As soon as the doors swung open I recognized the room before me. The marble floors, the trio of identical thrones presiding over the imposing space. It looked exactly as I remembered from the painting in Carlisle's office. Though I hardly had time to take in any details of the towering circular room before a voice echoed out in the chamber.

"Ah, Jane, so this is our special guest!"

My attention focused on the figure before us, his skin so white as to be almost translucent and his manic eyes nearly black. While Jane continued forward, my own feet planted themselves firmly into the stone where I stood.

"Yes, Aro, this is the human I spoke to you about. Perhaps you will have more success in eliciting information from her than I did," this last part was spoken in a frustrated hiss.

"Now, now, my dear Jane, do not be discouraged. We will get to the bottom of this," he said with a giddy laugh.

Aro began to walk towards me, his pitch black cloak mirroring the color of his eyes. I knew this meant he had not fed recently and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as he came to a rest mere inches in front of me. He held out his hand as though to greet me. I glanced down at it, my eyes betraying my disgust. A sudden surge of courage coursed through me as I chose not to shake his hand. He soon grew impatient waiting for me to place my hand in his and I sensed the growing tension of the onlookers. In a movement too fast for my eyes to capture, his hand darted out and clasped on to mine. A gasp of surprise escaped my lips. I could feel the strength of his grip, his not-so-subtle display of power. Staring at his face to gauge his reaction, I jumped when he let out a frenzied laugh.

"Ha! You see Jane, she confounds us both. Now tell me, young one, what is your name?"

Aro saw me hesitate and leaned in towards my ear. He added in a wholly unnecessary whisper, considering the supernatural hearing of everyone in attendance, "Do not bother lying to me, the truth always makes itself known in the end." With an unnerving wink of his eye he stood straight once more and watched me expectantly.

I lifted my chin and spoke in a tone more defiant than I actually felt, having decided to heed his words and tell the truth for at least this first question, "Isabella."

"Hmm, Isabella. From what Jane has told me, you seem to know something you shouldn't." A pause, and silence on my end. "Now, I have an inkling as to who may have disclosed our secret to you, but I take great pride in fair and just proceedings." Upon hearing these words, I saw the blond-haired ruler behind Aro smirk from his place on his throne. "So, I will make no assumptions for now."

My mind began to race and I knew everyone in the room could hear my galloping pulse. This was it, I was going to have to come up with some kind of story to keep the Cullens safe.

"I don't know what you are referring to." Aro erupted into laughter. Others in the room sniggered. Brilliant, Bella, now you've fooled them. I grit my teeth in response to my feeble first attempt at a lie.

"Oh Isabella, if you are thinking of hiding something from us you will have to try harder than that."

Several scenarios presented themselves to me at that moment. None of which included letting the name Cullen slip past my lips. I did not feel vengeful towards them. Angry, yes, though mostly heartbroken. I knew that persecuting them would not dissipate the fog I navigated through every day. No, the first option was to continue to try and feign ignorance. But my poor lying skills and the Volturi's ability to hear the speeding up of my heartbeat diminished any likelihood of me escaping in that way. Though attempting to play up my naivete could at least serve to stall them a little. Another option would be to give them a variation of the truth. To tell them that I had heard legends about vampires and upon seeing Jane in the forest my overactive imagination connected the dots. My only concern was that they would insist on knowing more about where I had heard the legends and I did not want to risk implicating the Quileute tribe. The third option I considered also involved bending the truth. To tell them I had once been attacked by a vampire. I could even show them the scar as proof. But that led right back to the Cullens, how else could I explain my survival of such an ordeal?

I thought of Edward, wondering where he might be in the world. Though he had said he did not love me, I held out hope that if he knew I was here he would come. Or perhaps some of the other Cullens. Surely if Alice was aware that I had been kidnapped by the Volturi she would not stand aside and leave me to my fate. Though I felt selfish just for thinking it, any attempt on their part to intervene would place them in harm's way as well. And I doubt they would be willing to die for a human they had only known for a few months. It had been a long time since I had allowed myself to dwell on thoughts of them. However, instead of shutting down and disengaging with the world around me, I found that imagining their worry for me kindled a warmth in my chest that had been absent for months.

"Isabella?"

My head snapped up and I looked at Aro. "What do you want me to say? I crashed my motorcycle and before I knew what was happening I was swept away by a group of cloaked strangers. Now I have no idea where I am and I can hardly think straight because of how much pain I am in." Apparently I had subconsciously settled on faking ignorance in the name of stalling.

Part of me expected Aro to roll his eyes but instead he smiled. Though the smile was humorless and conveyed instead a menacing warning. "You fascinate me, human. But you are also infuriating. I told you that it was in your best interest to tell the truth. Jane's power may not be effective against whatever capabilities you have yourself but we have other ways of making you talk if needed." Aro's smile had disappeared by the end of his discourse and had been replaced with an impatient scowl. "I am disappointed Isabella, I thought perhaps we could try and find a solution together."

I waited, anxious to hear what would come of his not-so-thinly veiled threats. I did not have a death wish but at this point I could not envision too many different outcomes. My mind scrambled to try and find a way to win myself more time.

"Why do I fascinate you?"

Aro was surprised by my question and his lips curled up in a brief smile. "Well, despite your attempt to hide what you know, it is quite obvious that you are aware we are vampires. Not only that, but whatever interaction you had with our kind left you alive. Not a very common occurrence, I can assure you." Here he paused. I watched as he glanced back towards the guard and his brothers before continuing, "And lastly, it would appear as though you may have the capacity for a special power yourself, some kind of mental shield blocking any of our attempts to access what is going on up here," I flinched as he placed one of his hands on the top of my head. "To be quite honest, it is the only thing keeping me from discarding you like we would any other human that enters this chamber. My curiosity has been piqued."

At that I shivered, which caused Aro to laugh once more.

"Isabella, let me explain something to you. One of our kind's most important laws is to guard the secrecy of our world. Breaking that law, and telling a human of our existence, can be punishable by death. For both the human and the vampire in question."

I swallowed and fought back images of Aro exacting such a punishment on the Cullens. Though I continued to glare in his direction I could feel my legs begin to tremble. I needed to distract him again.

"How did Jane know? How did she know that I recognized her as a vampire?"

Glancing in her direction, I watched Jane roll her eyes. Aro, however, gave me an indulgent grin, conscious of my attempts to get him talking about anything but a death sentence.

"Is that an admission, Isabella?" His fingers came together, resting against his chin as he paused to allow me to realize my slip-up. An ominous grin hidden behind his fingertips, "When you saw her eyes you tried to conceal the blood dripping from the fresh wound on your head. And if that weren't enough, you were much too at ease around the guard. Too resigned. As though you knew that nothing you could do at that moment would allow you to escape."

I could feel tears prickling in the corners of my eyes. They threatened to issue forth not out of fear but out of anger. For I had hardly been here ten minutes and had already admitted to knowledge that could lead to a death sentence. There were sobs building in my chest, trying to force their way out. Taking a deep breath to calm my visceral reaction to Aro's words, I winced and clutched my side. Since arriving in Volterra, the pain in my ribs and my arm had paled in comparison to the budding panic. But now that I had failed at one of my main objectives, my body allowed itself to feel the injuries in their entirety once more.

"Now, Isabella, why don't you tell me how you came to harbor this dangerous secret of yours?"

My head was bowed, my eyes staring at the worn tiles beneath my feet. In response to his question all I could do was shake my head. A new voice spoke up then, annoyance clear in his words, "I have had enough of this Aro, either force her hand or summon our old friend."

Aro sighed in resignation, "Very well, Caius". Turning his attention back to me, he continued on, "You will remain in the castle. I think you have realized by now that trying to leave would be as much a waste of your time as ours. As far as your arm goes, I am afraid that you will have to wait. An old friend of mine should be arriving soon who may be able to help." A look of amusement flickered across his face at these words.

I nodded along without truly listening to his words. Exhaustion and the pulsing ache from my injuries was making it near impossible to focus. Jane walked towards us, ordering me to follow her once more.

She led me to a small room, furnished with nothing more than a small wooden bed, a table, and a chair. Everything looked like it could have been centuries old and I reminded myself that it probably was. Another vampire swept into the room and left a tray on the table. It contained what looked to be a bowl of soup and several slices of bread. The adrenaline that had coursed through me during the last day had begun to wear off and left a trail of weariness in its wake. Without speaking a word, Jane and her companion disappeared from the room, closing the door behind them. I expected to hear the click of a lock but of course it would be useless when superhuman beings were strolling through the corridors outside at all hours of the day.

Away from the prying eyes of the Volturi, the tears began to flow freely. Anger, fear, pain, an overwhelming feeling of despair and helplessness surged through me. My morning spent riding with Jacob felt as though it had happened a lifetime ago. Now there I sat, my future at the mercy of an unpredictable ruler. I forced myself to eat what had been provided for me and after cleaning up in the adjoining washroom I climbed gingerly into the bed, careful not to jostle my arm more than necessary.

Having been thrust back into this supernatural world I felt strangely closer to the Cullens than I had in months. After they left Forks, it sometimes felt as though I had imagined the whole thing. They had left with no trace, no physical testament to their passage in my life. A cynical voice in my head had often told me that nothing as fantastic as that could have happened to me. But now that I had found myself once again surrounded by the mythical, it affirmed the most extraordinary memories of my life. So as I shifted uncomfortably on the narrow bed, trying to find a position that was not too painful, I allowed my mind to flood with the many images that I had worked so tirelessly to suppress. Of meadows and chilly hugs and days spent reading in rooms filled with books. Of a family that had seemed to love me as one of their own.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading, all reviews and constructive criticism are much appreciated! Next chapter we will return to Carlisle's POV...