When Ends Meet (Marcus & Aro Volturi)

Chapter 17: Broken Bonds.

       The five of us sit in Marcus' and my room. Every cushion of a seat is filled with a person. "So, tell us! How was it?" Athenadora watches me with expectant eyes.

"It was beautiful." I breathe, thinking back on how wonderfully the Cullens had decorated their backyard. "There were flowers hanging from the trees, fairy lights everywhere...it was like something out of a storybook." I smile at her. "I wish you could have seen it!"

"It sounds dreamy. But I doubt it could surpass our wedding." Athenadora coos to her husband, and Caius smirks.

"Our wedding was grand, splendid and I have yet to know anyone that could rival it." He says with a haughty attitude, making Athenadora snicker.

"What about you? Do you remember your wedding?" I glance over to Marcus, not feeling insecure for asking about his late-wife, Didyme.

Marcus sighs, pondering the old memories. "It was quiet, and small. I never cared for flashy celebrations and neither did Didyme. So, although our ceremony does not rival Caius and Athenadora's in luxury...the sincerity and anticipation for our union was still as present as theirs." He says thoughtfully, and I smile, relieved to know that we felt so secure with each other that we needn't feel uncomfortable when speaking of his former lover.

"What about you, Aro? You come off as the romantic type." I look at him with curiosity. I do not care much for Sulpicia, and she just as little for me as she isn't even here to greet me. However, I want to know how Aro expresses his love. How he makes the woman he loves swoon with his gestures of devotion. Though, it is not Sulpicia that I think of when wondering.

Aro swallows, before letting out an awkward chuckle. "Sulpicia and I didn't marry traditionally. It was unorthodox, however now it is very much adopted by the many couples of today. You see, Sulpicia and I eloped. I met her when she was young, only seventeen. I took interest in her as she did me...I courted her for four years. During that time, I enrolled her into a well-established school so that she could be educated and taught with the best etiquette lessons there was to offer. Some will say that I groomed her to my liking, but I just wanted to give her what was always out of reach for her. An orphaned girl in poverty...she could have blended with the masses but if not for the way she spoke so fiercely, I would have overlooked her. A spunky, mouthy and arrogant woman she was, but by god how it made me amazed to see her small frame punching a guard square in the jaw." Aro chuckles at the end of his thought, before becoming serious again. "When my brothers and I were residing in that town, the townspeople were aware of our differences, and feared us as demons. So, there were no churches that would welcome us, though we did not care for their false god in the first place. Sulpicia did though. A devote catholic woman she was...but because she rather love me and face the damnation of her religion, we fled and married with the presence of just my brothers and sisters."

My focus continues to stay with Aro's, long after he finishes. The emotions bubbling inside me are full of chaos. The pull of hearing his smooth and feathery voice reminiscing the coming of his marriage makes me tingle with unexplainable pleasure, but also anger, jealousy and envy.

"Tesoro?" The sound of Marcus' voice triggers my release to reality. I look to him with half a daze.

"I think, Anastasia is still exhausted...perhaps we should leave and allow her some rest?" Aro quickly says in my stead.

"Yes, perhaps it will be. I will meet you both in the throne room in an hour. I would like some more time with my mate." Marcus stands, leading the others to the door. But as he does, Aro glances back at me with some form of anticipation. I know he is waiting to speak to me...and I did promise him a chance to hear him out, but it will just have to wait.