My Own Worst Enemy 4

“Hello my darling girl.”Sulpicia greeted Bella when she walked into Bella’s workroom.When the queens took over from the kings they remodeled the castle adding a personal wing for themselves and one for Bella as well that included the workroom, entertainment room, private library,a bedroom with a large walk in closet and a bathroom with a sunken tub and steam shower.It was the least the queens could do for the girl after everything she did for them.Bella being in their lives had changed everything and not only Sulpicia but her mates loved Bella like their own daughter.She had cursed the universe more than once for bonding Bella with the Denali sisters instead of with the queens but Bella obviously loved them just as much as she loved her other mothers so that soothed some of Sulpicia’s irritation.

“Hello Cia.”Bella said.She took a minute to finish what she was in the middle of working on then turned her attention to the queen.”How are you this morning?”

“Morning?Bella it’s already night time.”Sulpicia told her.

“Is it?”Bella hadn’t even noticed so much time had passed.

“Yes and I’ve come to collect you so the other queens and myself can speak to you.”Sulpicia wasn’t looking forward to this talk but it had to be done.

Bella organized her work station then stood from her chair.“Have I done something wrong?”

“Not at all.Tanya called and asked us to pass on some information.”Sulpicia had always cherished the moments when she got to take a maternal role in Bella’s life but for this she would have preferred Bella’s other mothers dealt with it.

“Why didn’t she call me?”Bella would have thought if her mother had something important to tell her she would take care of it personally not pass it along to the queens.

“She felt that it would be better if you were told in person.”Sulpicia said.

Bella followed the queen down the hallway to the private living room she shared with her mates.”That sounds ominous.”

“What sounds ominous?”Didyme asked when Bella entered the room.

“Cia was telling me that my mother didn’t call me to tell what you wanted to talk to me about because she thought it was better to be said in person.”Bella told her as she leaned down and gave Didyme a hug and kiss on the cheek.

“When you put it like that it does sound ominous.”Athenodora agreed happily receiving her own hug and cheek kiss.

Sulpicia took a seat on the couch in between her mates.“Sit down and we will tell you everything.”

“I’m not sure if I should be excited or terrified about this conversation.”Bella said as she took her usual seat in the arm chair across from the couch.

“Maybe a little bit of both.”Didyme wasn’t sure how Bella would react to the news but hoped that the young vampire wouldn’t be to devastated when they told her.

“Alright well let’s skip the minor details and tell me what you think I will be upset about.”Bella wanted to rip off the bandaid and get to the main event.

Sulpicia sighed when both her mates looked to her to take the lead.”Your mothers recently found out that Rosalie Hale is your mate.”

“What?”Bella didn’t understand what Sulpicia meant.

“Apparently the Cullens decided to visit your family and when they got there Rosalie reacted strongly to your scent.After speaking to the her your mothers,Eleazar and Carmen have concluded that Rosalie is your mate.”Sulpicia wasn’t sure what to think about the blank expression Bella was sporting.

When minutes passed without Bella reacting Didyme became concerned.”Are you alright?”

“I’m sorry but you are trying to tell me that Rosalie Hale the person who constantly expressed her hatred for me is my mate.”Bella didn’t believe it for a second.

“Your family thinks so.”Sulpicia said.

“That doesn’t make sense.If Rosalie was my mate she would have known when I was human right?”Bella asked.

“Yes she would have.”Athenodora confirmed.

“Then why did she let me think that I was Edward’s?”That’s the part Bella couldn’t figure out.If she was Rosalie’s mate then why did all the Cullens go out of their way to make her believe she was Edward’s.

“That is something we will be asking them personally.”Didyme had the same question.It would have been obvious Bella wasn’t Edward’s mate.

“What should I do?”Bella didn’t know what was expected of her.

Seeing tears fill Bella’s eyes Sulpicia jumped up from her seat and pulled Bella into her arms.She held the girl tight as Bella sobbed.”It’s alright we will figure this out together.”

“If she knew why did she let all this happen to me?”Bella chocked out in between sobs.

Didyme stood as well and began rubbing Bella’s back to help calm her.”I don’t know but I promise that we will find out.”

“We were going to ask you what you wanted to do before we made any plans.”Athenodora had wanted to act right away but her mates wanted to wait to see what Bella wanted.

“I want answers.”Bella wanted to know why all this happened before she decided what to do.

“How would you like to get those answers?”Sulpicia asked.

“Can you do it?”Bella didn’t want to speak to the Cullens.

“Of course.”Athenodora was more than willing to interrogate the Cullens.She would take any chance she could get to beat on the coven.

“We will send a member of the guard with a summons to Italy.When they get here we will bring them to the throne room and question them.Do you want to be there?”Didyme wouldn’t force Bella to confront the Cullens but thought it would be good for Bella to face them with the support of the queens and her mothers.

Bella nodded.”I want to be able to ask them my own questions and would rather do it with a group of people there instead of one on one.”

“Then we will make sure your formal robes are cleaned and pressed so you can show them that you should be respected.”When the queens had come to power they had immediately crowned Bella the Volturi princess.It wasn’t often that Bella stepped into the role but Sulpicia thought if she had to face the Cullens then it would be the perfect time to show how far she had come.

Bella liked the idea of standing next to the thrones looking down on the Cullens.”Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank us.We would do anything for you.”Athenodora told her as she stood and laid a hand on Bella’s back.

“Now that we have a plan why don’t you go take a minute to put away whatever you were working on and then we can all watch a movie together.”Didyme suggested.

“I did want to watch that documentary on brain trauma.”Bella had been looking forward to sitting down and watching it but hadn’t gotten the chance yet.

Athenodora groaned.”Please anything but your educational programs.”

“What do you want watch then?”Bella asked.

“Probably 300.”Didyme guessed.

“That’s a wonderful idea.”Athenodora said.

“That movie isn’t even historically accurate.”Bella had this same argument with Athenodora every time the movie was brought up.

“The battle scene is epic though.”Athenodora didn’t care if it wasn’t based on real life it was a good movie.

“Go clean up your work station and meet us in the movie room.”Sulpicia told Bella breaking up the fight that would go on for hours if it wasn’t stopped.

“I’ll be quick.”Bella didn’t have that much to put away.

Sulpicia sighed when Bella raced out of the room.She waited until Bella wasn’t in hearing distance before speaking.”What do you think is going to happen?”

“I think that the Cullens have committed a crime and it can not go unpunished.”Athenodora couldn’t wait to be able to dole out those punishments.

“How do we handle Rosalie though?She was obviously in the wrong but we can’t really do much to her because she is Bella’s mate.”Didyme said.

“I think Bella will inflict her own punishment.We won’t need to step in.”Sulpicia predicted that Bella wouldn’t be very kind to Rosalie and it would take a long time for her to be forgiven.

“True it will probably take years for her to begin to get over Rosalie’s betrayal.”Athenodora knew that Rosalie would have to earn Bella’s forgiveness.Bella wouldn’t just give it to her.Not after everything Bella went through.

“It’s to bad we can’t do anything.Knowing that if Rosalie had stepped up it could have prevented so many things that Bella had go through really makes me angry.I mean just the fact that she didn’t stick around to protect Bella from the red head.If it weren’t for the Denali Bella would have been killed.”Didyme couldn’t believe how cold hearted Rosalie was to leave Bella unprotected against such a serious threat.

“The nomad had lost her mate she wouldn’t have just killed Bella.She would have tortured her and then killed her.”Athenodora had no doubt that Bella would have gone through a fate worse than death if the red head hadn’t been killed by the Denali.

“The only positive that came out all this was that Bella was brought to the castle.”Sulpicia said.

“Even though we gained our freedom I still wish Bella didn’t have to go through everything she went through.”Didyme would be forever grateful that Bella saved them from their false mate bonds but didn’t think the pain and heart ache Bella had to go through was a fair trade.

“She came out stronger for it.”Sulpicia wished the same thing her mate did.Bella was such a good person she didn’t deserve the hand life dealt her when she was human.

“I just hope this new situation with the Cullens doesn’t break her.”Athenodora knew that there was no way to keep Bella safe from the emotions that would come when she faced the Cullens.The queens and the Denali could offer their unconditional love and support but this would be something Bella had to get through on her own.

“I think that facing them in the throne room will do wonders for her self esteem.It will be her way of reclaiming the power they had over her.We all know that she still second guesses herself because of the way they treated her.Even if she doesn’t realize it.”Didyme had seen the way that Bella sometimes fell back into the way she was when she was human.The girl became unsure and didn’t trust her own judgement.It broke not only Didyme’s and her mate’s hearts but her mothers as well when that happened and it was only through a lot of reassurance that Bella was able to break out of that mindset.

“I want to punch Esme in the face for the way she treated Bella.”Athenodora would love the chance to show the Cullen matriarch her displeasure.Esme had shown Bella what it was like to have a real mother in her life and then left Bella without even saying goodbye.It had made it hard to bond with the young vampire when they first met and Athenodora hated Esme with a passion because of it.

“You may get the chance.”Sulpicia was looking forward to the meeting.If they were lucky this would be the very thing that gave them justification to kill the Cullens.Of course they would have to be careful not to upset Rosalie to badly.Bella may be angry at the blond but they were still mates and once Bella made eye contact with her she would feel the bond.That would make Bella care about Rosalie and would prevent the queens from doing to much to the Cullens.It didn’t mean there would be no punishment however.

“And to get that chance you need to write them a summons.”Didyme said.

“I’ll do that while you go set up the movie.By the time you agree on something I should be done.”There was always an argument about what they picked to watch so Sulpicia would be able to write the letter and send the guard before the movie started.

“I thought we already agreed on 300?”Athenodora was sure that was what was decided.

“No you agreed on 300.”Didyme told her.

“Well then I need to beat Bella to the tv remote before she can pick some boring documentary.”Athenodora didn’t want to be stuck learning when she wanted to relax.Thinking about it she raced out of the room hoping to beat Bella.

”I think I may side with Bella just to upset her.”Didyme loved it when Athenodora got riled up.There was nothing more attractive than an angry Athenodora and Didyme was constantly pushing the other queen’s buttons to get a reaction out of her.

“If she get’s there first she isn’t going to relinquish the remote.”Sulpicia warned.

“I’ll just have to use my power of persuasion to convince her to.”Didyme said.

“You go do that.”Sulpicia knew very well how good Didyme was at persuading her mates.Sulpicia was just as helpless as Athenodora when Didyme used her charm to get them to do things.It was probably because the queen usually promised sexual favors but either way it made her mates unable to say no to her.

“I will.”Didyme gave Sulpicia a soft kiss.”Don’t take too long.”

“I won’t.”Sulpicia promised.As she watched Didyme leave the room Sulpicia sighed.She hated that they had to deal with the Cullens.It was the queens’ turn with Bella and Sulpicia was upset that it was being interrupted.If it wasn’t for the bond Bella had with the Denali the queens would insist that Bella live at the castle with them.Not only was the girl a valuable member of the Volturi the queens loved her as they would their own child.It made them worry every time Bella left the castle that something would happen to her.Bella of course could take care of herself and the Denali were formidable in their own right but Sulpicia and her mates would prefer to keep Bella with them where they could protect her.Sulpicia hated that there was nothing any of them could do to protect Bella from the hurt dealing with the Cullens was going to bring.Not even being a queen could stop Bella’s pain.It made Sulpicia feel helpless and that was a feeling the queen disliked immensely. She knew what it was like to be helpless and Bella saved her from that situation.It was just to bad Sulpicia couldn’t return the favor.