Tenebrous ↠ Volturi Kings {1} ✓

015

"Thank you." I whispered the words, but I knew Rose heard them, and I'd like to think she understood that I wasn't just thanking her for the advice. I sought out Carlisle after that, knocking before entering.

"What's on your mind?" he asked, shooting me a smile.

I passed him the acceptance letter I had received. "This came in the mail for me last week."

"Johns Hopkins, huh?" Carlisle asked, his golden eyes reading the letter at an inhuman speed. His eyes were warm and full of pride when he glanced back up. "You should be very proud of yourself, Rowan. Very proud."

"I want to be like you, I want to help people," I told him. "But I'm not sure if I should go."

Carlisle smiled, and instead of asking for my reasons why, he asked what no one else had. "Do you want to go?"

I blinked. I was so concerned with making everyone else happy that I hadn't even stopped to think of myself. "Yeah. I do."

"Aro, Caius, and Marcus certainly won't be pleased at my saying this, but I think if you really want to go, Rowan, that you should," Carlisle said. "What area are you hoping to concentrate in?"

"Oncology. I thought, after I'm changed and I'm safe to be around people, I could go back and get a few different medical degrees like you and Edward," I said. "But it'll take four years just for my bachelor's degree, that's a long time."

Carlisle caught the unstated end of my sentence. That's a long time to be away from them. "Italy has some good colleges. Perhaps some of us could even go abroad with you."

"Maybe. What do you think I should do?"

He glanced down at the acceptance papers. "You have some time to decide. Do what makes you happy, Rowan. Sometimes compromise is best. Johns Hopkins is a good option, but as I mentioned Italy has a couple good medical colleges as well. I would look into it, at least. And know that there's nothing wrong with waiting until after you've changed to attend college. No matter your decision, you have eternity in front of you to choose whatever you'd like."

"Thanks, Carlisle," I said. He had given me a lot to consider. Perhaps his suggestion to take a gap year wasn't such a bad idea with how tumultuous my life had become over the past few months.

"Well done, Rowan. We're all very proud of you," Carlisle said, squeezing me in a gentle hug before I left his office.

I ran into Edward on my way downstairs, who was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice my presence until I quite literally ran into him. I grimaced, as it wasn't unlike running into a brick wall, and raised my eyebrows in question. "What's on your mind, Ed?"

"Bella is down at the reservation with Jacob," he groused, and now that he revealed his source of trouble I could easily spot the worry that lined his face. "I don't trust him."

"Why don't we do something to get your mind off of it?" I suggested. While I doubted that anything but Bella returning safely to this side of the treaty line would ease his worry, I missed spending time with him.

"I miss spending time with you, too," he said, catching my thoughts. "What would you like to do?"

"How about we go for a hike?" I suggested. Usually hiking was an activity reserved for Emmett or Jasper, but I knew Edward wouldn't mind.

"That sounds good," he agreed, and twenty minutes later we found ourselves walking down one of Forks' many trails at a leisurely stroll.

I didn't realize until we had been walking for ten minutes in relative silence that this was one of the first times I had been properly alone with him since we had all returned from Volterra.