THE TEAR HAD BEEN RUTHLESS, A STRATEGY THAT ARO HAD USED IN TIMES OF WAR TO BRUTALLY EXECUTE HIS ENEMIES.

Edward had disrespected him, and that was almost too much during his stay. How foolish he was, thinking that his ears had dulled within his thousands of years of existence, but this young vampire truly believed that if he spoke poorly about his mate, his mate, that he would get out alive.

The only reason why he wasn't being dragged off to be burned was because of Carlisle, who promised that he would discipline him. When that was not enough to calm the king, he'd pled more furiously, saying that Edward was stressed and not in the right mindset, that being frustrated would have caused this and that discipline would set him straight.

Aro had not wanted to hear what Carlisle said, knowing that since leaving the Volturi and starting his own Coven he'd grown to be a pushover. If it were when he was a part of his family, Carlisle wouldn't have turned a blind eye to Aro burning someone for this.

But this was his son, and as much as Aro hated him, he'd accepted a plea deal, for the sake of Carlisle.

He'd always bended the laws for him, and he was growing resentful of that fact with each law he broke, each time his children disrespected him. How could he govern with vampires like these? Rosalie had done what she had to do, tried to set her brother straight with that glass that he deserved, yet she'd been the questioned one.

Edward was to never speak of River again, could never discuss her with anyone, and if he ever said anything about her, positive, negative, or neutral, he would be destroyed on sight.

Bella had cried over this, saying that Edward had a right to his opinions, to which Esme had promptly shushed her.

Aro had the right to kill him, but he didn't.

Perhaps he was growing weak, going soft. He'd accused Marcus of this before he left, noting that he should be stronger and able to defend his mate against anything. Now he thought that this could be a projection. Would they all go soft when it came to their mate? Aro hated to think this, but he was wondering if there were any facts that came along with his hypothesis that with a mating bond, one does become softer.

Now he was on the phone with Jasper, demanding answers. He wouldn't burden River with his gift, he didn't desire to invade her privacy. Aro believed that he'd rather have the short gist of things rather than the whole story, that would hurt too much.

It already burned his soul to know that she'd come to Carlisle broken.

Who could do that to a human being? Aro believed that killing the evil was a merciful thing to do to the rest of the population. Before he'd been in power he'd done the same. Who would want to not get rid of a nice group of horrible people to save the lives of plenty of good humans.

Good humans could be made into nice vampires, if they proved useful enough.

Which made what little he saw so disturbing and this new knowledge of the womb of his mate so heartbreaking. What could someone do that made his mate lose such an important aspect of her youth? Whether or not she wanted to have children in the first place was irrelevant, should she not have that choice? Aro was disgusted by the idea of it being ruined for her by some monster.

Aro had often seen the good in many vampires, but the more he learned about this one... it made him question everything.

These questions came in floods that would seemingly never end. River's memories, were they intact? If they were, would she remember everything horrible this man did to her? How could she possibly feel like such a normal person with those memories in tact, if they were? What about Chrissy, she was also with this man.

This man. This man. This man who sent the letter.

This was growing to be a problem of a wider scale than Aro realized it could be. Sure, it was an issue that had snuck under his nose. But the memories of everyone had to come into question.

He hated these thoughts running through his mind. How terrible some of them were. Aro needed to find this man and kill him. He didn't even want answers from him, he didn't want his memories.

He wanted his head, just like he'd wanted Edward's on the floor.

Except with the man in the letter, he could easily throw that head in the fire.

Aro was brought back to reality with Jasper on the other side of the phone. He needed to learn what he knew.

"I don't get why you need to know so badly," Jasper said through the phone, his lack of transparency clear as he spoke. "You could just ask her yourself when you get back. She's made of honey when you treat her to something nice, she'll spill."

Ridiculous, he didn't want to have her reliving such things when she was a Newborn Vampire, but he did need to understand. Edward had said something about what he did, and he knew that Jasper knew something.

Plus, it would help them all figure out what had happened to that poor girl, and others like her. The bodies that had been laying around, could have very well been decomposing.

Damn those questions, they were starting up again.

Would that have been Wren's fate if Carlisle  hadn't gotten to her first? Given her proper medical treatment and given her a good life as a vampire? Could she have had the same issues with her womb as River? Did they share that?

How fucking horrible.

Edward's memories about this had proven useless when shoveling through them. All drama and annoyance that River got so much attention. He really was a purely petulant teenager that now he did want to kill.

"Carlisle kept it a secret from Edward, but she may have told you something that could help us locate this damned ring of Hell that exists somewhere on the planet!" Aro was beginning to lose his temper again, desperately needing to know the truth. "Jasper, did she tell you?"

"Yes," he admitted, never one to deny the Volturi any information. He knew better than to outright lie to Aro. "She doesn't remember, there was a lot of blood. It's in Carlisle's files. Do not tell him I told ya that. He'll be damned pissed if he finds out I know and told ya. It's bad enough that Wren is my mate and I haven't told him, he'll be questioning me first if this operation gets exposed."

Sure, he would be pissed that Aro was rummaging through his things. Fuck, if he had told him the full truth about his mate, this wouldn't be happening. Maybe then Aro could have found this man before he'd gotten to Wren. She could have her memories right now. She and Jasper very well could have still met.

Alice didn't act like she and Jasper weren't together still, she hadn't told anyone.

"You and Alice..." Aro trailed off.

"Broke that off. She isn't my mate and sure wasn't actin' like a darling to me last time we spoke," Jasper said honestly. "Told her through text. I'll figure out the legal stuff later."

Well, that's one way to do it.

Too bad Aro hadn't thought of that a month ago when Sulpicia still believed they would be together forever.

"How's Rose doing with Edward being all mean to her?" Jasper asked, small bits of worry showing in his voice. "Esme said she threw a glass at him. Texted me about it when it happened. Heads flew?"

"I ripped off his head for the comments, yes. And I would do it again. You would if he spoke about Wren's body that way." Of course Jasper would, anyone in their right mind would. "Disrespect like that is criminal, he's quite lucky to be alive. The only good thing that came from this is that perhaps there are some mysteries to be solved, with the evidence being in Carlisle's office."

"He doesn't like people in there, ya know?"

"Oh, fuck him then, I'll do it when he's out hunting. Fuck his privacy and fuck him for making such a bitch of a son."

---

LUNA VOLTURI HAD BEEN MEANT TO GUARD OVER THE PERIMETER OF THE CASTLE, NOT THAT SHE'D GOTTEN THAT LUCKY IN MONTHS.

Alas, she'd been redirected to the dungeons that now held Christiana Destarri, the woman that was threatening to expose vampires. It was a stupid idea to outright say that was what she was going to do, but Luna knew that humans were not always sharp or quick-witted. This girl had done herself a disservice by being difficult.

The place she stayed in was not horrible by any means. She had a shower, toilet, good food, and a comfortable bed.

She didn't talk to any of the vampires that guarded her, so this wasn't the worst shift ever. She supposed she could be on her phone while little Alec got his game boy from the Rec room (Afton had hidden it to see if he could live without it- unfortunately the fool had proven a decent point) on the other side of the castle.

Too many times had she been left alone on a shift, but nothing had ever actually happened.

It was quite common for people to leave their shifts, something that Aro sometimes turned a blind eye to if nothing happened. During this lockdown, however, people knew that the days of being willy nilly with the schedules and guarding were over. Like, over yesterday, because Luna knew that if someone was caught ditching that Caius would burn them alive.

Which is why she made sure that Alec would not get caught for this. He was an older vampire but in such a young state of mind that everyone did these things for him, allowed him to have a few childish tendencies. What was the worst that could happen from this?

Luna waited by the door of the cell, sometimes peeking in, sometimes not. This shift would last for at least twelve hours, and by the end of it she would never want to work again. Somehow Alec was taking a long time, so perhaps Afton had not hid it in the Rec room, but rather another place.

By the second hour of her shift she grew concerned for the young boy, seeing as he wasn't the kind of person to not show up for his shift. Alec was raised by Aro to be his foster son, and Aro does not let his children get away with the same nonsense that the rest of them did.

Luna knew that it was a bad idea to leave her post, but she had a bad feeling. Her gift told her that she should go look for Alec, that something bad would happen if she didn't.

Gods above, she must have searched the Rec room for twenty minutes trying to find his damned Gameboy. Those things were expensive and she knew he had some games that he loved in the little pack he got for it.

She slowly gave up, going back to her post. She was making her way down the hallway when he got a relieved feeling come over her.

That feeling lasted for the next twenty so minutes where she eventually  whistled and felt the hint of breeze on her neck. Odd, there wasn't supposed to be any air flow through this part of the castle, as once someone with an air gift broke out by using the air system they had.

She thought it was nothing until she looked over into the room, where she froze.

Nobody was in the room.