Chapter Thirteen| You'll be my Always.

Slowly but surely, I began to learn the ways of being a future queen of the Volturi.

The longer I spent in the company of Queen Sulpicia the more the power-hungry vampire properly studied me. The more she craved to find an imperfection that would break whatever natural bond I had with Caius.

In the past she merely dealt with me on the sidelines, projecting her anger and jealousness onto me. In her eyes I had stolen the sole attention of being a queen from her and had attention projected on me instead.

Now she quietly began to learn little things about me, her lips pressed tightly together, and often drifted off to her studio.

A studio that had every single painting she had made in the past along with multiple musical instruments she had mastered in over a millennium's time. She spent more hours in that room, venting out her frustrations on canvases and strings of instruments. The sounds would reverberate through the cracks of the floorboards and the ceilings, sending them loud enough I swore I could hear them in mine and Caius's chambers.

I was certain if I were able to walk, she would make sure I would learn proper posture and place books onto the top of my head.

It would be the cliche walk of etiquette, to make sure that not even one book would fall off my head.

I would be taught how to properly rest my legs together in order to have a ladylike sitting.

I was basically stuck to a wheelchair for all my waking hours so that meant I didn't have to go through so many hoops for her to be pleased. An actual positive side effect to my cerebral palsy.

We were currently in the private library meant for just the royal family, while Caius and the two other kings were in the large library on the ground/first floor going through all the archaeological finds their archaeologists found.

Caius had told me they wanted to be turned into vampires, and if they collected a certain number of items and did not tell anyone of the real existence of vampires, they would be able to be turned within a decade after being employed by the Volturi. He had both respect towards them and also pity, at how they craved immortality with an obsession that was quite not that healthy.

If it weren't for the fact that immortality brought me to him, I knew for certain Caius would have wished he had died along with most humans.

He both liked being a vampire but also hated it at the same time.

To see empires built and then torn down, to see wars happen and end only for another war to happen within a few decades after the other did not give good emotions towards vampirism.

Demetri stood quietly in the corner of the room; his hands clasped together behind his back. His crimson irises studying us. He held such a protectiveness over me it was flattering, he had quickly become the guard that watched over me when Alec wasn't able to do so. He still scared me half to death whenever I would forget he was in the room and turned in his direction, only to see him in the lineaments with his crimson eyes glowing a little bit.

"Tell me, Bella. If the venom does not cure you of your disability, what steps will you take next?"

Queen Sulpicia picked up the glass wine flute that was sitting on its coaster and took a long sip, the blood and wine mixture quite unsettling to be honest. Especially when she had offered me some, but Caius had made sure that wasn't going to ever happen again.

"I…"

"Your Highness, you are out of line for even asking something like that. Her health is off limits, it has been explained multiple times to you already," Demetri spoke, making the queen sigh and sit the wine glass flute back in its proper place.

She stood up and went to walk out of the room, only for me to make a clearing of my throat to gain her attention. She turned around in her beautiful clothes and saw me looking at her with aggravation. She could tell I wanted nothing more than to ask her why she kept on doing this, why she was still being immature and rude.

"You think you should have an apology? I'm teaching you that there are people out there that don't give a shit about you. Family doesn't mean anything, not in the least. I've taught you enough by now that you should have a good grip on what to do when you are turned. I am cutting all ties to you now; you will never have another word from me spoken to you. So, this is it. Enjoy the alliance between you and the kings. You won't be getting an ally when it comes to this queen."

The queen turned back around and stalked out of the office, letting me know this was the last time I would hear her voice directed towards me. She was going to detach herself completely from me now. I could not go to her for an alliance, for there to be two queens armed hand in hand. I would only find friendship and an alliance with the other two kings.

Demetri sighed in the corner of the room before he came over to me. I was still looking at the two stained glass doors and didn't turn to look at the Greek vampire until he came up to me. The faint sunlight came and hit his skin, though it wasn't strong enough for his skin to glisten. It looked the same as it always did, too pale and too dead-like.

Closing my eyes I whispered, "I…I'm f-free. Free of her."

"Yes, yes you are, my Highness. You are free of her. You won't have to hear her direct illness towards you any longer. She deems you unfit for any communication from her, but she doesn't realize it is a gift and not a punishment she is giving you. She doesn't know that you have the alliance of everyone in this castle, apart from her. She will be the one who loses all the important alliances."

"T-take me to Caius."

Demetri led me down the corridors only for us to be welcomed with Alec coming down one of the corridors with a book in his arms. He had his arms wrapped quite smug against the book; he was probably going to ask if he could read his book to me. I smiled at the sight of him, since he was lost in his own thoughts and only turned to look at me when we came close to him.

"Hi, Mom."

I brought my hand up and waved it as well as I could to let him know I was saying hello to him too.

He came forward and took my hand in his, lightly running his fingers against my hand to feel the warm texture. We didn't know when I would be turned, but soon the warmth in my skin and the blood pumping through my veins would disappear and all that he would feel would be the same temperature and skin like his.

"Are you done with your lessons, with Aunt Sulpicia?"

I could notice how there was a bit of annoyance that was in his voice at the title he had to give to his past mom and now aunt. He didn't want to call her his aunt at all anymore due to the way she had treated me. I, along with Caius, instructed him to call her his aunt anyway, because although she didn't give me respect, he still was a child and needed to call her his aunt.

"Alec, can you lead us down to where your father is? Your mother and I would like to speak to him," Demetri stated, making Alec nod his head.

"Go…put…book…in…my…room."

Alec disappeared in a blur and appeared a few seconds later, without the book in his hands. He led us down the corridors until we reached the main library where they did research and allowed the entire coven to come and use. There was a back room that only they could enter for all the ancient scrolls and other items that only they had access to.

Arriving at the front doors of the library, Alec motioned he would take it from here to Demetri. Demetri merely smiled at the obvious adoration that Alec held towards me. He held no negative emotions towards my son being the one to lead me into the library instead of him. He merely moved off to the side and let us go through the doors first and then he went in second.

All three kings were standing in front of multiple long marble tables that were pushed together, with ancient scrolls for them to look at. A couple of archaeologists were pointing out places on the scrolls they thought were the most interesting only to glance up and notice me. Immediately they bowed their heads and placed their hands upon their chests to signal their submission towards me, though it was kind of odd seeing humans doing this instead of my usual vampire guard.

Caius went around the long set of tables and reached me, along with Alec.

He bent his head down and kissed his son on the head before motioning him to go up to the scrolls so he could check them out. It wouldn't surprise me if Alec knew every ancient dialect out there. Perhaps he would end up going on some of these expeditions with the archaeologists to make sure that things would go well, and to find some of the relics himself.

"He wants to go on a couple expeditions to find some items, himself, but I'm not that enthralled with letting him leave the castle," Caius confessed as he looked at me instead of our brunet son, who was talking in the same dialect as the archaeologists.

"My king?"

Caius sighed as he turned his attention away from me and towards Demetri.

Demetri bowed his head down in respect, quickly saying, "yes, I wish to speak of something important, otherwise I would not have interrupted. I wish to inform you that Queen Sulpicia has officially shunned your mate. She will not speak of her nor speak to her. There will be no alliance nor sisterhood to be found between them."

Caius took in what the guard said before nodding his head, allowing him to know he was processing this information.

"She doesn't seem to realize that our people hold higher regards to Bella than her. What little things she was in charge of before were done without much care put into them. She only did what she, herself, thought would benefit our society and not for the whole population. She trecks too far to not realize her own mate will not vouch for the paths she has walked."

"Father! I think you should come and look at this! It says your name!"

Caius's crimson eyes widened at what our son said, furling his eyebrows.

He turned and looked at him, before remarking, "it must be of another Caius. It is a common ancient name for my people, son. Any records of the three kings were destroyed long ago so that no one could have any inside knowledge of our personal histories."

"Father, it has a sketch of you. It is you, not another. I would not bother you and Mother with things such as this, if it didn't pertain to you," Alec defended, which in return made me take Caius's hand in mine and give it a small squeeze.

"G-Go to him."

Caius frowned, his mouth opening and his tongue dancing with the want to tell me the scrolls could wait. The look I gave him was enough for him to frown and nod his head, bending down so he could press his forehead against mine. The coolness cemented once again that he was here, this was real, and I was not going to wake up in my bedroom at Charlie's house–finding out that vampires were fables and so that meant Caius never existed.

I observed Marcus timidly reach out and place his hand upon Alec's shoulder to let him know that he was proud of his nephew before he drifted away from the tables and the ancient scrolls. He came gliding to me, the veil upon his face a reminder he would always be in mourning for the late queen, for Didyme. The sister of Aro.

Marcus came over and grabbed the back of my wheelchair before leading me out of the library. It was the first time he directly came forward to me and wanted to start a conversation with me. He pushed me outside into the royal gardens. The fountain reminded me of the tenderness Alec had as he sat with his feet in the cold water.

He led me to the said fountain and sat down in front of me.

The wind came and played with the ends of his veil, playing peek-a-boo with his features. He turned his attention towards the scenery in the background, past the rare flowers, and towards the rolling hills and fields. He stared at them for a longer moment than I expected before he turned and looked at me.

"She is the reason why Didyme is dead, along with Aro."

The monotone comment I received from him was enough to make my heart ache from him. I wondered how he could just accept it. Maybe he knew he was being held prisoner here, and no matter what would happen nothing would bring his wife back.

I didn't ask him why he didn't leave.

Yet he seemed as though he understood that I had multiple questions for him.

He surprised me when he requested something that I understood and knew there weren't any questions for him. It was obvious he would ask me about this, and I knew I would follow through with it. Aro wouldn't be able to do anything, since he couldn't read my mind. He would think that Marcus wasn't going to have his request filled.

"Please kill me when you are turned. No one else will kill me because they fear Aro, and know if they even attempt to kill me, they would be stopped. You are the only one who can get away with thinking this, of doing it whenever you wish to do so because he won't be able to read it from you."

If we were human, he would request for an assisted suicide.

Yet he couldn't kill himself, and he knew that the only way to die would be for someone to murder him. He trusted me, and he knew that I would show no judgment of murdering him after I became a vampire. It wouldn't be a horrible thing, I would be liberating him and letting him be with Didyme again.

"Y-Yes. I will."

The next moment his cool, frozen arms wrapped around me, and he held me for a soft moment. It was barely there, barely noticeable for me.

Yet I could feel it, evidence he felt validated in his request.

Evidence in which he would know he would be taken care of seriously, instead of having someone just push it away and tell him it was depression. Something that with good therapy and a lending ear every now and then would miraculously make him not think about wanting to die.

Only an hour later Caius came outside with his hand in the pocket of his robes, his fingers seeming to be gripping on something. Alec was almost skipping next to him, an eagerness that was almost concerning. He was never showing this kind of happiness before, except for when Caius and I accepted him as our child.

"Brother, I shall leave you with your mate."

Marcus got up from the fountain and walked away, his hands stuffed into his own robes. He went into the castle and disappeared, most likely going to his own bedroom chambers.

Bedroom chambers that did not hold Didyme within them, chambers where it was only him. Chambers where he most likely kept her clothes and perfume from when she had been alive, so he would always have her scent with him and actual things that let him know she was real.

Alec came over to me and kissed me on the cheekbone before he sat down where his uncle was.

Caius rolled his eyes in an amused, fatherly manner before he crouched down so that he was on his knees in front of me. I still didn't like him doing this, well when we were outside of our chambers, partly because of the fact I didn't want him to dirty his robes. Other times it was because I didn't want him to feel as though he was degrading himself just so that I would be able to look at him without having to tilt my head up only for it to slump down.

"Cicco, it seems as though the archaeologists found an old cave that had Greek relics from those that worshiped and admired me from the time period. Vampires of course. One of those things was meant for you, and it is with that I wish to ask you a question."

My heart skipped in my chest, at him saying what I believed he was going to ask of me. Alec's eager expression wasn't helping my nerves. It just brought this into reality even more. It made it more solid, which also made it even more nervous for me.

He reached into his pocket of his robes and pulled out an old ancient Greek ring.

An emerald oval stone was in the middle of the golden band, while the golden band was carved into little vines with leaves. It was old, and one could tell it was made around the time Caius and his brother kings were still human. There was a little bit of corrosion to it, but that was expected with where they had found it in the temples that the vampires had made for the kings in Greece. It was still in a stunning state despite the tiny bit of corrosion.

"Isabella Marie Swan, I have waited over a thousand years for you. I have prayed to the Gods for you, I do not know how many times I have prayed to Hera asking for a wonderful marriage in the future. I have prayed upon the dirtied ground in our altar for the gods and goddesses in hopes that my prayers would be answered. I ended up meeting you and I fell for you in the very moment I saw you, and now I will always love you no matter your health," Caius started, while tears began to flow down my face, at what I knew he was doing.

In the corner of my eye, I swore I could see two pairs of crimson eyes looking at us through the stained-glass windows of the castle. A pair of eyes that belonged to the other kings. Queen Sulpicia would not care to see this. She would be sour, trying to ruin the moment. Well fuck her, nothing could ruin this moment for me.

"And so, I ask you this, my Cicco. Will you marry me?"

I nodded my head as well as I could, inside cursing when my head flopped randomly in directions due to the weak muscles of my neck.

Thankfully, I had such a wonderful fiancé that he wouldn't even care or comment about the obvious weak state I was in. He merely fixed my head in its proper place, kissed me softly and longer than usual before he gently placed the ring upon my matrimony finger. He kissed that finger also before he let my hand fall down onto my lap once again.

Alec got up from the fountain and came over to me before he wrapped his arms around me. I smiled at him, as he held me. We were one step closer to legally adopting him, once Caius and I would marry we would officially adopt him. Of course there was no reason why he couldn't still be our child, legally or not, but it would feel more cemented when it came to him being legally ours. Especially when he never was legally the child of Aro and Sulpicia.

I turned my head when the doors to the back of the castle opened, and Jane came slowly out to greet us. Her eyes fell on her brother, and then she looked at the ring upon my finger. There was an odd expression on her face, as she took in the sight before her. Almost as though she hadn't really thought I would become permanent in the family, as though I was nothing more than a mere courtesan for Caius, but now it was cemented. Now she knew I would become her aunt legally; it wasn't something that was just said around here.

Reaching us, she did a small curtsy to me, her head ducked down. Her hair was pulled up in an intricate bun for once, so she didn't have her hair fall in front of her when she bowed her head. Her features were still on display, somewhat, and not hidden away. There was no anger nor disappointment upon her features, so that was a good thing.

"Congratulations, Aunt Bella, Uncle Caius."

Caius reached his hand out and placed it on her small shoulder, another reminder she was not a teenager. She was still six years younger than me. I would be an eighteen-year-old bride and have a twelve-year-old son and niece. That wasn't much of an age difference, it was only a little over five years. Not even ten years.

"Thank you, Jane. Your aunt and I are glad that you approve of our engagement."

We didn't need her approval, but it was still nice she had shown her approval to our engagement. Otherwise, it would have made things a little drearier than they should be.

We already had been shunned away by her surrogate mother, the last thing we needed was for her to push us away because her mother claimed we should. She was starting to show that she didn't have to depend on her mother when it came to the majority of things, though she still had a good bit of things she would always seem to look to her mother for when it came to approve of them.

Caius led us inside not too long after that.

I kept looking down at the ring on my finger, imagining that I was asleep, and this wouldn't be true when I would eventually wake up. Yet as the day progressed, I knew that this wasn't a dream. The feeling of the ring upon my skin, the kisses Caius would give me on that said finger and ring, along with the top of my head, were too real for me to think they weren't real at all.

Aro wanted us to have an engagement meal in the dining room, and by engagement meal he meant me being the sole person eating and then they would be drinking blood from wine flutes. Caius had shot a look at his brother, as though asking him if he had been present for the last months I had been here. Aro chuckled but knew that was the end of the discussion, there was no need for us to continue talking about the stressful event he wanted to happen.

Instead, I spent that night eating in my bedroom chambers with Caius and Alec.

Aro had dropped off an old Greek necklace that he had from his collection that archeologists had found thirty years ago in a random temple in Greece. Caius slipped it over my neck and as we talked about random things, nothing that was worth going over again, I couldn't wait until I would get to marry Caius Volturi.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: update 3 of 3

WE'RE GOING TO THE CHAPEL...AND WE'RE GONNA GET MARRIED.

It's official, Bella and Caius are engaged to get married.

as always: Twilight doesn't belong to me.

-It'sEmmynotEmma