Rae is standing in the castle's garden, the snow is falling on her. Raelynn openly welcomes the December snow. It's Christmas Day. She got to emails... One from Mary and the other from Caleb, wishing her a merry Christmas.
Raelynn sits on a snow covered bench as she looks at a rose that Renata picked for her during the month of November. They have an elemental that keeps their garden lively during the fall and winter months like this one.
"I knew I'd find you here," a familiar voice with a strong Italian voice says.
Rae follows the voice and she finds Renata. "Hey, Renata."
Renata smiles at the American, gifted human as she joins her on the snowy bench. "Do you miss Forks?"
"Yes, a lot," Rae admits. "I miss my mom, my brother, my sister, and step-father."
"You miss Alice, also," Renata points out. "You loved her."
"Yeah," Rae admits. "I should he pissed and hate her, but I still love her."
"You're her mate," Renata says. "That love doesn't just go away... Even if the other person left."
Rae looks down, not saying anything. She does love Alice, she doesn't think it'll ever go away. Like Renata said, she is Alice's mate.
"What is today's date?" Raelynn asks as she looks at the crimson eyed vampire
"December the twentieth," Renata replies. "Five days before Christmas. The kings done celebrate it."
"I haven't since I was thirteen," Raelynn admits. "They didn't do Christmas in the mental hospital, and I didn't get a chance to have Christmas at home. What's one more year?"
"I'm sorry," Renata says genuinely. "I haven't celebrated Christmas in seventy years."
"I'm sorry," Raelynn claims.
"It's not your fault," Renata replies. "I've been with the kings for sixty years."
"Are there any shops on the grounds?" Rae asks. "I need to upgrade my wardrobe."
"Let me go get Demitri or Felix to join us," renegade says. "Master Aro wants two guards with you all times."
Rae stays in the garden while Renata goes in to get another guard.
⚪️◼️⚪️▪️▫️▪️⚪️◼️⚪️
Demitri stands in the clothing shop on the Volterra grounds with his arms crossed in annoyance. Raelynn and Renata have been shopping around for the last hour.
"Come on!" Demitri barks to the vampire and the gifted human. "Can we go now?"
"Not yet!" Raelynn calls. "Renata, you should have brought Felix. He's a bit more patient."
"I heard that, you twat!" Demitri growls.
"I know," Raelynn replies with a smirk, making Renata laugh.
Demitri scowls but he can't fight the smile from forming as he sits in a chair. Renata had went to the throne room for another guard because Raelynn wanted to go shopping in one of the shops on the Volterra grounds. Aro was pleased that Renata remembered to get a second guard.
Renata chose Demitri to come because Raelynn likes him as a guard. He might be impatient a lot of the time, but he's like an older brother. His overprotectiveness over Rae reminds her of Caleb. She feels safe with the Volturi guards and the kings and queens.
⚪️⚫️⚪️▪️▫️▪️⚪️⚫️⚪️
Renata and Demitri are standing guard outside Rae's room as she unpacks her new clothes. She finally finished shopping after another forty-five minutes. Demitri has dramatically cheered when she was finished and the look she gave him made the vampire stop short from the second sarcastic hoot.
Raelynn sits in front of her vanity and she hears the door open. She turns her head slightly and she's sees Aro entering. Rae smiles slightly before she turns back to the mirror, she brushes her strawberry blonde waves, it has an extra bounce today.
"How was shopping?" Aro asks as he stands by the door.
"I think I gave Demitri a hard time," Rae muses.
"That must be why he is smiling outside your room," Aro hums as he picks up a picture.
The picture is of Alice and Raelynn on their prom night. They had it taken while at prom and Rae printed it off on the day before Bella's birthday party in September.
"You should get a frame for this," Aro says softly.
"Oh, I did today," Rae says.
She gets up and she walks over to the one shopping bag she hadn't dug through yet. The frame has dragons and flames on the top, with rainbows and unicorns on the bottom. Raylenn walks over to where Aro is and she takes the picture before putting it in there.
"I almost forgot I got that," Rae admits.
"Who got you this?" Aro asks when he notices the frosted red rose on Rae's bedside table.
"Renata," Rae replies. "She found it on the first day of winter and had your elemental put the frost on it. The rose itself will live forever."
"Caius, Marcus, and I would like to have a very important conversation with you tomorrow," Aro says. "A life-changing conversation."
Rae nods. "Alright, da... King Aro."
Aro tenses when he realizes what Rae almost said. "Goodnight, Raelynn."
"Goodnight," Rae replies and Aro leaves.
Raelynn bites her lips and she looks at the picture. She smiles softly as she runs her thumb over Alice's beautiful face before she goes over to her bed.