A SICK SILENCE FELL OVER THE THRONE ROOM AS THE FUTURE QUEEN LEFT, AS IF ALL THE LIFE WAS DRAINED FROM THE KING'S FACES BECAUSE OF HER ABSENCE.
Aro's lips pursed solemnly as he imagined what he would have to do with the law-breakers in the room. This was not going to be as easy as he once imagined. Not only were there going to be complications with his dear Carlisle, but he couldn't risk his standing with River. She had to be left in the dark. Just from one glance he knew she would want immortality, but it couldn't be given just yet. It wasn't the right time!
This bond came at an awkward time. Just like always, Aro would have to work around this fragile topic with grace.
Edward loathed the men in front of him. He'd only come to end his life, not to be put on trial. Bella would never expose the secrets of vampires, he knew that well enough. Aro had seen that when he looked through every crevice of his perfect memory. All the love, the bond, the emotion. He couldn't deny that the two of them were in love!
"You have to leave her alone, Aro," Edward said, knowing he was testing his luck with a man as powerful as Aro. "She doesn't belong here in Italy. She's an intern. You and your brothers have already had wives for thousands of years, why would she be of any interest to you?" He questioned before looking Aro directly in the eye. "You three aren't what she needs. You're no good for River. Wherever the Volturi go, they bring danger. Everything about you is dangerous."
A visible snap could be felt in Caius' form as he raged. "How dare you say such a thing about us! We are your kings!" The blonde king nearly shouted at the teenagers. "What gives you the right to say such a thing about us when you came here to expose our kind and force us into a genocide! You're the ones who are running around like headless chickens, unable to figure out what the bloody hell you're going to do with your stupid little human! Don't come at us for knowing how to stay safe and hidden, for being what we were meant to be instead of sticking to some failing sense of Christian morality."
"That is enough, brother," Aro gave an apologetic smile to the others and waved his hands in a call for order. Caius rolls his eyes at the only one in the room with the ability to calm him down, brushing some flower petals off of his expensive suit jacket. He hoped nothing could stain it.
As Aro and Marcus spoke amongst themselves in a language, Alice jerked in her footing as a vision came upon her. With her eyes widening, she looked to her brother in a silent plea for help. It felt so real, unlike many of the ones before. It felt like she was right there. Blood, so much blood. It pooled around the dainty feet of someone she knew. The crimson stain, the same from bodies of people she didn't know, piled one after the other in a gruesome pit of death. She couldn't get herself out of it; her grip on reality was fading.
"Alice?" Edward came over, tugging his girlfriend along, to check on his sister, who was visibly shaken by her vision. "It's just a potential future, nothing is set in stone."
The human girl took her chance in the break of her trial to get ballsy. "There's no issue with me if I don't expose the rest of the vampires. I haven't yet, and I won't. I wouldn't put you or the rest of the Cullens at risk! They're practically my family now. Alice is like a sister to me and I love Edward. We won't break any more laws. I didn't even know it was a law in the first place!"
Ignoring the psychic girl's fear and upset for a second, Aro sighed deeply at the pleas of the Swan girl. She would have made a good vampire for the Volturi if it weren't for her undying loyalty to Carlisle's coven. But there was risk in keeping her alive and unturned. At any moment she could expose the vampire community, or use her knowledge as blackmail. Aro couldn't allow for this to happen to his coven. Justice would not be obstructed just because a vampire and a human wish to be a couple.
"I am very sorry, Miss Swan, but we cannot allow for a human such as yourself to have the knowledge you possess. No matter how honest you are, you could turn on us at any moment," Aro stopped to see the pained look on Edward's face. He'd seen it plenty of times on countless people. So hopeless in the face of their rule. "You are not the exception to the law. The only way that you could be protected under our laws was if you were the true mate of Edward Cullen, and you are not."
The human girl's face turned sour in confusion. No, that couldn't be right. Edward told her that he was meant to be with her together, that he wanted to be with her for at least the rest of her life. That he felt like nothingness without her. Why else would he come here? If she wasn't his true mate, why would he want to kill himself over her death? It didn't make any sense, and she hated Aro for planting the questions in her head.
For the first time in centuries, Marcus thought his input was needed in one of these trials he was forced to go to multiple times a day. Using his gift, he felt his eyes glass over, revealing the tangled mess that are the bonds of the people inside the throne room. Love, hate, distrust, loyalty, soul-siblings, biological siblings, but no true mates. Just the small, almost destroyed bond of a relationship between Edward and Bella. Such a pity, it looked so depressing to see. While he knew it once had been strong, it now reeked of toxic energy, possessiveness and clinginess.
"You two are not true mates. The only potential between the two of you is a simple, less meaningful pair mating bond that is common amongst the older of our kind who have grown tired waiting for hundreds or even thousands of years. It is hard to find someone to pair you as perfectly as a true mate," Marcus explained, his voice barely audible. "She must either turn or die, that is the way of our laws."
This would not do for Edward. He couldn't let Bella turn. She should be able to hold onto her humanity and still be with him! What of River, who the Volturi wanted to keep in the castle for whatever reason? Would she learn?
"Hypocrisy doesn't look good on you, Aro," Edward spat. "River is human. How can you possibly take us to trial over exposure when you plan to reveal yourself to her? I don't even know River that well. Who knows who she could tell! Bella is far more trustworthy."
Caius felt anger coil in the pit of his stomach, but Aro gave him a look that said to leave it.
Marcus cowed his head, remembering that he would have to tell her. His one true mate. He felt the bond just as his brothers had when they first gazed into her dark brown eyes. In time, of course. Not now. He had to court her first before he revealed such a dangerous thing to River. She deserved to get to know him as a person rather than a vampire first. He owed her that.
"Our bond with River is not like that between you and Isabella," Aro says confidently, "and that makes all the difference when it comes to the law. From the first glance there was a connection of that of a true mate. She will be here, and she will become our queen in time. That does not mean I will lie to her and deny the fact that I am a vampire, a creature of the night, but I won't expose my nature to her either. When the time is right, or whenever River figures it out for herself, we shall tell her everything about vampires."
Alice shook her head. Impossible. Edward and Bella, they were meant to be. Just as she and Jasper were meant to be. Her visions had never deceived her. Just as she found Jasper, Edward found Bella. The visions she had were potentials, and in all of the potentials where Bella lived she was happy with Edward as mates. Bonded, forged by nature itself, and happy.
She wouldn't let the Volturi take away her brother's happiness.
"Absolutely wrong," Alice denied. "My visions don't lie. I see the future as Edward and Bella, both vampires, as a mated pair. There's no way that they aren't true mates!"
"Let him see," Edward suggested. "Let him see the visions. You know he can."
"Marcus is far more trustworthy than you," Caius snapped. "Besides, he talked to you. He barely does that for anyone anymore."
The raven-haired king sighed, ignoring his brother's remarks as he made his way off his throne and down to where Alice stood. Carefully he took her outstretched hand, eyes glossing over as his gift took over his vision. Her visions were a sight to behold. All true. To an extent. Visions had to be interpreted correctly, and she had not done that with Edward and Isabella, only seeing an optimistic outcome. They would be mates with a silver bond, not true mates and their vibrant gold echo.
"My brother was right." Alice let out a squeak of anger. "Edward and Isabella are to become mates. But not true mates." He did not want to tell the girl that her own 'true mate' was not a true mate at all, so he stayed quiet on that matter. He'd done enough damage already.
"I will say, though, that I wish you had more understanding of the true nature of a true mate already. A blood singer can't be a true mate. Vampires are unable to even think about physically harming their true mate. Your Edward thought about killing his girlfriend on multiple occasions," Aro explained further, but let out a sad sigh. "The lack of education amongst the young this millennia is astounding. We must do better to teach you these things."
"It's a technicality!" Bella almost shouts at the vampire king. "A mate is a mate! I'll be his mate!"
Now Aro was beginning to get annoyed with her fussing. "Believe it or not, Isabella, technicalities mean a lot to vampires, and they will either save your hide or doom you to dismemberment and fire most of the time. The same can be said for your American legal system."
"So what, you'll force Bella to turn?" Edward asked.
Mentally, Aro scoffed. What kind of mad ruler did this boy think him to be? Never had he forced anyone to do just about anything. The best he could think of was when he forced his brothers to stop murdering the secretaries whenever they made a mistake. No, Aro was not a forceful person. The opposite, actually, he found himself to be very open to compromise.
"Of course not. The choice is entirely up to her," Aro stopped for a second before his eyes met with the young girl's. "However, if she does not turn by the end of the year we cannot prove that she is not a threat needing to be taken out. My coven and I give her that time to prepare and be turned into an immortal by one of your covenmates. I am being quite generous with you, Edward. I would hate to escalate to violence.
"Because if I have to, there aren't any bonds in this world that will be able to save her."
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Woah, Aro can be threatening when he wants to be! Especially when it comes to the law. You'll find much more of that soon.
Next chapter is where some of the less major but important stuff happens :)
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