The memory dawned on me when I came into the bedroom of Marcus. Volterra wasn't just meant to be a city of under the table vampire misgivings. It couldn't be what Alice and Edward told me. The drama, the court proceedings mixed with personal opinions and history. This bedroom was the room of a man. One man, and a king at that. Volterra was a place of life and people, vampires, chose to live here above all else to conduct their business.

I'd also lost friends today. When my hand hit the silken sheets I felt the loss deeply. I'd gotten so used to being abandoned, blamed, and told off that when I hadn't experienced such events in a year I thought they were over. My shield had come down and now there were no walls between my heart and my feelings of betrayal. The people who said they would be there for me no matter what gave me an ultimatum. A chance at eternal happiness or... what? Nobody told me what the second option even was!

"You are allowed to sit down anywhere you'd like. I suppose you may be tired after all that drama," the latter part of Demetri's words were lilted with a chuckle.

"It's nothing more than drama in the grand scheme of things, really," I said with an air of sorrow and bitterness. "I'll mean nothing to them in a hundred years. I can't be the first person they've left. It's not about... me, really."

"No. No, of course not."

"They told me some God awful things about you all." I laughed before taking a few steps, reaching a stained oak desk. Papers were scattered, much like the books supposed to line the shelves of Edward's room back in Forks. He never kept his promise to clean them up. "Edward and Alice are convinced you're about as bad as some of history's worst dictators. Not Stalin level, but perhaps Ho Chi Minh or an ancient force of evil."

Demetri made a noise of interest before a knock came to the door. It caught me off guard for a second, my hand flinching and accidentally crumpling a few top pieces of parchment and printer paper.

My guard opened the door and began talking to someone on the outside. I could only hear his side of the conversation.

"Now really isn't the time. Yes, there is a human in here. No, you don't need to meet her yet. Of course she's joining us." There was a pause and Demetri let out a visible groan of annoyance. "Aro has approved her stay. He's actually called a meeting for everyone except Felix and I. Well, someone who saw the trial has to stay and guard her. Three newborns were made in the last six months and the Throne Room is too close to King Marcus' chambers to– I'm not discussing this with you right now, Sulpicia. Aro wants the Volturi in the Throne Room, he'll be upset if you aren't there."

The tension in the air stuck to my palms as they filled with nervous sweat. A woman's name who I'd heard only once before spoken by Carlisle when he'd showed me a painting of the Volterran Clocktower. My foster father said to me months ago, before he left, that two women stayed up in towers and were not allowed to leave for undisclosed reasons. Their names were Sulpicia and Athenodora.

Wives of the kings. Of course my luck had to hand me three soulmates with two of them already being tied down and wed to other women. This promise, however, that they'd made me, made no room for me being just a mistress. Not that I'd stand being some other woman in a marriage supposed to be for two people. I'd be the Queen.

"You don't think that your Queen deserves to know why a human woman is in her brother–in–law's bedroom, Demetri? Last time I checked, you do answer to me. So my questions about a human being being in Marcus' bedchamber's will be answered right now. Aro would understand and you know he sees my side on issues regarding who we turn. It's a matter of my safety too." Her voice raised loud enough for me to hear it.

I didn't like her one bit. For one, ordering guards around like that is rude, especially when Demetri was nothing but cordial. The veiled threat of using her husband, my own mate, to get her way sent a terrible message about leadership. Sure, they're married, but that's no reason to act entitled and expect everyone answer every question you ask!

Demetri let out a small growl and insisted, "You're wanted in the Throne Room. Is this the Throne Room? No, it isn't. Aro isn't going to let you get away with that one, Sulpicia. Disobeying me right now is practically spitting in your King's face. He wants you somewhere, you go. When it's a Coven matter, you don't reserve the right to ask me about it."

I'd soon come to realize that Sulpicia doesn't take no for an answer, even when faced with the potential consequence of her husband's fury. Nor does she care about the harm words can cause others.

"Don't act like you have any power around my castle! Aro may have made you elite guard, but I still remember when you were nothing but a pawn in your maker's hands. You're still that child to anyone old enough to remember when you begged my husband to take you in. Crying and promising your usefulness to the Coven. I was going to be kind to you, Demetri, but your obsession with proving me wrong and making me seem unreasonable has gotten insufferable and I'll have it no more. Open the door right now and let me see for myself the human my husband has brought into my home," Sulpicia demanded with upset lacing her venomous tongue.

From outside my door a grumble was made, most likely from Felix, who was kind enough to guard the outside from other invasive vampires like Sulpicia.

"You should know, Felix, that what I say goes when I'm out of the Eastern Towers. Should I remind you of how you got here too or are you smart enough to allow me inside of this room and examine the human myself?" The unseen woman demanded.

Frankly I didn't want an ancient vampire like her anywhere near my human self. The fact that she wanted to examine me was off–putting enough as a concept, but the way she felt completely and utterly entitled to do so was what made me cringe back into the seat for Marcus' study desk. I let out a cough before Demetri turned back and gave me a look that screamed "I'm so sorry, but this crazy woman will do worse if I say no."

Small but loud footsteps mixed with a smug huff graced my ears as Sulpicia came into Marcus' room. Her defiant gaze taunted me as she gave a sickly sweet smile. The woman's dark red eyes reminded me of dull rubies. There was little light to her eyes even as she moved under the overhead chandelier. I had no clue what to say to her or whether to act as if I heard and knew anything about what was going on. My life was surely in danger if I said anything bad about her or mentioned I was mated to her husband of all people. Aro wasn't my only mate, but I was sure his wife was scarier than Caius'. The way she just stared at me like a predator would its prey...

"What a demure looking thing," Sulpicia judged me closely, pressing her hand to my cheek and laughing. "What power does my husband expect she has? The ability to charm a bartender into serving her hard alcohol? Why are you trying so hard to protect her, Demetri? Couldn't Afton guard her?"

My guard grabbed Sulpicia's hand and pushed her away from me. The demanding woman let out a shriek of anger and slapped Demetri straight in the face.

"How dare you try and do such a thing to your Queen–"

"You are not my Queen. You never have been and you never will be," Demetri snapped at her as he pinned her down onto a wall. "Since you're missing the important meeting your husband is having I'll just have to be the one to explain things to you. Annalise Monroe is a permanent guest here. She is Marcus' mate and is allowed to go anywhere she wants. She is under my care and if you dare to touch her but with a single finger your husband will immolate you with the furnace you love threatening people with."

Sulpicia screamed loud enough to shatter glass and I was forced to cover my hears to muffle the sound.

"Aro's not your mate, he's Anna's." Sulpicia's eyes widened at the revelation. She was ready to blow a fuse at any moment, realizing that whatever respect she had around the Clocktower and with the Volturi Coven was gone now that she'd created a scene in front of me.

In a way, I felt bad for her. Being around as long as she had, being married for just as long, only to see the moment where your husband has found his soulmate and you haven't. That didn't give her the excuse to run amuck and treat Demetri terribly. What had he done to deserve such treatment, nothing! However, she was having a part of her life and most of her power stripped away. For people who thrive off of public perception and control, that must be downright heinous.

"He won't leave me. Two thousand years of marriage is more than she can account for! He doesn't know her yet. He doesn't understand what he'd be giving up. He isn't one to share. He didn't share me and he wouldn't share with his own brother. This nonsense will end the second he sees me!" Sulpicia denied the inevitable and glared at me. "You are a worthless, defenseless human. He loves me and me only."

I may have had a desire to stay human, to be a living, breathing being, but I wasn't going to allow a level of disrespect as nasty as what was being thrown at me by Sulpicia. Defenseless, perhaps, but worthless.

"If I were worthless your husband wouldn't have sent me here. He would have murdered me on the spot. I have three mates who wanted me alive. Caius may be married, Aro may be married, but that doesn't change the fact they didn't kill me. If that isn't choosing me I don't know what is. I'm sorry that you and Athenodora have to lose your husbands like this, but taking your anger out on everyone around you, including that defenseless human you just met, is stupid and irresponsible considering you're on shaky ground," I said with mustered up courage. "Now, get out of my mate's room."

"Don't you dare think you can–"

I cut her off, "I can order you around because right now you've tried and examine me, treated me badly, and slapped my guard in the face. Get out. I don't want to have to go to extreme measures but if you force me to by staying inside of here I'll raise Hell."

"He'll kill you if you don't leave her alone. He was angry enough at the Cullens for what they said to her," Demetri warned as he let Sulpicia out of his grasps. "If not Aro, then Caius. If not Caius, then Marcus. You've dented his wall and upset his mate in a place where she's supposed to feel warm and safe."

Sulpicia let out a stream of obscenities as she left. I could hear her uproar as she screamed at anyone who would listen down the hallway. Unfortunately, she wasn't ready to give up this fight.

Honestly, neither was I. What a bitch.

---

Adding an edit years later because there have been many comments about Ho Chi Minh mention. I am no longer allowing future comments on it. I am not letting people defend murderous policies just because you didn't learn about the good AND the bad and ugly with what happened. Hanoi sucked, Ho Chi Minh sucked. Stop defending dictators just because their countries have been colonized. I'm sure the people of the past have all defended their leaders actions on that. Just because something can be understood based on circumstances does not make it okay. It does not make someone a real hero. Heroes do not exist outside of literature very often. They are never leaders.