"The queens are ready for you."A red robed vampire said as Rosalie, Bella and the guards that were escorting them through the castle stopped in front of a plain looking door. That confused Rosalie because she thought they would have been having an audience with the queens in the throne room. They had been met at the airport by many guards. There were a dozen waiting for them when they had gotten off the plane to Italy. It made it seem that the queens thought they were some kind of threat and had Rosalie second guessing her decision to bring Bella to see them.
"You'll be alright."Rosalie told Bella even if she wasn't quite so sure. Bella didn't reply just snuggled closer to her body. It brought comfort to Rosalie having Bella touching her. From the moment Bella ran to her in the airport to get away from Edward Rosalie had felt the overwhelming need to keep Bella as close as possible. When she was more than an arms reach away it caused Rosalie to panic. She wasn't sure why that was and was hoping that the queens may help her figure out the reason.
"Welcome Rosalie and Bella."A dark haired woman with bright red eyes greeted when Rosalie and Bella walked through the door entering what seemed to be some kind of sitting looked like a room straight out of a wealthy home during the 1700's."Please come sit."
"Thank you your majesty."Rosalie led Bella to the love seat across from the couch the three queens were sitting on. The whole situation was making her nervous. The looks the queens were giving her and Bella were not helping at all.
"You were right."The blond haired woman sitting to the left of the dark haired woman said.
"I know."The final woman with brown hair replied.
"Right about what?"Rosalie asked.
"We will get to that. First introductions are in order.I am Sulpicia. The woman to my left is Didyme and to my right is Athenodora."Sulpicia told them.
"I am Rosalie and this is Bella."Rosalie knew they knew that but didn't want to be rude.
"Well now that you are here why don't you tell the three of us what happened. We heard from Rosalie but we are curious to hear what young Bella has to say."Sulpicia and her mates had their suspicions to what had transpired and seeing both girls confirmed some of them. The queen was interested in learning what other injustices were committed against the pair.
"Where would you like me to start?"Bella asked.
"Start with how you felt when you met Edward."Didyme felt that was the most important part of the story. It would give them a reference to Bella's mental state during the relationship.
"At first I was very scared of Edward. He would stare at me constantly and a few times I caught him growling at me. Then there was the fact that his eyes were always black.I tried to stay as far away from him as possible but it was impossible because we sat together during one of our classes."Bella held back a shiver thinking of how afraid she was of Edward when she first met him.
"So you didn't feel drawn to him or want to be around him?"Athenodora asked.
Bella shook her head."It was the complete opposite.I went out of my way to avoid him at all cost.I even tried to change out of the class we were in together but they didn't have any other place to put me."
"What changed that you began to have feelings for him?"Didyme had really wanted to be wrong about all this but just hearing a small part of Bella's story proved her suspicions right.
"I don't know. It was like one moment I hated his guts and wanted nothing to do with him then all of sudden I couldn't imagine not being by his side for the rest of eternity. It's the reason I wanted to be a vampire so bad.I wanted to be with Edward forever and the only way to do that was to be immortal. Now that I am away from him I am disgusted by the very idea of having to spend a minute with him let alone the rest of my life."Bella said.
"Let's get to the part of the story where your feelings changed. What happened to cause that?"Sulpicia asked.
"Edward had taken me on our honeymoon. The first night we were there we had sex."Bella's eyes shot to Rosalie when she heard her growl."Are you alright?"
"I'm fine."Rosalie was not fine. The thought of Bella having sex with Edward made her want to hunt Edward down then chop off his dick and choke him to death with it.
Didyme smiled sadly at the poor girl. He had no idea what was going on and the queen hated that she was the one who was going to have to revel everything."After the first night what happened?"
"The next morning I woke up and it was like a fog was lifted. I felt like myself for the first time since I moved in with my dad. It also brought back my fear of Edward."Bella shuddered thinking about the panic she felt when she had woken up with Edward laying next to her watching her.
"I won't let him near you again."Rosalie promised as she wrapped her arm around Bella and held her close.
"When did you realize you were pregnant?"Sulpicia asked.
"Edward had gone out to hunt that afternoon.I had been extremely hungry all day and had put a huge dent in our food supply.I originally thought that after all the stress of dealing with the wedding that my appetite had finally come back. It wasn't until I got sick from the smell of fried chicken did I figured out something was wrong. When I did a check to see if I had any wounds or bites I noticed that my abdomen was larger.I was positive that I had some kind of parasite until a few hours later I actually felt the baby kick. When that happened it click in my mind that I was pregnant.I didn't need a test to tell me."Bella explained.
"What was Edward's reaction when he found out?"They had been told by Rosalie but Athenodora wanted to hear what Bella had to say.
"He was destroyed most of the house we were staying in and when he finally calmed down he made it very clear that I was going to have an abortion. He didn't even ask he barely said a word to me. All he did was rant and yell but never had a conversation with me. It was when he left to get the boat ready that I called Rosalie. Then when we got to the airport I met up with her and now we are here."Bella said.
"How did your coven react at the airport?"Sulpicia expected Carlisle to at least put up some kind of fight to keep the pair from leaving.
"They tried to force Bella and myself to leave with them but I made a scene and got the human security guards involved. After speaking to us they escorted Carlisle and the others out of the airport."Rosalie didn't even tried to hide the smile that came from remembering the look on Carlisle's face when the human had grabbed his arm and forced him to leave.
"I bet that went over well."Athenodora could imagine the tantrum Carlisle was going to throw when he was away from humans.
"Before they left he threatened me saying that it didn't matter where we went he would find us."Rosalie didn't think they would look in Italy. They would probably assume that Rosalie would be to scared to reach out to the queens for help.
Didyme was thinking the same thing as Rosalie."They won't think you came here."
"No they won't."Athenodora agreed.
"Now that we are here we were hoping you would have some way to help us.I don't know what is going to happen to Bella but I want her and the baby to be safe. Is there anything you could do to make that happen?"Rosalie hoped that the queens could help because they really had no where else to go.
"We can help you but a few things need to be discussed."Sulpicia said.
"What would that be?"Rosalie asked.
"First I would like to talk to you about why Bella no longer has feelings for Edward."Didyme wasn't looking forward to revealing this but she wouldn't lie to the girls."From what you told us we have come to the conclusion that Edward was glamouring you."
"What does that mean?"Bella had never heard of glamouring.
"It's when a vampire uses their pheromones to manipulate their prey. It causes the victim to be very susceptible to suggestion and is easily influenced by the vampire."Athenodora explained.
"I didn't think that glamouring would change a human's emotions as drastically as it did Bella's."Rosalie didn't think Edward was skilled enough to make Bella feel so strongly for him.
"It doesn't but if an empath were to use their gift to strengthen the emotions brought on by glamouring the human it could cause the human's emotions to mimic those of a mated vampire."Sulpicia told them.
"Wait you think Jasper was in on this as well?"Rosalie was always suspicious of Jasper but didn't think he would do something so despicable. That meant only one thing."Alice."
"We believe that not only are Edward, Alice and Jasper involved but Carlisle and Emmett as well. Probably Esme but we have no idea what her role would be."Athenodora was sure that Esme knew everything that was going on. The queens had always been suspicious of the woman as no one could be that clueless to what went on in their own home.
"What would Emmett's involvement be?"Rosalie asked.
"We think that Carlisle is using the sire bond to force the pair of you to think you are mated."Sulpicia said.
Rosalie thought back to how felt when Emmett had tried to stop her and Bella from leaving. It definitely wasn't the love she usually felt for him. If she was being honest with herself she would have killed him without feeling any remorse. Her priority had changed the moment she held Bella in her arms and her life's purpose was to keep the human safe. Emmett was merely an obstacle in doing that."How can you be sure?"
"I can see your bonds and although you are mated it isn't to Emmett."Didyme knew for a fact that Rosalie wasn't mated to the boy.
"You can see bonds?"Bella had never heard of such a gift before.
Didyme nodded."I can and the bonds that you and Rosalie have are lighting up this room in technicolor."
"Bella and I are bonded?"Rosalie wasn't sure if that was true.
"You are however your bonds are muddled.I think it's due to all the outside interference that you aren't feeling them fully but as you both have been sitting here they are getting stronger."Didyme had no doubt that within a couple hours Bella and Rosalie would feel the bonds fully.
Even though she was somewhat afraid to know Bella asked anyway."What bonds do we have?"
"You and Rosalie have a mate bond."Didyme told them.
"Then why was I afraid to be around Rosalie when we first met.I mean every time we were in the same room all I felt was dread."Bella remembered how uncomfortable she was when around Rosalie.
"Just like with your feelings for Edward those feelings were artificial."Athenodora suspected that Carlisle knew of the mate bond and did everything he could to keep Bella and Rosalie apart.
"Those fuckers!"Rosalie was going to kill every single one of them.
"Those aren't the only bonds you have though."Didyme said.
"What other bonds could we have?"Bella didn't know there were any other bonds than mate bonds.
"You have a familiar bond with myself and the other two queens."Didyme wasn't surprised by the looks of shock on both girl's faces.
Rosalie was suddenly very suspicious of the way the queens had handled this whole situation."You knew before we came here that we were bonded to you."
"No we did not.A few decades ago Carlisle visited us and we caught your scent on him. We didn't know who the scent belonged to as Carlisle could have picked it up from anyone he came in contact with. He was also very keen not to introduce you to us. Even though he introduced all the other members of the coven. Now we know he did that so we wouldn't see the false bond with you and Emmett. When you showed up we realized that it was your scent we had smelled all those years ago."Sulpicia now wished they had further investigated to find Rosalie. Then again if they did it would have caused Bella to be left alone with the Cullens.
"So if Rosalie has a familiar bond with you how come I do as well?"Bella asked.
"You're are mated. As are myself and the other queens. The bonds connect all five of us and they will connect us to your baby as well."Didyme explained.
"How are we going to deal with the baby?"Rosalie would think about the bonds later. They weren't as important as keeping Bella safe.
"Well regardless of what your former coven believes the baby is not a monster. They are what we call a hybrid. He or she will have vampire characteristics that will be slightly muted because of their human heritage. Meaning they won't be as fast or strong as a regular vampire. They will also have human features like being able to eat human food, be able to sleep and have a heart beat."Sulpicia told them.
"What is going to happen to Bella?"Rosalie was relieved to hear the baby would turn out alright but was worried about Bella.
Didyme held back a wince thinking about how the pregnancy would go for her daughter."I'm not going to lie it's going to be hard. The pregnancy as you are already aware isn't going to last as long as a normal pregnancy. Your body is going to have a hard time keeping up. It will not be easy on you."
"The hardest part of this will be the baby will have to be cut out of the womb and won't be able to be delivered naturally. Don't worry we have done this before so we know what to do to keep both you and the baby alive."Sulpicia said.
"It makes me feel a lot better knowing you have dealt with this before."Knowing the queens had been in this situation before made Bella feel like she could finally relax.
"We will be by your side the whole time and not let anything bad happen to you."Athenodora promised.
"Thank you."Rosalie said.
"Now why don't we take a break from the serious conversations and show you to your room.I'm sure Bella would like to get some rest and Rosalie you probably don't want to be away from her."Sulpicia didn't think Rosalie was going to leave Bella's side to do anything other than hunt. That being something the queens were going to speak to her about.
"I am tired."Now that they were settled Bella's body was feeling the lack of sleep she had gotten the past few days and the heaviness of all the stress she had been carrying.
"Then let's get you settled. We didn't think you would have any luggage so we sent one of the guards shopping and got you some essentials and a few outfits. They may not fit properly but we will worry about getting you more clothing later."Didyme was already planning out all the things she was going to buy for her daughters.
"I'm sure everything will be perfect."Rosalie didn't really care what the queens had picked out for them. What she cared about was getting Bella settled into a place that she could rest.
"Follow me."Sulpicia said leading the pair out the door with her mates following behind her. The queen was very upset with everything that her daughters had to go through but was pleased to finally be united with them. Ever since catching her scent Sulpicia and the other queens had felt the separation from Rosalie. Even though the bond hadn't been solidified it was still felt and not knowing who Rosalie was was agonizing. To have her finally home and with her mate was the greatest blessing Sulpicia had ever gotten. Adding to that happiness the fact that they were getting a grandchild as well had the queen over the moon. She couldn't wait until she was alone with her mates to celebrate. Then after the celebration they would have to sit down and figure out what to do with the Cullens because there was no way that Sulpicia was going to let the coven get away with all they had done to Rosalie and Bella.