บท 30: Chapter 30 - Royal
EPOV
We entered Castle Volterra with a sense of trepidation; most of my siblings thoughts were anxious. Carlisle was still remarkably calm. Once we got inside I realised with a start that I could not read the minds of anyone inside the castle- not even a whisper could be heard. Even my own family's thoughts were now robbed from me. I stiffened and Carlisle looked at me in concern. "What's wrong Edward?"
I frowned, "I can't read the minds of anyone in the castle- I can still read the minds of people outside, just not anyone in here."
Recognition dawned in his eyes as he chuckled. "I believe that that is probably the work of the Volturi's Princess- I'm sure you are aware of the rumours regarding how powerful she is."
I nodded, disconcerted by the fact that the unknown princess had the power to stop my gift. Carlisle was grinning, and had amused look on his face. "I'm sure you'll get along well with her," he commented.
I stared at him in surprise, "You've met her?" I asked incredulously. He didn't answer, just continued leading us towards the reception area. A human was there, quite pretty for a human, but nothing in comparison to Bella. She smiled up at us and I frowned when I realised that I couldn't even hear her thoughts. "Welcome to Volterra, if you go through the door to your right Alec is waiting to escort you to the throne room." We followed Carlisle, who still remembered his way around and soon found Alec, a pale teenage vampire with cherubic features. He greeted us, but kept quiet as he lead us through the large castle.
As we walked I subtly observed my family. With the exception of Carlisle, they all seemed more worried now that they knew my gift wouldn't work here. Like Alice, they relied heavily on my ability in difficult situations to gauge whether we were in potential danger. Carlisle however, had obviously known this was going to happen, and now, more than ever I wished to be able to read his mind and find out how he knew the Princess, and why he'd never mentioned it before.
As we neared the end of another hallway, Alice's eyes glazed over for a few seconds and we all stared at her curiously. Her eyes locked with Carlisle's and she nodded. "Everything's going to be fine," She whispered triumphantly, excitement now in her tone. She skipped happily after Alec, her enthusiasm now back.
I was now desperate for my gift to work. "Alice," I pleaded, "What did you see?"
She simply smirked, "Nothing for you to worry about dear brother, although you're in for quite a shock," she winked conspiringly at Carlisle. "You are going to get along rather well with the Volturi Edward, especially their princess."
"I don't want to get along well with the princess Alice," I growled in frustration. "I want to get this over with and go back to Bella as soon as possible!" My voice had raised to a loud whisper now, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Alec smirk at me. I just couldn't figure out why. "What's so special about this princess anyway?" I grumbled. "Just because she can stop my gift from working doesn't mean she's special."
"Trust me Edward, you'll change your tone when you meet her," Alice assured me, and Carlisle nodded in agreement. The others all looked on with a mixture of confusion and amusement. Jasper had complete trust in Alice, and now that she had assured us that we would be fine he had relaxed, content to watch them annoy me.
I had to admit that I was in an even worse mood than normal due to my separation from Bella. I missed her so much. It was all I could do to stop myself from running back to the airport and boarding the next plane back to Forks. "I wouldn't do that if I were you Edward," Alice warned. "Trust me, you need to be here." I sighed, and nodded in acceptance.
We finally arrived at a large pair of old, ornately carved doors. "The Throne Room," Alec announced as he pushed open the doors. Inside were nine vampires. Three I recognised from Carlisle's painting as Aro, Marcus and Caius. I scanned the females wondering which one was the princess, but none of them seem to fit the profile and I was at a disadvantage without my ability.
Aro greeted us exuberantly. "Welcome to Castle Volterra!" he exclaimed. "It's good to see you again Carlisle, and to finally meet your family. He confidently strode up, and after shaking Carlisle's hand, turned to look at the rest of us, his gaze lingering on me for the longest time.
"Aro, it is good to see you again," Carlisle greeted him. He then proceeded to greet the other vampires and I learnt their names: Santiago, Renata, Sulpicia, Didyme, Jane, Heidi. I suddenly realised that the princess wasn't yet in the room. Alice was still bouncing beside me in anticipation as Carlisle introduced us to Aro. When he held out his hand to me I took it apprehensively: Carlisle had told us of Aro's power, but Carlisle had already shaken Aro's hand, so there wasn't much I could do. Hoping Alice was right, I tentatively clasped his hand in mine.
He was silent for a second as the thoughts and memories of my entire life flashed before him. When he finally released my hand only seconds later he burst into raucous laughter. "Edward here thought we would want to harm his human mate Bella when we found out about her," he choked out. With the exception of Alice and Carlisle, who had amused expressions on their faces, the rest of my family looked on in bewilderment as the ten Volturi vampires in the room laughed.
When Aro finally composed himself he looked at me apologetically. "Rest assured Edward, we wouldn't dream of harming your dear Bella." I inwardly wondered if this was some sort of trick- without my gift I couldn't tell, but he did look sincere. I relaxed a little. "I must commend you on continually resisting the temptation of your singer. I see from your memories that it was incredibly difficult. Not many would have the level of self control to achieve what you have, let alone the wish to do as you have and keep her so close to you," he observed thoughtfully. "Your love for her is the strongest I have ever seen in all the memories I have seen in the last three millennia." I nodded in acknowledgement. I knew my love for Bella was insurmountable.
Once we were all introduced Aro in turn introduced us to the rest of the vampires in the room and named their gifts. Most of them eyed me speculatively, as if they knew some secret about me that I didn't know. I was wary.
As the introductions were made I found myself wishing Bella was with me, but then berating myself since I didn't want to draw her further into the vampire world than she already was. I took a deep breath to chase those thoughts away, and was confused when I smelt a faint whiff of Bella's scent. I frowned, it was barely there and stale, like she'd been in this room years ago- an impossibility. I decided that I must be hallucinating because I missed her. My mind was conjuring up her scent. I shook my head to clear it of these thoughts and concentrated around me. Everyone seemed more relaxed since the Volturi clearly weren't planning to kill us- not yet at least.
"Now, I'm sure you are all wondering why you are here- with the exception of Carlisle and Alice of course, who already know," Aro began. We nodded. "Well quite simply, we wish for you to meet our Volturi Princess," he stated and my eyes widened. Nobody outside the top twelve Volturi had ever met her, and yet we were going to. I couldn't help but wonder why. "While this may come as a bit of a shock to most of you, you have actually already met her," I frowned at that and mentally ran through a list of the female vampires I had met over the years. Victoria, Charlotte, Maria, Tanya, Kate, Irina, Carmen...none of them seemed to fit it- I had certainly never encountered someone whose thoughts I couldn't read before- except Bella of course. I stopped short at that. No. Bella couldn't be the princess, she was human. But I couldn't help but wonder about the strange coincidence that Bella and the Volturi princess could both stop me from reading their thoughts.
I was distracted before I could pursue that line of thought as Aro continued talking. "And now, I would like to formally introduce you all to our Princess." At those words a door at the back of the room opened and in strode a small, lithe and incredibly beautiful figure. She was graceful in a long white gown, her step confident and regal as she approached us. Around her throat hung a large, golf-size diamond, suspended on a thick rope of gold. Her mahogany hair was loose and hung in waves down her back and atop her head was a small platinum tiara encrusted with diamonds. Unlike the rest of the Volturi- who wore pitch black cloaks, hers was royal blue, the hood thrown back. It was Bella. I felt my jaw drop slightly, and beside me I could feel most of my siblings frozen in shock- except for Alice, who was jumping in excitement. Bella's scent washed over me, giving me a hit of familiar searing thirst.
She glided across the room towards us, her stride confident and commanding. She was flanked on either side by two tall, strong vampires, both absolutely at ease following her. As confident as she looked, her eyes showed her anxiety. I continued staring at her in silence, shocked beyond belief. Impossible! My mind shouted at me, and yet, I could not deny what was right in front of my eyes. "This is Princess Isabella Marie Swan Volturi," Aro said with a grand wave of his arm as Bella reached us.
Her eyes showed her uncertainty as she looked at us, smiling tentatively. I couldn't move, I was still frozen in shock, and her tentative smile disappeared.
BPOV
I had imagined many different reactions to this, especially in the last couple of days. As I advanced towards Edward and the rest of the Cullen family I noted that Alice obviously knew- due to my nerves, I had stopped making decisions when I headed for the throne room. She seemed to be taking the news well. Edward on the other hand, was staring at me in shock, unmoving. A disbelieving look was in his eye. I reached them and smile tentatively. Emmett grinned and rushed forward, giving me a big bear hug. "Hey Bella, good to see you little sis. Who knew you were higher up in the vampire world than we were hey?"
I smiled at his enthusiasm and hugged him back. Felix and Demetri stiffened. They weren't used to vampires hugging me like that. I released Emmett and backed up a little, rolling my eyes at my guards. "Stop it guys, he's not going to hurt me," I scolded them. I turned back to the Cullens. "These are my guards, Felix and Demetri," I said, introducing them. "Guys, this is the Cullen family: Carlisle, who you already know, Esme- his mate, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice and Edward." I stopped when I got to Edward; unlike the others he was still staring at me, frozen solid. His face was unreadable and I was suddenly nervous. "Edward?" I asked softly. In all my imagined reactions, this had not been one of them.
He started out of his frozen state and his eyes became sad. I got worried. "Bella, why did you lie to us?" he pleaded softly, his tone was pained. "Was anything you said true? Did you actually mean it when you said you loved me or was it all a lie?" he demanded.
My eyes opened in shock at his accusations and I watched, tormented as he turned to head out the door. My heart felt like he had ripped it out and was currently tearing it into small pieces. "Edward wait!" I called desperately. He turned reluctantly to face me. I thrust aside my mind shield, for the first time I let Edward into my mind.
EPOV
I was in pain. Bella had lied to us since we first met. I had fallen in love with the Princess of the Volturi. My mind was pondering reasons why she had done it. Was she sent to spy on us? As I turned reluctantly back to face her, waiting for her explanation, I was bombarded with the most beautiful internal voice I had ever heard. Edward please just listen to me. Let me explain it all. Then if you still want to go and never see me again I'll understand. I will still love you forever. Even with the amount of pain in her mental voice, it was still melodic, and as beautiful as Bella. Then she started concentrating, and I was bombarded with her memories.
I watched in silence as she showed me how she'd met Aro, Caius and Marcus. I winced as I saw her memories of them draining her captors. I saw her meeting Felix and Demetri and throwing them into walls. She showed me her memories; learning to drive with Santiago, learning musical instruments with Didyme, shopping with Heidi, chess with Marcus and Caius, learning how to use her shields properly and fighting Felix and Demetri.
I finally learnt the full extent of her shields- including her mental one. Then she showed me the reasons behind her deciding to move to Forks and her surprise to find five vampires at the school, her first official meeting with me- the spark she felt when she first touched me. She ran through memories of our time together; how happy and in love she felt with me and I felt my heart piece itself back together. The feelings she had when she remembered us kissing matched my own- incredible love and passion.
Finally, she showed me the reasons why she had kept this part of her life a secret- the incredible guilt she'd felt for doing it. When she finally finished her memories she said, Please Edward, I love you. Then I felt her mental block snap back, and I stared at her.
"Oh Bella," I sighed, rushing towards her and gathering her in my arms. She smiled up at me as I bent my head down and captured her lips with my own. We stayed locked in our embrace until finally Bella needed to breathe. When we finally broke away from each other I could hear the hoots of Emmett joined by Felix, Demetri and Santiago.
Bella turned and shot them a playful glare. "Shut up guys, you wouldn't want me to throw you into a wall in front of our guests," she threatened. They pouted at her. It was easy to see that they all thought of her as a part of their family.
Still wrapped in my arms she turned to face my family. "I suppose I've got a lot of explaining to do," she said sheepishly. They nodded; curiosity evident on their faces. "Well if you'll follow me to my tower, I'll explain everything there. No need to have everyone here stop me every five seconds to tell you embarrassing stories." She stepped out of my embrace, taking my hand and leading us out of the throne room. Her two guards followed, immediately falling into step behind her.
"Aw Bella," Emmett complained, as we followed her through the castle. "I wanna hear the stories."
Felix and Demetri grinned, "Don't worry, we'll fill you in later."
Bella scowled at them. "Then I'll be forced to tell them about all the times I've beaten you," she threatened.
They shrugged, "You've probably already told Edward anyway," Felix said.
Bella just glared and kept walking, she suddenly paused for a second. "Oh Edward, I'm sorry, you must be felling a little strange not being able to hear anyone's thoughts. I'll unshield everyone's minds now," she apologised guiltily.
She continued on and I was suddenly bombarded with everyone's thoughts. Alice was excited, Esme had processed everything and was now looking forward to seeing Bella's tower, Jasper was reserved, but he could feel that the Volturi genuinely loved Bella and wasn't planning to hurt us. Rose was a little more hesitant, but she had remembered the cars Bella said she had and was looking forward to spending time with her. Carlisle of course, already knew everything and had before we came- I was a little annoyed that I hadn't figured it out from his strange reactions in the last few days. Emmett was, predictably, wondering whether he could challenge Felix and Demetri to fights. The rest of the Volturi were just happy that the big reveal had gone well and that Bella was pleased. Marcus and Caius were wondering whether they could take up one of Bella's offers and threaten me like fathers- apparently Bella had promised they could in a phone call before her first date with me.
"It's alright Love," I assured her, "To be honest, it was quite nice to have peace in my mind for once." If I hadn't been so worried beforehand I would have enjoyed it.
We finally reached the end of a long corridor and Bella pushed open a door to reveal a huge, round room. It was the bottom of a tower. The entire place was beautifully decorated and so- Bella. Emmett immediately spied her huge TV and gaming system and ran over. "Bella this is so cool," he enthused.
Bella smiled at him, "Where'd you think I learnt to be so good at games Emmett?" she asked, "My guards and I used to play all the time," she said, nodding towards Felix and Demetri who were eyeing Emmett speculatively and wondering in their thoughts how good he was.
Esme and Alice admired the decorating, furnishings and paintings. Alice continued looking, a frown on her face. Finally she asked, "Bella, where's your room?" Bella grinned and pointed upwards. High above our heads was a small gap, a three foot ledge, and a door. There were no stairs, and it was too high for a vampire to jump to.
"My room is up there," she explained, "I'm the only one that can reach it."
Alice pouted, extremely annoyed. "How am I supposed to see your closet then?" She asked.
Bella's answering grin was triumphant, "You can't," She stated simply.
"What?" Alice asked, her voice sounding forlorn.
Bella caved. "Fine Alice, after I'm done explaining I'll take you up there," she promised.
Alice grinned, then looked thoughtful. "How?"
In answer Bella simply levitated herself and Alice off the ground and into the air, moving them up to her door. She then brought them back down to the ground. "Like that," she said, smugly.
"Cool," Emmett commented, making himself comfortable on Bella's lounge. The rest of us settled as Bella started telling her story. I sat beside her, watching Felix and Demetri's memories of Bella in the castle as she told my family. As I played with her hair, and saw her finally relaxed now that the truth was out, I realised that, like it or not, Bella was now mine forever- her thoughts had told me as much. Whether I changed her or not, in around a year she would be a vampire. On the other hand, I was no longer as worried as before- Bella clearly knew everything there was to know about being a vampire- she knew more about them then I did. She had also had over thirteen years to consider the fact that she would be a vampire, and evidently she still had no regrets. I knew we were going to be fine.
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