The Hidden Princess 22

“Alright now that everyone is here would you please tell us what you found out?”Athenodora asked Sulpicia. She, her mates, Bella and Rosalie were all gathered in the family room to discuss what was going on with the children of the moon. Athenodora was annoyed with the whole situation because not only did it mean everyone was in danger but it interrupted her private time with her mates. Usually when Athenodora got a chance to torture a prisoner she and her mates sequestered themselves for at least three days. This time because of the seriousness of the situation they only spend 4 hours alone. Athenodora hadn’t been even close to finished and was now not only annoyed but sexually frustrated.

“First off Esme like we suspected was just as involved as the other two.”Sulpicia told her.

“Esme was involved?”Rosalie was very surprised to hear that.

“We have always thought Esme was a lot smarter than she let on. I dare say she was smarter than Carlisle and Edward because she covered her tracks better.”Didyme had never bought Esme’s meek housewife persona.

“I never even noticed anything off about Esme.”Rosalie tried to think of any instances that she questioned Esme’s motives but could find none.

“That just proves how good of an actress she is.”Sulpicia said.

“I wonder how much of her relationship with all of us was just an act.”Rosalie felt somewhat hurt knowing that Esme was living a double life. Rosalie questioned if any of their interactions were ever real at all.

Bella took Rosalie’s hand in her own and gave it a squeeze.”I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”Rosalie didn’t blame anyone but Esme for her actions.

“Back to what they were planning. What was the grand scheme over all?”Athenodora asked.

“Carlisle and Edward were not the masterminds.”Sulpicia told them.

“That is not surprising to hear.”Didyme never for one second believed that Carlisle and Edward were in charge.

“Who is then?”Bella knew that Carlisle and Edward weren’t smart enough to come up with the plan.

“They are working for the Romanians.”Sulpicia was quick to restrain Athenodora when her mate jumped up from the couch.

“Let me go so I can kill them!!”Athenodora was going to make their deaths slow and painful.

“My love if you go rushing off you will get yourself killed and I will not allow that. Now sit down so I can you all the information and we can make a plan.”Sulpicia was just as angry as Athenodora but knew they needed to make a plan.

“Mom’s right Mother. If we go off without knowing everything most of the people involved will get away.”Bella wanted to go after the former kings as well but didn’t want to miss out on getting everyone involved.

Athenodora sagged in Sulpicia’s arms.”That is true. However I am going to be the one who ends those two.”

“That is fine.”Didyme would happily watch Athenodora torture and kill the former kings.

“Now then let’s sit back down and I can tell you everything else I learned.”Sulpicia pulled Athenodora down to sit next to her on the couch.

“How did the Romanians get involved with the children of the moon?”Bella asked once her mothers were settled.

“That was something Carlisle didn’t know. He was pretty much kept in the dark about everything other than the medical aspect of the plan and even for that they only let him look over records. He never actually interacted with the children of the moon.”Sulpicia told them.

“What was his role if he wasn’t exposed to the werewolves?”Rosalie asked.

“I saw in both Carlisle and Edward’s minds many instances of them asking for a larger role in the plan but were denied by their handlers. They had only spoken to the kings twice and I honestly believe that Carlisle was asked as a last resort because they had failed in actually getting one of the children of the moon pregnant.”Sulpicia had seen how frustrated Carlisle and Edward had been with the lack of authority they were given.

“I bet they were planning on killing the kings and taking control of the whole operation.”Bella could easily see Carlisle and Edward plotting against their allies.

“It was Esme who was the one encouraging them to kill the kings.”Sulpicia told her.

“That’s just more proof that Esme was just as involved as the other two.”Didyme said.

“Another thing of note was that Edward was trying to get them to use his own sperm for the experiments. His reasoning being that not only was he the perfect physical specimen but with his gift his genes would make the perfect hybrids. He was very angry when they denied his request.”Sulpicia thought the fact that Edward had a gift being beneficial and figured it was a personal issue that kept them from using Edward.

“They probably refused to use Edward because of how insufferable he is.”Bella quickly corrected herself.”I mean was.”

Rosalie smiled thinking about Edward’s death.”I am so happy he is dead.”

“What did you family say about the trio’s death?”Didyme asked.

Bella looked away from her mothers.“We didn’t have the chance to tell them yet.”

“You had hours after their deaths. What were you doing that whole time?”Athenodora had a feeling she knew exactly what the pair were up to and she was going to make them admit it.

“We… well.. It’s just.. being able to.”Bella stuttered out.

“Isabella are you stuttering?”Sulpicia was highly amused as she had never seen her daughter so flustered before.

“Is that a blush I see?”Athenodora laughed when Bella’s hand went to her face.

“Leave the poor girl alone you two. What she and her mate were doing is not only perfectly natural but none of our business and I’m not going to let you two tease her about it.”Didyme may not be happy about Bella being mated but she wasn’t going to let her mates make Bella uncomfortable.

“Its she doesn’t want to be teased then she shouldn’t give us so much material.”Athenodora wasn’t going to stop teasing Bella and Rosalie no matter what Didyme said. It was a parent’s duty to embarrass their child in front of their significant other.

“So what else did you learn from Carlisle, Edward and Esme?”Rosalie asked changing the subject. She was just as flustered as Bella but was better hiding it.

Sulpicia smiled at Rosalie’s obvious attempt to get the attention off of her and Bella. She would allow it because they did have important things to speak about.”I found out some names of vampires that will be needed to be arrested and brought to the castle to be questioned.”

“That sounds like I’m going to be able to have some fun in the future.”Athenodora was looking forward to torturing some traitors.

“Can I help?”Bella didn’t want to be left out of the fun.

“Of course sweetheart. As a matter of fact you can be in charge of the questioning.”Didyme told her.

”Isabella doesn’t need to be in charge of the questioning.”Sulpicia said.

“She needs to learn how to properly interrogate someone.”Didyme wanted Bella to learn the skills to be a better leader.

Athenodora rolled her eyes.”We have been over this before. Isabella already knows how to interrogate someone. She is better at it than any of us. As was proof with what she did to Esme. Carlisle would have broken far sooner if Isabella continued to torture the woman.”

“Rosalie hasn’t learned.”Bella said.

“Does Rosalie actually want to learn?”Sulpicia wouldn’t expect someone Carlisle sired to want to be involved in torturing people. Then again she did kill Carlisle and helped with Esme.

“I would love to learn.”Rosalie wanted to know how to get answers out of someone so that if she was needed to in the future she could. That and she wanted to prove that she was a good match for Bella. Rosalie knew that she would never be Bella’s equal when it came to fighting but she wanted to do all she could to lessen the distance by learning other things.

“Then it’s settled. Isabella and Rosalie will be in charge of the questioning.”Didyme was pleased that Rosalie was willing to get her hands dirty. It wouldn’t do for Bella’s mate to be a wilting flower.

“We need to capture the traitors before we worry about questioning them.”Sulpicia reminded everyone.

“Who exactly are we after?”Athenodora asked.

“Carlisle was being truthful when he said that Amun and his coven as involved. The others he interacted with were mostly nomads that were acting as errand boys for the Romanians. The trio only actually met with five in person at one point or another. One thing of note though is that the Amazons were brought up a couple times. As were the Denali.”Sulpicia told them.

“I can somewhat understand the Denali as the public thinks they hate us but the Amazons?”Didyme was very surprised to hear that.

“From what I understand is they wanted Carlisle to speak to them because he is friendly with them. I’m not sure what they wanted with them.”Sulpicia was confused by them approaching the Amazon because they were not known to mix well with other covens.

“I think they probably wanted to recruit the Amazons because of how old they and all the knowledge they have. I mean think about it. If you were trying to do something concerning children of the moon wouldn’t you want to talk to someone who had experience with them.”Bella said.

“That’s a good point. The Amazons are well known for their research on the supernatural. The may only search out the knowledge to keep themselves safe but they still are experts on many subjects.”Athenodora and the other queens sent Jane and Alec to visit the sisters every few decades to not only ask them questions but to keep up their positive relationship with the trio. They were some of the few vampires that enjoyed Jane and Alec’s company and the twins liked them just as much. Athenodora doubted that they would work with Romanians.”Maybe we should send the twins to pay them a visit to not only see if they had been visited by anyone but to make sure they are safe.”

“It’s not like they would ever be beaten in a fight but it would be good to check in on them.”Sulpicia wasn’t worried about the Amazons being harmed. They were talented fighters and one of them equaled at least a dozen gifted guard members. Especially with Zafrina’s gift. Sulpicia was positive that Bella was the only one who could actually subdue them and that was only because of her gift.

“Maybe they will finally visit the castle.”Bella had always wanted to meet the Amazons. They exchanged letters as the trio was very curious about Bella’s origins and Bella was curious about how they lived. It sounded like heaven to Bella to be able to live without having to be surrounded by so many people. Not that she would want to move out of the castle it just got to be too much for Bella sometimes as she had been very isolated for the first couple decades after her turning. Margret only let her interacted with a few vampires at a time. Unlike the castle where there was always someone there.

“That would be nice.”Didyme agreed. She like Bella exchanged letters with the trio and thought of them as friends.

“What were their plans for the Denali?”Athenodora asked.

“They wanted Eleazar not only for his gift but they wanted him to use his relationship with us to get him to research the archives.”Sulpicia told her.

“How were they going to convince him to do that when it is believed that he and rest of the Denali are strict on following laws because they fear you will kill them?”Bella couldn’t see how they would get the Denali to side with them.

“They were going to entice them by promising them that they would be allowed to be the ones to kill us.”Sulpicia explained.

”They think the Denali would be able to kill us?!”Athenodora laughed at the very idea.

“With Bella on your side no one is going to be able to even get access to you let alone kill you.”Rosalie wasn’t worried about the queens safety as Bella wouldn’t let anything happen to them.

“Isabella on our side is something that we need to discuss as well.”Sulpicia wasn’t looking froward to the reaction from the others when she told them her plan.

“What about Isabella?”Didyme asked.

“Isabella will have to be involved with the guard when they go on missions to find and capture the enemy.”Sulpicia flinched when everyone but Bella growled and hissed at her.

“Absolutely not!!”Didyme wasn’t going to allow Bella to be put in danger.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”Athenodora didn’t want Bella getting hurt.

“That’s not safe.”Rosalie wouldn’t let Bella go off without her.

Sulpicia gave everyone a moment to get out their objections before speaking.”I myself don’t like it either but we are dealing with Children of the moon and Bella is the only that can fight against them safely. I don’t have to remind you what happened during the last war. We may have won but it was at a large cost.”

“I don’t want Isabella involved in this.”Didyme didn’t care how helpful Bella would be she wasn’t going to allow her daughter to be involved.

Athenodora took a deep breath to calm herself before actually thinking about what Sulpicia was saying.”It makes me sick to even say this but Sulpicia is right. Isabella is the only way we have of beating them this time as most of those who were instrumental in defeating them the first time have long since past and this generation have no experience with children of the moon.”

“We can train them.”Didyme said.

“My love, Isabella can handle this. Plus she won’t be alone. We will be sending the elite guard with her on every mission.”Sulpicia hated the fact that they had rely on Bella but it was the only option.

“I’m willing to do it.”Bella would happily fight on the front lines.

“Bella I really don’t want you to.”Rosalie may have been confident in Bella’s fighting abilities but she didn’t want to chance Bella getting hurt or worse killed.

Bella wrapped her arm around Rosalie and held her close to her side.”Don’t you see there is no other choice. I am the only one that can keep you all safe.”

“I don’t want to going without me.”Rosalie said.

“I’m sorry but they’re no way you can come. Not only are you not trained but if you were there I would be distracted and probably get hurt trying to protect you.”Bella told her.

Rosalie snuggled into Bella side trying to hold back from sobbing. She hated that she was so weak and that her mate was going to have to do this on her own.”I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t lose me because I won’t be careless. Also I doubt anything the Romanians throw at me is worse than what I went through during my time with Margret. Plus I have fought and killed armies of hostile shifters before. I don’t think children of the moon will be that hard.”Bella had fought many battles for Margret before the Volturi had come for them. The woman started fights just to get practice to make sure they were ready to kill her rival. Bella had actually been surprised that the queens hadn’t come for them a lot sooner than they did.

“Don’t get cocky. If you are it will get you killed.”Athenodora warned.

“I won’t mother.”Bella knew she wasn’t invincible and wouldn’t be overconfident.

“Why don’t you two go spend some time together while me and your other mothers start working out a plan.”Sulpicia could see that Didyme was becoming increasingly upset and wanted Bella and Rosalie out of the room before the queen started screaming and possibly saying things she didn’t mean.

“I think that is a good idea.”Rosalie wanted some time to talk to Bella and try to convince her not to go on missions.

Bella stood form her seat and gave each of her mothers a hug and a kiss on the cheek.”We will likely be in our rooms working on things if you need us.”

“Make sure you tell Giana if you need help with ordering anything.”Sulpicia said.

“We will.”Bella held out her hand for a willing Rosalie to take.”See you later.”

“Bye.”Rosalie called over her shoulder as she followed Bella out of the room.

“Alright now you can tell me why in god’s name you think it’s a good idea to send out daughter to her death?!”Didyme growled.

Sulpicia gulped looking in the now black eyes of her mate. She knew this was going to cause some upset but had hoped that there would be no violence. From the anger rolling off Didyme in waves Sulpicia wished that she had this conversation with the queen in the training room. They were still trying to repair the damage Didyme had done after her fight with Bella about living in the castle and Sulpicia didn’t want to have to repair their family room as well. She was know regretting sending Bella away. Their daughter would probably be the only one to calm her mate down. Sulpicia quickly dismissed that thought. She didn’t want Bella to hear and witness her mothers fighting. Harsh words were usually exchanged and Sulpicia didn’t want to cause Bella any upset. Something that would happen if she heard the vile words that were said in their arguments sometimes. Sighing Sulpicia squared her shoulders and faced her mate. The fate of the world was in her hands because it was up to her to convince Didyme that Bella was the only one who could save it. That wasn’t going to be easy especially with Didyme in protective momma bear mode.