Ban Together Chapter 19

The room was silent as the noir queen and blonde beauty stared at each, neither one moving any close than they already had. Didyme was beyond relieved to have finally found her mate after living as many centuries she had ruling with a mated pair. She had truly given up hope of finding her own mate and instead focused on protecting mated pairs from getting separated or damaged by either a vampire’s gift or a vampire luring away a human mate that was susceptible to any vampire’s allure. But now that she has finally found her, she wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not. Her mate, the one person that was literally made for her, was one of the people they were unsure if they were enemies or not. Well, her sisters were always telling her, she was a hopeless romantic and this situation was nearly as hopeless as Didyme was willing to get.

Rosalie was mentally preparing herself to explain everything that had happened and to explain why she and Emmett hadn’t done anything wrong. Every explanation and excuse she could think of ran through her mind as she tried to come up with the best way to explain and not appear to be groveling for forgiveness. She was well aware that she had Emmett had toed the line between legal and illegal when it came to their time with the Cullen’s, but most of that activity could be given to the fact they were young vampires and going against ones’ sire was hard to do when you were young. Rosalie had tried to protect her family, to protect herself and Emmett, but there was only so much you could do against your sire, a psychic, an empath and a telepath. The odds weren’t really stacked in their favor. If Bella hadn’t come along and garnered so much attention from her former coven, she wasn’t sure what she and Emmett would have done to get away.

“What a wonderful surprise.” Sulpicia said with faux excitement. “Watching a bond come to fruition in front of me is always such a nice sight to see.” Sulpicia said as she took several steps forward to stand next to Didyme and put a hand on the dark haired woman’s shoulder either in comfort or restraint, no one was really sure. “Such a shame we had to meet you under these circumstances.” Sulpicia said with a small frown and shake of her head, playing up the sympathy card that most weren’t sure if she actually felt or not, “I think we can all agree that I’ll need both of your hands now.” Sulpicia said in her normal pleasant voice, she even had a smile on her face. But there was mistaking what she said was a command that was meant to be followed.

Both Rosalie and Emmett were immediately in front of Didyme and Sulpicia as they held out their hands for the ancient ruler. Emmett was sure that everything he had ever thought and did was either the right thing to do or there was no other option for him due to his former coven. He was confident that he would be likely reprimanded, but he wouldn’t be killed. And then, after his life was secured, he would beg forgiveness from Bella and explain everything to her. It was the very least she deserved after what his former coven did to the human. Emmett was prepared to do whatever he needed to make up for his former coven’s actions.

Rosalie held her hand out towards Sulpicia, but didn’t look away from Didyme. She knew whatever the queen would see would be shared with her new mate… another queen. There would be high expectations of herself and how she behaved both in the past, present and future. She doubted she would be able to pass whatever expectations Didyme had for her mate, Rosalie found she tended to fall short of a lot of peoples’ expectations. Including her own.

Sulpicia happily gripped first Emmett’s hand and allowed herself just a few short seconds to read every thought he had ever had. While it was quite enlightening, it didn’t reveal many answers, at least not the important ones that included her daughter. Clearly the strongest of the Cullen coven wasn’t included in any of the decision making, he was mostly there as muscle and not much more. It was clear from Emmett’s thoughts and what he had seen and heard the Cullen’s greatly underestimated what all Emmett was capable of doing.

As soon as Emmett’s thoughts were done, only a few seconds after she first touched him, she turned her attention towards Rosalie. In a move faster than Bella or any human could see, Sulpicia had grabbed Rosalie’s hand and ignored the warning hiss from Didyme. Sulpicia knew that newly mated vampires were territorial, but she also had faith that her sister understood the need for Sulpicia to get all the information she could to make sure not only her daughter was safe but to see if she could learn anything new about what the Cullen’s were planning to do.

But after only a few seconds of touching both Emmett’s and Rosalie’s hands, there wasn’t much new information to gain. The two were more for appearances and eye candy than anything else. Sulpicia truly wasn’t surprised, with such gifted vampires within the Cullen clan, there was no way for Rosalie and Emmett to completely hide how much they did not approve of what the coven was doing. But that isn’t to say she didn’t learn anything at all.

“If you would like sister, perhaps you would like to take your mate to your own quarters to discuss things on your own?” Sulpicia asked knowing the pull to be alone with ones’ new mate was very strong. She was sure if it wasn’t for the fact that the woman was over three thousand years old, she likely wouldn’t have been able to restrain herself.

“Is there any reason for me to be here?” Didyme asked, giving her sister a very stern stare. Everyone knew what she was really asking: is Rosalie safe or was she going to plan Rosalie’s demise the second they were gone?

“Everything she did, she had to survive and even then, they both fought not to.” Sulpicia answered, staring her sister in the eye and moving to clasp her shoulder with a gentle squeeze. “She is safe and welcomed here.” Sulpicia said with a small and very rare sincere smile.

“Good.” Didyme said before looking Rosalie in the eye, and then both of them flashing out of the room to have their own conversation about what Rosalie’s part in the Cullen deceit was and what her plans were going forward.

“What did you learn?” Tanya asked, everyone else still nervous about what new dangers she may have learned. She didn’t expect the two to know all of Carlisle and Victoria’s plans but they had to have known something after being with them for so long. Surely from what she had just learned they could better prepare themselves for the inevitable fight to come.

“Unfortunately, not much.” Sulpicia said as she walked back to her throne. As she sat down, she held out her hand for Bella to come to her. After all she had seen, she was concerned for daughter’s future. Well, she would be more concerned if her daughter hadn’t been with them in their stronghold amongst all their guard. Bella only had to take one look at her new mother to realize that whatever she had learned had shaken her and if being near the woman helped her, Bella was willing to do that. Her mates were just a little reluctant to let her go in fear of what news was about to be shared, but at the moment, her mother needed her comfort more than they did. “But what I did learn is very concerning. We may be in for a bigger fight than we expected.”

“What kind of fight are we expecting?” Athenodora asked, already mentally preparing a list of her contacts and friends that she could call on to have them come over to assist in a future fight. While she was sure that the numbers they currently had with just their guard, it never hurt to be overprepared in a war.

“They need to die.” Sulpicia said with a frown; she had once been so amused by Carlisle and had truly thought of him as a friend, but apparently it was all an act so he could have access to her library. “They are running experiments that are sick and unnecessary and they had, possibly still do, every intention to include Bella. They will die by the time this is all over.” Sulpicia growled, earning the respective growls from the human’s mates and her own mate at the declaration. There was a lot to go over and a lot to plan, but thankfully her mate was the best strategist to ever live. They would win this war and the rest of the Cullen’s and Victoria would die.