Tenebrous ↠ Volturi Kings {1} ✓

044

I laughed. "That doesn't sound like anyone I know at all."

"I have no earthly idea whom you may be referring to, amore," Caius said innocently.

"Oh, yes, brother. No idea at all," Marcus agreed, amused. He took my hand in his, tugging me to the couch so he could pull me onto his lap.

"Must you keep our lovely mate all to yourself? You were not the only one forced to hold court today, Marcus," Aro said.

"What was so urgent that you needed to hold the trial immediately?" I asked curiously. The Volturi castle had dungeons whose cells were strong enough to hold vampires.

Marcus shook his head. "It is a morbid tale, tesoro, certainly not fitting for such a joyous occasion as Christmas Eve. Much to reminiscent of the past to be spoken of."

Reminiscent of the past? Because that's not vague. "You know you can't protect me forever. Someday I'm going to rule with you. I'm going to have to know."

"She's right," Caius said, leaning on the back of the couch and twirling strands of my hair through his finger. "There's no harm in knowing. The offending party met a swift end; he is of no danger anymore. One month ago we were approached my a male vampire. His mate had been murdered by another, who threatened to do so again. A week after that, another vampire approached with the same report. We dispatched one of our lesser trackers, along with a small unit of her own choosing, to track down the vampire and bring him back to Volterra.

"Our tracker found him with relative ease, and along with the other guard she brought was able to overpower the rogue and return with him to Volterra. With all the unrest surrounding this case, we deemed it wise to hold the trial as soon as possible. A rogue vampire specifically targeting one in a mated pair dredges up bad memories, to say the least."

Didyme. Caius didn't speak her name, but the implication was there. I felt sorry I asked.

Marcus must have read this clearly on my face, because he gave me a gentle smile. "Never feel bad for curiosity, carissima. How else would one learn?"

"Still. I don't want to cause you pain," I said softly.

"There is little you could do, my dearest Rowan, that could ever cause me pain. Your very existence is cause for my greatest joy," he said seriously.

My face burned with and I ducked my head, grinning. Marcus chuckled, pressing his nose against my warm cheek. Caius checked his watch. "It's customary that a few presents are opened the night of Christmas Eve, correct?"

"Yes," I said, glancing over to my tree, which had a fair few presents underneath it - some were from the guard, who had been stopping in intermittently over the past day to drop them off, and some were from me to the kings. Though it was agreed that my tree would be used for the presents, the kings had yet to put anything under it.

"I suppose I should go fetch my gifts for you from my quarters. I'll be back momentarily," he said, pressing a kiss to my forehead and running off.

"Oh, are we putting our presents under the tree now? I see the guard has dropped off their gifts already," Aro said, motioning to the tree.

"Yeah, they've been dropping by fairly consistently ever since yesterday. I think this is all of them, though," I said.

Caius reappeared kneeling by the tree, arranging several carefully wrapped parcels underneath with the look of utmost concentration that I usually only witnessed when he was painting.

"Caius, love, you know we're going to be moving the presents when we open them, right? They don't need to be perfectly arranged underneath," I said, smiling.