The chatter buzzing throughout the house halted at once. For several seconds, it seemed like no one even breathed. I certainly didn't.

"Yes," I finally said, breaking the silence. A gust of air blew from behind me. I dared look over my shoulder and found Edward now facing another blonde - a woman - whose expression looked mildly murderous.

"What is she doing here?" Pushing past me to look out the open door, she stared into the yard, narrowing her eyes as she scanned past the trees. "Are there more? Why would they come back here?"

"Rosalie." Carlisle had stepped to her side, and I took several shaky steps back, into an open living room where several pairs of eyes bored into me. The fire on my cheeks could have melted all of the snow in Washington.

"Calm down, Rose," I heard another man say. He had taken Carlisle's place and was attempting to coax the woman away from the door. "Let's just hear her out. Edward says it's okay."

"They killed Irina," she spat, glaring back at me. I could feel my skin go cold, the blood draining from my face like water from a sink.

"I'm sorry," I said again, still struggling to speak above a whisper. "I didn't know that would happen."

Rosalie spun on her heel, turning her back to the door and taking several long, deliberate steps into the living room, stopping in front of me. She stared at me for several long seconds, and I struggled not to flinch away from her. Something about my expression must have satisfied her because eventually, the angry lines that creased the corners of her eyes smoothed, and her shoulders relaxed.

"Fine," she said, at last, her tone calm and even now. "Let me take your cloak." She held her hand out to me, taking the garment and gesturing toward the empty sofa across from where I stood. "Have a seat."

I offered a small smile in thanks, still not trusting my voice. Before I could cross the room, another woman appeared, sitting in the space on the couch next to where I'd been directed. She patted the cushion and smiled, holding out her hand for mine as I took my seat.

"What is your name, dear? I'm Esme," she offered warmly. I smiled as she shook my hand, feeling oddly comforted by her presence.

"My name is Ellie." I made a face as I remembered how my father would correct me. "Well, my given name is Eleonora. But I go by Ellie."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ellie."

Carlisle sat down on Esme's left side, on the opposite end of the sofa from where I sat. An awkward silence came over the room, and I wondered where to begin my explanation, and if I should even begin at all. I was aware of the eyes on me in the room and the presence of others who were listening carefully throughout the house. One set of eyes stared so intently I might have believed they were burrowing right into my skull. I chanced a look toward what must have led to the kitchen, where a stunning woman with long strawberry blonde hair stood with arms crossed over her chest. I knew she was one of the three sisters, who now only numbered two. The other sister appeared a second later. Carlisle gently cleared his throat, calling my attention away from the grieving pair.

"Ellie," he said quietly, using a similar tone of conciliatory calm that he had offered my father hours earlier. The tension in the air was practically visible. "The floor is yours." He smiled gently and waved his hand in front of him.

"Thank you," I began, my voice still shaking a little. I took a deep breath. I didn't know where to start, so with an encouraging nod from Edward, I started at the very beginning. Staring at my hands, I explained it all. I was born in Italy in 1602, to a woman who died before I could see her face, let alone learn her name. My father was Aro, the de facto leader of the Volturi, and the vampire who stood before this family and their friends and insisted that the child born to one their own - I had not yet seen the girl or her mother - was a novelty, a creature unknown to the leaders of the immortal world.

"The whole premise was a farce," Edward offered, shaking his head. "Of course, we knew that. We knew it was a power play. But there you were, all along." His head tilted to the side as he looked in my direction with unfocused eyes, seeing something other than me. "But we would have noticed another heartbeat. You were behind the guard, but close enough…"

"But you wouldn't have," I said, almost letting a smirk form on my lips. "Not me anyway."

Another man's voice I didn't recognize made me jump. "You can shield yourself from detection."

"You're Eleazar," I replied. "My father told me about you."

Eleazar laughed sharply and shook his head. "He told you to keep your distance I'm sure, with a talent like that."

"Something like that." For a time during the 18th and 19th centuries, I was warned that I should not return home to Volterra unless explicitly summoned. Suddenly free to live outside of the guard, I moved to the colonies in what would become the United States, and returning to the place of my birth would have been difficult at best. But it was true that the warning I received was that a new member of the guard could detect skills like mine.

Eleazar nodded. "And I'd bet," he mused, his eyes flashing with intrigue as came closer. "You can protect others too, can't you? Or perhaps, you were just there to protect him."

My eyes darted to the floor, the heat returning to my cheeks. "Yes. Sometimes I was there in case he needed to get away unseen; sometimes he didn't want anyone to know he was there at all." Renata always hated when I accompanied my father; it was harder for her to do her job if I was doing mine.

"But this time," Carlisle spoke up, putting the pieces together from my fractured confessions. "You weren't there to shield him." I chanced a look over at him, and I could see the horror on his face as he figured it out. "But you were there to protect him, weren't you?"

I nodded, but it was Edward that filled in the gaps.

"If things had gone differently - if Alice hadn't shown up when she did - he would have used you to save face."

I swallowed. "He would never have admitted to my face, and Renata wouldn't let me anywhere near him when they retreated. But yes. I think if it came down to having to end the existence of all half-vampires, he would have…"

"He would have sacrificed his own child." Carlisle didn't disguise the disgust in his voice. "To keep his power intact."