The Dark Princess 21

“I’ll get it.” Alice said as the group heard a knock on the door. She along with her siblings and the Denali sisters had been spending time in the Cullen’s sitting room waiting for Carmen and Eleazar to show up. They hadn’t been that worried but as night turned into morning and the mated pair hadn’t shown up they were all slightly on edge. Opening the door Alice smiled seeing it was the couple they had been waiting for.” Hi Carmen, Eleazar come on in.”

“Thank you, it’s good see you are well after all that’s happened.” Eleazar said as he and Carmen made their way into the room.

“You know what happened?” Emmett asked.

Camren took a seat on the love seat next to her mate. “Yes Aro told us everything.”

“You have been with Aro this whole time then?” Tanya had been wondering where her coven mates had been because usually they didn’t spend so long with the kings.

Eleazar nodded. “Yes we spoke of what happened before we were taken to meet Bella. After our visit myself, Aro and Marcus spent time in the library researching gifted vampires.”

“I was spending time with Didmye in her gardens.” Camren had always loved the gardens in and around the castle and every time she came she happily spent time with Didyme who was all to happy to have someone appreciate her flowers.

“So you met Bella?” Seeing the pair nod Kate asked. “What was she like?”

“She is a delightful girl.” Carmen said.

“Yes, she was and very polite.” Eleazar had been very taken with the young princess and knew that his mate had been as well.

“How did the royals act around her?” Tanya had been curious of how the royals were when in the girl’s company. Especially after what was told to them how the queens acted while shopping with Alice and Rosalie.

“I have never seen so many smiles and felt so much happiness coming from the group in all my years knowing them. Athenodora was a totally different person and Cauis doted on the human making sure she had everything she needed.” Eleazar said. “Why he even offered to help her with her clothing when she needed to go to the bathroom.”

“Cauis offered to help a human go to the bathroom?” Irina didn’t believe that for a second. The king hated humans more than almost every occupant of the castle.

Carmen nodded. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it as well. Why even Jane was pleasant and I even heard her laugh a couple times.”

“Jane laughing?” Kate was sure that Carmen and Eleazar were mistaken. “Are you two on drugs?”

“No, we aren’t on drugs.” Eleazar denied. “It’s what happened.”

“I told you guys.Bella has that effect on people. You can’t help but be happy and relaxed around her.” Alice said.

“Is it some kind of gift?” Tanya asked.

Eleazar shook his head. “No it isn’t a gift. I honestly think it’s just because of how sincere and nice the human is. I don’t know exactly how to explain it.I know she has a rough background but she is just so, I think the word I would use is pure. She is just a pure soul.”

“I feel the same way.” Jasper agreed. “Even with my difficulties around humans I enjoy my time being around Bella. Her emotions are unpolluted and like you said pure. She doesn’t hold back what she is feeling and isn’t afraid to express her emotions.”

“I really want to meet this human now.” Irina said.

“I do as well.” Tanya wanted to meet anyone who could make Jane laugh.

“What about her gift? Did you find out what it was?”Alice wanted to know exactly how Bella could block her own gift and hopefully she would be able to help Bella train hers.

“Bella is a shield. A rather powerful shield and both mental and physical.” Eleazar told them.

“A shield of course.” Alice couldn’t believe she didn’t think of it. “That’s why she can block Edward’s gift. It must be getting stronger if she can somewhat block my own.”

“She doesn’t have control of it as of yet and we are trying to figure out a way to get her some proper training. Unfortunately none of us knows a vampire that has a gift that works like hers to help her.” Eleazar said.

“Maybe I could try and shock her to see if it will help her activate it.” Kate wound’t mind a chance to use her gift on a shield. She had never been around one before.

“While that probably is a good idea I like having you as a cousin and I have no doubt that you would be killed if you were actually able to hurt Bella.” Of that Alice had no doubt. “I’m not just talking about Jane and the royals coming after you either. The guard is already lining up to dole out punishment to Edward.”

“I agree with Alice. Let’s not provoke the princess or her bond mates.” Tanya would have to watch Kate closely if they did meet Bella. Kate liked to push people’s buttons and it wouldn’t be out of character for her to try with someone new.

Before Kate could protest there was another knock on the door. Alice once again stood to answer it finding a guard holding an envelope standing on the other side. “Yes, Can I help you?”

“Queen Athenodora has asked that I give this envelope to Alice Cullen.” The vampire said holding out the envelope.

“I’m Alice Cullen.” Alice reached her hand out and took the envelope.

“Here you are ma’am. The queen expects a written response. There is writing material in the desk.” With that the man bowed and shut the door behind him.

“What was that about?” Irina asked.

“I don’t know.” Alice said. “It seems the Queen has sent us a letter.”

“What does it say?” Rosalie was a little nervous of what the queen would have to tell them that needed a response.

Alice read the letter twice before responding. “It seems we are being invited to officially move into the castle to stay as long as we wish.”

“What!!!!” Kate screeched. “You just got a personal invite to live in the castle by the queen?!!”

Alice nodded as she handed the letter to Rosalie. “Not only that but she said that if we agree she will have private rooms arraigned for each mated couple.”

“Jesus. Did she say why she was offering?” Tanya couldn’t believe what was happening. First they were spared punishment for crimes that usually ended with death and now they were getting a personal invitation from the royals to live in the castle.

“She didn’t but it’s easy to figure out. Bella probably asked that we be allowed to stay.” Rosalie said.

“Bella must have a lot of power if all she had to do is ask for you four to stay and the queen personally sent you an invitation.” Irina had never heard of this kind of thing happening. Usually vampires where only allowed to live in the castle if they were working for the Volturi in some way. “Also the fact that you are getting private rooms is surprising.”

“Yes that is. Even when I stayed here I had shared a room with two other unmated vampires.” Eleazar said.

“Who cares about that. What are you guys going to do?” Kate asked.

“We discussed it before and decided that if offered we would stay for awhile.” Rosalie was happy that they got an official invitation. The waiting to find out what was going to happen was getting tedious.

“It would be stupid if you didn’t.” Noticing the confused looks Tanya explained. “You are being treated like guests in the castle. That means you have a somewhat tentative alliance with the Volturi. From what you said that is based on Bella. If you simply left and didn’t take the opportunity to stay and spend time with the human it could be considered an insult. Then all the good will would evaporate and you probably would be looked down on.”

“That’s true I didn’t think of that.” Jasper hadn’t focused on what would happen if they had said no. It hadn’t mattered because they had been planning on staying if ask. The fact that he would get a private room with Alice made the decision to stay that much easier. He loved his siblings but he didn’t think he could handle not having a private space for himself to go if he needed to be away from them.

“Well it doesn’t matter because we want to stay. It will also give us more time to spend with Bella.” Alice moved to the desk to start writing their reply.

“I heard that Jane is away on a mission so she probably would like the company.” Eleazar told them.

“Alice can you write a second letter for Bella? Ask her when she has time if she would spend it with us?” Rosalie figured if they contacted Bella personally they would have a better chance of seeing the girl.

“Would it be alright if we went with you?” Tanya figured if the Cullens were going for a friendly visit it would be alright for the Denali to go as well. With Eleazar and Carmen having already met Bella they were more than likely have a chance.

“I don’t see why not. Bella’s guards will probably be in the room watching over us though.” Jasper said.

“Yeah they were there when we visited her the first time.” Emmett hoped that Felix was there again because even though Rosalie didn’t want him to he wanted a chance to ask about training with the guard. Maybe Bella could put in a good word for him with her parents. He would ask her later.

“Were her guards hostile to you?” Irina asked.

“Not hostile more cautious. It was more than obvious that they weren’t going to put up with us even touching Bella. I swear I heard one of them growl when they saw me hug her when we went shopping.” Rosalie told them.

“That means if we meet her no one is to touch her.” Tanya said sternly focusing her attention on Kate.

Kate held up her hands in defense.” Why are you looking at me? I’m not going to do anything.”

“Sure you aren’t.” Irina would have to make sure that Kate stayed as far away from the human as possible. It would be just like Kate to think she was being funny and do something that would get all of them killed.

“We will all make sure nothing happens.” Tanya hoped that Kate would behave because this was an opportunity her coven couldn’t afford to mess up. It seemed like Carmen and Eleazar had already set a good foundation for the Denali now it was up to the sisters to build on that. With how the Cullen children had been offered private quarters. If Tanya’s coven could get on Bella’s good side then they to could be offered preferential treatment that even the guard didn’t get. It would be nice to get a little bit of respect in the vampire world. Usually they were looked down on because of their diet but if they could get in the good graces of the royals then they wouldn’t have to worry about being challenged so much by others who thought they were weak because of their diet. It was something that would make her worry less about as a coven leader if they had such powerful allies and she wasn’t going to let anyone even Kate screw up their chance.