Chapter 126
Bella
I wasn't exactly happy about being separated from Jazz but I was curious about the women who had been married to these men for centuries, Jazz had told me about Marcus' mate and how she met her death and I wondered how it was Marcus didn't kill Aro out of hand, Chelsea's gift or not. Both she and Corin made me uncomfortable knowing what they were capable of but so far there had been no mention of Jazz and I staying here in Italy and I hoped it would stay that way. Jazz was taken off by Caius to visit the new training facility the Volturi had built recently while the girl Jane escorted me to the entrance to the wives tower, Here she handed me over to another older girl with the most exquisite face I had ever seen and who introduced herself as Corin. She could see I was nervous and smiled,
"Don't worry Bella, I have no orders to work my magic on you, besides you are already more than content with your mate. My gift works best on those who do not have such strong emotional ties to their partner."
"Are you saying Sulpicia and Athenadora don't have strong emotional ties to their partners?"
She didn't answer my question but it got me thinking, perhaps the Volturi brothers knew this and it was why they had Corin living with their wives, if so I was more right than I had thought about the gilded cage.
When she opened the door at the top of the twisting staircase I could hardly believe I was in a stone tower, both the walls and floor were covered with richly colored rugs and tapestries, it looked almost like a Bedouin tent. There were soft gauze curtains hung at the windows gems sparkling among the gauze as it moved slowly in the evening breeze. Sulpicia and Athenadora both stood when we appeared and smiled brightly.
"Bella, may we call you that? I'm Aro's wife Sulpicia and this is my sister Athenadora, Caius' wife. We were so hoping you would visit us, its been so long since we heard anything of the outside world. We have papers and the radio of course but its so hard to separate fact from fiction. Please come make yourself comfortable."
I followed her over to the large balcony where a wrought iron table and chairs was positioned to look down on the town square without being visible to the humans below. I sat with the two women and Corin joined us picking up some embroidery she was working on while the wives quizzed me about the outside world, music, fashions, art, literature, they were starved for details of the century in which they lived.
"Do you never wish you could travel and see all this for yourselves?"
It probably wasn't the most diplomatic of questions but I couldn't stop myself. Corin never reacted but Sulpicia grinned at me and tapped my arm,
"When you have been around as long as we have you will find while you are interested in developments you really don't want to experience them first hand. The era you were brought up in will always seem the best and the idea of seeing women in shorts and bikini's, with tattooed and piercings makes me shudder. The modern music seems just a terrible noise with a few exceptions and literature is now so graphic that nothing is left to the imagination. We come from a gentler time when women were women and treated as such, or at least those with the advantages of birth and wealth. Please don't feel sorry for us Bella, we know exactly what we want and despite common misconceptions we could leave our tower if we wanted to but we prefer our time, our company, and that of the odd traveler to Volterra such as yourself.
When I left they handed me gifts, a pretty gold brooch in the shape of a swan from Sulpicia,
"So you never forget your roots, its so easily done these days."
And a tapestry of the Greek gods from Athenadora in which the gods were depicted as their husbands, Carlisle and Jasper as the God of War.
"So you will remember that there is nothing new in the world, its the same story repeated over and again, only the faces themselves change and sometimes not even those. Thank you for visiting and if you ever return please visit us again. Tell us if you see the world any differently through vampire eyes."
Corin escorted me downstairs and I stopped just before we reached the door to the courtyard,
"Is that how they really feel or what you make them feel?"
She smiled enigmatically and answered me with a question of her own,
"How do you think they see the world Bella?" And who is to say what moulds our attitudes and beliefs. Goodbye."
She pushed open the door and there stood Jane looking bored ready to escort me to our suite of rooms for the duration of our stay. I just hoped Jasper would be there waiting for me, I had so much to tell him and so many questions I wanted answering. Seeing him as I opened the door I flew into his arms already telling him about my visit to the wives when he stopped me with a passionate kiss.
"God, I missed you Bella."
Before I knew it he had me through into the bedroom and threw me down on the bed covering every inch of my body in kisses as he stripped off my clothes. All thought of my visit and questions vanished as a hunger overtook me, a need to be his, to be taken, marked as my mates once more and he was only too happy and ready to oblige.
The sun was going down once more when we finally left the bedroom to find a note on the table on the balcony. He picked it up reading it while I watched the play of sunlight on his naked torso, fractured by the scars I could now see only too well and suddenly had the urge to kiss him. He picked up on my desire and grinned at me holding up the note.
"Its from Aro, we are free to leave whenever we want, the Volturi jet is ours when we need it but we have the option to stay if we choose. It seems there is a place for me, a Major in the Volturi guard."
I looked at him in alarm,
"You aren't thinking of taking it are you?"
He shook his head,
"The sooner we leave Volterra the better. We did what we had to and showed our faces now I want to get back to our home, there are things I want to do to you I could only do in the privacy of our own home, alone and miles from anyone."
I grinned,
"Lets start packing then."
As we flew back Jasper handed me a note from the brothers, it was with a pair of invitations, one for Charlie and Jenna and the other for Skye and Edward.
"So we aren't the only ones the Volturi want to vet."
"No, they like to see and be seen by as many newborns as possible, it helps keep the peace."
"But Skye's only a child and why isn't there one for Kat?"
"Skye's is for when she's old enough and Kat doesn't need one, she and Felix are due in Volterra soon anyway along with Peter and Charlotte. You know I can't think of another reason that would ever force Peter to appear in Volterra. He really loves his daughter."
"Yes he does, you told me he had a terrible temper and a mouth like a sewer but you'd never believe it seeing him with Kat."
"True, I never thought he had it in him to be so mellow, still I think she stretches his temper from time to time and I love it. Its just Karma."