Infinite Bliss || Volturi Kings

|9| REVELATIONS

Eliana wasn't the kind of person who strolled. Hence, wandering relatively aimlessly with her hand looped around Aro's arm was something that definitely felt unnatural for her to be doing. That pretty much explained the way she'd occasionally scuff her shoes against the ground and awkwardly glance around at anything but him.

Soon enough, they were outside in the gardens. The rainclouds that seemingly hadn't budged at all since the St. Marcus Day Festival hung heavy over their heads, but the umbrella Aro held over them ensured she missed the worst of the storm. Regardless, she could still feel the bitter chill of the wind that swept around them.

"You seem distracted, amore mio."

"Hm?" She glanced at him briefly, only to find his full attention on her and her alone. Her eyes scanned the ground by her feet as she feigned fascination in the slight imperfections in the cobblestone path. "No, I'm fine. Where were you all day by the way?"

Aro sighed. "Due to unfortunate circumstances, I was unable to see you today. But at least my brothers managed to negotiate their own ways out of it."

"Oh, so basically they just snuck out of work and left you to do the rest," Eliana concluded. "That sounds like something Caius would do, but not so much Marcus."

"Marcus is much more sly than you give him credit for," Aro countered, "but enough about that." They reached the end of the path, presumably near the end of the garden, where Aro motioned for her to sit beside him. Although she could feel the slight dampness of the bench on her jeans, the sudden feeling of Aro's arm around her shoulders made up for it. "How has your day been, cara mia?"

"Um, oh," she stammered as she came up with an answer, "it was okay. You didn't really miss anything. Except the wasp incident. That's about it."

"Ah yes, the wasp incident," Aro humoured quietly to himself with a laugh.

"You act like you already knew. How did you find out about that?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "Did Caius or Marcus tell you? Seriously?"

Aro went quiet. She felt him carefully withdraw his arm from her shoulders, and although he hadn't physically moved away, she still felt a slight feeling of emptiness.

She leant over a little to look up at his face. "Aro?" she asked again. "What? Did I do something-?"

"No, no, you did not, amore," Aro interjected quickly. "Please break that habit of automatically placing the blame on yourself. You have done nothing wrong."

"But if there's blame to be placed, and I'm not the one responsible . . ." Her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "What is it then?" When she received no reply again, she tugged a little on his sleeve, which was enough to immediately gain his attention. "Aro, tell me."

When he finally made eye contact with her, rather than being met with the usual softer smile, she was met with something that was alarmingly serious. "There is a reason I brought you out here. I have . . ." He sighed and rotated himself to face her better. "I should have explained this to you a lot sooner. When I was transformed, I developed the gift of tactile telepathy. This allows me to read and memorise every thought and memory a person has ever had with a single touch."

He paused his explanation right there for a moment, which was just long enough for her to immediately draw her arms closer to herself. "But you didn't . . . you . . ." she trailed off.

"It is . . ." He gritted his teeth together. This was something he had to do, and he knew it, no matter how much he'd rather leave this to a better day. ". . . It is uncontrollable. Your friend Isabella is the only being who has not been affected by my gift on contact."