I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I was just way too excited for this chapter! It's from a new perspective that I hope you guys will enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Esme's POV
"Edward take her to my hut," I said as I watched him lift her sleeping form into his arms. "I need to check her."
"What is that girl?" Corin demanded as she nearly knocked her son and her grandson aside. I wanted to ignore her and tend to Bella, but Corin had a rather large mouth that she had trouble controlling.
"Quiet, this is not the time for questions," I said firmly as I tried to follow Edward.
"No," Corin hissed, "You are not leaving us in the dark anymore! There is something neither you nor Carlisle is telling us. We have a right to know what is going on."
The rest of our family nodded in agreement, adding more stress to the already stressful situation. Edward was stopped by several men. His response was to hiss, but he did not try to shove passed them. If he tried he'd create a bigger issue.
"No one is being left in the dark!" I hissed back at Corin. "Bella is not ready too—,"
"You are lying!" Corin said as she took several steps towards me. "You have been lying to everyone. That child is something. She is not normal! You will tell us what she is now!"
I knew Carlisle was coming before I felt him grab me by the arm and pull me behind him. He bared his teeth and hissed at Corin so she would stumble backwards into the crowd. Corin's older mate puffed his chest out and let out a hiss of his own at Carlisle, but did not move from his place. He would not stand against Carlisle, none of them would alone.
"Esme said now is not the time. So, it is not the time." Carlisle said in a very low, threatening voice that always made me shiver.
"Let my son pass," I commanded as I walked to where Edward was standing.
The men stood firmly until Carlisle turned and took only a few steps. They let Edward pass then, not want Carlisle to inflict his wrath upon them. He was already very unhappy and starting a fight with him would not turn out in their favor. This they knew.
"You are going to have to tell us eventually, Esme," Corin called out. "You cannot keep the family in the dark."
"When it is the time, the family will know, but now is not the time."
"This is what the goddess tells you?" Corin said.
Lying was never a strong suit of mine. I was honest, to a fault. Having to lie to my family made my insides twist painfully.
"It is what I am telling you." I said, not wanting to lie but not wanting to be truthful either.
"Is this because you have not spoken to the goddess? She is no longer talking through you." Corin said as she crossed her arms.
The family gasped. I felt my heart skip a beat and my face redden. How she knew this was troubling. I had done well keeping my mouth shut about it, but that did not mean listening ears could not hear whispers.
"It is not true," I said, but my voice was too weak.
"Esme is the healer," Carlisle snarled as he placed a hand on my back. "How dare you disrespect her! She has healed countless members of our family. She has skipped sleep to heal some of you. Skipped meals even. Esme has always taken care of everyone in our family. You should be ashamed for disrespecting her in such a vile way."
I felt several little hands on my body. I refused to look away from Corin, but I knew it was the younger children. Our family never fought like this, so their fear was understandable. I wanted nothing more than to stop this argument and ease the children's fears.
Afton, Corin's mate took a step forward as he snarled at Carlisle. Carlisle answered with a menacing snarl of his own. I knew this was escalating so I kneeled down to address the children.
"Go play at the waterfall," I smiled at them. "I will come get you when we are finished talking."
"But mama, what is happening?" Irina asked in a fearful voice.
"Shh, my love," I said as I stroked her cheek. "Go play and do not let any of this worry you. It will all be alright. Go play."
The young children looked at one another before finally running off. I prayed that they actually went to the waterfall like I had asked them too instead of hiding and watching. They did not need to see or hear this argument.
When I felt a sharp pain in my back, I quickly twisted to see a blur. Even though I could not see who was fighting, I knew it was Carlisle and Afton.
I gasped and grabbed the knife I kept in my satchel before leaping on top of Corin. We rolled several times before I got the upper hand and was able to place the blade of the knife against her throat.
The blur stopped and After looked over with wide eyes as Carlisle had his knees embedded in Afton's back, keeping him pinned to the ground.
"Let go of my mate now Esme!" Afton snarled, venom dripping from his mouth and onto the ground.
"Then you will not attack my mate!" I screeched back. "You have gone too far!"
"Get off of her!"
Carlisle grabbed Afton's arms and forced them upwards into an awkward position. Corin gasped and started struggling.
"Please!" Corin cried. "Let him go! He was defending me. I was speaking out of turn, just please let him go."
Carlisle and I made eye contact.
"Should I let him go?" Carlisle's voice rang in my head.
"Will he attack you again?" I asked.
"I do not think so. But it does not matter. He is old and cannot win against me. This was nothing more than a dominance struggle and I have the upper hand."
"Then let him go."
Carlisle nodded before stepping off of his back. I did the same. As soon as both Afton and Corin were free, they ran to each other. I maintained eye contact with Corin as I walked to Carlisle.
"No more talk of what Bella is or what she is to become." I said firmly. "All of you go back to your duties and leave well enough alone. No more questions and no more gossiping. We are a family. We do not act like this."
"Mama," Kate said as she stepped forward, her hands on her very swollen, pregnant belly. "I do not mean any disrespect, but are we safe?"
Kate's mate Garrett stepped up beside her, his hands on her shoulders. They were newly mated from the last ceremony we had. I felt sympathy, as they were both still very young in my opinion, even though they were both technically adults.
I walked to Kate and placed my hands gently on her stomach. Seeing both she and Garrett flinch when I walked over made me feel sick to my stomach.
"Hush child," I told her softly. "You are safe. You and your unborn babe are very safe. Worry yourself no more. Carlisle and I will protect you, like we've always protected you."
Irina nodded and rubbed her stomach gently. I smiled at her again before turning and walking to the path of my hut. Carlisle placed his arm around me and pulled me close to him.
"I feel awful." I said quietly.
"You should not." He said as he put his nose against my head. "Corin and Afton were out of line. They deserved what they got."
I shook my head. "The family should not be fighting like this. It is wrong."
"They are curious. Bella should not have done that in front of everyone. We are going to have to tell them soon."
"Bella is not ready," I sighed. "She is still a child. It is too much pressure to be our people's new goddess. They will turn to her for guidance, and she is not yet confident enough to guide them. And many of them will refuse to turn to her. You know how they feel about her taking Edward as her mate."
"They understand that Edward did not make a heartbond with Tanya."
"The men understand, but not all of the women," I stopped and crossed my arms. "They feel that Edward was wrong for what he did, and that Bella is wrong for swooping in and immediately claiming Edward as her own."
"You women are wonderful creatures, but you have very jealous tendencies and very strange ways."
I stopped and looked him in the eyes.
"You know how everyone feels about change. As soon as Edward brought Bella to our family, they were fearful of her." I told him.
He sighed. "I myself am fearful of her. I accept her as my daughter and as Edward's mate but accepting her as our new goddess is something I am finding trouble in doing. She is just a child, and a child from the other side at that. If I am having trouble accepting it, then the family will have trouble as well."
"I know Carlisle, but you must understand, Bella was what we needed. The goddess told me repeatedly that change was coming, and this was what she meant. Look at the miracles Bella has performed. Look at how she healed Edward. Even I cannot do that."
"I understand and admire her miracles, but it is also frightening that she can run fast and that she is strong. The females are not supposed to do that."
I laughed. "Carlisle it sounds like you are threatened."
He growled. "I am not threatened by a little girl. I am threatened by the people turning against us because we are protecting a little girl who has mysterious powers."
My laugh quickly faded. "You think our family will turn against us?"
"If they are frightened, yes." He said as he closed his eyes, breaking our mental connection.
I shuddered. "I do not foresee that."
"My Esme, you are now in the dark about many things. You do not know what is to come."
His words cut like a knife. I placed my hand over my chest and blinked several times.
This had not been something he had brought up, but I knew he was thinking it. Now that the goddess was gone, he had begun losing faith in me. It was my worst fear.
I felt his hand upon my back. "I am sorry my Esme. I do not mean to upset you. It is not my intention."
"You have lost faith in me," I said as I looked down.
"I have not lost faith in you, my Esme," He said quickly as he grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at him. "I have nothing but faith in you. I am only fearful of what is coming. Now that you are no longer communicating with the goddess, we are moving forward blindly. We are vulnerable."
I blinked a few more times. "Let us go see our children. I am sure Edward is worried."
Carlisle sighed and lifted me onto his back to walk us to my hut. I laid my chin against his shoulder. With him walking, it did not take us long to reach my hut. When we did, Bella was sitting up in Edward lap, drinking water.
"Nice to see you are awake," I smiled as I hopped off Carlisle's back. "How are you feeling my dear?"
"Strange," She took a deep breath. "What happened?"
"Edward did not explain?"
"I wanted her to finish drinking her water first," He said as he pressed his nose against her cheek. "She just woke up."
I knelt down beside her and pressed my lips against her forehead. She was very warm, but not feverish. I then checked her heartbeat, it was fast, but hers always seemed to beat a little too fast.
"How are you feeling?"
"Strange," She said as she rubbed her shoulder. "My back really hurts."
I looked at her back. There were marks along her back that looked like scars from a whip, but they appeared to be week's old. When I looked on Edward's back, he had nothing to show from his whipping. I touched one of the scars and she hissed.
"Did that hurt?" I asked.
"A little," She winced. "What happened?"
"What do you remember?"
"I remember Edward touching me," She said as she blinked. "And I remember getting upset, then I remember Edward getting upset. And he did something… I can't remember though."
"I gave Edward his punishment for almost forcing a mating upon you," Carlisle said. "The whip lashing."
"Oh yeah," She said as she looked up at Carlisle with flared nostrils. "Why did you do that? He didn't deserve it!"
"I had no choice, Bella." Carlisle said.
"You did. You could've listened to me." She grumbled angrily.
"Bella please do not be angry at my father. It is not his fault, it is mine." Edward said as he pulled her tighter against him.
"I'm angry at you too." She said as she spun around to look at him, breaking free of his embrace. "Why didn't you listen to me? I told you it wasn't a big deal!"
"I am sorry, Bella, but it was a big deal. I needed take my punishment."
"You made a mistake. You weren't in control. It was not your fault."
"Which was exactly why I needed a punishment. I was not in control." Edward argued.
Bella sighed and got out of his lap. "I'm going to go hold Anthony. I need a cute baby in my arms or else I'm going to… I don't know! I'm just angry with you right now."
Bella stormed out of the hut. I knew Edward was feeling upset because of his face.
"Do not worry my son," Carlisle told Edward.
"I am worried. She is very angry with me." Edward sighed pitifully.
"Edward she is only very emotional because she is close to her first bleed. You know the females become a little emotional when they are close to their bleeds." I told him with a smile; I was not lying about this. Bella was only six days away from her first bleed, so she was overly emotional right now.
"Perhaps I should go to her." Edward said as he started to get to his feet.
"Leave her be," Carlisle told him, placing a hand on Edward's shoulder. "It is best to let her anger cool off."
Edward sighed heavily and leaned back against the wall. I smiled and pressed my lips against his forehead.
"Come with me to pick grula berries. You have not come with me in so long and I miss our time together."
He sighed again. Foraging was a childish task that the men did not like. Usually, they only accompanied their mates and children to forage, but they preferred to hunt much tougher prey.
I hope you liked it! Have a wonderful day!
