A/N: It's another two chapter day! The next chapter is short but combining the two didn't really work, so Chapter 14 will be up shortly.

Disillusioned and Delusional

On December 28th, the Volturi needed to send out some of the guard to deal with a small coven in Oslo who was hunting in a manner that was raising questions with the local authorities. One member of the trio was believed to have a defensive gift that made it difficult for others of their kind to approach too closely. Their only shot at making direct contact with them was to send Jeremiah so he could shield his fellow guards.

Which, of course, meant that for the first time since his arrival, Edward could read every mind in the castle. And boy was he making a nuisance of himself.

Being both nosy and egomaniacal, Edward felt he was entitled to any information he could pluck from the minds around him, so as soon as he had the use of his gift again, that's precisely what he did. He hopped from mind to mind in the castle, becoming increasingly agitated at what he was hearing.

After eight straight hours of demanding to speak with Aro, the guard on watch duty in the cells called the king to tell him he couldn't take any more. He needed to either let the obnoxious boy have an audience, or relieve him of his post.

Aro rolled his eyes and agreed, telling the guard to bring him up to his study in fifteen minutes. He then informed his brothers of the situation, which caused them to roll their eyes as well, though they agreed to be present. After that, he called Jasper and Bella's suite to invite them to sit in as well. If Edward was going to cause a disturbance because of what he was 'hearing' about the two of them, they had every right to be there to defend themselves. They did a little eye-rolling, too, but said they'd be right there.

On hearing about the meeting, Chelsea and Jane both requested to be present as well - Chelsea as an additional support for her new human friend, Jane because she was hoping the arrogant telepath would give her cause to use her gift against him.

Jasper and Bella had run into Rosalie on their way, so she tagged along also.

Fifteen minutes later, Edward walked in the door but then stopped in his tracks when he saw Aro, Caius, Marcus, Chelsea, Jane, Jasper, Bella, and Rosalie. He'd thought perhaps he'd be allowed to talk to Aro alone so that he could twist Aro around to his way of thinking. It was going to be harder to manipulate the situation with so many other minds to monitor. But Edward was always convinced he was the smartest and most important in any room, so he continued to the lone empty chair and sat down as if having all these people gathered to hear him speak was exactly what he deserved.

Caius looked at Edward once he was seated, the disdain clear on his face. "Well?"

Startled by the abruptness, Edward looked at Aro, who sighed. "You asked to speak to me, Edward. Here I am. So speak."

Edward opened and closed his mouth, frustrated that they weren't treating him the way he was expecting. Because he thought he was the most important in any room, he expected others to recognize that fact also. But as Edward focused on the minds in the room, most of them were annoyed they'd been dragged away from other activities to hear what Edward was complaining about now. He couldn't read Bella's mind, of course, but he could read Jasper's, and he was a little pissed that Edward stymied his plan to spend some quality time in that steamed-up shower he and his mate had come to love so much.

"Jasper!" Edward growled, offended at the sexual nature of his thoughts.

Jasper rolled his eyes and pushed naked-Bella from his mind. He didn't particularly want Edward to get an eyeful of his mate. "Yes, Edward?" he drawled.

"Can you please stop thinking those things about my Bella?" he snapped. "It's disrespectful."

"Okay, first of all, I'm not your anything," Bella laughed. "And two, there's nothing disrespectful about being a thoughtful and considerate lover who makes sure their partner is immensely satisfied."

As everyone smiled or laughed at that, Edward's eyes went comically wide. "Those weren't fantasies? They were memories?" he gasped, horrified that his pure, innocent Isabella would be doing those things.

"Is this what we were called here for, Edward?" Marcus asked in his typical bored tone. "So that you could critique their lovemaking?"

"There shouldn't be any lovemaking," Edward snapped. "Bella's human."

Pretty much everyone in the room gave him a weird look at that. "What does her humanity have to do with that?" Caius asked in confusion.

Edward rolled his eyes as if the answer should be obvious. "It's not safe for vampires and humans to… have relations."

"Uh, says who?" Chelsea asked.

Before Edward could answer, Bella held up her hand. "We are not talking about my sex life, Edward. It's none of your business. Either get to the real reason we're here, or we'll be leaving."

Edward glared at her. "You're pregnant."

"Does that count as talkin' about your sex life?" Jasper asked Bella with a smile.

"This is no laughing matter, Jasper," Edward growled. "Bella's pregnant and planning to keep the baby."

Jasper rolled his eyes again. "That is typically what happens when a woman discovers she's pregnant and finds herself pleased by the news."

Edward looked at the kings in exasperation. "Do none of you see the danger here? That is a human child who will be surrounded by vampires."

"Edward, did you not bring Bella into your family as your girlfriend?" Aro asked. "She was a minor in the eyes of your government at the time. Was that not a human child surrounded by vampires?"

"Besides, a team of vamps seems like the right crowd for raising a baby," Bella said with a smile. "You don't need sleep, don't get tired, you can stand and rock an infant for hours, all things human parents would find useful."

Edward gritted his teeth that no one understood how wrong this was. Every single person in the room supported Bella's right to make her own decisions. Edward figured his best move was to sow doubt among them. "Rosalie is only pretending to support you. She wants the baby for herself," he said confidently, sure that he was right, even if Rosalie wasn't thinking that at the moment.

"What?" Rosalie laughed incredulously. "Where'd you get that idea?"

"Are you denying it?" he challenged, though when he listened to the other minds in the room, he found no one believed his accusation.

Rosalie rolled her eyes and stood up, then held her hand out to Aro. But Aro just smiled and shook his head. "I don't need to read you to know that Edward is not being truthful, Ms. Hale. Nor does your family have any doubts about your intentions," he said, then turned back to the telepath. "Alright, Edward. You've now addressed the intimate life of a mated pair, a pregnancy that has absolutely nothing to do with you, what's next?"

Edward just barely bit back a growl of frustration. Why weren't they taking him seriously? Well, let's see how that monster talks his way out of this. "Bella, I know everyone keeps telling you that Jasper is your mate, but what do you really know about him?" he asked, entirely unaware that what he thought sounded 'concerned' only came out as condescending.

Jasper chuckled and shook his head, while Bella put on her best confused face. "What do you mean? What should I know about him?"

Edward shot an arrogant smirk at the man in question. "You mean he hasn't told you his history? His long and bloody past?"

Bella looked at Jasper. "Are you keeping things from me, Jas?"

Jasper shook his head with a smile. "Of course not. You know my history, sweetheart. When I woke up to this life, I wandered around the south for a bit, then I met Alice and we found the Cullens."

Bella looked back to Edward with a smile. "See? I already know his history."

Edward laughed to himself. This was too easy. "I'm afraid your 'mate' hasn't been entirely truthful with you, Bella," he said with his best sad head shake. "He didn't 'wander around the south for a bit'. He was actually—"

"The Major of the Southern Wars?" Bella interrupted. "Yep. Got it."

"How do you know that?" Edward asked in astonishment.

"Jasper told me," she answered slowly. "He's always been honest with me. I've known about his past for a long time, Edward, so if this is you trying to drive a wedge between us? You're too fucking late by about a year."

Edward turned to look at Jasper in shock when he heard how long the two of them had been friends. Before he could say anything, Bella let out a heavy sigh.

"Edward, the day Alice dragged me here to save your worthless ass, I said in front of everyone that Jasper and Rosalie voted to kill me after the van incident. Did it never occur to you how I knew that? How I knew that Carlisle voted against them?" she asked.

Edward snapped his mouth shut because, no, it hadn't occurred to him. "You told her that?" he asked Jasper. "Why? You don't come off so well in that story."

"Is that all I should talk about? Things that paint me in a rosy light?" Jasper snapped. "I know that tends to be your approach to life, but it's never been mine. We left a human behind with knowledge of our world. Knowledge you very purposefully kept limited. I wanted Bella to have every possible bit of information that might ever be critical to know. Her ability to keep herself safe was more important than what she thought of me, you narcissistic dick."

"Edward," Bella sighed again. "After everything that has happened in the last week or so, why are still so determined to be hostile? To cause trouble with your meddling? You're on trial for crimes that carry a death sentence because you, Alice, and Carlisle tried to meddle with both my fate and Jasper's. Carlisle has lost his family for his efforts. Alice is dead. Have you really not learned anything at all from this?"

"Jasper already had a mate," Edward snapped. "Why should he get another one when I've been alone all this time? With your mind being silent, you were perfect for me."

Caius let out a low growl. "A wife is not the same thing as a mate, Edward. You know this already. You're an arrogant boy so it surprises me that you'd be so willing to make yourself appear this ignorant."

"Is he so stupid that maybe he doesn't know there's a difference?" Chelsea asked. "Does he truly believe that Alice and Jasper were mates just because they were married?"

Edward growled at the woman, but before he could say anything, Aro held up his hand. "Watch yourself, Mr. Cullen. We were kind enough to let you out of your cell to speak to us, I expect you to be respectful of everyone in this room. If you can't manage that, I'm happy to have you escorted back downstairs," Aro said coldly, then turned to Chelsea. "And no. Edward is perfectly aware that not only were Jasper and his ex-wife not mates, but that Jasper and Bella are."

"Then what is the point of all this?" Bella asked Edward, who gritted his teeth against the need to growl again.

"I'd also like to point out, as Bella did to Alice, that it is your actions that brought us here," Jasper added. "We didn't know we were mates. Your attempted suicide by the Volturi's hand was the first domino that put into motion everything that followed… Alice's death, Carlisle losing his family, and Bella and I realizing our connection. Those are awfully severe consequences, Edward. Do they not mean anything to you?"

Edward glared at him, but of course he couldn't accept that all of this lay at his feet, so he turned to Aro. "I'd like to go back to my cell, please. I refuse to sit here and be treated this way."

"Treated what way, exactly?" Marcus asked in annoyance. "Having the truth pointed out to you? Having someone expect you to take responsibility for your actions? What was the point of this meeting, Edward?"

"That's easy," Jasper laughed. "He expected to meet Aro alone so that he could manipulate him into seeing things Edward's way," he answered. When he felt the surprise in Edward, he rolled his eyes yet again. "I lived in the same home as you for well over fifty years. I know you, and I know you've always been a manipulative, conniving asshole."

Edward growled and made to lunge at his former brother, but he wasn't even halfway out of his chair before Jane zapped him and he dropped to the floor.

Aro let her continue for about ten seconds, then smiled at her. "Thank you, Jane. That's enough, you can release him now."

Jane nodded and pulled back her gift. When Edward recovered enough to retake his seat, Caius glared at him with a cold sneer. "You've just added another charge against you, Mr. Cullen. An attempted attack against a king carries a death sentence as well."

"What? I wasn't trying to attack a king!" he said in astonishment. "I was attacking Jasper!" he exclaimed, then looked at the empath, who was sitting directly next to Aro. In his anger, he hadn't realized his actions could be misconstrued. "I wasn't, you have to believe me," he begged.

"Why? It is a rarity that you utter an honest word," Marcus said. "If there's only one thing I've learned about you since you stepped foot in this castle, it is to not believe the things you say. I trust nothing that comes out of your mouth," he added as he stood up. "This meeting is adjourned. Your behavior is unacceptable. You'll be escorted back to your cell and we will deal with the additional charge when the next stage of your hearings commence. If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, ladies," he said with a respectful nod and then left the room.

Edward sat with his mouth open as he watched Marcus walk out. None of this was going as planned. He'd asked for this meeting to get at least one of the kings on his side, and instead he'd only alienated all of them further and added a charge of attempted regicide.

"I think we'll be on our way also," Jasper said as he stood up. Bella and Rosalie both nodded their agreement and got up. None of the three bothered to address the petulant boy scowling at everyone in the room, knowing it would grate on the telepath's ego to be ignored.

"Oh, so my fate is unimportant to you?" Edward snapped. "You don't care that I may be put to death for something I didn't do?"

Bella slowly turned back and looked at her ex-boyfriend for a long moment. "Your bad decisions and your firm belief that you somehow have the right to dictate other people's lives led to both of my parents being murdered. So no, Edward, I don't actually care what happens to you. And I'm not sure why you need this pointed out to you again, but even if you didn't try to attack Aro, you did commit other crimes that carry a death sentence," she said as she shook her head, then took her mate's hand and left the telepath staring at their backs as they left him sitting there with not a single ally on his side.

When Edward returned to his cell, he was caught somewhere between shame at his actions since Alice first saw Bella in a vision, and anger and resentment that he was being treated so unfairly. When he let out a frustrated growl, he heard Carlisle's thoughts, which were directed at him.

There's no point in getting angry, son. No one will listen to us now that Jasper has turned them all against us. He's probably using his gift to keep them on his side, while making them suspicious of us.

Edward frowned as he listened. He knew that wasn't true. Jasper hadn't been using his gift, and the Volturi were against them because of how despicable their very real actions were. Was Carlisle genuinely in denial about what they'd done? Edward had assumed it was all an act, but now he wasn't so sure.

There's nothing to do now but hold our heads high while they execute us. I refuse to allow that animal to see me as anything less than the strong, noble, principled man I am.

Edward scoffed at that. He'd learned quite a few things in his time in Volterra that illuminated who Carlisle really was and he was thoroughly disillusioned by his new knowledge of the man he called a father. Noble, strong, and principled weren't the first adjectives that came to mind. He was a delusional liar who'd believed the very obvious falsities that Alice had spun them. Did he really believe Jasper could drink enough animal blood in two days that it would change his eye color? Even Edward hadn't believed that, and he was generally pretty open to believing anything that painted Jasper Whitlock in as ugly a light as possible.

Carlisle was more than welcome to hold his head high while being executed, but Edward had no intention to do the same. He figured his best chance of getting out of here with his life was to be entirely repentant in his thoughts. If he could somehow convince the kings that he was truly ashamed of his actions, he'd be allowed to leave Italy and he'd have the time and freedom to plot his revenge against everyone who was so intent on ruining his life.

And thanks to a stray thought in Jasper's mind, he knew exactly who he could enlist to help him. It wouldn't be easy, but fortunately for Edward, he was far more intelligent than those simple-minded idiots who were so eager to see him destroyed.