Thank you to everyone that has review so far, they are so encouraging! It took me a little longer to get this chapter to a place that I was satisfied with. Let me know what you think!
For two days I had remained sequestered in the desolate room. My only interaction with the vampires that resided in the castle were the three times daily when one of them swept into the room and left a tray of food. However, by the time I had registered their presence they had usually slipped back out. Not that it mattered anyways. I had nothing to say to them. By the end of the first day, my fear had even begun to dissolve. In its place, the gaping hole that had been my companion during the previous months settled back into place. I was resigned to the grief and my powerlessness in the current situation. What were they waiting for? What was the point of keeping me holed up here? Was Aro plotting some way to get me to divulge who had given me access to their world? I shuddered to think of what he might have meant when he said they had other ways to get me to talk.
It may have been from boredom, or from the hopelessness that dug its heel into any positive thought I tried to conjure, but I spent most of my time lying in the narrow bed trying to sleep. Seeking the only escape I had. Each time that I woke, I was confronted once again by the stiff aching of my injuries. There was a small window that looked out over the city of Volterra, otherwise I would have had no sense of the time that passed. When I was not asleep I stood at the window for as long as my ribs would allow, watching the inhabitants of Volterra move about the city. I worried that my arm would begin to heal in the wrong position and resolved to ask someone if it really was not possible to see a doctor. "It is the least they could do," I grumbled.
In the middle of my third night there, I was awoken by the sudden appearance of Demitri, who, in a foreboding voice, had ordered, "Get up and come with me, human." His silent apparition and abrupt command had startled me awake and I was too hasty in clambering from the bed. I shouted out in pain, having forgotten about my ribs in my half-slumbering state. My only clothes were the ones I had been wearing when they found me. Having succeeded in removing the bulky coat without jostling my arm too badly upon my arrival, I grabbed it off the chair and set out to try and slip it back on.
Demitri interrupted me, "There is no time, Aro is waiting. Leave your affairs here." I let my jacket drop to the floor with a muted thud, turning to glare at him as I brushed past and out into the hallway. He rolled his eyes before walking away just quickly enough that I was nearly jogging to keep up, the thump of my bare feet against the stone the only noise in the corridor. I held my arm out slightly away from my body, clenching my teeth to keep a pained groan from escaping.
At last Demitri stopped before the same towering doors from that first day. He paused for a moment, not to knock as he had before but to listen to whatever was going on inside. Several seconds passed before a satisfied smile materialized on his face. Instead of opening both doors wide, he cracked the right one open just wide enough for him to slip through, beckoning that I should do the same. I shuffled in sideways, watching my arm to make sure I did not bang it into the solid wood. When at last I slid in beside him I allowed myself to look around the room.
I saw Aro first, his eyes afire with excitement upon seeing our arrival. In front of him stood a man with his back to us. My head tilted to the side as I studied his clothing, his wavy blond hair. The sorrow that had taken root in me so many months ago began to beat against the walls of my chest, as though it sensed its tipping point. Just as recognition flickered across my face, breaking through the wall of grief , the man gave an agonized cry. I watched in shock as his body tensed, arching outwards before he dropped to his knees.
"Carlisle!" The scream erupted from deep within my chest. I could feel bile rising in my throat as I saw Edward's father crumple to the floor. I hadn't realized that I had lurched towards him until Demitri's hand closed around my injured arm in an unyielding grip. My own cry added to Carlisle's as I swayed from the pain of Demitri's grasp. The room began to blur and I willed myself to stay conscious. I watched as Carlisle continued to writhe in pain. His eyes wide open, his cheek pressed to the floor as his body contorted. Despite the agony of seeing him endure such suffering, I could not bring myself to look away. Doing so felt like an abandonment of him.
Just as soon as it had started, the pain seemed to stop and Carlisle fell silent. What felt like hours had only been mere seconds. He took in a gasping breath as a pained expression flickered in his eyes. It looked almost as though he were ashamed. At human speed he pushed himself up onto his knees. I opened my mouth to call out to him, but instead a dazed murmur slipped out, his name coming out as a question "Carlisle?" I managed to catch a glimpse of Aro's arrogant leer before I slipped into unconsciousness.
Carlisle's POV
In a blur of motion I stood and whipped around to face the direction of her voice. She had lost consciousness, her body slumped against her captor's. He leaned away in disgust. Within half a second I had crossed the short distance between us and lowered her to the floor. I knelt beside her, scanning for injuries and taking an assessment of her overall state. A series of small lacerations on her forehead were red but healing. Her arm had recently suffered a break which had gone untreated. She was thinner than when I had last seen her at her birthday party, and there were dark circles beneath her eyes. I paused in my ministrations and half-turned towards Aro. Anger rattled my calm demeanor. Through my tightly clenched jaw my voice came out as a hiss, "Damnit Aro! What have you done?"
The Volturi ruler raised his eyebrows and in a show of feigning innocence opened his arms, palms facing up. "I have done nothing, Carlisle. My guard found the girl in this state." I gave him a withering look, unable to hide the disbelief and disgust that overcame my features. I had always been known for my steady composure but I was finding it increasingly difficult to refrain from some uncharacteristically violent thoughts.
I returned my focus to Bella. Unfortunately, there was not much I could do for her in our immediate circumstances. Without an x-ray it was difficult for me to tell if her arm had suffered a partial or total fracture. It would help if I could find something to stabilize it with, but I did not dare leave her side to search. In any case, Aro would never allow me to leave the throne room. Before I could examine things any further she began to stir.
Remaining crouched at her side I whispered, "Bella? It's Carlisle, it's going to be alright."
"Careful not to make promises you cannot keep, Carlisle. You don't want to give the girl false hope," Aro's voice had regained its seriousness. He would waste no time in continuing on with his proceedings.
Upon hearing my voice, Bella's eyes widened and she tried to sit up. Wincing, her good arm clutched her ribs. She must have broken a few. I still did not know what had caused her injuries.
"Carlisle! Are you alright?! What are you doing here?" Her frantic eyes scanned my form, looking for lingering signs of Jane's torture. Seeing nothing, she shot a murderous glare in Aro's direction.
"You!" She raised an accusatory finger at him. Many in the guard shared shocked glances, surprised at a human's apparent disregard for the power he held. Pride thrummed through me at the sight of her fierceness, a small smile appearing on my face. But I was also touched by her concern. After our abrupt disappearance the previous autumn, I was unsure as to how she would react to seeing me. Any resentment on her part would have been more than justified.
"Now, now Isabella, he was never in any real danger," Aro waved off her ire dismissively. "However, it would appear as though you two know each other. I presume we now know who shared our secret with you?" His expression transformed into a malicious grin. He basked in the success of his scheming and the implications of his discovery. Of course, I was not the one who had told Bella the truth of our existence. But I would never shift the guilt on to Edward or Jacob Black. Now I just had to hope that Bella would allow me to take the fall.
Bella's face reddened, her heartbeat quickened. I watched as the irises of those closest to me went from ruby to the darkest black in response to the increased flow of blood mere feet away. Several emotions flashed across Bella's face in quick succession, embarrassment, anger, guilt.
Glaring at Aro, she spat out, "You used him. You hurt him knowing I would react." Bella's eyes shifted in my direction before dropping to the floor. All the vitriol had gone from her voice. "I'm so sorry Carlisle. I'm so, so sorry." She seemed unable to make eye contact with me. I did not need Jasper's power to see the guilt and fear she tried so hard to mask.
I reached out and took her undamaged hand in my own, giving it a slight squeeze. "It's okay, Bella." My smile was genuine, as were the words I spoke. Even though I still did not have all the details of what led us to this moment, it was clear she had attempted to avoid my involvement, forcing Aro to elicit the information he needed with Jane's earlier stunt.
A loud clap echoed through the room as Aro exclaimed, "Well! Shall we continue?" Several of the vampires in the room, having grown bored of witnessing our reunion, looked excited once more at the prospect of whatever Aro had in mind. He turned and walked towards the dais, coming to a stop in front of his throne. The highest-ranking guard members followed to stand behind him while I lifted Bella to her feet.
"Now, Carlisle, I am sure you must realize the difficult position I am in here. You are of course an old friend, and after spending several decades living amongst us you are more than familiar with our laws. Unfortunately, I cannot turn a blind eye simply because of our history. It would not be just. And what kind of example would I be setting?" Aro was a good actor. Anyone unfamiliar with his antics would see a conflicted vampire hesitant to punish. I saw straight through his performance.
Next to me, I could feel that Bella had begun to tremble. It could have been from the chill in the room or her recent loss of consciousness. Or simply out of fear for the verdict she could sense approaching. All of my instincts as a healer urged me to help, but I knew Aro would never allow such a delay to interrupt his well-orchestrated trial.
"Although," Aro paused in reflection, "you do have a large coven. It could have been any of you that had such a slip of judgment." Upon hearing his words I raised an arm and placed it on Bella's back, hoping she would receive my message to play along.
"No, Aro. I take full responsibility. The rest of my family has breached no law of the Volturi's." Bella opened her mouth as though to speak but I continued with my explanation before she could say anything. "I treated Bella after an incident in her school's parking lot. We had an engaging discussion and I began to imagine that she might be a possible companion for my son, Edward," hearing his name she winced. In my head I sighed, regretting once more that I had ever gone along with his insistence that we leave Forks. The grave repercussions of that decision were now glaring. "After seeing him alone for so long, my greatest wish was for him to find a mate. Soon after, Isabella began to notice our differences and I made the decision to share my history with her. However, when Edward realized what had happened he was furious, and insisted that we leave. I did not believe Isabella to be a risk, she had always been nothing if not discreet." Not exactly a lie but rather a distorted version of the truth.
Sighing, Aro responded, "You have been very foolish, Carlisle. Who knows how many people may have been told of our existence by the gossiping of a teenage girl".
"I've never told anyone!" Bella interjected.
"I doubt that!" Jane spit out under her breath.
"Be that as it may," Aro continued, "our most crucial law has been broken. Not only did you tell a human what you were, you left soon thereafter with no way of knowing whether she was maintaining our secrecy. I never considered you to be careless, Carlisle." He glanced at his brothers before turning to hold my regard, "And the punishment for both human and vampire in the case of such an offense, more often than not, is death".
At my side, Bella began to cry. But her expression was one of contempt, not the panic I had expected. Behind the tears, her eyes showed a desperate fury that I had never witnessed in her, "That is not fair! I have never said a word of anything to anyone! And despite all that has happened I would never do something that could cause problems for Carlisle and his family!" She took a step towards the grinning Volturi leader but I followed behind, gently grabbing her arm to stop her advance.
At my touch, she turned to look at me, her tears falling more freely. "Carlisle, I'm sorry, I never meant for any of this to happen. Those stupid motorcycles. And now Esme, oh god, Esme." Hearing her speak my love's name made my stomach lurch, but where Bella seemed to have lost hope of us making it out alive I still maintained some doubt about any true intention on Aro's part to kill us.
Sure enough, his next words brought Bella's continued rambling to a standstill, "Of course, there is one other option. And only one."
Both Bella and I watched him. I was sure my eyes showed the weariness I felt whereas Bella's narrowed in skepticism. Aro himself relished in the suspense that hovered in the silent room. His own excited eyes gleamed as he glanced between the two of us.
"Should you wish to avoid such a punishment, Carlisle, you must change the girl."