Such Sweet Sorrow

Chapter Six

BPOV:

When I awoke I found myself trapped between two very strong arms, and for a moment I panicked, thinking that it was Edward. The moment was over as soon as it came, as I remembered the events of the previous seventy two hours. Aro Volturi, me, and Edward...

"Welcome back to the realm of the living Mia cara," Aro muttered into my hair. I had just realised that this was the second time I had fallen asleep in his presence, but there wasn't much I could do about it. I was intensely flattered that he hadn't gotten bored of me snoring and gone off to do something else.

"Oh-" I said softly,  shimmying around in his arms to face him. Despite the fact that I had probably been tossing and turning in my sleep, (I always did) Aro looked completely unruffled, not a hair out of place. I probably looked like a mess. "You stayed the entire time I was asleep?" Aro hummed slightly, brushing the hair out of my face and peering down at me with beautiful garnet eyes. 

"Si. Though you were only asleep for two hours. Do humans normally sleep so much?" I blushed slightly, hoping he didn't perceive me as lazy.

"No! I've just... had a rough couple of days. My trip to Volterra wasn't exactly planned in advance." I try to sit up on the bed, to get my bearings, and it takes Aro a moment to release my waist from his grip before I could do so. His reluctance was endearing, but also a reminder that I had to be careful with myself and my heart. Vampires were enticing by nature, they were possessive and dangerous and none were more dangerous than those of the Volturi.

Than Aro of the Volturi.

"Ah," Aro made a face that would be inelegant on someone less beautiful and graceful "Yes I saw the events in Alice's mind. I will not express any regret for what happened, because those events led you to me, although I can see how it could be quite unfortunate." I stretched my sore muscles, injured from the running and the sitting and tension of the past few days. The shower had helped, but it would be a while still before I was feeling as fit as I felt before I went cliff jumping with the pack. I could feel claret eyes trailing my form, and I elected to ignore them. I would allow him to stare. Perhaps it was because I felt so finely attuned to his presence, or because he was so magnetic, that I even noticed his watchful gaze. Aro had been polite, cordial and pleasant. For someone renowned as selfish and violent he had been nothing but generous and kind- to me at least. He had allowed me to come home, to continue my education, was gentle and apologetic about the stuggles I went through to get to Italy, had stayed with me while I slept in his embrace. I was struggling to decompartmentalise these two versions of Aro in my head as one individual. The Warlord and the Lover. Edward had described him as vicious and savage, a beast in finely tailored clothing. But Edward had shown his incredible biases before, with his opinions on the Quiletes and on his opinions of detangling our lives from eachother's. He thought that I could pretend he never existed, that vampires never existed, but he was completely and utterly wrong. Could he be wrong about this too?

I'd allow Aro to watch me as he please, appreciate my appearance as he wanted. It was flattering and empowering in a strange sort of way, to have the king of vampires lusting (and it was lusting at the very least) after a silly human girl, while hundreds of beautiful vampire women would willingly become his consort. 

"It's really fine. I'm used to strange things happening to me since I met the Cullens, an impromptu trip to Europe, meeting you, well it's no stranger than anything else." I held a wry smile on my face while I reached for his hand. A tension I didn't realise he held in his frame melted with my touch as our fingers intertwined. "This entire trip wasn't planned for you either, can you even take so much time away from Volterra for my sake?" 

"While this was unexpected mia cara, I wouldn't worry," he said softly, eyes burning with their ruby intensity. "Finding your mate is a sacred thing to us, why, when Caius found Athenodora they disappeared for a decade! Time passes in a blink of an eye for people like us, a few months or years is no matter of consequence." that did settle my worries a bit. I was worried this indulgence in my sense of normalcy would be short lived, Aro was rumoured to be impatient, but impatience to me and impatience to someone who had eternity seemed to be entirely different.

"What do you intend to do? I know I want to finish school and actually graduate, but you came just because I asked." 

"Well, I would like to get to know you better, of course. I shall ask Jane to accompany you to school, she certainly looks the right age to attend." I studied his face, only finding mild amusement written in his smile.

"How old was she when she was turned?"

"Jane and her brother Alec were 15 when I turned them, though that was many centuries ago. They've been by my side ever since." I wondered what it would be like to be permanently frozen at 15, I  was short and skinny back then, an awkward age where with a haircut I would look like a little boy. Though Jane looked far more ethereal than that I'm glad I had met Aro a few years past that. 18, a little older, a little more mature, a little more woman. Unlike Edward, perpetually 17, Aro was a grown man when he was turned, he looked about 25 but I hadn't yet asked to confirm. A lot of vampires seemed to have traumatic changes, and I thought it polite to ask.

"That sounds like an awfully long time," I said quietly.