✓ | 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒, Volturi Kings

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ⁸

ɴᴏᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ ᴀɴɴᴀʟɪꜱᴇ'ꜱ ꜱᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ᴅᴀʏ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴏʟᴛᴜʀɪ ᴄᴀꜱᴛʟᴇ.

ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱ:

mia regina. My queen.

Sembri stupendo. You look gorgeous.

I was thankful that Caius had allowed me to sleep in his bed for the night. Since he had things to do, I did not want to disturb him with my snoring. My mate insisted that I would not be a problem and that he did not have much work that he needed to do.

Unfortunately, like many people, my mind tended to dwell on the bad things. Isabella and Edward hated me. I had lost a growing friendship. I had been dumped as a friend many times, many of those times being during middle school, but this felt different. This was a betrayal of my trust. I trusted them to trust me and to trust my judgement. My judgement allowed me to be friends with them. I had given them a chance and the second that I had a difference of opinion on a big life choice of my own, they dumped me.

Betrayal was a feeling that was mostly unknown to me if you exclude middle school. I knew that people would leave me most of the time. I hadn't placed my heart in someone since that day during 7th grade. No, in Forks I had just been learning how to trust again. I had finally gotten somewhere. During my time in Forks I felt like I mattered somewhere. If I went back, I don't think I would feel the same sense of belonging.

Things were different now. I had mates, I had a coven of vampires to help take care of. The severity of what had happened in my life had finally caught up with me. I felt so weak. In my heart, I felt so completely useless.

"What seems to be the matter, mia regina?" Demetri asks. I look back at the flower I had been picking at to satisfy my desire to just destroy something. My ways of fixing my problems would not work here in the Volturi, I knew that for sure. I needed better habits before I turned and my habits became eternal.

"Do you think that Isabella and Edward could be right, on some sick and twisted level? I mean, I am a human who has power in the vampire world. I don't belong in the vampire world. Edward says that I chose power over family," I unload my personal drama on my most loyal guard. He had been kind to me even before he figured out I was the kings' mate. For that, he would always remain my friend wherever I went, no matter what life brought to me.

"No, Isabella and Edward are wrong on every level. Just because you are our queen does not mean that you believe yourself above us. Yes, you hold power, but even if you weren't the queen and just became a normal vampire the guards here would be loyal to you. You are a good person, Annalise, that matters most of all. Edward has no idea what it is like to be placed in a position of power. Isabella is also a human, but she seems to think that she belongs. In all honesty, you belong in the vampire world a hell of a lot more than young Isabella. Edward and Isabella may have seen you as family, but that changed once you snapped those bonds. I do not mean to be cruel, but it is the truth. Isabella and Edward, after the bonds snapped in with the kings, looked at you like you were a pawn. They claim that is what the kings will use you as, but that is just what they did," Demetri replies honestly. It was one of the things I loved most about Demetri. He was just plain honest.

My guard's words did nothing to calm my anxieties. I whispered, "I just feel so useless. I am useless. What is a human queen going to do? What do I even need to do?"

"You call yourself useless, but you've done more for the Volturi in the two days that you've been here than anyone has in the 900 years that I have been here. The guards used to be treated like shit because we all know that Master Caius is in an eternal bad mood, but he hasn't even made one rude comment. He just smiles at us as he walks by. Caius doesn't smile. Aro hasn't made any comments either. Marcus looks like he may be coming back to life. I've never seen him have an ounce of happiness in his eyes but when he looks at you he's on cloud nine. The way that you change the vampire world is that you stay. You can do other things, of course, but first you just need to stay," Demetri says as the door opens to reveal Marcus.