Nora's pov

"No no no no! That's not how you do it–just give it to me." I huffed, pacing towards Marcus. We were currently in the kitchen baking, or in Marcus's case, attempting to. Given the fact that he was a supposedly very old vampire who had no need to eat human food, he had absolutely appalling baking skills.

"How did you manage this?" I groaned, trying to salvage a decent batter for my brownies out of the gloopy mess Marcus had created.

"Clearly, you are far more skilled at this than I am." Peaking at him over my shoulder as I mixed, I fell into a fit of giggles. He was almost pouting at me–obviously dejected at having failed at the simple task I had set him.

"Does something amuse you, my love?" I jumped when his arms wound around my waist, his chin coming to rest on my shoulder. His cool breath against my skin left goosebumps in its wake; I shivered as he pressed his lips against my throat in a gentle kiss.

"No." I squeaked. Clearing my throat I tried to be as nonchalant as possible. "You definitely need some lessons from me though, I am the master of baking."

"Yes, and you're also incredibly humble aren't you?" He teased, laughing obnoxiously and stumbling back when I flicked the spoon at him.

Gasping loudly, I watched the clump of batter that had flown off the spoon in my hand land in his hair. With a nervous giggle I held it out in front of me like it was some sort of shield. "Okay...now let's not do anything drastic."

His eyes darkened to a deep scarlet and he stalked towards me looking all too much like the predator he truly was. His body loomed over mine and he trapped me against the counter, caging me in with his arms. "That wasn't very nice, was it amore?"

I squirmed, lifting my hands and pressing them against his firm chest, the deep and guttural tenor of his voice making my heart flutter and my body tingle. It didn't help that he was completely pressed against me, you'd be hard pressed to fit a piece of paper in between us. Grinning sneakily, he leaned down so he could whisper heatedly in my ear. "I think I ought to return the favor."

His eyes were suspiciously mischievous and squinting my own, I went to question him. "Wha–HEY!"

Without even realising it, his hand had reached for the bowl behind me and now, I was the one covered in batter; he smeared it all along my face and I became even more annoyed when he rubbed it into my perfectly curled hair. "Marcus!"

He was laughing so hard now that if he was human he would have turned a concerning red. "Oh, you look absolutely adorable, dolcezza." He chuckled when I tried to wipe it from my face, but it resisted and seemed to become stuck in my hair.

"What the hell have you created?! This is like tar!" He continued to laugh at my expense and pursing my lips, my eyes were now shining with their own mischievous gleam. "Fine. You asked for it."

Blinking in shock, it took him a moment to process what had happened. I now stood in front of him, brandishing an empty bowl and laughing just as hard as he had been. Batter dripped past his eyes onto his face and he smiled. "Well played, my love, well played."

A loud squeal burst past my parted lips when he dove towards me and lifted me into his arms, peppering my face with kisses and covering me in even more of the disgusting creation. "No! Stop!"

"What the hell is going on here?!"

We both froze, turning hesitantly towards the door.

Caius stood in the doorway, looking every bit like an angry parent who had caught his children misbehaving. He still wore his cloak over his black slacks and black dress shirt–he must have been fresh out of trials.

Jumping away from Marcus I pointed an accusatory finger at him. "It was all him! He started it!"

Rolling his eyes, Marcus leant back against the counter. "Of course you are completely blameless, my love."

I nodded along, crossing my arms as if that would protect me from Caius's roving gaze. "That's right."

Caius chuckled and sped to be in front of me and it was all I could do not to flinch at his unnatural speed. That was definitely something I was still getting used to. Apparently not caring about the mess covering my poor dress and jumper, Caius crushed me to his chest and laid his head on top of mine. "I missed you, my darling."

"I missed you too." I managed to choke out, the force of his hug literally squeezing the air out of my lungs. Releasing me from his constricting hold he was quick to take my face into his hands, fixing my bandana with a fond smile and regarding me with reverence, placing a delicate kiss on my forehead.

"How were trials, brother?" Marcus questioned distractedly, currently trying to wipe the batter from his hands.

Hugging me into his chest again, Caius huffed. "Tediously boring, as they always are. The only interesting moment was when Demitri lost a leg." Marcus merely hummed and nodded like that was an everyday occurrence, but they were both shocked by my sudden outburst as I pushed away from Caius.

"He lost his leg?!" My incredulous stare bounced back and forth between them, waiting for someone to elaborate and I only became more disturbed when they both stared back at me, unbothered. "Okay, why isn't this more of a big deal to you two?! Is he okay?"

"He is perfectly fine amore," Caius comforted, though his voice was tinged with thinly concealed jealousy that made me grin. "It was able to be reattached successfully."

Gasping, I made a gagging noise. "I'm sorry, What? Vampires can reattach their limbs? That is so...disturbing." A shiver fell over me at the thought, but something else had me releasing a teasing laugh. "You're kind of like overgrown lizards."

Chuckling, Marcus corrected me. "Technically that's inaccurate. Lizards regrow their limbs–vampires are able to do no such thing."

"What an interesting conversation." Caius mused boredly, occupying himself with pulling a strand of my loosely curled hair taught, only to be fascinated as it bounced back to its original shape. We were all distracted when my phone began to ring, Marcus and Caius sporting curious expressions.

Pulling it out from my dress pocket, I was unsure if I was happy to see the name on the screen. Biting my lip in thought I looked at them both with a nervous smile. "I've gotta take this, why don't you talk about how boring the trial was some more."

Not waiting for a response I walked a few feet away, though I knew it would give me no real privacy. Courteously, they still began to converse between themselves and their thoughtfulness made me smile.

Delaying for only a moment, I answered the phone with a frown as if anticipating something bad. "...Hey, Bells."

"Hi, Nora." I was greatly relieved to find that she actually sounded happy to talk to me, though there was an air of awkwardness–I was going to attribute that to the fact that when we had last seen and spoke to one another, I had been abandoned in a castle full of vampires.

There was a muffled noise on the other end before she continued, like someone else had spoken in the background. "How...um, how are you?"

Though I so wanted to be the mature sister I should have been, I couldn't help but to release some of the disdain I was feeling. "Oh yeah, I'm good. All things considered."

Chuckling nervously in her typical 'Bella' fashion, she seemed to struggle for words. "Yeah, about that...look, Nora. I never would have left you there if I knew you weren't going to be perfectly fine. I didn't even want to leave you but Alice and Edward said that–"

"Oh please." I guffawed scornfully. "That's a load of bullshit. You are your own person, Bella. You're old enough to make your own judgements and decisions. I understand now, why you couldn't tell me but to leave me–and not even a phone call to explain. Do you know how scared I was?"

This time when she responded, she sounded less regretful and more like a petulant child. "Well you could have called me."

"What?" I gaped at the air, aware that Marcus and Caius had now stopped talking and were watching me. "I was a little bit preoccupied discovering the existence of vampires and coming to terms with the fact that I am mated to the three most powerful ones!"

"I told you this was a mistake." Bella hissed at someone quietly, clearly assuming I had not heard her. That same mumble could be heard, sounding very much like a man. Realisation blossomed in me at who it must be and now, I was angry.

"A mistake?! I'm so sorry Bella, did I interrupt your precious time with your intolerable boyfriend? Oh, hang on a second, it was you that called me!" I was pacing angrily, waving away Marcus when he asked quietly if I was alright. "Why don't you call me back when you grow up and admit to your mistakes, okay?"

Whatever reply Bella would have given was cut off when I hung up, still full of so much anger. "Oh my god! Can you believe her?! She abandons me here–not that that's a bad thing now–and then has the audacity to be so high and mighty? Well, she can forget about me going to her graduation until she apologises. I bet this is all Edwards fault, she never thinks straight when she's around him."

"Finally," Caius grinned, "Someone who hates that pretentious boy just as much as I do." He opened his arms and I willingly fell into him, closing my eyes as my head was tucked under his chin. "You have every right to be angry my darling, your sister should not have left you so willingly."

"Do not fan her anger even more brother, we saw enough of that the other day." Marcus grinned playfully, raising a brow when I swatted at his arm. "In all seriousness though, my love, do not feel as if your emotions are unjustified. Give it time and I'm sure Bella will see the error of her ways."

My reply was strained, as Caius was once again squeezing me with all the force of a boa constrictor. "I hope so."

A knock was heard on the door abruptly; when I finally managed to free myself some room from Caius to turn my head, I saw that it was Jane in the doorway. "My Queen, My Kings." She acknowledged, bowing respectfully. I couldn't help but be embarrassed. I wasn't so keen on the whole superiority thing and anytime one of the guards bowed to me it just felt...wrong.

"What do you need, Jane?" Caius's voice had gained a certain edge, losing the softness he used when addressing me. I could see now why to others he came across as quite intimidating.

"Master Aro has instructed me to ask Queen Nora to meet him in the gardens. He wishes to speak with her." This came as a shock to us all.

Since our spat, which had been about a week and a half ago now, Aro had been avoiding me. At first I was unbothered, I had been so angry at him for what he had done, how he had tried to group the others into his mess. All too soon though my forgiving nature reared its head and it was becoming increasingly more difficult to find reasons to stay mad.

I had tried to look for him, but it seemed I was always a second too late in catching him. It was only when Marcus had informed me that Aro was ignoring me out of guilt that I really understood.

It didn't help that I had this horrible ache in my chest, similar to the one that had plagued me before I had come to Italy. It was so, so painful and with each day that passed it only grew worse–which is why Marcus and Caius had been taking it in turn to do things to distract me, like Marcus's pitiful attempt at baking today.

To hear that he finally had gotten over himself and wanted to talk to me was quite the shock.

"Not happening." Caius growled menacingly, causing Jane to cower.

"Um, excuse me?" I blinked up at him in exasperation, puffing out an angry breath when he didn't lose his glower. "Listen, that is not your choice to make."

His brows pinched together and it was clear he was going to protest against my decision. Not in the mood, I rushed to spit the rest of my sentence out. "Look, I know you're not happy with him at the moment," Which was painfully true. The whole time Aro had taken it upon himself to ignore me, Caius had become quite scornful towards him. According to Marcus they could hardly stand to be in a room with one another–it was a miracle they could mask their emotions enough to continue with trials. "But I need this to end. It's not doing anyone any good and... I can't cope with the pain it is bringing me, Caius."

At the mention of my pain his indignation vanished and he sighed heavily, raising his hand to brush his knuckles against my cheek. "Very well, carissima. I know it is not my choice but I can't bear to see you in such pain because of him again." My cheeks heated softly at his words, still not used to how much they all cared for me. "However, if anything happens, anything at all, just yell my name and I will be there."

"Of course I will, but nothing is going to happen." He still didn't look convinced at my words. Overcome with the urge to bring him some peace of mind, without thought I stood on my tiptoes, pressing a delicate kiss to the corner of his lips, brushing my thumb against his cheek. "It will be fine."

His eyes, now a deep black, stared back at me in a daze.

"I think you broke him, my love." Marcus chuckled, beckoning me towards him. With a struggle that was highly amusing to me, I finally managed to get Caius to let me go though I noticed how his stare unwaveringly followed me as I walked to Marcus.

He pulled me into a tight hug, kissing the top of my head. "I do not share my brother's worry, but still...be careful. Aro has become rather unpredictable this last week."

I nodded, stepping back and straining my neck so I could look up at him. "I will."

He pulled something from the counter, a wet kitchen towel of all things and I grinned as he tried to wipe some of the drying mixture from my face and clothes. "There. Much more presentable."

Not wanting him to feel left out, I stretched up to place a kiss on the corner of his lips too. "Thank you."

He smirked, reluctantly sliding his arms from my waist. "Go," His voice had deepened significantly, eyes now the same thrilling shade as Caius's. "Or I'll never let you leave."

Giggling, I walked backwards and blew them both a kiss before turning to face Jane and exiting the room. We walked in silence for a few moments as I smiled stupidly to myself, the calm only broken by her quiet voice. "Soooo...I take it you had a good afternoon?"

Rolling my eyes I nudged her with my elbow at her playful tone. "Yes, I had a wonderful time if you must know."

This was also a new development. Over the last week, I had grown considerably closer to Jane, it was only natural as her and her Demitri had become my main guard. She was a bit hot headed at first, angry and thinking it was me that had been ignoring Aro and causing us all pain. When I had explained the situation she had sheepishly apologised and I noticed throughout the week, she would find little excuses to come into my room and talk to me; it was adorably endearing.

When you got to know her she was actually very sweet, we would sit and talk for hours about anything and everything–she was beginning to feel like a little sister to me. I had a suspicion that the reason she loved to be around me was that I actually treated her as if she was a little girl; I knew that she was technically a lot older than me, with a lot more experience in life but, buried inside of her was a child that simply wished to live and have a little fun.

"How, um..." I began carefully, "How is Aro?"

"He is...good. Well, as good as he can be my Qu–" At my chastising look she corrected herself, remembering my rule. "Nora."

I smiled at her, though it became a nervous one when I noticed we had reached the doors that led out to the garden. "I guess I'll go find out for myself."

Consolingly, she patted my arm and pushed the heavy doors open for me, waiting for me to go through. "It'll be okay, you'll see."

I nodded distractedly, noticing a dark figure in the distance meandering in the shade by the roses, his raven hair shining in the dull sun. "I hope you're right." With that, I stepped forward into the soft light of the sun, failing to not flinch at the bang of the doors closing behind me.

Dragging my feet, hoping to prolong the inevitable, did no good and soon I had come to stand a few feet away from him. He turned slowly which was probably for my benefit, before his black eyes fell upon me. Just like that the ache had vanished and we stared at one another as if we were strangers.

"Hello, my darling."