The novelty of living in Italy wore off quickly. Renesmee grew bored waiting for Nahuel to return.
She started teaching herself Italian. Within a month, she could read the language well enough, but books could only teach her so much. She began venturing into human-populated areas during the day while Nahuel was away.
It didn't take her long to connect the words on paper to the language spoken around her. All too frequently, the locals assumed she wouldn't understand as they spoke about her right in front of her face. With her dark red hair and fair skin, she stood out in the small towns. It was clear she wasn't wanted.
The rejection stung, reminding her why she'd fled with Nahuel in the first place. As much as she wanted him to be enough, he couldn't replace everything. She couldn't help but feel homesick.
Was it really so selfish of her to want a place where she was truly wanted and accepted?
Renesmee felt herself being drawn to the beach. The Tyrrhenian Sea reminded her of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington. She walked alone along the rocky shore as she reminisced on beach days with Jacob. The sand at First Beach had been much softer under her feet.
She could almost imagine him here with her now. The memory was so strong, she could almost smell his warm scent blowing in on the sea winds…
Wait, no. That wasn't a memory. She jolted back to reality as she realized she could actually smell his scent blowing in from the sea. She scanned the waters, searching for the source of the smell.
Her eyes landed on a small fishing vessel heading out into the sea. There! Standing at the stern was Jacob. The boat was so far away, she could barely make out his figure, but she knew it was him as surely as if he were standing beside her. She was surprised by how far out he was. He was much farther than she'd expected given she'd caught his scent on the breeze.
"Jacob!" she exclaimed, though he was too far to hear her. She watched as he hoisted a net full of fish into the small vessel.
Nessie let out a deep sigh. All her anxiety washed away at the sight of him. The relief was bittersweet. The initial joy of seeing him twisted into a painful desire. She wanted to leap into the water and swim out to him.
She examined him closely as he cast the net out again. His hair had grown. It was now long enough for him to keep it pulled back in a small ponytail. This came as a genuine surprise to her. In her head, she pictured him in the exact state she'd seen him. Frozen and unchanging like her family. Obviously, she was aware that his hair was capable of growing, but for her entire life, she'd been alongside him. Seeing such an undeniable change in his appearance made her realize that this was the longest she'd ever been away from him.
A wave rolled up onto the shore, stopping shy of her feet. She glanced down at her fleeting reflection. When she was a child, she grew so quickly, a changed face looked back at her every time she looked in the mirror. Would Jacob notice a difference in her too? What would Jacob see when he looked at her?
She climbed up the shore and hid behind the bramble. She watched him work for hours. The other fishermen tried to help, but they were hardly needed.
The sun started to lower towards the horizon. She knew she should be leaving now if she wanted to get back to the house before Nahuel, but she couldn't pull herself away.
The fishing vessel headed towards the shore. She crept closer to the dock. She needed to see Jacob up close.
She kept her guard up. Unanswered questions nagged at the back of her head. What was he doing here? Was he going to try and make her go home? She'd made her position clear. Homesick or not, she wasn't going back.
Still, she found herself being drawn closer and closer until she was only a couple hundred yards away. She hid in a narrow alley between tightly packed buildings. The shipyard reeked of fish, obscuring her scent. Locals passing by gawked at her odd behavior, but she didn't care.
From this distance, she could see details she hadn't noticed before. Jacob looked like he'd aged twenty years. His usual grin was absent, replaced with a hard mask. His movements were robotic–like a machine controlled by a program. He didn't interact much with the other fishermen.
While Jacob's back was turned, she inched closer. The space between them was less than a football field. Jacob hoisted a net full of fish onto his shoulders and followed the other fisherman up the bank. She held her breath as he grew closer.
Jacob slowed to a stop. The other fisherman called out to him, but he ignored them. He turned, scanning the area around him.
Nessie froze in place as his eyes settled on her. The tension disappeared from his face. The net slipped off his shoulder and fell to the ground. Fish spilled out onto the road. The fishermen yelled profanities at him, but he didn't acknowledge them. He drifted forward to her. The weight—both literally and figuratively—was gone from his shoulders.
She was frozen in place. She didn't know whether she wanted to run away or to him. Now, she had two men who had traveled halfway around the world for her.
He wrapped her in a hug. He reeked, but she couldn't resist leaning into his chest. The situation was more confusing than before, but in his arms, she couldn't help but feel that everything would work out.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I couldn't let you go," Jacob said. He clung to her tightly. She worried he wouldn't let her go, though she wasn't sure if she wanted him to.
"I'm not going back," she said definitively. "Who else is here?"
She scanned the area for some sign of her parents. The sun was still far enough above the horizon to limit a vampire's mobility. Jacob may be happy to see her, but her parents would be another story. She wasn't going to admit defeat.
"I'm alone," Jacob said. A heavy weight hung in the word.
"You shouldn't have come," she said. "The Volturi—"
"I know," Jacob said. Aro knew his species only existed to destroy vampires. They wouldn't take kindly to Jacob's presence so close to their city. "I couldn't let you be alone."
She wanted to argue with him, but now wasn't the time to remind him of Nahuel.
"How did you get here?" she asked.
"I got a work visa," Jacob said. He looked back at the fish spilled on the ground and frowned.
She heard one of the fishermen—most likely his boss—ranting in Italian about how the new American was more trouble than he was worth. She pulled away from his hug.
She rushed to explain herself as she saw the hurt forming in his eye.
"You can't get fired. Go pick up fish," she said. She placed her hand on his cheek. "I'll meet you back here tomorrow morning."
She pushed her uncertainty aside and showed him the longing in her heart. This was not goodbye. She promised to return. He placed his hand on top of hers.
Jacob nodded. He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it before letting her go.
"Tomorrow," he vowed.
She turned away and disappeared into the alley.
She hurried back to the farmhouse as fast as she could. Her mind was spinning. What was she going to tell Nahuel?
She genuinely appreciated Nahuel, but… He just wasn't enough. She'd given up her home, her family, her lifestyle—all to be with him. For the past month, she'd been desperately trying to convince herself that he was enough to replace everything she'd given up. Now that Jacob was here, she couldn't go back to living the lie. The pain of the sacrifice was more acute than ever. She needed her best friend like she needed air to breathe. She didn't have it in her to say goodbye to him again.
Would it be possible to keep both of them in her life? Could she spend her days with Jacob and nights with Nahuel? It seemed like a lot to ask of them, but she couldn't lose either. She knew romance with Jacob was impossible without sacrificing her relationship with Nahuel.
As she expected, Nahuel had beat her back to the farmhouse. She was a little hurt that he hadn't gone looking for her when he'd found the house empty.
She desperately hoped the stench of fish was enough to mask Jacob's odor. She was going to run straight to the shower, but her plans were derailed when she stepped in the door.
Dante was with Nahuel in the living room, standing at the easel.
"Hey," Nahuel greeted her from the couch. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, I lost track of time," she said. Her eyes locked on the child. He had a paintbrush in his hand and his eyes flipped between the canvas and Nahuel. His tiny brow furrowed in concentration. The easel had been moved so she couldn't see the canvas from where she was standing.
"Jane returned from a mission and Dante got scared. He wants to spend the night here, do you mind?" Nahuel explained.
"It's fine," Renesmee explained. "I need to shower."
She rushed to the bathroom. When she returned, Nahuel was looking over Dante's shoulder.
"You're getting good, kid," Nahuel complimented.
She crossed the room to see what Dante had painted. She gasped when she saw the canvas. As she expected, it was a picture of Nahuel, but Dante hadn't painted the moment in front of him. Instead, he'd used his ability to look into the past.
Dante's painting skills were not nearly as refined as Nahuel's, but it was good enough for her to recognize the moment he was working to capture. In the picture, Nahuel was standing beside Renesmee as she admired his painting of his mother.
"That was nearly two months ago," she said in surprise.
"Yeah, Dante has been working on expanding his range," Nahuel said. "He's getting good."
He ruffled the boy's hair.
Renesmee stayed silent. None of her secrets were safe. Every moment of her life since she touched Aro's hand was visible to his son. She wondered if Aro had intentionally sent the boy to spy on her.
Her reunion with Jacob had been so intimate, she felt violated knowing Dante could be replaying the moment in his head anytime she was near.
Renesmee was used to mind readers, but this was different. He could watch every moment from an outside perspective as if he were in the room with her.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she imagined him watching her life like she was a character in a show.
"Excuse me," Renesmee hurried to the bathroom. The tears overflowed as she realized even her brief escape to privacy was in vain.
What the hell was wrong with her? Her conversation with Jacob had been so brief, it was hardly special. She needed to get it together. She took a deep breath.
"Are you alright?" Nahuel appeared at the bathroom door.
"I'm fine," she replied. She couldn't tell him about Jacob. Not now. Any conversation between them would be visible to the child. She wanted to keep her moment with Jacob as private as it could be.
She knew she'd have to tell Nahuel the truth sooner than later… but not tonight.
Dante insisted on sleeping in bed beside Nahuel. Renesmee exiled herself to the couch.
She waited for Nahuel to send Dante away and call her back to bed, but he never did.
On the bright side, this made it much easier to look forward to her next day with Jacob without guilt.
The next morning, as soon as Nahuel and Dante were out the door, she was racing back to the village where she'd met Jacob.
She wasn't a moment too late. As she reached the pier, the crew was boarding a boat. Jacob spotted her and waved her aboard.
Nessie hesitated in the shadows before moving to join him.
"You came," Jacob enthused.
"Of course," she glanced nervously at the humans on the boat. In addition to another fisherman, there was a middle-aged couple who clearly were not dressed for commercial fishing. The woman wore a blouse and a wide hat while the man was in a polo and cargo shorts. They clearly looked like tourists.
One of the fishermen watched her with narrow eyes.
"Maybe I shouldn't be here," she said.
"It's fine," Jacob assured her. "We don't have a full group today. This is a fishing tourism group."
"Fishing tourism?" She asked.
"Yeah, I was hired as a tour guide. None of these guys speak English well," Jacob gestured to the crew. We didn't have any tourists yesterday, so I was helping the other boat."
They sat on the dock for a few minutes while they waited for a couple more tourists to join. Jacob greeted them as they boarded.
He and Nessie boarded last and the boat pulled away from the dock.
Jacob stood up and introduced himself to the group.
The woman in the wide hat made a disgruntled noise.
"His accent eez impossible to understand," the woman complained to Nessie. She spoke with a thick French accent. "Can you understand what ee's saying?"
"Clear as day," she replied bluntly. Jacob had an accent from growing up on the rez, but it usually only came out when he was conversing with other members of his tribe. Now, his standard American accent was hardly any different than her own.
The woman turned up her nose and turned to her husband to complain.
Jacob was close enough to hear the interaction, but he kept a straight face. She knew him well enough to tell he was bothered by the interaction. He carried on with the tour, helping the tourists set up their poles.
He sat beside her as the tourists fished.
"Does that happen often?" She whispered, gesturing to the French woman.
Jacob shrugged. "Can't say, I haven't been here that long… but it's not the first time."
"I'm sorry," she said.
"It is what it is," he resigned.
They sat together and stared out at the ocean. The rest of the group seemed to disappear. She felt like she and Jacob were alone in the world.
The moment was perfect. All too soon, the boat returned to the dock.
The captain dismissed Jacob for the day.
There were still a few hours of daylight left.
"Where are you staying?" she asked.
"I can show you if you want," he said.
She took him up on the offer. She wasn't ready to leave.
He led her to a chaotic home. As they entered the abode, numerous bustling voices were shouting over each other. She stopped short to avoid colliding with two children racing through the cramped house.
Jacob led her up a hidden staircase and down a narrow hallway.
"I'm renting this room," Jacob said as he opened a door.
She stepped inside the tiny room. There was a mattress on the floor. He had no furniture, but his suitcase stood upright and was being used as a nightstand. Jacob had to crouch to keep his head from hitting the sloped ceiling.
"Cozy," she commented as she sat on the mattress.
"A bit," Jacob grimaced. He sank down to the floor beside her.
"I've missed you," she admitted. She knew she shouldn't, but she couldn't help herself.
"I've missed you too," Jacob's words weighed heavy in the air. She knew how deep the connection ran for him.
"This is a mistake," she said. It was dangerous for him to be so close to Volterra.
"I couldn't let you be alone," he said.
"I'm not alone," she retorted.
"I know…" he backtracked. She could tell he was trying to avoid a fight. "But if you ever need anything, I'm here."
She didn't want to fight with him either. She placed her hand on his cheek, letting her thoughts show all the feelings she couldn't find words for. She showed him her relief and gratitude for his arrival. She showed him how she felt complete when they were together. But he also knew she didn't want to leave Italy. She wasn't looking for a rescue. She was happy here, at least she was while she was with Nahuel. He understood her in a way Jacob never could. With Nahuel, she felt normal. She'd never been normal.
He leaned into her hand.
"I'm sorry," Jacob said. She knew he was apologizing for the difficult decision ahead, not for arriving in the first place.
"I should go," she said as she pulled her hand away.
Jacob nodded and led her out.
"You can come back whenever you want," he told her.
"I know," she said. She refused to commit, though there was nowhere else she'd rather be.
Jacob struggled to keep his composure, but she caught a glimpse of the agony in his eyes as she turned to walk away.
Leaving Jacob was even harder than before.
As Nessie ran back to the little farmhouse, her confliction swirled through her head. What was she doing? She wanted to run back to Jacob but she was desperate to maintain her relationship with Nahuel. He was her life preserver, keeping her afloat. He was her certainty.
But Jacob? He was everything. With Jacob, she could fly.
She was Icarus and he was Daedalus, offering wings to set her free. Could she ever fly with him without venturing too close to the sun and the sea?
What was she going to do? What would she choose? She hadn't figured it out by the time she'd made it back to the little farmhouse. One thing was for sure, she had to tell Nahuel the truth.
Nahuel was already there, waiting for her outside the house. He didn't seem concerned by her absence. His brow was furrowed in thought.
"Nahuel," she greeted him. "We need to talk."
He watched her silently for a moment before answering. "Yeah, we do."
They went inside to the kitchen. He'd already made dinner. Only one plate waited on the kitchen table. On it was a juicy veal cooked to perfection. Her stomach called out at the sight of the meal.
Nessie sat at the table and dug in. The meal had gone cold waiting for her, but it was still as delicious as ever.
"Aro asked me to invite you to Volterra," he began as she ate.
She gasped. A lump of food lodged in her throat. She coughed to work it free.
He waited for her to finish coughing, then continued on as if nothing happened.
"I told him you weren't interested," he said.
"Thank you," she rasped. She reached for a glass of water
Nahuel nodded.
Awkward silence filled the room. The sound of her fork grating across the plate was painfully loud.
She chewed slowly, wracking her brain for the right words to start the inevitable conversation. When her food was gone, she knew she couldn't delay any longer.
She wished she could press her hand against his cheek and show him everything, but she knew he wouldn't be nearly as understanding as Jacob.
"Jacob is here," she blurted. "I met him at the pier."
Nahuel didn't react. He seemed unsurprised by the news. "How long have you been seeing him?"
"Only the past two days," she assured. "I'm sorry, I would have told you yesterday but Dante was here. I swear I'm not trying to hide anything from you. And I wasn't looking for Jacob, he just kinda showed up."
The words spilled out faster than she could stop them.
"I'm not cheating on you. I swear Jacob is just a friend."
"When will he be leaving?" Nahuel asked.
"He's not," she answered. Nor did she want him to.
"Okay," Nahuel said simply. His hands were balled into fists at his side.
"Okay?" She stared at him in surprise. "That's it?"
"Is that a problem?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, I expected you to be upset."
"I am upset," his voice was low and even.
She watched him expectantly. "So you don't mind if I keep seeing Jacob?" She asked hopefully.
"Of course, I mind," he said.
"Well, what are you expecting me to do all day while you're away?" She launched into her defense. "I can't spend my entire life waiting for you to come home. I want to live."
"Then live," he said. "I'm not stopping you."
"But-"
"Renesmee, I'm not going to ask you to choose," he snapped. "I'm not stupid. I know you wouldn't choose me."
She was speechless. She couldn't contradict him. He was absolutely right.
But she couldn't let him know. She had to find a way to prove to him that she still wanted to be with him–even in spite of her divided heart.
"I'll go with you to Volterra tomorrow," she declared as she crossed the room to him.
This caught him off guard. "You don't have to do that."
She thought back to Jacob waiting for her at the pier. As much as the image pained her, she knew Jacob would forgive her.
"No, I want to," she insisted. "Nahuel, I love you. I want to be with you."
Oh how much simpler life would be if that statement were true of only him. She put her hands on his chest, keeping them away from his face.
He placed his hands on her waist. "Okay, tomorrow I'll show you what I do all day."
He smiled.
She tried to return his enthusiasm. She couldn't let him know how disappointed she was to have to abandon her plans with Jacob.
That night, she struggled to fall asleep. Nahuel slept easily beside her. She tried to let his gentle snoring lull him to sleep, but her mind raced with anxiety as she imagined what the following day would bring. What if the Volturi were mad at her? What if she embarrassed herself? Or worse, what if she made such a fool of herself, the Volturi changed their minds about hybrids? What if she undid all the work Nahuel had done to secure their rights?
Night turned to day far too soon. She woke to the smell of breakfast cooking in the kitchen. She followed the aroma and her jaw dropped at the sight of the feast he had prepared.
"Good morning," he said.
"Morning," she murmured in response. "What's all this?"
"I wanted to apologize for last night," he said. "I don't want to fight with you, especially not over Jacob."
"Apology accepted," she mumbled between bites of sausage. She shoved the food into her mouth. Her nerves did nothing to dampen her giant appetite. She was rather surprised by how much human food she was consuming. When she was living on a diet of blood, she rarely hunted more than once a week. Now, she needed to consume multiple meals a day just to sustain herself.
When she was finished eating, he packed up all of the leftovers into plastic Tupperware and carried it with him as he headed out the door.
He led her into the forest as they traveled East to Volterra.
Renesmee shuttered as the walled city came into view. At the farmhouse, it was easy to pretend Volterra was far away in a distant land. She can no longer deny how very close they were. The dangers had never felt more real.
This was it. This was her moment. She had to make a good impression.
He led her to a secluded side of the city wall.
She expected him to scale the wall, but instead, he lifted up the corner of a large boulder, revealing a hidden tunnel.
"There's a hidden entrance into the city," Nahuel gestured.
She took a deep breath and jumped down the hole. Inside was cold and musty. The only light was from the hidden entrance.
He jumped down the hole and let the boulder fall shut behind him.
The light disappeared, shrouding them in darkness. She froze. Her vision was superior to a human's but she was unable to see in the pitch-black tunnel.
His hand found hers in the darkness.
"This way," he pulled her forward.
She let him guide her. She tried to move as silently as possible.
Nahuel navigated as confidently as if he could see.
A minute later, a tiny crack of light broke into the tunnel, illuminating her path.
As they rounded a corner, she saw the source of the light. It shined into the tunnel from beneath a wooden door.
He pushed the door open.
Renesmee did a double take as they emerged into the living room of a residential building.
She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but she certainly didn't expect to wind up in a place so ordinary.
At the sound of the creaky door, Dante popped his head out from a corridor.
"Hey kid," Nahuel greeted as Dante ran to his side. He handed the child the Tupperware and ruffled the child's hair. "Is your brother back yet?"
Dante shook his head. He opened the Tupperware and dug into the meal.
"Where are we?" Renesmee asked. She moved towards a window to peer outside. She saw a neighborhood.
"We're in a house on the edge of town," he explained. "The Volturi's castle was not designed with people like us in mind. I convinced them to give us a house so we can have access to reliable water and beds."
"Where's AJ?" Renesmee asked.
"He's on a covert mission with Felix," he explained. "He's using his gift to keep potential insurrectionists from thinking about their grievances."
She wondered whether he was allowed to share that information with her if the mission was intended to be covert.
"What about Dante?" She asked. She'd gotten the impression that the younger child idolized his older brother. He didn't seem happy about getting left behind.
"His gift isn't as relevant," Nahuel said. "When it comes to gaining information, Aro's gift is far more useful than Dante's."
She nodded. She knew that wasn't entirely true. There was one area where Dante outperformed Aro: spying on her family. Dante could bypass Bella's shield with ease while Aro was thwarted.
"Let's go to the castle," Nahuel said as Dante finished his breakfast.
Dante was unenthused but he obliged.
They traveled by foot to the main square, then entered another tunnel hidden beneath a storm drain.
Renesmee clutched Nahuel's hand tightly. She inhaled deeply, straining for any trace that someone was watching from nearby. Several different vampires' scents lingered in the stagnant air, but none of the trails were recent.
The tunnel brightened, transitioning into a hallway.
Renesmee could smell that even more vampires had passed through this corridor, but again, none recently.
"It's so…" Renesmee struggled to find the right word. "Empty."
Nahuel grimaced and nodded. "After Caius killed Irina, several of the more transitory members of the guard left. Most of the others are away trying to contain the ongoing insurrections. They don't want to admit they're struggling. From what I've heard, it hasn't been this bad in over a thousand years."
Renesmee wondered how he knew that information. From what she'd seen of the Volturi, they didn't seem like the type to admit weakness.
As they continued down the hallway, she heard a murmur of voices carrying on a conversation. Their voices lacked the distinctive ring that vampire voices carried.
"Who's here?" She asked him curiously. The voices had to either belong to humans or hybrids.
Nahuel grimaced. He hesitated, then changed directions to lead her down the hallway in the direction of the voices.
"This… this is the maternity ward," Nahuel said. There was acid in his tone. His expression twisted in disgust.
Dante hung back against the cave wall, keeping away from the room.
She peaked inside the room. A human woman lay unconscious on a stretcher. Her belly was round from pregnancy. If it weren't for the faint rise and fall of her chest, Renesmee would've assumed she was dead. The woman reminded her of Bella before her transformation.
A vampire was tending to the dying human. Renesmee recognized the caretaker as Nahuel's aunt, Hulien.
Her rage was evident despite the tenderness of her actions towards the human women.
Two other human women were in the room. They conversed nearby, unperturbed by the dying lady. They were both in earlier stages of pregnancy, though it was already taking a toll on their health.
"How are they so calm?" Renesmee shuddered.
"Corin," Nahuel gestured to a second vampire in the back of the room. "She has a gift that allows her to make anyone feel content. The humans can't help but feel satisfied with their situation."
Renesmee's stomach turned. "I thought she stayed with Caius and Aro's wives."
"She used to. Aro asked her to ease the human's stress. His plan was for Corin to soothe both the humans and the wives, but Sulpicia refuses to come anywhere near the mothers," he explained.
Renesmee couldn't say she blamed her.
"They're going to die," Nessie's voice cracked.
"Yeah," Nahuel answered grimly.
Tears welled in her eyes.
Nahuel placed his hand on her shoulder and guided her out of the room.
She didn't resist. Once the women were out of sight, she pushed away her anguish.
She tries to tell herself that the Volturi weren't cruel, they were being thorough. The humans' sacrifice would allow the Volturi to better understand her kind. This research would extinguish their fear of the unknown.
This was a good thing. It would make the world safer for her and Nahuel. Human lives were short. If they didn't die here, they would die some other time. At least now they were dying for a cause.
They continued on down a winding tunnel. It started sloping upwards towards the surface.
At the end of the hallway, they came to a large intricate door sheathed in gold.
She took a deep breath as Nahuel held the door open for her.
She stepped inside a large room. The chamber was lit by the natural sunlight that shone in through the narrow slits at the top of the turret.
The only furniture in the room was three elaborate thrones, only one of which was occupied.
"Renesmee Cullen!" Aro exclaimed as he rose from his seat. "How lucky we are to have you visiting."
She wasn't sure who Aro's "we" consisted of. He and Renata were the only ones in the large room. Renesmee glanced nervously at Nahuel. His face was unreadable.
"Um, hello Aro," she greeted uneasily. She had to make a good impression. She curtseyed awkwardly, hoping this was the correct way to greet a ruling vampire. Or was curtseying only a human custom?
Aro watched her curious grin spread across his face.
Yep, curtseying was definitely not a vampire thing. Stupid stupid stupid! Why couldn't she do anything normal?
Renesmee quickly straightened up. She searched Aro's eyes for some indication of rejection or disappointment but found none. She sighed in relief. Renata's anxious expression slightly eased. She seemed to realize Renesmee was not posing a threat.
Nahuel furrowed his brow. She wished she could ask him what was wrong, but there was no way to have a private conversation without Aro taking notice. She hoped he wasn't embarrassed by her.
Renesmee stood awkwardly across the room, unsure what to do.
"Lovely weather we're having," she blurted. Her parents had taught her to try and make small talk to ease tension, but as soon as the words were out, she realized that advice probably only applied to interactions with humans.
Aro made a strange high-pitched chuckle. "Indeed it is. Funny how quickly the seasons change."
She could hear the double meaning in his words, but she had no idea what he was implying. She wanted to ask why he'd invited her to Volterra, but she didn't dare.
Aro's eyes shifted towards his son. "Dante, your brother will arrive home today. Go see if he's returned."
"Okay!" Dante perked up and hurried away.
Nahuel frowned as he watched the child leave.
Once the boy was gone, Aro turned back to Renesmee and Nahuel.
"As you know, we've been learning everything we can about your kind," Aro rose from his throne. "Dante and Aro Junior are both invaluable additions to our guard, but alas, they are only children, but you two are fully grown. I've consulted with my brothers, we would like to offer both of you a place on our guard."
Renesmee's jaw dropped. Her? A member of the Volturi guard? What did she have to offer that they didn't already have?
Nahuel's eyes widened and he turned to her.
Did you know he was going to offer this? she asked him telepathically.
"No," he said in a hushed voice.
She thought for a moment.
What do you think? Can we trust him? she asked.
He hesitated. "I don't know if this is a good idea, but whatever you decide, I'll follow your lead."
The offer was so irresistible. Aro could have anyone he wanted and he was choosing her. An image of Jacob popped into her head. She imagined him waiting for her, day after day on the pier. She quickly shoved the thought away.
Her parents would be furious if they knew what she was considering.
But accepting the offer would be protecting them, too. The Volturi could never use her to hurt her loved ones ever again! She would make them safer. Everyone would be safer.
She looked Aro in the eyes and gave him her final decision.
"We accept."
Chapter Playlist:
Gotta Find Where I Belong - ZOMBIES 2 - Renesmee
Hold Me While You Wait - Lewis Capaldi - Nahuel
Midnight Love - Girl in Red - Nahuel
You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift - Jacob
I'll Be Waiting - Cian Ducrot - Jacob
Meet The Plastics - Mean Girls - Aro
