Salt

The servants were called back.

They scurried in, hurriedly. Silver dishes placed over the food, lids covering jugs.

Customarily, a dinner was never stopped. Aro waited until the next morning to greet the returned person of importance. Have them kiss his knuckles before the throne.

Now he scraped back his chair, hands splaying on the table. A bright, crisp look in his eyes Bella rarely saw.

And when she did…

She laid her fork and knife down quickly, pulling the serviette from around her neck.

“After all this time,” he said softly. “Come, we must greet her.”

This was new. This was different.

Bella’s heart shivered in excitement. She shouldn’t have been so…adrenaline filled. But this was different.

A new person. Or someone she had never met before. She was the first person to push back her chair and follow Aro.

***

They all kerfuffled through the hallway, several layers of shoes hitting the carpet floor.

The moonlight lit the side of Aro’s shoulder, bringing out the red and distractedly drawing her focus.

Her heart beat in her chest, her hands gripped her skirts.  How long had it been?

There had been the new guardsmen but she had met them all before. Stumbled into them as a child or asked them for help finding Alec.

Vin had been a helper within the castle for as long as she could remember; Jovano had gotten a book for her in the library once, tall as he was.

Aaloka had taught her how to make flower crowns. They had spent all day in her inner courtyard, green grass blowing, tangling stems and having their fingers smell slightly acidic.

They were so…familiar. Constant fixtures that rotated in her life at intervals like a spinning clock.

Would Jane be short? Tall? Bella imagined Heidi with her long brown hair, trying to imagine this Jane like that. Eyes maybe slightly wide. But it was difficult, her thoughts running, tracking in a thousand different directions.

They all turned right. A hand fell onto her back. She looked to her left to see Sulpicia smiling a bit strained but smiling.

“You seem excited, doveling. You’ve never met Jane, correct?”

Bella shook her head, her up-do moving a bit. She could feel some pins press into the base of her skull. “No, this will be the first.”

She looked forward, taking in the chandeliers along the ceiling. The soft red velvet beneath their feet.

She glanced back at Sulpicia, who nodded, “keep your mind open, doveling. How I’ve taught you.” Sulpicia’s hand rubbed the nape of her neck before dropping off.

Bella beamed at her. She remembered those lessons. How Felix pretended to be a guest and would come through the door to her room. She would go through all the dos and don’ts of being a host. Sulpicia watching over and offering guidance for it all.

They stopped in front of the large doors that led the way into the Volturi’s centre.

Even now as she was older she had to look far upwards, head fully tilted back to see the tops. If the dining room’s doors were large, these were catastrophic.

Bella breathed. Took in the carved marble and gold. Sculpted symbols of sharp winged birds, goblets falling with liquid, and all of it curving towards the ‘V’ symbol in the direct centre.

The guards on either side had their hoods fully up. Their hands were covered in white gloves, the bottom of their faces having half masks made of white marble. Their eyes were clouded over.

They had never changed, all the time she’d been here. They stood and remained. The ones who opened the doors.

She waved to the closest one anyways.

Slowly they grasped the tall golden handles. The doors moved towards them with a crack, white and gold shining and refracting light onto the carpet.

If she were to wrap her hands around those golden cylinders, they would be cold and singe into her palms. But they also wouldn’t move. No matter how she pulled, sliding her feet into the softness below.

Her hands fisted her dress tighter. Slowly folding outwards like a fan, the doors revealed red marble floors, streaked with white. Gold veins shimmered here and there.

Bella’s eyes immediately latched onto the white throne chairs. They always got her attention first.

Three thrones spread upon a raised dias. Each with rounded heads and gold spikes emitting from them in the shape of a half moon. The spikes poked out at differing intervals, sometimes short, sometimes long.

The three suns of the Volturi.

The throne room was still dark, slowly the sconces along the walls were being lit. Moonlight hit the golden tines, glinting them softly. Soft droplets of rain hit the glass ceiling but she could only infer that it was a passing storm.

A singular figure was in the middle of the throne room floor.

Bella swallowed, heart beating slowly but hard enough to feel it pounding in her right wrist.

The giant squares from the overhead windows let moonlight hit their hooded head, one half in light and one half in darkness.

They were wearing the black Volturi robes.

For some reason she felt like quivering.

As Aro moved forward, the figure immediately knelt with one knee down upon the maroon floor, head bowed.

“Jane! You’ve returned to us. Your journey was long.” His gaunt was slow but with flourish, cape rippling behind his back. She tried not to let it get caught under shoes, eyes on the one who seemed to take up all space in the room.

Usually she would be thinking of the lacklustre back of the throne, her lessons, or heading outside, finding a place to sit and hold her own hands for a while.

But now she was staring, eyes caught on the stranger, the new.

Sulpicia’s hand squeezed hers once, letting it go and placing it on Aro’s left shoulder.

Maybe the nerves were apparent on her face?

She took a breath, slow to fill her lungs. The smell of Sulpicia’s sweet flowery perfume. Aro’s sulphur. Her eyes closed as she took another breath, heart calming.

This time as she flicked her eyes open, the hood was down.

Thin features was her initial impression, a thin nose bridge, slim face. The next was sharp.

She had never seen someone look sharp before. Cutting cheekbones that rose, a peaked chin, eyes that weren’t narrow or of Asian descent (like Renda’s) but weren’t as open as her own.

And short lank hair. That was wet, and hung in strands that bisected the cheeks, tiny fissures of hairs that stuck to the sides of the neck. Blonde.

Bella held her breath.

Red eyes, that pierced like an arrow through a slab of meat. And they were on her.

She felt pinned, could feel her heels pressing into the arches of her feet. How her legs felt both like lead and brittle at the same moment.

The soft smell of salt rose to her nose. She could hear white noise in her ears but they sounded closer to that of what she heard earlier on the beach, sand between her toes.

“Your mission was a success, then?” Caius asked.

It felt like a force was lifted from encasing her. She blinked slowly, noticing how hard her heart was beating and took a breath.

Caius had one of his legs over the arm of his throne, which was to Aro’s right. He had brought a knife from the dining table and was pushing the sharp point into his pointer finger. Spinning it at moments.

She rolled her eyes, of course he did.

Her gaze flickered away as rustling came from the centre of the floor.

The cape laid all around Jane, almost as if it came from the shadows that were slowly being eliminated. The contrast between the bloody floor and the blackness was stark.

“Of course she did, brother! This is Jane! Tell me you didn’t forget that she’s our top captain? I expect that from Marcus, Caius, not you!” Aro gestured his arms around before shaking his head. “Come now Jane, tell us of Your success.”

At this the room seemed to tense in anticipation. Bella did too, her face leaning forward a bit, taking a tiny micro-step.

Jane bowed her head, hands emerging from the depths in her cloak to reveal a black laqoured box.

“I’ve succeeded your majesties.”

Oh. Her voice was sweet. Bella swallowed.

A roar of laughter came from before her, Aro slapping his knee with vigour. “You have! Our most reliable captain has returned, mission completed! Come we must, we must drink! Jane you haven’t had the wine yet have you? Well you must, you’ve worked so hard for it.” His gloved hand gestures with two fingers to another hooded guard.

Her brain flickered in confusion. A guard took the box away from Jane’s hands and she stood soon after.

While everyone was rushing around for wine, Bella turned to Sulpicia quietly. “What’s in the box?”

Sulpicia’s eyes almost shone when she looked back at Bella, a hand immediately raising to cup her cheek. Bella held onto that hand’s wrist, nestling her face in but still glancing up with confusion. “Oh my doveling, it’s a gift.”

“For who?”

Sulpicia’s thumb brushed her cheekbone, “for you, darling.”