My Strength Chapter 34

Caius was going to kill someone.

He was sure of it.

He had never been so sure of it before in his life. Even in his immortal life and his newborn years, had he ever wanted to kill someone so badly.

But he couldn’t, he wouldn’t be able to safely get away with killing the man. But by god as his witness, he would make sure Aro’s remaining life was a miserable experience.

The man hadn’t stopped smirking as Athenodora and Bella explained what they wanted him to do. It also didn’t help to have the rest of the royal members present as well. They all seemed to want to put in their own two scents when it really wasn’t necessary and for the first time in Caius’s memory, Aro seemed more than willing to let someone else take the spotlight and talk instead of him.

“The bonds may be new, but I can see they are strong.” Marcus chimed in, the man completely obsessed with bonds, too obsessed if anyone asked Caius. “I find it highly unlikely they would do anything to hurt or endanger her.”

“But there is always a risk something may happen; especially if they believe their actions are to protect their mate.” Caius argued, getting more upset as he talked, especially as Athenodora had seemed to calm down with her anger the more they talked. It was like everyone was purposefully trying to piss him off.

“I’m insulted anyone would even think we would.” Victoria muttered, finding the whole affair entirely unnecessary. Weren’t they the ones who were always going on about how mates were a sacred bond and couldn’t be messed with because mates would do absolutely anything to protect their bonded? She wanted to tell her mate’s parents exactly how stupid she thought they were being but at the same time, she also wanted to shove in their faces how wrong they were. It would probably be the only time she would be able to do so and she wanted to milk it. She figured she could use the situation later on in their relationship; like when they were bound to try and move out of the castle and her parents would likely refuse to let Bella go.

“I don’t think they really mean it.” Bella tried to reassure her girlfriend. She was hoping Victoria wouldn’t get too insulted with what the royal couple was insinuating but she couldn’t fault Victoria for lashing out.

“They do.” Zafrina affirmed as they continued to watch Caius argue with Marcus while Athenodora and Aro would occasionally put in their two scents.

“I honestly think at this point, not even Athenodora believes anything will happen and Caius is only still arguing to save face and hold onto a false hope of being able to turn you.” Didyme commented, making sure to keep in the back of the room and away from the four royals, two of which were acting like children, stood around the desk. She wanted to make sure her gift didn’t accidently influence anyone; she was having too much fun watching the stupid argument carry out.

“Come now Caius, you know Marcus, would he lie to you about how strong a bond is; especially a bond with your daughter?” Aro asked with a smirk, causing Athenodora to lower her head and sigh in annoyance. This was not how she expected the conversation to go and while she did still want to change Bella herself, she could very much understand she no longer had the option to do so. Her husband was far too stubborn for his own good and she was trying her best to keep a united front but he was being foolish now.

“Yes! Yes, he would! He’s done it before at your behest, perhaps he’s doing it again.” Caius yelled.

“He actually only did that to prove guards loyalty wasn’t something to mess with.” Didyme mumbled, looking towards her niece, “You see, some guards are perfectly capable to be more loyal to one of us more than the others; freewill and all that. Marcus wanted to prove to Caius that he couldn’t force someone’s loyalty.” She said with a fond smile. The whole scenario had completely tickled her pink as she had watched the whole thing play out. Caius was really too stubborn for his own good and was he had an idea in his head, it was hard to change it.

“He wouldn’t stop complaining to poor Dora for months after that.” Sulpicia said with a smile. “He’s much too paranoid for his own good.”

“Didn’t you have a guard member who was able to manipulate bonds?” Victoria couldn’t help but ask. It was the reason she had hated the Volturi for so long after her original coven was destroyed and Heidi seemed okay with joining them. The rumor she had heard over and over again was that someone could change any bond someone possessed, including mate bonds. That was what had made Victoria so afraid of the Volturi for the longest time.

“No,” Didyme answered with a smile, “We started that rumor a long time ago. We are able to change loyalties on our own merit, not with a gift. I believe there had a been a vampire, Chelsea I believe, who actually could do so; which was what gave us the idea. But we had to kill her in the beginning of our reign because she was caught helping the Romanians try to take back their throne.”

“The whole concept was much too good to pass up.” Sulpicia said with a smirk before she raised her voice to get the attention of the others, “Perhaps it should be noted that since Aro has touched both Victoria and Zafrina’s skin and found nothing of concern, that maybe they haven’t decided to do anything malicious within the last day or two?” Sulpicia asked with a slight tilt of her head, her smile widening when she saw her mate pout at ending his fun at riling up Caius.

“I knew it.” Athenodora muttered, more upset with herself for letting her emotions take such control over her than with Aro for continuing to make a fool of her mate.

“Why the hell didn’t you say anything sooner?” Caius angrily demanded.

“I figured it would have been obvious given I always read everyone when arriving at the castle.” Aro said with a faux innocent look on his face. He knew he had lead Caius on the whole time and he had zero regrets about it.

The two then erupted into a loud argument about how Aro was always playing tricks on him and acting like a child while Aro complained that if Caius continued to be such a fool to fall for such tricks, it wasn’t his fault. Athenodora decided to walk away and back to her daughter while Marcus was more than happy to remain where he was to add in his own tidbit to egg one or the other on. It was Marcus’s favorite past-time.

“As you could probably tell, we will… allow, your mates to change you.” Athenodora said, pursing her lips at having said allowed; she knew it was the wrong word but she couldn’t come up with any other.

Bella pursed her lips as well, almost identical to the warrior queen, as she fought with herself to not call the blonde woman out at saying she was ‘allowing’ her mates to do anything to Bella. She wanted to tell the woman that her mates didn’t need Athenodora’s or Caius’s permission for anything but she felt after how much the argument about who would be changing her had escalated, she figured it wasn’t worth the risk of inciting another one. No matter how much she wanted to.

“Good.” She settled on saying and from her the frown Athenodora sent her, it probably wasn’t said with the best attitude but since the blonde woman wasn’t saying anything, they both knew it was the best Bella was going to say.

“Well, since that’s settled, why don’t we go spend some time together and bond Bella?” Sulpicia said with a wide smile, “I have so many stories to tell you about your parents so you may use it against them in the future.” She said, absolutely looking forward to seeing her new niece having the two hotheads of the royal family wrapped around her finger and giving in to things they normally wouldn’t.

“Actually, we were going to have a nice dinner with Bella and then afterwards, talk about when she wants to change and then watch a movie.” Victoria quickly interrupted as she put her hand on her mate’s shoulder to get her attention, “We planned a romantic dinner to just be us, if you would like to spend some time with Sulpicia, we can have dinner later.” Victoria said, sounding as if both Zafrina and Victoria would be eating with her when Bella knew very well that wasn’t going to happen.

Bella didn’t have to think long to know what she wanted, “I would love to have dinner with you two.” Bella said, looking between both her mates.

Zafrina smiled as she grabbed her mate’s hand and lead all three of them out of the office and towards their quarters where there was supposed to be a nice meal and warmed blood for the vampires. They weren’t looking forward to drinking old blood but they knew it made their mate more comfortable when she wasn’t the only one ‘eating’, so they would put up with it; especially since they wouldn’t to do such things for long.

Sulpicia pouted as she watched the trio walk away, “Why am I always being neglected by my own niece?” She truly wasn’t upset about it but as for the silent competition she was having with Didyme, she was losing horribly when it came to bonding with their new family member. Much like her mate, she wasn’t a fan of losing.

Perhaps once she was turned, hopefully soon, Sulpicia could get the one up on her sister.

“It’s okay Cia, I think right now you’re ahead of both Caius and myself when it comes to who she likes more.” Athenodora said with a frown, she and her mate had a lot to make up for. It seemed they were on a losing streak when it came to their daughter and proving they were the right parents for her; that there was a reason they were bonded and not anyone else. She had her husband had a lot to make up for.