The Dark Princess 22

“Woah, that’s a lot of guards.” Kate said as she and her sisters with the Cullens were led through the royal wing by the guards protecting the Cullens. They had stopped in front of a door that was guarded by eight royal guards stationed in front of and across from the door. Although usually fearless Kate was becoming a little worried about what was going to happen. That worry turned into dread when the door opened and revealed Queen Athenodora on the other side glaring at them.

“Hello your majesty.” Alice wasn’t surprised that the queen was the one to greet them. She did wonder if Athenodora would leave them alone with Bella though.

“Hmm.” Athenodora wasn’t happy that Bella agreed to meet with not only the Cullens but the Denali sisters as well. She wanted her daughter to have her friends around her but seven vampires were a bit more than she was comfortable having around Bella. Aside from the guards of course. The queen had seen the way the guards treated her daughter and had no doubt that they would give their lives to save the princess without even having to think about it.

“We were hoping to see Bella.” Rosalie spoke after the silence became awkward.

“Yes, well I will allow that but for only a couple hours because Bella had a visit from the doctor and is in pain. She took her medication but I would like her to take a nap eventually.” Athenodora would have liked Bella to nap right away but when she inquired Bella said that her arm hurt to much and she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

“Is Bella going to be ok?” Alice asked. They hadn’t really been told much about Bella’s treatment and Alice had been worried.

Athenodora didn’t like admitting Bella was vulnerable but knew that Bella would tell her friends what was going on anyway. “Today she met with the surgeon. We have decided to wait until Jane is back from her mission to go through with it however because as Bella’s mate it is only fair to have her close.”

“Did they say how long it would take her to recover?” Rosalie asked.

“It all depends on how much they can repair and if they have to use something to hold the bones in place.” Athenodora told them.

“If she has to have foreign material to help her heal how will that effect her when she is turned?” Alice didn’t think it would be good for a vampire to have anything other than flesh and bone in their body when they were turned.

“We aren’t sure. Aro and Marcus have enlisted help in researching to find out if this has happened before so hopefully they will find something and we will have a better understanding of what will happen.” Athenodora was only telling the group this many details because she knew that they cared about Bella. Well she knew the Cullens cared about Bella and the queen knew if one of them had been hurt Bella would want to know all about it. “With that said Bella is waiting in the sitting room.”

“Thank you, your majesty.” Alice said as the queen moved aside to let them in.

“I am going to go attend to some things but the guards will be with in hearing distance and will be able to react quickly if something happens.” Athenodora told them.

Even though her tone was conversational Rosalie could easily pick up on the threat.“We will be on our best behavior.”

“See that you are.” What Athenodora wasn’t saying was she was going to be within hearing distance as well. While she wasn’t going to make the guards be in the room with the group the door would be opened a crack so that she could hear what was going on better. Bella may have trusted the vampires but when it came to her daughter’s safety she was much more cautious.

“Hey Bella.” Alice said as she saw Bella sitting on one of the room’s couches looking at a cell phone. “Did you get a cell phone finally?”

“Hey Alice. Yeah my parents wanted me to have a way to call them if I needed help. Although I’m pretty sure it is more for them to be able to contact me no matter where I am.” Bella told her.

“You’re probably right.” Rosalie agreed as she walked up to Bella and gave her a gentle hug.” How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling some pain but I took medication so it’s dulling somewhat. Other than that I’m feeling pretty good. I miss Jane but when we talked earlier she said she would be back in a couple days so that’s good.” Bella said as she looked around at the others. “Are these the famous Denali sisters that Carmen and Eleazar told me about?”

“Hi I’m Kate.” Kate eagerly walked up to the human to shake her hand. She held off from shocking her but it was hard.

Irina quickly moved to take Kate away from Bella introducing herself as well. “I’m Irina.”

“Hi I’m….” Tanya began only to stop when she finally got a look at the human’s eyes. She had planned on introducing herself to the girl and then trying to figure out a way to become friendly with her but as soon as she had seen those brown eyes all those thoughts took a back burner because as Tanya felt her entire world tilt on it’s axis she realized something very important. Bella was her mate.

“Tanya are you ok?” Irina quickly moved to her sister’s side as she saw her frozen in place. As she moved to touch Tanya she found herself pushed to the side as Tanya made her way to the human.

“Tanya what are you doing?” Rosalie exclaimed as she put herself between Tanya and Bella. When Tanya growled and moved to push her out of the way as well Emmett and Jasper moved to restrain the coven leader only for Tanya to fight them off. Before anything could happen further Tanya found herself thrown to the ground by a group of guards that had stormed into the room followed by Queen Athenodora.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” Athenodora’s voice thundered through the room. As soon as she heard the growling coming from the room and the guards responding she raced down the hallway to get to her daughter. Grabbing the blond vampire’s head and forcing her to make eye contact the queen growled. “How dare you try and attack my daughter.”

“Mother. She wasn’t trying to attack me.” Bella said as she looked at the scene before her. She should have been shocked at how quickly the guards and her mother responded but she wasn’t. She actually expected her mother to be the first one in the room.

“What do you mean Bella? She was growling at you and fighting with the others to get to you.” Athenodora said not taking her eyes off of the vampire she was holding. She didn’t like the way the vampire was still growling and struggling.

“Let me talk to her.” Bella had a feeling that she knew what had just happened and if she was right then she needed to deescalate the situation before it got even more out of hand.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Rosalie wasn’t sure what was going on with Tanya but Bella being near her wasn’t a good idea.

“I’ll stand behind you mother. I just need to be able to look her in the eye.” Bella said.

“I think that may be a good idea.” Jasper was trying hard to calm Tanya down and as she did he found that she was feeling familiar emotions he had personally felt before.”If anyone is going to calm her down its Bella.”

“Fine but you stand behind me.” Athenodora didn’t approve of Bella being close to the blond but had enough faith in her own ability to keep her daughter safe to allow it.

“Thank you.” Bella moved to stand near her mother smiling when the vampire crouched in front of her. That move of course caused Tanya to growl and fight harder so Bella knew she had to act fast. Looking Tanya in the eye she spoke. “Tanya, I’m alright. No-one here can harm me. Especially with you here to protect me. I need you to calm down so they will let you go and we can spend time together.”

“What does she mean?” Kate asked. “Why would Tanya be trying to protect her?”

Realization dawned on Rosalie. “Bella is Tanya’s mate. The fact that Bella is obviously hurt and the newness of the bond was what made Tanya attack us.”

“She’s what?!” Athenodora demanded.

“It’s true.” Jasper confirmed. “As she is calming down I’m feeling her emotions clearer and it’s the emotions of a newly mated vampire.”

Bella didn’t pay attention to the rest of the room only focusing on the golden eyes in front of her. “Tanya I really need you to come back to me. I don’t want anyone to hurt you. Please calm down and clear your head.”

Tanya focused on the voice and girl in front of her and felt her mind clearing of the thoughts of having to kill anyone who got close to the girl. As her consciousness started coming back to her she felt embarrassed at the way she acted. She was over a thousand years old and when she found her mate instead of acting her age she was little more than a newborn fighting for a meal. Feeling the waves of calm that she had no doubt came from Jasper she took a deep breath and spoke. “I am myself again.”

“Thank god.” Kate mumbled. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen to Tanya now but at least she wasn’t trying to fight one of the queens. That would have ended poorly. Not just for Tanya either, the whole coven would be punished.

“You can release her now.” Bella told the guards who looked from her to her mother. “Mother she won’t hurt anyone.”

Athenodora was torn. On one hand she knew that Tanya wouldn’t hurt anyone else, on the other she wanted to punish the vampire for how she acted. Also finding out that Bella had yet another bond mate was distressing. She already had to share Bella with her own mate and Jane now she would have to share her with another person. That made Athenodora want to punish Tanya just so that she could keep her away from her daughter. “Let her go.”

“Thank you mother.” Bella stood on her tiptoes and kissed the queen on the cheek.

“You are welcome sweetheart.” Athenodora took the opportunity to wrap her arm around Bella’s shoulders and lightly pulled her close to her body. Not only did she like having her daughter close but she wanted to make sure Bella carried her scent. That way that even though Tanya was her mate the blond knew that Bella belonged to the queen as well.

“May I ask permission to get to be near Bella?” Tanya knew she was in no position to demand anything even though she wished she could just take Bella away from everyone to get to know her better.

Bella looked to Athenodora causing the queen to hold back a smile. She liked that not only did Bella’s new mate go to her to seek permission to spend time with Bella but Bella looked to her as well. She knew if she wanted to Bella would respect her mother’s choice to keep the two apart but Athenodora didn’t want to be mean. Even though Bella already had a mate Tanya didn't and finding a mate was something that should be celebrated. “Now that the air is clear I have no problem with you spending time together. I however will remind you that I want Bella to take a nap soon so keep it short.”

“Thank you your majesty.” Tanya bowed her head. She looked to Bella and asked. “Would you object to spending time with me?”

“Of course not.” Bella smiled.

Tanya smiled back feeling relieved. “Thank you Bella.”

“After the commotion I think it best if we leave two guards in the room with you. You may be calm now but something may set you off and I don’t want Bella to be in the line of danger.” Athenodora motioned to the two guards she knew were the fastest. “You two stay close to the princess.”

“No harm will come to the Volturi Princess while we are near your majesty.” Both guards bowed and flanked Bella.

“Now then,I am going to go talk to your father. I’m sure he has heard by now that something has happened and I don’t want him rushing in here and killing everyone before he finds out what went wrong.” Athenodora had no doubt that Caius would kill everyone in the room except Bella and then ask what happened. Her mate was one of the most feared vampires that ever lived but when it came to anyone harming Bella his previous actions made him seem like a pussy cat. Athenodora had no doubt he would even kill their brothers and sisters if they spoke down to the princess.

Bella gave her mother one last hug. “If he can’t make it for dinner can you ask him to come to breakfast?”

“I’m sure he will find the time to see you before you go to bed for the night.” Athenodora knew Caius would be more than pleased that Bella had asked for his company. She had seen her mate’s worries and no matter what she or even Bella said or did Caius was still worried that she would reject them. Only once Bella was turned and the bond was fully in place would he relax. “I’ll leave you be then. If you want to you can call me and text me now that you have your new phone. I won’t be that far away though so if it’s an emergency just call out and I will be here as fast as I can.”

“Of course mother.” Bella said.

“Be good.” Athenodora told her as she sent a glare at the rest of the occupants in the room except for the guards. She relished in the way they all flinched or looked away from her. Athenodora knew it was better to be feared than liked. People were less likely to cross someone they feared. Sighing as she made her way down the hallway Athenodora tried to figure out what to tell her mate. She knew he wasn’t going to be happy about the new mate bond. She knew she wasn’t but the queen also knew that neither of them would deny Bella the chance to get close to the vegetarian vampire. She did have to wonder how Jane would react to the news though. If Athenodora was this unhappy with the new bond she had to guess that Jane would be even more upset than she was.