Penance ↠ Volturi Kings {2} ✓

06

"Master, I was summoned?" Demetri asked, arriving in the throne room with Afton shortly behind him.

"Demetri," Caius said slowly, his voice strangely empty, "I need you to give me the location of the former queens."

"Sulpicia and Athenodora? Certainly," Demetri said, though he was clearly puzzled. There was a stretch of silence before Demetri breathed, "Oh, no."

"We are fools!" Caius roared, his voice echoing around the throne room.

"Maxim," I said, addressing the guard that was still standing at the edge of the room, "could you please go fetch Aro for us? He's in the library."

"Yes, my queen," Maxim said, bowing before he disappeared.

Caius was raging behind me, ranting at Demetri in a language I had never heard. Demetri was wise enough to keep his eyes on the floor and not risk angering Caius further by speaking.

"Caius," I said with no more than normal volume. I was strangely calm. All the anxiety I had been harboring over the past weeks since Demetri and Felix's report seemed to have ebbed away. Because now everything had been brought to light. The truth at last.

Caius snapped at me in the same language he had been snarling at Demetri in. "Enough!" I said sharply in retort. "Nothing will come by yelling or berating the guard. No one expected this."

He hissed lowly but relented. "Apologies, amore. You are right, as always."

Maxim returned with Aro shortly behind him. "What's happened?" Aro asked, reading Caius' furious expression and my troubled one. Aro himself looked slightly displeased. "I was only told that I was needed in the throne room."

I couldn't be certain, but I thought that Maxim appeared a little smug before he left the throne room. Caius gestured for me to explain, likely too angry to speak in any language that I would be able to understand. "I was reading Macbeth in the library when I figured out what started everything. When you sent the former queens from Volterra, you infuriated them. So they sought out the Romanians, who would be more than willing to give them the revenge they want. The queens have been whispering in the ears of the Romanians probably since the beginning. Just like Lady Macbeth and Macbeth."

"I was able to confirm it. They're with the Romanians. The former queens know everything there is to know about our coven: how it runs, our strengths, our weaknesses. They know about Rowan, even if they don't know her name. I should have..." Demetri ran a hand through his hair, guilt lining his face, and trailed off.

"This is a devastating blow," Aro murmured.

"A devastating blow?" Caius sputtered, still spitting with rage, "A devastating blow? You're no fool, brother! They have an advantage over us that we have no chance of holding over them! Sulpicia and Athenodora know our inner workings, things that even the most elite guard may be unaware of. There is no coming back from this! None! This war may as well have been lost before we even step foot on the battlefield!"

Aro shook his head. "Nonsense! The war is not over until we fall. And we will not go down without a fight. We have beaten the Romanians before. We will simply have to be smarter this time. The former queens know how we work, but they are no seers; they will not be able to anticipate our every move."

"We found out something else from Vincent's memories," I said, deciding it was best to share all the bad news at once.

"Get on with it," Caius muttered.

"It seems they've found someone with a gift similar to Uncle Eleazar," I said. "Someone with the ability to-"

"Yes, I know what Eleazar's gift is," Caius snapped tersely. I shot him a look but didn't hold it against him; he, out of all of us, was under the most stress.