(Edward POV)
Aro's smile never faltered.
"Carlisle, my dear friend."
Carlisle inclined his head. "Aro."
I stood to Carlisle's right with Thomas on his left.
Across from us, Caius had already decided the conversation was a waste of time.
His thoughts rolled off him with all the subtlety of a tantrum hidden behind a king's robes.
{Why are we speaking?}
{They gathered an army against us.}
{They defied us.}
{That alone is enough.}
There was no consideration of evidence.
No concern for whether Irina had been right.
For Caius, the Volturi were the law because no one alive had the strength to tell them otherwise. Anyone foolish enough to question that truth merely demonstrated why they needed to die.
A pampered prince who had lived so long without being told no that disagreement itself had become an offense.
Marcus was quieter.
Not calm.
Empty.
The bonds surrounding us interested him more than the reason we were here. His eyes wandered from Carlisle to me, then toward the lines behind us without any real investment in the outcome.
Aro was another matter entirely.
He was thinking about everything.
Carlisle raised his voice.
Not shouting.
He didn't need to.
Every vampire on both sides of the clearing could hear him.
"We have no desire for violence, Aro. We asked our friends to witness what has happened because the accusation against us was serious, and because the truth should not depend solely upon our word."
Aro looked almost hurt.
"Surely you cannot believe I would deny you the opportunity to explain yourself."
Caius's irritation sharpened.
{Explain.}
As if Carlisle had some right to explanation.
{They stand against us. Kill enough of them, and the rest will remember their place.}
I kept my face still.
Carlisle continued.
"I ask only that you hear the evidence before judgment is passed."
"Of course."
Aro's attention shifted to me.
Real pleasure entered his expression.
"And Edward."
I had been waiting for it.
"So very much has happened since we last spoke."
"Yes."
He extended one pale hand.
"May I?"
There was no point pretending I didn't know what he wanted.
I placed my hand in his.
Everything I knew became his.
Bella.
Our wedding.
The island.
Her pregnancy.
Renesmee.
Thomas.
Leah.
Edythe.
Harry and Nancy.
The wolves.
Joham and his daughters.
The witnesses.
Our preparations.
The field.
Every conversation I had heard.
Every plan I knew.
Every fear.
Every possibility.
Aro absorbed it all in seconds.
Then his thoughts changed.
Not toward Renesmee.
Not first.
Alice.
His eyes opened.
His hand was still wrapped around mine when his gaze immediately searched past my shoulder.
Across our formation.
Over Carlisle's witnesses.
Past the Denalis.
Past the Amazons.
Then he found her.
Alice stood beside Jasper.
Their eyes locked across two hundred yards of snow.
Aro's satisfaction was almost physical.
{There you are.}
Alice did not move.
Neither did Jasper.
Aro smiled at her.
Warmly.
Almost fondly.
His thoughts were nothing like his expression.
{All this effort would be worthwhile for her alone.}
Alice had resisted him once.
That remained an irritation.
Not an answer.
No one refused Aro permanently.
They merely required the proper pressure.
Jasper was the problem.
Aro's gaze flickered almost imperceptibly toward him.
{Felix first. Demetri with him if necessary.}
Remove Jasper quickly.
Do not allow him to reach Alice.
Afterward?
Aro almost seemed amused by the idea of Alice continuing to refuse.
A century alone might cure that.
Two, if she proved stubborn.
Separated from Jasper.
From Carlisle.
From everyone who encouraged the absurd belief that she belonged anywhere except Volterra.
Eventually she would understand.
Eventually she would come to heel.
Aro's smile never moved.
I withdrew my hand.
He looked back at me.
"Extraordinary."
That single word was directed at everything.
But Alice remained at the center of his thoughts.
Caius, meanwhile, wanted to know why we had not started killing each other yet.
Carlisle brought the conversation back where it belonged.
"Then you have seen Renesmee's birth."
"Yes."
"You have seen what she is."
Aro tilted his head.
"I have seen what you believe her to be."
Caius almost sneered.
{Why indulge this?}
{The child is unnatural.}
{If there is doubt, destroy it.}
{If they object, destroy them too.}
I wondered if Caius had ever solved a disagreement without ordering someone's death.
Probably not.
Carlisle's expression remained patient.
"You have seen her change through my son's memories. You know she is not frozen in the state in which she was born."
"I know there are questions requiring answers."
It sounded reasonable.
Everything Aro said sounded reasonable.
His thoughts were already moving elsewhere.
Benjamin.
Aro had seen him through my memories.
The control of earth.
Air.
Fire.
Water.
His interest sharpened immediately.
Another rarity.
Another gift Volterra should possess.
Then Bella.
A shield.
Potentially an answer to gifts like Jane's.
Useful.
Very useful.
Then Thomas.
There was information in my memories.
Plenty of it.
But never what Thomas was thinking while human.
And nothing that explained why Aro's own gift had failed when he had tried him before.
An unknown.
Aro disliked unknowns.
He preferred possessions.
Possessions could be catalogued.
Controlled.
Used.
Anything that could not be controlled eventually became dangerous.
Carlisle turned slightly.
"If you wish to hear from the one who made the accusation, then let us do that openly."
Aro's smile widened.
"Irina."
His voice traveled across the field.
Irina started toward us.
Carlisle turned toward our side.
"Renesmee. Harry. Nancy. Jennifer."
Bella moved the instant Renesmee did.
Of course she did.
Renesmee walked beside her mother while Jacob padded along on her other side.
Harry and Nancy came with Leah.
Jennifer followed them.
The Volturi guard reacted immediately.
Thoughts snapped toward the approaching group.
{Too many.}
{The wolf.}
{Why is the newborn approaching?}
{Protect the masters.}
Felix shifted forward.
Jane's eyes narrowed.
Demetri began calculating distances.
Caius's irritation flared.
{Stop them.}
{Why are they being allowed this close?}
Thomas noticed.
He looked past Aro.
Then deliberately looked Felix up and down.
"Aro, you might want to call a couple of your attack dogs over here."
Felix's thoughts went very still.
Jane's did not.
Thomas nodded toward him.
"The big one looks nervous."
Felix's mouth tightened.
Thomas's eyes shifted to Jane.
"And the little blond child keeps staring at everybody like she's hoping someone gives her permission to hurt them."
Jane's expression became glacial.
Caius looked outraged.
{How dare he?}
Thomas glanced at him.
"And that one looks like he's about three seconds from throwing a royal tantrum."
For one perfect instant, Caius's mind simply stopped.
Aro laughed.
Actually laughed.
Caius turned toward him in disbelief.
Thomas shrugged.
"I'm just saying, if having some muscle close by keeps your people from panicking and starting something stupid, bring them over."
Felix's anger burned hotter.
Jane wanted very badly to demonstrate exactly how little Thomas's opinion mattered.
Caius wanted Thomas dead immediately.
Not later.
Not after deliberation.
Now.
{He mocks us to our faces.}
{Kill him.}
{Make the others watch.}
Aro remained amused.
"Felix. Demetri."
They approached.
Renata was already hovering close to Aro's side.
Thomas gave Felix a small nod when he stopped nearby.
"There. Feel safer, Pedo?"
Felix stared at him.
Thomas smiled.
Aro had a confused look.
"Pedo? His name is Felix, I believe you have met before."
Thomas smiled, "I call him Pedo, short for pedophile. The way he pants after the child Jane, I thought it was obvious his preferences leaned that way."
Thomas got a disapproving look on his face. "You really did turn her too early Aro. Poor thing hasn't developed at all, barely into puberty and no growth in the body department at all. Must be very confusing. Guess having Felix around with his preferences makes her feel somewhat desired, so I shouldn't meddle."
For several seconds, nobody said anything.
Felix's face barely changed.
His thoughts did.
Violence erupted behind the still expression…fast, specific, and enthusiastic. He wanted Thomas close enough to reach. Preferably without Aro between them.
Jane was worse.
Her face became completely blank.
Not calm.
Empty in the way only someone imagining another person screaming could manage.
{Say the word.}
Her attention fixed on Thomas.
{Just say the word.}
Caius was incandescent.
{Enough.}
{Enough of this.}
{He insults the guard. He insults us. He insults Aro.}
{Kill him.}
{Now.}
There was no calculation behind it.
Thomas had offended him.
Therefore, Thomas should die.
As simple as ordering a servant removed from a room.
Marcus, surprisingly, looked at Thomas again.
Not with anger.
Interest.
Only a little.
The sudden eruption of hatred around us had apparently become strong enough to disturb even his apathy.
Aro stared at Thomas.
Then slowly smiled.
His thoughts held none of Felix's rage or Jane's murderous focus.
Only fascination.
{No fear.}
That caught his attention more than the insult itself.
Thomas knew exactly what Felix was.
He knew Jane's reputation.
He knew what stood behind them.
And he had deliberately insulted them anyway.
Not ignorance.
Not bravado born from misunderstanding.
A choice.
Another unusual thing Aro could not neatly categorize.
{Could he be brought to heel?}
There it was again.
The same instinct.
Alice.
Benjamin.
Bella.
Now Thomas.
If something exceptional existed, Aro's first question was always whether it could become his.
I didn't need Thomas's thoughts to understand what he had done.
He had identified the easiest people on Aro's side to provoke and kicked every one of them at once.
Deliberately.
And now Felix, Jane, and Caius were so focused on Thomas that none of them were watching the approaching children quite as closely as before.
I almost smiled.
Almost.
Aro finally turned back toward the group approaching us.
Irina reached us first.
Then stopped.
Her eyes locked on Renesmee.
Bella stood beside our daughter, one hand firmly around hers.
Jacob stopped several yards behind them.
Harry and Nancy came with Leah.
Jennifer followed.
Irina stared.
First at Renesmee.
Then Harry.
Nancy.
Back to Renesmee.
Her confusion became impossible to hide.
"That's not who I saw."
Aro's reaction lasted less than a heartbeat.
Anger.
Sharp.
Immediate.
Then gone.
His smile never moved.
Irina stepped closer.
"They're different."
Her voice carried across the clearing.
Every witness heard her.
Tanya heard her.
Kate heard her.
Caius's irritation immediately turned toward Irina.
{Idiot.}
Irina didn't notice.
She was staring at Renesmee.
"She was smaller."
Her eyes moved toward Harry and Nancy.
"They were too."
Aro recovered smoothly.
"Time has passed, dear Irina."
Irina frowned.
"But vampires don't change."
"No," Carlisle said.
His voice remained calm.
"They don't."
Irina looked at him.
Carlisle gestured toward the children.
"They are not vampires."
Aro's thoughts had already buried the flash of anger beneath renewed calculation.
But I had heard it.
If truth were genuinely what he wanted, Irina recognizing the discrepancy should have pleased him.
Instead, her words had threatened something.
Aro turned toward Bella.
His expression brightened.
"Bella."
Bella met his gaze.
"Aro."
"My dear, you are every bit as remarkable as I remembered."
His eyes swept over her.
"Perhaps even more so."
"Thank you."
Bella managed the words without warmth.
Aro seemed delighted anyway.
He had coveted Bella before she was transformed.
Now the interest was worse.
A gift capable of denying other gifts.
Rare.
Powerful.
Useful.
Something Volterra did not possess.
Something Aro believed Volterra should possess.
His attention shifted reluctantly toward Renesmee.
"And your daughter."
Renesmee stayed close to Bella.
Carlisle smiled gently.
"This is Renesmee."
Aro already knew.
He had seen her birth through my memories.
Seen her growth.
Seen her family.
But a memory was not the same as having the impossible standing directly in front of him.
"She has a gift," I said.
Aro's entire attention sharpened.
Of course it did.
Renesmee looked first at me, then at Bella.
Bella nodded.
Our daughter stepped forward.
Aro offered his hand eagerly.
Renesmee took it.
Then placed her other palm against his cheek.
Her memories entered his mind.
And because I was listening to him, they entered mine as well.
Bella holding her.
Me beside them.
Carlisle and Esme.
Jacob.
Rosalie.
Emmett.
Alice and Jasper.
Thomas with Harry and Nancy climbing over him while he pretended not to notice.
Leah gathering the children against her.
Edythe sitting with them.
Family dinners Renesmee didn't need but attended anyway.
Games.
Books.
Hunting.
Laughter.
Arguments.
Home.
Then fear.
Learning why strangers were coming.
Learning what an immortal child was.
Understanding that people she had never met believed she deserved to die because of what they thought she was.
Through every memory ran one simple plea.
{This is my life.}
{These are my people.}
{Please let me keep them.}
Aro received all of it.
Every emotion.
Every memory.
Every silent request.
His expression softened.
"My dear."
For half a second, I wanted to believe he had understood.
Then I heard what mattered to him.
{Extraordinary.}
The gift.
Not the plea.
The ability to transmit memory through touch.
The possibilities.
The rarity.
Aro looked at Renesmee the same way he looked at Alice.
At Benjamin.
At Bella.
Not entirely as a person.
As something the world possessed that he did not.
A treasure outside his collection.
And Aro hated treasures he could not own.
Renesmee lowered her hand.
Aro studied her.
His eyes then moved to Harry and Nancy.
His thoughts accelerated again.
Different parentage.
Different origin.
Different possibilities.
Thomas and Leah.
Neither vampire.
Yet the children were unquestionably supernatural.
Would they develop gifts?
Could they reproduce?
What might their children become?
Aro looked toward Jennifer.
Then beyond her toward Serena and Maysun.
His interest cooled.
Joham's daughters proved the biology.
That made them valuable.
But they lacked gifts.
No extraordinary ability.
No unique weapon.
Useful specimens.
Nothing more.
Joham would have despised the distinction.
Aro barely considered it.
Jennifer stepped forward.
Carlisle gestured toward her.
"Jennifer can explain their development."
Aro smiled.
"I would be delighted."
Jennifer had explained the same thing to us already.
Now she repeated it for Aro.
"Hybrids don't age at a steady rate."
Aro's attention sharpened immediately.
"The first growth period is extremely fast. Within months, we reach what humans would consider early childhood."
"And then?"
"We pause."
Aro tilted his head.
"For how long?"
"Around two years."
He glanced toward Renesmee.
Jennifer continued.
"Then there's another growth period that takes us roughly into preadolescence. After that, we pause again for another couple of years."
"And then?"
"The changes get smaller. Usually another noticeable change every other year or so."
"Until?"
"Seven years after birth."
Aro smiled.
"And at seven?"
"We're physically mature."
"You cease aging?"
"Yes."
Aro considered her answer.
Then his thoughts became revolting.
Joham had reproduced the process several times.
Therefore it was repeatable.
Which meant Volterra could repeat it too.
Gianna entered his thoughts.
The human receptionist who had served the Volturi for years while hoping they would eventually reward her with immortality.
She already wanted to become one of them.
Surely she could be persuaded to contribute something first.
Aro considered which member of the guard might be most useful as a father.
Which gifts might be inherited.
Whether Gianna would survive.
Whether survival mattered if the child did.
The smile on his face never changed.
He was discussing children with Jennifer while calmly planning to use a woman who trusted him as an experiment.
Then his attention moved toward Jacob.
The wolves.
Another hereditary supernatural line.
Another variable.
Could the traits combine?
His eyes searched our formation.
Found Leah.
A female shapeshifter.
A warrior.
Already proven capable of producing supernatural children with Thomas.
Aro wondered what a child fathered by a vampire through her might become.
Whether the wolf inheritance would persist.
Whether vampiric gifts could combine with it.
Whether such a child might shift.
Whether it might carry venom.
My hands tightened.
I forced them open.
Aro smiled at Thomas.
Friendly.
Affectionate, almost.
While thinking about using Thomas's wife to breed an experiment.
Thomas could not hear him.
For that, I was grateful.
Then Aro's attention drifted to Marcus.
A strange thread of almost genuine concern entered his thoughts.
Marcus had been empty for centuries.
Didyme's death had hollowed him out so completely that even Aro had never managed to replace what was lost.
Perhaps a child could.
Something new.
Something of his own.
A bond powerful enough to give him purpose again.
Aro actually considered arranging it as a kindness.
My disgust deepened.
Marcus had spent centuries grieving his mate, Didyme.
And Aro now wondered whether he could manufacture a replacement.
That was what people were to him.
Possessions.
Rare ones to collect.
Useful ones to employ.
Broken ones to repair by replacing whatever piece no longer functioned.
Jennifer finished.
"That's the normal development cycle. Renesmee isn't going to keep growing at the rate Irina saw."
Aro nodded.
"Remarkable."
Irina stared at Renesmee again.
Then Harry.
Nancy.
"They really are different."
"Yes," Carlisle said.
Irina's expression collapsed.
"I was wrong."
The words traveled across the clearing.
Behind us, Tanya's thoughts shattered.
Kate's followed.
Irina stared at Renesmee.
"When I saw you, I thought—"
She swallowed.
"I remembered the immortal children."
Renesmee watched her quietly.
"I thought I knew what I was seeing."
Her eyes moved toward Bella.
Then me.
"I'm sorry."
Caius seized on the admission instantly.
{False witness.}
His irritation vanished beneath vicious satisfaction.
Finally.
Something simple.
A law had been violated.
Therefore someone died.
Order restored.
{Punish her.}
{Then end this.}
To Caius, that was justice.
Aro saw something better.
Opportunity.
Irina could be executed for bearing false witness.
Tanya would react.
Kate almost certainly would.
Garrett would follow Kate.
Perhaps the rest of Denali.
Perhaps others.
The Volturi would defend themselves.
And suddenly the story would no longer be about Renesmee.
The Cullens and their allies would have attacked the Volturi while lawful punishment was being carried out.
The witnesses would see it.
Those who survived would spread it.
Aro had lost one justification.
He had just found another.
I spoke before Caius could.
"Irina."
Everyone turned toward me.
Irina met my eyes.
"You were wrong."
She lowered her head.
"Yes."
"You should have come to us."
"I know."
"You endangered Bella."
Bella stood beside Renesmee.
"My daughter."
Irina flinched.
"And everyone standing behind us."
"I know."
Caius was already impatient.
{Enough.}
{Sentence her now, Aro.}
"But I forgive you."
Aro's thoughts stopped.
Only for an instant.
Caius stared at me.
Irina did too.
I made sure my next words carried.
"We hold no grievance against you, Irina."
Tanya heard me.
Kate heard me.
The Volturi guard heard me.
Their witnesses heard me.
Everyone did.
"You made a terrible mistake because you believed you were reporting an immortal child. You were wrong. Renesmee is alive. No immortal child was created."
Irina's lips trembled.
"There is nothing between you and my family that requires punishment."
Caius's fury surged.
{It is not his decision.}
Of course he thought that.
In Caius's world, no one outside the Volturi was permitted decisions.
I looked toward Tanya and Kate.
Then back at Irina.
"Go to your sisters."
Irina hesitated.
Then looked at Aro.
The field seemed to hold still.
Aro could order her to stay.
Volturi law could still punish false testimony.
But now every witness knew that the family supposedly harmed by her accusation had publicly forgiven her.
Renesmee stood unharmed.
No law had been broken by us.
If Aro killed Irina now, he might still call it law.
He could no longer convincingly call it justice.
Not here.
Not in front of this many witnesses.
Aro smiled.
"Of course."
Caius's head snapped toward him.
What?
Aro ignored him.
Irina moved.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
She passed Bella.
Passed Jacob.
Then crossed the field toward her sisters.
Tanya ran to meet her.
Kate was only a step behind.
The three of them came together.
Garrett stayed beside them, his attention fixed on the Volturi.
Aro watched the reunion.
His smile remained gentle.
His thoughts immediately moved on.
Alice.
His eyes found her again.
Still beside Jasper.
Still his greatest prize.
{Worth anything.}
All the travel.
All the witnesses.
All the inconvenience.
If this ended with Alice in Volterra, Aro would consider the entire affair worthwhile.
Jasper remained the obstacle.
Felix.
Demetri.
Aro mentally reinforced the instruction.
If battle started, Jasper needed to be removed quickly.
Alice must survive.
If she refused afterward?
Time.
Isolation.
A century.
Two.
Strip away Jasper.
Carlisle.
Every attachment that encouraged defiance.
Eventually she would submit.
Everyone did.
Benjamin came next.
Too powerful to remain outside Volturi control.
Bella.
Too useful.
Renesmee.
Harry.
Nancy.
Unique.
Possible gifts.
Possible bloodlines.
The wolves represented possibilities Aro had never considered.
Thomas remained something Aro could not properly understand.
And then Carlisle entered his thoughts.
Not Carlisle's gift.
Carlisle had none Aro desired.
His influence.
Aro looked beyond us.
Denali.
Amazon.
Egypt.
Ireland.
Nomads.
Hybrids.
Wolves.
Dozens of people standing together because Carlisle had asked.
No threats.
No executions.
No centuries of fear.
They had simply come.
Enough of them that the Volturi had been forced to stop.
Carlisle would never declare himself Aro's rival.
That did not mean others would not begin seeing him that way.
The accusation had failed.
Irina had confessed her mistake.
No immortal child existed.
There was no crime left to punish.
Aro still intended to destroy us.
Caius wanted us dead because we had dared question the Volturi.
Aro wanted us dead because Carlisle had built something he could not own.
Anything exceptional had only two acceptable places in Aro's world.
In his collection.
Or destroyed so no one else could possess it.
His smile turned toward Carlisle.
"My dear friend, I cannot express how relieved I am that the nature of the child has been clarified."
Carlisle relaxed slightly.
His relief was genuine.
He still believed the truth could end this.
Aro was already searching for the next excuse.
The wolves.
The hybrids.
Unknown powers.
Thomas.
Carlisle's influence.
It didn't matter which one he chose.
The justification was replaceable.
The decision was not.
Aro wanted my family destroyed.
Now I knew nothing we proved would change that.
I looked at Thomas.
He stood beside Carlisle.
Silent to me.
Silent to Aro.
Aro had taken everything I knew.
But Thomas had deliberately kept one part of our defense entirely inside his own head.
He noticed me staring.
Our eyes met.
I raised my hand.
Two fingers touched my left wrist.
Thomas saw it.