A/N Thx Sherry x
Chapter 43
Returning to the place where all this had begun was unnerving. My Volturi home was where I had met and fallen in love with Edward. It was also the place where I was abused and treated like a prisoner for so many years. It was a place of suffering for so many people. Edward's pack had joined us for protection and guidance, but they had soon become pawns in my father's game. He had grown power hungry, greedy, never able to satisfy his need.
I often wondered if he was the same person that my mother had loved and married or if he had changed after her death. If he was the same, what had she seen in him? Was she just as horrible a person as he was? Would things have been different if she were alive? There were so many questions I would never know the answer to because there was no one left to answer them. Alice was the only family I had left from my old life, and she was too young to remember anything.
It had been hard for me to leave her behind all those years ago. It had broken my heart, but she got caught on the wrong side of the battle, and Edward wouldn't let me go to her. I had never once blamed him for that though. He was only trying to protect me and how could I blame him, when he had risked everything to save me? Even his own family.
Edward was very bitter towards Alice, even now that she was back in our lives, I don't think he had warmed up to her. He said that she had picked the opposing side during the battle. That she had chosen to stand with my father, which just wasn't true. I hadn't seen her fight. I had tried to convince him of that fact and make him see that he was wrong, but he was never willing to listen to reason. Jasper agreed with me though, but I think that was more to do with his feelings for Alice than anything else.
"Hey," Edward said, snapping me from my thoughts. "Are you okay?"
I nodded. "Yeah, sorry … Just being back here brings back so many memories."
Edward cupped my face and gave me a sympathetic look. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah," I sighed.
Edward kissed my cheek and then kissed Edmund on the head, telling us both that he loved us before turned and walked away. He left the shelter of the trees that surrounded my father's house, and walked out into the center of the meadow. I hated that he was out there alone, and so exposed, but I knew that was his place, and mine was with our son.
I grasped Edmund's hand tighter and took a deep breath as I prepared myself for the battle that was about to come.
"Aro Volturi!" Edward yelled. "I know you are in there. Come out so I can kill you."