heart cautious and mindful.
And Felix knows that she must hate him.
Occasionally, Alec reads with Sulpicia. His mistress is teaching him Greek, even though she herself is a Roman and quite particular about her Patrician heritage.
It is she who suggests that they read the tragedy Agamemnon and as Alec is stuttering through the unforgiving dialogue, reading the part of Cassandra, Sulpicia weeps.
And then Alec remembers that it was Cassandra who was abducted from her homeland by Ajax the Lesser and forced to become the concubine of a foreign king.
After some time, Demetri earns the odd distinction of being Sulpicia's favorite guard. It is an awkward position for him. Unwanted. The benevolence of a madwoman is not a welcome gift and often he wonders, why, just why, she chooses to be kind to him.
Him…of all the coven.
During the first, tentative days of her favoritism, Demetri expects jealousy from Jane and curiosity from Felix and ringing uncertainty from clever Alec. But they avoid him, leave him to her lavish gestures and her opulent whispers and (oh that rare luxury!) her sympathetic smiles.
Aro encourages his mate's preference and appoints Demetri as Sulpicia's bodyguard, condemning him to walk in her cold footsteps and the shadow of her never-ending witch music.
And for the first time in ages he becomes the prey. The hunted. A thing to be controlled, and it drives him mad, the not knowing. The bewilderment.
Because he knows there is no reason, no reason why she should have chosen him.
But Sulpicia's memory is stronger than his and she remembers how he was kind to her. Kind when she first came to Volterra and trembled and sobbed and begged to be returned to Egypt. Kind when Caius punished her for impertinence and Aro pursued her and Marcus ignored the sins of his brothers.
And kind when he took her to the coven's hunting grounds, cupping crimson his lined and faintly scarred hands so that she might have her first taste of Italian blood. Kinfd as he abetted her fears with thoughtful assurances.
Empty promises, but promises nonetheless.
His compassion, Sulpicia learned, did not last. And all too soon they became competitors, vying trackers who fought like dogs over every kill.
But now that she is the Mistress of Volterra, she remembers when Demetri was kind to her and she tries to reward him with the loyalty she herself never knew.
And her heart breaks, shatters, when she realizes he is not grateful.
Jane knows that Sulpicia hates her and that singular hatred has little to do with the torture she once gleefully inflicted upon the woman who is now her Mistress.
Torture that Caius ordered and the entire guard watched and Sulpicia accepted because she had deserved it. And Jane has no qualms, because her Mistress did deserve it.
But now, Master Aro has rewarded disloyalty with love. The paradox confuses Jane, threatens to overwhelm her and it is only with difficulty that she keeps her temper in check.
Because she cannot afford her usual outbursts now, now when she suddenly finds herself tainted.
Tainted as she was in her native village, when her neighbors and friends and parish priest came to burn her alive.
Now, in Volterra, Jane is tainted by Aro's favoritism and Sulpicia, for all her supposed indifference to her mate, is jealous.
In the early days of their marriage, when Sulpicia begins to test the tepid waters of her influence, she becomes convinced that Jane is a danger to her standing.
"It comes to this," she tells her husband one evening, after they have made love and are lying in the grand, canopied bed Aro imported from his ancestral estate in the countryside. "I will not have the witch-child above me. You have imprisoned me here, Aro. At the very least, I should afford your exclusive affection."
And Jane knows this because she has been watching, in the shadows, in the unwanted, neglected realm of her master's domain.
After that, Aro's attention cools towards her and once more, Jane finds herself an orphan. And she remembers the smell of her flesh when it was aflame.
Author's Note: If you're interested in a slightly more in-depth, somewhat different take on Sulpicia's relationship with Demetri, you might want to take a peek at my one-shot, "Camelot". I don't know, for some reason, I always thought they'd make a good couple.