The Dark Princess 27

“How is she?”Jane asked as soon as Athenodora opened the door to her private quarters. Once finding out Bella was sick Jane had gathered up the guards and made it back to Italy as quickly as she could. She wanted to be by Bella’s side immediately but even threatening bodily harm to the pilot couldn’t make the plane go any faster.

“She isn’t any better but she isn’t any worse.”Athenodora said ignoring Jane’s improper greeting. The queen knew she was worried about Bella just like the rest of them.

“May I see her?”Jane asked.

Athenodora opened the door to let Jane in.”She is sleeping right now so you need to be quiet.”

“Of course your majesty.”Jane would have liked Bella awake but when she looked up how to cure the flu she had read that sleep was the best thing for Bella.

“We haven’t been able to hold her as she is experiencing cold sweats.”Athenodora had hated the fact that she hadn’t been able to cradle her daughter in her arms but Bella was chilled and a vampire’s body temperature would make it worse.

“I see.” Jane held back from rushing to Bella as she saw just how sick the human was. Bella’s body was shivering under a pile of blankets and her brown hair was plastered to her sweat covered face. It made Jane’s protective instincts kick into overdrive and if it weren’t for the fact that she would be attacked she would have grabbed Bella and taken her away from everyone to keep her safe while she was so vulnerable.

“She is going to be very upset you are here.”Caius said.

“Why? Does she not want me here?”Jane couldn’t imagine why Bella wouldn’t want her with her.

“She didn’t want you to drop everything to come and see her.I’m just giving you the warning so you know that she isn’t rejecting you.”Caius said.The last thing anyone needed was one of Bella’s mates feeling rejected.The repercussions of it would only cause problems and Bella was already feeling unwell.

“Of course I would drop everything.”Jane would have swum across the ocean from America to get to Bella if she had to.

“You know how she is. She doesn’t want people fussing over her.”Athenodora looked upon her daughter in worry. Bella wasn’t getting any better but at least her fever hadn’t gotten any worse. She just wished they could get Bella to keep some food down.”Tell us of your mission.”

“Did you bring her parents here?”Tanya asked. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Jane but she didn’t feel threatened with her being around Bella so figured that was a good start to working out their differences.

“They are in the dungeons with the Cullens.”Jane confirmed.She hadn’t been that happy when learning about Bella’s mate bond with Tanya but would try and keep the peace with the other blond for Bella’s sake.Jane wasn’t the one with the grudge so it wouldn’t be hard to be polite.

“How did you abduct them?”Caius asked.

“The mother was easy.She was basically homeless flitting from friend’s house to friend’s house.She also had no job so no-one will miss her.We simply waited until she stumbled out of a bar and grabbed her. She didn’t even put up a fight.”Jane had wished she had though so she would have an excuse to use her gift on the human.

“And the father?”Athenodora was happy the mother was unharmed as it would make torturing her that much sweeter because the woman wouldn’t have time to get used to the pain of previous injuries.

“He was trickier.Not only was he the chief of police but there were a group of wolf shifters that were protecting him.We had to not only worry about the humans catching on but the shifters as well.”It had been hard for Jane to not just eliminate the whole pack of dogs that thought they were better than vampires.”We tried not to bring ourselves to their attention because it would have made the task take longer.”

“Do you feel these shifters are an actual threat to us?” The kings had discussed the shifters after Aro had gotten the information from the Cullens and hadn’t decided what they wanted to do with them.Caius was of the opinion to just kill them but his brothers thought they should just monitor them.

Jane shook her head. “They are so out of touch with their wolves that it is almost insulting to consider them supernatural beings at all.I honestly think Bella in her human body could defeat them.”

“Aro read from Alice that although Bella knew them when she was child that she didn’t particularly like them.One of the boys made her very uncomfortable with his romantic intentions towards her and she tried to stay away from them.”Athenodora wasn’t surprised by the growling coming from both of Bella’s mates. It would have been concerning if they didn’t get upset at the idea of someone trying to claim their mate.

“I wish I had actually killed them now.”Jane said.

“Well if he made Bella uncomfortable maybe as a gift for turning, we will allow her to kill the boy and his pack.”Caius would bring it up to Bella when she felt better.

“I’ll happily go with her.”Tanya wasn’t keen on killing but if some disgusting shifter thought that he could have any claim to Bella then Tanya wouldn’t hesitate to rip out his spine.

“We both will.”Jane wouldn’t miss the chance to not only watch Bella in action but to kill anyone who made her mate uncomfortable.

“Speaking of turning.We need to discuss who will get the opportunity to change Bella.”Athenodora knew that it was ultimately Bella’s choice but she hoped that they could work out a solution for the girl.One that let her do it alone.

“I would like to be involved.”Tanya knew she was the odd man out because not only was she not a member of the Volturi but she hadn’t spent more than a couple hours with Bella.

“I think we would all like to be involved.”Caius wished he could just order Bella’s mates not to be a part of this but he didn’t want to upset his daughter.

“When we spoke about it before Tanya came into the picture Bella had decided that myself, my mate and Jane be the ones to do it.Now with the addition of Tanya I don’t know what she is going to want.”Athenodora was of the same thought as Caius, she wished she could keep the other two away from this but that wouldn’t be fair to Bella.

“Can she be safely turned by four vampires?”Jane asked. She was happy that it seemed Bella wanted her to be one of the people to change her.It was hard to know how the bond effected Bella so when Bella showed that she was thinking about Jane it made the small vampire feel more secure in their relationship.

“From what I have researched it would be perfectly safe.It might actually speed up the process because more venom would be injected into her system faster.”Caius said.

“So maybe it would be better for the four of us to each be involved.”Not only would Tanya want some of her venom in her mate’s body but if it could speed up the process then it would be more than worth it to have multiple people change Bella.

Athenodora didn’t like how this conversation was going.When she brought it up she wanted Bella’s mates to gracefully bow out of the situation but now her own mate had betrayed her and made it seem it was better for everyone to be part of it.She would have to voice her displeasure with him later when they were in private.Maybe she would take him to the training grounds to show him how she really felt.”Then it seems we agree that if Bella wants the four of us to do it then we will all volunteer.”

“Mom.”Bella mumbled sleepily from her pile of blankets.

Athenodora was at Bella’s side in an instant.”What do you need?”

“Bathroom.”Bella said.

“Alright.”Athenodora cradled Bella to her chest and swiftly carried to the bathroom making it just time for Bella to begin vomiting.She held Bella’s hair out of the way and rubbed the girl’s back.”It’s alright sweetheart let it out.”

“Is she alright?”Jane asked in concern from outside the bathroom door.She wanted to help but wasn’t sure what to do.

Tanya made her way over to the sink to wet a face cloth and put it on the back of Bella’s neck.“She has been doing this since yesterday. The doctor said don’t expect her to feel better right away.”

“Can you get her some water?”Athenodora asked.

“Of course.”Jane handed the queen a glass of water.”What can we do?”

“Just try and get her to get fluids down for now.She hasn’t been able to eat more than a few spoonfuls of soup.”Athenodora told her. Once Bella was finished with the water the queen flushed the toilet and picked Bella up and brought her to the sink where Tanya was already waiting with a toothbrush.

“Open.”Tanya almost smiled at the weak glare Bella sent her way.

“I can do it myself.”Bella grumbled.

Once Bella opened her mouth Tanya took the opportunity to put the toothbrush in it and began brushing Bella’s teeth.”I know you can but it makes all of us feel better to take care of you.”

Bella just grunted in reply and dutifully let Tanya brush her teeth.If she was honest with herself she didn’t have the energy to do by herself.She just hated that they had to take care of her. After rinsing out her mouth of the excess toothpaste Bella finally notice that Jane was there.”You didn’t have to come right away.”

“Of course I did.”Jane moved out the way for the queen to bring Bella back to bed.”You aren’t feeling well and I want to be here to help you.”

“All I’m doing is throwing up and sleeping. There isn’t really anything to help with.”Bella said.

Jane walked to Bella’s side and put her hand on the human’s forehead. She wasn’t happy with how hot it felt.”Well just in case there is I will be right here.”

“Your hand feels good.”Bella leaned into Jane’s touch liking the way it felt on her overheated skin.

“Do you want one of us to lay with you?Would it make you feel better?”Jane asked.

Bella nodded and lifted up the blankets for Jane to lay with her.”I missed you.”

“I missed you to.”Jane happily laid down next to Bella and held the girl carefully in her arms.

“Can you lay with me to?”Bella asked her mother.She was feeling needy and wanted her mom by her.

“Of course sweetheart.”Athenodora felt a bit smug that her daughter asked for her over not only her mate but Tanya as well.She understood Bella’s need to have Jane close as they had been apart for a few days and the queen was just glad that Bella wanted her attention as well.

“Do you think you can drink a little bit of water?”Tanya wanted to be the one who her mate turned to but knew that Bella didn’t really know her that well.It hurt but she wouldn’t complain.She would just make herself available to any kind of attention Bella was willing to give her.

“Yeah I think I can.”Bella said.

Tanya held the glass of water to Bella’s lips as Jane and Athenodora held her up.”There you go.”

Bella took a sip.”Thanks.”

“No problem.”Tanya told her.

“Why don’t you lay down and try to go back to sleep? When you wake up next time we will try to get you to eat some food.”Athenodora hoped that Bella would be able to finally keep some food down. It was worrying that she couldn’t and if it continued to the next day Athenodora was taking Bella back to the doctor.

“Ok.”Bella snuggled into Jane’s body and careful not to hurt her arm grabbed her mother’s arm and pulled it around her so that she was being cuddle on both sides.The vampire’s body making her overheated skin feel better.

“Comfy?”Jane asked with a smile.In reply Bella just sighed and closed her eyes.”She’s really tired isn’t she?”

“Yes and she will be like this for a few more days at the least.”Tanya said.

“All we can do is be there for when she needs us and make sure she is comfortable.”Athenodora told them. She frowned looking down at her daughter when Bella started snoring loudly. Although the human usually snored the queen knew that it was this excessive because of her snuffy nose.She truly hoped that Aro, Marcus and Eleazar found out something about Bella’s injury so they could finally turn her.Athenodora didn’t want to have to worry about Bella getting sick again.Once was enough.Until then the group of four vampires in the room with Bella would stand guard over their patient and happily cater to her every need.It was a mother job to make their child feel better after all.