Felix and Demetri had definitely left parts of the castle out of their grand tour on the day I arrived. It took me a minute to recognise the room we entered as the same place I'd first met Carlisle. Mainly because Aro was sitting at the same chess table he'd been at before. Only this time, his opponent was a truly stunning woman with skin as thin and ghost-like as his. Yet, her beauty remained undeniable, as if she'd been plucked from a queen's portrait and placed here on earth to grace us with her majesty.

Neither she nor Aro acknowledged us right away, and I took that time to take another look around before realising I'd been quite unobservant during my first visit. I'd previously identified the quarters as a combination between a library and an office, but there was a new object dead center that nixed that assumption. A giant telescope pointed towards the curtain covered windows and stood out gloriously from the rest of the space. Yet, its newly polished exterior appeared untouched and there was no acknowledgement of it by any means.

Demetri and Felix remained in the front, open part of the floor with Issa and Libby, and I followed Prosper to stand off to the left side. I began to take in the rest of the area as we waited. In a desk near the back, my eyes landed on Caius. He was frowning, clearly bothered by the disruption our entrance caused, and his discontent only grew as his eyes passed over me. I could almost see his sarcastic commentary asking, 'what's the human done now?'.

My focus shifted from him and moved upward to the open plan of the second floor. Up on the balcony, Marcus seemed to move with the speed of a turtle as he took one look at us — also probably judging my presence. The balcony went along the outside of the rounded ceiling and the inner wall was lined with books. Looking up at the open landscape between the two levels, the roof should have been a clear giveaway that we were standing in the middle of an observatory built naturally into the castle.

Drifting my attention directly across the room, I felt myself take a quick, deep breath as I received the answer to a question I hadn't even known I was asking. Standing opposite of me was Alec and something in me sighed in relief.

I was looking at him, but he hadn't so much as glanced at me since our arrival. Beside him, his sister also didn't acknowledge our arrival and both of them stood as stoic and intimidating as ever. However, I moved on from these factors as I finally processed an oddity about his form.

Something was off. Alec's eyes were dulled, though the illuminated colour showed that he'd recently fed. The hair on his head had an odd sort of independence that he would definitely not appreciate if he could have seen it. It was probably best that he couldn't. There was an unnatural arrogance about the thick ebony locks and it was one of my favourite of his features, but I still made sure to tease him about it whenever I could.

The collar of his shirt moved me from his face to observe the rest of him. He must not have had a chance to return to his chambers for an outfit change because he lacked a vest or a jacket over the dark grey button up, which was only slightly untucked on his side. This should have been my first clue because he never went without the extra layer, an addition to his wardrobe that I had once called 'unnecessary fabric' because he also wore his cape over it. I spent the next half hour listening to Alec give a brief history of men's clothing. (He seemed to know a little too much about the American Wild West and I had every intention of finding out if this knowledge translated to cowboy boots in his closet).

Despite the dark colour of his shirt, there were two drag marks that stood out on it with the brownish tint of mud. Which I knew also had to be bothering him because I'd seen him throw a shirt away because one cuff had an ink spot even a vampire would have to squint to see it. When I told him that he could just roll it up, he looked at me like I'd suggested we could casually burn down the library. He then proceeded to choose an entirely new outfit for movie night. With me and Jane. In their suite. Literally right outside his room. On the couch.

My point is — Alec looked nowhere near his own standards in fashion or appearance. There was a slight darkness under his eyes and I wondered if exhaustion like that could even show on vampires. He looked worn and slightly beaten down and I couldn't image why Aro hadn't dismissed him out of pity. My own pity dissipated an inch in the next second because he was apparently still well enough to send Prosper a quick glare for his proximity to me before returning his attention to Aro.

A move was decided on the chess board and a lilting voice spoke before the patriarch. "I am sure that despite whatever my daughters have done, that there is no need to confine them so." It wasn't a threat until dark golden eyes looked up from the chess board and directly at Demetri, whose own eyes pivoted to Aro. With permission from the Volturi leader, both Felix and Demetri gave the women space to move away. Issa took hold of Libby's hand. My eyes flipped back to the woman and it took me a few seconds longer than I'd like to admit before I realized that there way no way she was either girl's actual mother.

Aro stood and swayed with deliberate steps towards the group of four. "To what do we owe this unexpected pleasure?"

Libby seemed to shy away from Aro's close proximity, but Issa stood tall and respectfully answered with, "there was a minor misunderstanding."

Feeling that this understated the event, Demetri added less formally, "this one momentarily forgot she turned vegetarian."

"Is that so?" Aro said, still not sure what had happened. He held a hand out to Libby, who hesitated but with a sharp look from her coven leader she complied with his request.

It couldn't have been more than a minute before Aro's eyes opened and looked straight at me. I immediately looked away, the seriousness of the situation not quite dawning on me yet.

The older woman followed Aro's gaze towards my small frame standing beside Prosper. She examined me, head to toe and I tried to keep my head up but there was an intensity about her that even I had to give in to. With a single look, she'd managed to make me feel smaller than anyone else had in my entire life. Somehow, though, it didn't feel intentional but more of a side effect of the aura she possessed.

However, as I dropped my head away from her, I caught the attention of Libby, who narrowed her eyebrows and glared at me as hard as she could.

"What is it, Aro?" It was weird to hear someone ask him outright what he's seen in someone else's mind. Not even Marcus or Caius did so and they were making 2/3 of the decisions. The thoughts he heard were more like extra information that only he was actually interested in.

He didn't answer her question and the adult woman pouted briefly before she tried again, seeing his attention was fully shifting away from her. "It is unlike you to preserve a human life."

From behind them, Caius felt the need to make it clear that keeping me alive was, "not without reason."

Classic Aro smiled his tiny smile and stood, gesturing for me to join him. I did so without hesitation, walking directly past the group of four. I half expected Libby to jump me again, but she didn't move an inch. She only gave me a dark stare until something spooked her and she dropped away. I realised why as I stopped by Aro's side because I could see Prosper following behind me, playing the role of bodyguard to a tee. Aro waved him back.

Aro placed his hands on my shoulder and guided me to stand in front of him. His friend stood, her backdrop included the twins standing to my right off against the wall. Both watched the moment unfold, but neither would make eye contact with me. In the corner of my left eye, Caius also watched, somehow both impatient for the introduction and content to wait at the same time.

"Huda, this is our Saffiya." Our Saffiya.

She seemed to notice the word choice as well and raised her eyebrows "Human."

"For now," Aro said. A line he knew only magnified her curiosity. He directed his next words to me. With an educational tone, "Huda and her girls are nomads. Do you remember what nomads are?" I glanced to Alec. He taught me.

"Yes."

Huda leaned down to me with a smile. The move was almost motherly, but she was too close and I had to tell myself not to try and push her away. She questioned, "what is so special about you sweetie?" She didn't ask it in a condescending way, but it was also as if she weren't really asking me. It was like she was walking herself through the question to uncover the answer herself. She raised a hand to brush my cheek and despite my attempts, I tensed at her touch and jolted back.

"No need to be shy, dear one." Aro encouraged me.

I wasn't being shy. I just didn't like strangers touching me for no reason. I straightened back up and ignored Aro to stare back at the lady. "What's so special about you?" She found a little more amusement than I would have liked in my rebellious retort, laughing through closed lips in a hum.

Then, similar to the movement Aro was known for, she raised her hand up and out for me. "Let me show you."

It was a direct challenge and I didn't have to make eye contact with Alec to know he was not okay with the interaction taking place. Though this might have been in my head because aside from a small crease in his forehead, he hadn't moved. Even Marcus, who still stood in the rafters above us was looking down with disdain. I don't know what I was trying to prove, but I nodded stubbornly and placed my hand above hers, palm to bandaged palm. I prepared to respond to her trick with some sort of crafty, sarcastic response, but I didn't get the chance to find the right one.

She didn't waste a second, grabbing my hand firmly and tightening her fingers around it. Her grip was a Venus fly trap and I was stuck. I met her eyes with a stunned disobedience as she asked me a very simple question, "how did you come to discover the vampire world?"

The instant the last syllable formed on her tongue, I was hit with a nauseating feeling deep in my stomach. That feeling began to climb up my oesophagus and it might have choked me had I been able to even attempt to stop it. But I couldn't do a thing before words felt like vomit and I spoke bluntly and without preservation, easily using words I would normally hesitate to choose.

"Alec saved me from three intoxicated guys, using his strength and his speed. I saw him drink their blood, kill them." It wasn't a decision, not even a possibility of a response I'd have chosen until she uttered her question. If it were, I wouldn't have told the truth. I would have lied before I described my first encounter with Alec, first of all, without any commentary, and definitely not with such bland personality. Except, I couldn't stop and her hand seemed to tether my memory to her question without consulting any part of me.

"Then, he kidnapped me." The longer she held on, the more information it seemed I wanted to give her "Because I'm his…la tua something."

The gap in my knowledge of the Italian language saved me as a charmed laugh was pulled from her lips. I took advantage of the moment and ripped my hand away, stumbling back into Aro. I stared at her, wide-eyed and with a nasty feeling of dread in my chest. She was watching me with a smugness I did not appreciate and I cradled my hand as if to keep it away from her.

"Hmm…la tua cantante." I nodded, even if that wasn't the information I would've chosen to answer her question.

I saw Alec's eyes widen as I confirmed the phrase and it hit me then that Alec didn't know that I knew this consequential piece of information. It was another thing he kept from me but for some reason, this secret didn't trigger the same feelings of betrayal that the other did. My brain automatically started rationalising it, excusing and reasoning the less desirable elements away. Saying it made more sense to keep this a secret over the other. Maybe he thought I'd be more afraid of him if I knew this and of the higher risk of danger just by being around him, and so on.

This realization also caused me to unintentionally expose my friends as the information leak when I immediately checked in to see their reactions. I saw Demetri form the word 'shit' silently as he and Felix also looked at me, then to Alec. Alec was seething and at just the sight of his contempt, the two men whipped their heads away, skilfully avoiding Alec's glares. Honestly, though, he should've known better than to think those two could keep all the secrets.

Huda had also looked to Alec, ready to make her own commentary on the information she'd learned before I cut her off. I doubted any of the boys wished to handle this matter at the moment, and definitely not in the company of the Masters.

"What was that?"

Aro placed a hand back on my shoulder as I watched the woman's smile grow. "Huda has the ability to pull the truth from others. With a single touch, she can make you spill your darkest secrets.

If that were true, I was definitely going to thank my lucky stars that she hadn't asked me anything more personal. I'm not sure I wanted this woman knowing anything more about me than what was absolutely necessary. And as far as I was concerned, she'd already passed that point. I didn't necessarily have a bad feeling about her, but I was definitely missing something. I just couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"It also makes for a neat party trick." She winked at me.

I smiled softly at her with a natural politeness. "No offense, but I'm not sure that's a party I'd be eager to attend," I tilted my head to her coven, "between you and them."

"Manners, Saffiya." Caius reminded me in an unusually casual way, but he hadn't even looked up so maybe he'd grown bored again. It wasn't often that Caius gave me an order without a harsh tone, so maybe I should have listened. However, I was of the very strong opinion that manners didn't matter in this particular situation.

"That one tried to take a bite out of me." My defence made Demetri's earlier statement click for those in the room still out of the loop.

Issa was more displeased with my claim than her partner, the actual culprit, but Libby defended herself with an aggressive edge. "I didn't touch her."

"Lucky for you," I snapped, as if I could have stopped her in any way, shape, or form. Though I realized that technically, I did have three guards that did make my statement true, whether it was what I originally intended or not.

So far, my guards at any given time, from Demetri and Felix to the lower members, felt like they had more of a representative purpose than a protective one. Whatever danger I was ever in was dealt with mainly by Alec, or at the very least he would be my immediate protector. It was a promise he'd made and kept from the beginning and with this thought, my sightline had zeroed back in on his face.

The colour in his eyes seemed to become a little brighter as he realized I had looked at him first but other than that he did nothing to draw attention to himself. He still looked like the perfect soldier, despite a small hint of amusement dancing across his eyes. I'm sure I imagined it, but there was a quick shift because he had my attention. He gave a quick glance towards Huda and Aro before returning to my eyes and giving a discreet, single shake of his head. And he became stone once more. I knew what he meant. I had had my fun.

Except neither Aro nor Huda did anything to stop our bickering and the pleased looks on their faces made me think they'd grown bored with their game of chess. Instead, their two weakest and newest members going at it was like some sort of contest. Both flaunting their assets and seeing which of us would emerge from the petty argument as the winner.

Behind the two women, Felix and Demetri were trying to hold their straight faces and stern demeanours, but their enjoyment was evident because apparently neither of them sensed a threat in our hostile banter. Even Xavier was smirking at the humorous tone, though he could not hide it as well as the others.

As much as I loved providing the comedy, I did try to take the first step to behave more responsibly. The best way to do that seemed to be removing myself from the situation, as best I could, and so I stepped backwards to return to Prosper's side. While it seemed a good idea not to turn my back on them at first, my backwards step managed to catch the front of my shoe on my other shoe. I didn't trip, but I did teeter a bit before catching myself. Libby apparently found this hilarious and she seemed to forget that she was at the disadvantage here because she hissed at me an incendiary threat, "careful there. Humans break so…easily."

The minute I looked at Libby, my jaw tensed as a rush of charged negative energy coursed through me. It was almost like the excelerated, uninhibited roller coaster that I went through around Alec. Except this was a single emotion and it beat a drum of dominance. It wasn't anger, it was more like an overdose of testosterone. The rational side of me was well aware of the idiocy of my next sentence, as was the opposite irrational end as both seemed to be sending red flags to my mid-conscience. However, neither seemed to be at the reigns. So, without accounting for the reactions of those I'd grown close to or my of sparring partner, I spat back, "and vampires burn so…quickly."

Now. When it was insinuated that I could be easily killed, I responded with an aggressively identical threat. Which had to remain strictly verbal for this occasion, for obvious reasons. At least on my end. It was reckless, but I couldn't fight the sudden desire to throw a bit of an aggressive technique in my comeback.

What I did not have was the animal instinct and mindset of kill or be killed that a vampire did, so predictably, my empty threat sparked a match. Libby reacted first, moving in front of her mate and towards me, which caused the three main fighters — Demetri, Felix, and Prosper, to respond in kind. As the first two men blocked her path and dropped into defensive stances, Prosper pulled me behind him and then matched them as Issa dropped into a similar position. All five waited with knees bent, ready to strike if the other side so much as breathed.

I frowned, having already put together that there was something particularly unusual about the relationship between this nomadic coven and the governing coven. Most notably, was the unnatural absence of Marcus at his brother's sides, who still hadn't come down from the second floor balcony. He was physically fulfilling his role, sort of, but he was clearly wishing to be deposed of the conversation. Not out of boredom, but almost out of a need to stay as far away from the discussions taking place with the rest of us as possible. If he could fly, he'd be hovering at the center and highest point of the dome ceiling.

My eyes drifted automatically to Jane and Alec, who also served as my evidence for this theory. They hadn't moved a muscle since we'd arrived except for following the main focus of the conversation at hand. In fact, they appeared entirely bored with the existence of everyone in the room despite their focus on Aro and the five in the middle. They usually had a pretty outstanding form for these meetings, but they could've given a gargoyle a run for its money. Whatever the reason, the twins had been deliberately confined to their corner as if strictly serving in a ceremonial capacity. I wondered how long I'd last standing beside them like that. Human or otherwise, I doubted I could do it for long.

This was also the first time I was placed in front of a supernatural threat without Alec by my side and he had done nothing to rectify it. Whether that was because he really wasn't allowed to move or he'd chosen not to, I couldn't help but feel disappointed by it. It was an odd sort of disappointment, like I didn't have a right to the emotion. Likely because I had been the one to push him away. I'd yelled at him for protecting me before. I couldn't just change my mind because maybe I missed him and wanted him to stay at my side while still claiming I had no feelings for him. Trust wouldn't be the only issue between us if I gave into such an immature concept of life and relationships.

My emotions were so tangled up in general that adding that sudden wave of aggression plus this pathetic need did nothing to improve the conflicting thoughts racing throughout my mind. I had intended on taking the time to process things maturely and appropriately while the team was gone. Instead, I procrastinated with paint while I reflected on Alec and I's biggest fight yet. Which could have counted as processing if I hadn't shoved every reminder away when I started to feel one emotion growing louder than the others.

My point is, my safety was in three pairs of very capable hands. But without Alec right beside me, I still didn't feel 100%. Which was fine because 100% was overrated and I wasn't afraid of Issa and her darling, relatively crazy mate, Libby. It was just that a part of me wished he'd at least check that I was in the clear. And I hated how that wish made me feel, so I shoved it to the ground like a schoolyard bully and released myself from my mental maze.

Back in the active world, the tension wavered in the air, sensitive, breakable and every second that passed held the threat of being the second that broke the dam. My attention returned full circle to Libby, who had already shown that she was more willing to attack first.

Only this time she was controlled, thinking through her options instead of reacting detrimentally. I could see that wild nature searching for any way to rip me apart without interference. When she found none, I could see her struggling to figure a way out. And the barbaric nature returned when she landed back on me, weighing whether or not she cared about her own life if it meant ending mine. Even that, however, was not an option. Each guard maintained a heavy focus on the two women.

She'd be in pieces before she could even reach me.

I hadn't noticed I was smirking at this fact until I saw the recognition fully process in her mind. The ill smile was my only indulgence into the power that I held over her simply because of the protective detail assigned to me. This did not sit well with her and to be entirely honest, I mentally slapped it off my face as soon as I knew why it was there. Nothing about the moment or my actions brought me pride, just an odd form of shame. Around me the tension had continued to rise, but it was finally broken with a nonchalant comment of, at first glance, uniquely ignorant proportions.

Sitting back down in her previous chair, Huda commented off-handedly to Aro with a small laugh, saying only, "children." As if that alone excused the sequence of events. Her 'daughters' — who looked to be in their late twenties, by the way, so not children — got the message and relaxed their stances first, allowing the Volturi men to cautiously do the same. Prosper returned to my side, standing in the space between me and Libby, who still glared at me with contempt until Huda cleared her throat.

I felt weaker the instant after Libby's eyes left me. Not weak, just not as charged as I had been. The hardened belligerence subsequently left my mind as easily as it had entered it and judging by the shift that followed, it had left behind no residually aggressive emotional responses or reactions. As if it had never affected me in the first place.

"Children must learn to know their place," Caius countered to remind her that we had to be accountable for our behaviour, but he offered no suggestion for how to teach us this.

Huda raised her voice again, holding a breadth short of command over the room. It was almost as if she recognised Caius' push for an end to the matter at hand and what usually followed and she managed to elegantly reconstruct the negative insinuation into one she perceived as more favourable. "And what a wonderful lesson this has been," she said, seeming to agree with Caius' statement but altering the actual purpose of the words. With a silver tongue and the cleverness of a scorned woman, she added a personal touch to seal the deal, "for both our girls." I'd only seen a few women able to exhibit the type of charm and confidence that Huda had pulled forth in that moment. I'd recognize the sly wisdom from a mile away and I assumed that men who had seen as much of the world and lived as many lives as the kings would be immune to the con. She was so clearly pushing to save her daughter's head, but Aro seemed to pause and glance at the twins, then me, and back to Huda. By including me, she just might have saved Libby's life.

I was astounded by her success, but I knew better than to try and call out a woman as convincing as her on something I couldn't prove. Briefly forgetting that they could all hear me, I mumbled under my breath, "some lesson."

Huda's tactic was so delicately scribed that the next steps in this moment were crucial to ensuring its success. Somehow, the vampire woman's mastery and its sensitive state went over her own coven's heads and nature took over to risk it all. Issa wasn't fond of my quip and despite my lack of any real threat, she growled at me in warning to make sure I knew it. My head popped up and I tilted it to the side as she targeted me with this, a mistake she was unprepared to face.

Not a second after her sound announced itself did a separate, more menacing snarl claw through the air, decimating her growl with a warning of far worse proportion.

Issa automatically folded into a submissive position, preparing for the threat to see itself through. She peeked at the source and I was sure that the owner frightened her worse than the sound he'd sent her way ever could.

An almost playful, teasing smile of a boy was directed not at Issa, but at her mate. I saw it now. The power behind an eye for an eye, a mate for a mate.

And my mate's guns were bigger than hers.

~•~•~•~

A/N: Unnecessarily long cause I'm excited

Yeet! Told y'all I'd get it up sooner ;) And thank you for all the congrats, y'all are so sweet.

I split this chapter in two so if the ending feels abrupt that's why. Also, I tried to write an alternative last sentence here, but I was watching cartoons and one of the characters used that phrase and now I cannot stop thinking about it. The line itself is both intensely serious, but can also be brilliantly witty, like, how! Anyway —

Next chapter will be released in two days. Maybe in one cause I get too excited to see y'all's (that was a fun word to type) comments throughout the scene, but I'm trying to reasonably space them out.

I got a request to put all the new covers side by side, so I'll see what I can do to put that out. But I'm still madly, deeply in love with the original cover so that'll return soon, I just needed to mix it up for a hot sec. These were just for fun cause I thought it'd be cool to put the necklace in there and I wanted a model that looked more like Saffiya, but neither of us are graphic design types — as you can see and her real photographer got covid so yeah.

Anywho, a very special thank you to everyone for your favourites and reviews. Genuinely, thank you all for reading, whether you are someone who chooses to review/favourite or not (which I totally get btw), just know that I do appreciate your taking the time to stick with this story.

laurenlovehappiness - Always :)

XOXMaximumcullenXOX - Thank you! Gotta find the comedy, right haha

seleneariel - Thank you! Yes, majorly - get pumped! (also sorry for dropping the periods in between your username - it kept deleting it!)

MandosGirl - Thank you! I'd say it's looking like that, isn't it?

Hannah - She really needs to fix that, doesn't she? Def look forward to more Jane coming up :D

scars from the sun - Hella balls haha also, love your username!

Ariel - I kinda like that! I think I may know just where to put it ;) - fingers crossed

blinddivinity - Your comments were a ride and a half and you have no idea how excited I was to see them. First, thank you so much for all of your thoughts, I love to know what you're thinking and connecting with. Meyer never gave a specific time as far as I remember, so I decided to stick with the most likely historical accuracy. There's so much more, but just thank you!

HighKingsWife - I really appreciated your comments throughout the chapters as well! I hope they can work things out too. We'll just have to see, I guess! ;)

Officially rocked and ready to roll,

Ro

p.s. I never use the word y'all in real life, what is this?