THERE'S NOT A GOOD WAY TO BREAK BAD NEWS. Caius figured that out halfway through the Great Vampire War. There's not a single person on the planet who wants to be the one delivering horrible news. If it weren't for his position in his Coven as an undisputed ruler, he might have never called for that semi-private audience with Wren.

The misery on her face and her eventual confession to Jasper left him reeling.

Caius knew he and the Coven, especially Aro, were treading a fine line between peace and worldwide conflict. If during that day it had just been Wren's confession, things might have been alright, but he'd received a new message from Alice Cullen on his personal phone. This was the third one. He'd been keeping the first two to himself for the sake of peace.

Edward and I will no longer be associated with you or your Coven's rules.

What a joke.

The whole point of him sacrificing his freedom was for all vampires to be unified under one banner. It protected all of them! Caius wanted to scream when he saw the entitled message.

Young vampires had no idea what it was like to have to choose between two covens who both subjugate their members. There is a clear reason why their elders had always supported and allied themselves with the Volturi. Plenty of them had waged war with enemies far worse than Aro and he had ever been. What horrible rules did they have? Well, they primarily surrounded the weaponization of Immortal Children. Caius had insisted on putting that to an end once he took the throne.

Now, with pending legal motions regarding the immortal future of Isabella Swan, Caius had to inform his brothers and River of this issue.

Ultimately, Caius wanted to avoid war. He was the one who had to draw up the plans, ready the troops, and deploy people knowing they could die in the process. The Cullens, with Carlisle's history with Aro, were people he especially wanted to avoid war with. There was no proof that Carlisle even knew of the treachery, let alone agreed with their messaging. Honestly, it must have been impulsive, considering the message was sent to Caius himself, who Edward always hated for his staunch support of killing evildoers.

Though notably, this was a serious escalation from Alice's previous messages, both of which concerned her divorce from Jasper Hale. Both messages were pathetic but understandable given the legal battle and loss of her lover. Caius had read the messages but did not respond out of pure discomfort.

When Aro had been shown the messages in his office, where the four of them had chosen to gather that evening, he gave a scoff and immediately opened up his phone despite the grumblings of Marcus about thinking before he spoke.

"Carlisle, your daughter has been sending treasonous messages to her king," Aro blurted out into the phone the second the man picked up the phone, "If she and Edward plan on not following the laws, that's alright, but that means she's declaring war on our coven and allies and should think about rallying her fucking army."

It was clear Aro was deeply considering ending the phone call but he allowed Carlisle to respond out of what Caius believed was spite.

"No, no, we do not want war. She will issue an apology to your Coven immediately! This will... be handled with... care. I am so sorry," was Carlisle's response before he hung the line.

There hadn't been much fuss after that and Caius smirked at the half-hearted apology, knowing that if he wanted he could block Edward and Alice from attending the ball. River had pushed against this only to not alienate Carlisle since he and Esme would surely need an out at some point with how the family was falling apart.

Alice had always been the wild card in the Cullen Coven. Hell, she'd been on their radar since before she'd turned. Humans with gifts sometimes turned out mentally unstable or at least a bit odd. Didyme had been an odd child and her queerness was the reason why Aro turned her in the first place, knowing that she would not make it in regular society. Jane and Alec had been othered for their gifts and it took centuries for them to get ahold of their feelings and their past.

The Cullens had not done enough to help Alice after the asylum stay. While she was not deserving of such treatment, she was not right in her mind even then. Her thinking and her belief in her gift would only get worse and worse if they did not assess the reasons why she was acting this way. That was how Aro had managed the twins, building up their confidence so that they did not feel like they were still being persecuted in their family.

While Caius fully understood, perhaps better than Alice did, why she was acting the way she was, at the end of the day it was Carlisle's job to manage and support her. If her temperament was only managed by Jasper, the Coven may not survive.

---

CARLISLE VERY RARELY GOT ANGRY AT ANYONE. It was always easier to go the high route, figure that whatever someone said is just a reflection of how they feel about themselves. He had done enough work on himself to understand that when he got angry, truly upset, that something was going horribly wrong.

He had pulled Esme aside once Alice had her fit about sending an apology to their Kings.

"This behavior has gone too far," Carlisle admitted as he tried to hold back how he really felt about the whole situation. It was almost always better to frame things like this as less personal and more community focused. "Esme, this is going to get our Coven blacklisted or worse, in real legal trouble."

She had been his voice of reason during half of their travels, understanding the needs of the family better than him. For all that Carlisle was, he just didn't get the lack of control other people had over the hunger. He looked at humanity and saw people who he did not want to hurt, no matter what they did to deserve it.

Esme was a mother and she worked to fulfil so many of the duties that required while still being so intelligent and work-oriented. Carlisle couldn't have found a better match for him.

"I don't know why she's being like this," Esme admitted and placed a hand on his chest. "I have tried to get Edward to stop encouraging her behavior but he thinks he's in the right."

That was always the worst of the fights between him and his son. Even in the beginning when things had been simple, Edward was testing his infinite patience. With his beliefs flip-flopping depending on his wants and desires, Carlisle had the hardest time allowing him back into his life and Coven. He had always appreciated the Volturi's beliefs and execution of laws being fair and understandable. They could believe different things without having a fight. Edward had never been this way.

Even his other children who had a hard time keeping the diet like Emmett did not show such little remorse as Edward did when he came back. It was as simple as you were right, can I come back? At least for his second son it was because of age and his unfortunate luck running into a blood singer every decade that was nearly impossible for the average vampire to stay away from. Carlisle had to stay away as well, the temptation was animalistic.

Carlisle had fought with Edward more than anyone in his life. Yet he was his son, his created child, and he felt it was his responsibility to guide him as far as he could. Esme loved him like the child she so desperately wanted.

He had never faltered in his mission of doing good by his patients, but he wondered if he had been the best father he could be.

"What did we say when we got married, Esme?" Carlisle asked, knowing the answer.

"Legal, loyal, loving."

Their rules had worked so far. The only faltering was in regards to turning Bella. If it came to, he would do it even if Edward didn't want him to. At the end of the day, any actions that they take against the Volturi come back to haunt him as their maker and Coven Master. Whether or not that was fair did not matter, he knew what he was getting into when he signed the documents getting his Coven started.

"This is becoming illegal," Carlisle admitted to her as he looked to the wall where he displayed their marriage certificate. "I actually don't know what to do about this."

They'd done so well until this point of doing whatever they had to do to blend in, to be the prime example of what vampires could be if they gave up the human diet. If others saw Alice losing herself, rumors would circulate about what was happening. Seeing Jasper had joined the guard and had given up being vegetarian did not look good for them. Carlisle and Esme as well as the rest of the family had to attend the ball for their reputation to stay intact. That is what every Coven Master did after one of their members made a mistake.

"We may have to leave Alice behind with Edward and Bella for the ball," Esme reasoned. "She could cause a scene. Edward is going to start a fight with Aro and River. Rosalie has already said that she is going 'whether or not we like it' and, Carlisle, our allies will be there too."

"And what about her conduct now?"

Esme hummed and pulled away, shaking her head. "There's no way to control her, she's a fully grown woman, but we have to start thinking of incentives for her to behave better."

"How many chances are we going to give her?"

"I don't know, Carlisle, but we can start with kindness before we think of taking down a beehive."