I hadn't always been so damn dramatic. Judge, jury, and executioner, honestly. But I suppose living in Volterra had brought it out in me. That didn't make the nervous looks on their faces any less satisfying, however. No one seemed completely sure of what to say, especially with Emmett staring daggers at them from over my shoulder, and so my eyes flicked from Cullen to Cullen before finally settling on Bella.

"Bella," I said, my voice losing some of its sharpness, "I've heard the story from Emmett. But I want to see what you have to say. Ness is your daughter, after all."

"When we first found out I was pregnant, after everyone here found out, the next person I wanted to tell was you," Bella said, the words tumbling out of her mouth in a near-tangled mess. "I think everyone was in agreement until Edward said that with our divided reaction towards the baby there was no telling what the Volturi would do after hearing the story from you."

"I would have hid it. If you had asked," I said quietly.

"I know. And that's what I said. But Carlisle and Esme agreed with Edward after hearing his argument, and Rose just wanted the baby safe, so she agreed with him, too. Alice said that keeping this from you was a bad idea, and she, Jasper, and Emmett were with me in opposing not telling you anything. But I guess my vote didn't count, or something, because it was decided that you would be kept in the dark." She paused, glancing at Edward with something close to resentment, and continued. "I wanted to tell you so badly. I mean, you're my best friend, of course I didn't want to keep this from you! But I couldn't tell you without everyone hearing and stopping me before I could spill the whole story, and I knew that a phone call would be the only way to truly explain everything. I was pregnant, weak, and backed into a corner. But that's not much of an excuse. I should have tried to tell you in spite of what everyone else thought. I'm sorry, Rowan. Really, I am."

Bella's story lined up perfectly with Emmett's, and I knew she was telling the truth; she had always been an awful liar. I nodded. "I believe you, Bella. But what about after Ness was born?"

"That was my fault. Again." Edward had his hands shoved in his pockets and a guilty gleam in his eye. "I was nervous about how the kings may react to the news of a hybrid child. It was something no one ever had encountered before. So I convinced Bella to keep the secret for Renesmee's protection, and the rest of my family followed our wishes."

"You mean your wishes?" I asked, taking a couple steps forward. "This whole thing could have been avoided if you had just trusted me as your sister, Edward! Because that's what I am! I am part of this family just like you! We are equals! I forgave you when you forced us to move after Bella's birthday. I forgave you after we had to travel to Italy to prevent you from killing yourself. But I am not sure..." I trailed off, my fingers curling into a fist. "I'm not sure I can forgive you for this, Edward."

"I understand," he said quietly, his eyes dropping to the floor as he refused to meet my gaze.

"As for the rest of you, well... I expected better. Alice, Jasper, either of you could have reached out to me without getting caught, unlike Bella. And Rose..." I met her eyes, which were brimming with sadness and regret. "You know what you did."

I turned on my heel and strode out of the room. Demetri and Felix were waiting on the other side of the door and fell in step beside me as I exited.

"The masters are still discussing, but if you would like us to bring you to them, I doubt very much that they would mind," Demetri said, making no comment to the conversation that had just taken place.

"No, thank you. I need to be on my own for a little while," I said, zipping up my coat as I walked out the back door. Now that I was away from everything, my anger slipped away and all I could feel was the stinging hurt of my family's betrayal.

"No offense, but you don't look like you should be alone. Not because we don't think you can't handle this on your own, but sometimes it's easier to not be," Felix said gently.

I picked up the pace as I weaved thoughtlessly through the familiar forest. "I would rather-"

"We get it," Demetri said.

I whipped around to face them. Anger at them, at my family, at anyone, boiled in my blood. "Do you? Because I don't think you do."

"Yes, Rowan. We do. We've been around a long time. Of course we know how you feel." Demetri didn't look fazed by my outburst. "Look, this sucks. It's personal, and it hurts. But withdrawing and not letting yourself feel won't solve anything. It never does."

"They're my family!" I shouted, my voice echoing loudly through the bare trees. Rebellious, hot tears streaked down my face. "And they just- they just threw me away! Like I didn't even matter! Like I didn't deserve to know, or- or I couldn't be trusted! My own family! They-" I cut off, shoulders still heaving as I cried.

Felix hesitantly put a consoling arm around my shoulders and I immediately, without thinking, pressed my face into his chest as I continued to sob. He squeezed my arm and I heard him murmur indecipherable words to Demetri. I knew I was being stupid, I knew it. This was no way for a queen to act. But I was angry and sad and-

"Oh, mia cara, come here," Aro said, and I stepped away from Felix to be enveloped in Aro's embrace instead. Caius and Marcus were with him, and I heard Marcus quietly thank and dismiss my two guards. I clung to Aro as my tears subsided; my family's actions seemed less harsh in their presence, as if their very existence had taken away its sting.

"Sorry," I mumbled, wiping my face with my jacket sleeve and pulling away from Aro's chest. He kept an arm around my waist, thumb gently rubbing my hip bone.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, amore. Your family are the ones who should be sorry," Caius said, frowning. "I can make them-"

"Brother," Marcus interrupted, warning clear in his tone. "Violence is not the way to handle this. You know that."

"What have you decided about Renesmee?" I asked, trying to pretend I hadn't been having an emotional breakdown not two minutes before.

"She doesn't appear to be a threat to our kind," Aro said. "We will, however, check in on her progress every few months. And this discovery of hybrids will require further information, as we would be fools to think that the Cullens were the first to encounter a scenario like this. We will need to discover the full extent of a hybrid's similarities to us and determine whether new laws will need to be enacted because of it."

"It sounds like we have our work cut out for us, then," I said.

"Yes. How long are you wishing to stay here?" Marcus asked. "Would you rather spend Christmas here, or in Volterra?"

"I don't know. Not very long. I want to visit the Denalis and then travel back to Volterra for Christmas. They didn't have any idea of what was going on, either. I have no reason to be angry at them. And I want to thank Irina again for telling me what was going on." Irina had flown out to Port Angeles with us but opted to return to Alaska on landing.

"That sounds perfectly reasonable," Marcus said. "We ought to thank her too, I suppose, for bringing this to our attention."

"Shall we return to the house? It's cold out, and I wouldn't want to risk you becoming ill," Aro said.

"We can go back to the house. I feel like I should talk to M- Rose alone, anyway. Edward, too. Get all the hard conversations out of the way at once," I said resignedly, slipping my arm through the one that Aro offered me and trudging back towards the house.

"You don't have to talk to them now. You should wait until you feel up to it," Caius said.

I shook my head. "What good does delaying the inevitable do? It's better to talk to them and get it over with, rather than having it hang over my head."

"While you talk things over with Rosalie, I think we will speak with Bella and Edward about talking more closely with Renesmee, and find out what they know about hybrid children from what they've observed," Aro said.

"Though if you need us, please call," Marcus said.

"I think this is something I have to handle on my own." After a few more minutes of walking, I was able to glimpse the house through the trees, and another couple found me back inside. Most of the family had dispersed, returning to their own activities, though there was still an undercurrent of unease running throughout the house. I knew, without having to look, where I would find Rose.

I descended the stairs to the garage, taking a breath before I opened the door and walked inside. The lights were already on, proving my hunch was correct. Rose was leaned over the motor of one of her projects, wrench in hand; she always went to tinkering when she was stressed.

I slipped my hands in my pockets as I walked closer. "I think we need to talk."

She straightened, shutting the hood of the car before turning to hesitantly meet my eyes. "That would be nice," she said quietly.

"I'm really hurt," I began, starting to pace as I spoke, "that you didn't tell me anything. Or- or thought it was okay, not to tell me anything. I mean, you went along with it. But I feel I owe you more than to just... shut you out without even hearing what you have to say."

"I appreciate that, Rowan. So much. I was scared that-" Rose cut off, took a shuddering breath, and picked up two stools for us instead. When we were both seated, Rose took another unnecessary, wavering breath, and began speaking. "I don't think anyone believed it would ever get to this point. I won't lie to you, Rowan; you deserve my honesty, but I let you down. I let you down and I'm supposed to be your mother - though I probably don't deserve that distinction anymore.

"I got distracted. Bella called me and said she was going to have a baby and was scared that Edward would force her to terminate the pregnancy. She wanted someone who would be on her side, and it was a baby - a baby - so of course I agreed to help her. I thought, once the initial shock was over, we would fill you in on the details, that your connection with the kings could possibly give us information that would help keep Bella alive through the course of the pregnancy, but..."

"That's not what happened," I finished flatly.

"Right. You'd think that, being on Bella's side, I wouldn't have listened to Edward. Bella wanted you here, but Edward didn't- no, don't make that face, it's not because he doesn't trust you. I think he trusts you the most out of all of us, other than Bella and maybe Carlisle. He thought it would be too much for Bella, and he was scared, I think; scared that the kings would see Bella and the baby as an experiment of some sort for them to observe. It only got worse after he realized he could hear Renesmee's thoughts, and even though I wanted to tell you, I really, really did, there was a big part of me that agreed with him," Rose said, her words coming out in a rush.

"So you thought that I'd allow my mates, who hold my opinion and needs higher than even their own, to treat my best friend as some sort of- of human science experiment? I can understand that you would fear something like that, but to think that I wouldn't put a stop to it the instant I caught whiff of such a deplorable scheme is more hurtful than the original assumption."

"I know, and I feel awful. Emmett and I had a... disagreement right before you found out everything from Irina, he basically said what you did, and I felt sick that I could ever even think that you would consider allowing something like that to happen."

"Emmett never told me that," I said quietly.

"Because I never got the chance to tell him that he had finally, for lack of better words, pulled my head out of my ass. Shortly after our conversation, you called Edward, and of course there was no chance of a private conversation after that. He managed to slip away sometime early in the morning and I didn't notice until it was too late so I couldn't follow him. I stopped Edward from going after him instead, since I knew he went to talk to you. He never told me he was going, but... I knew."

"I'm glad that you figured things out, even if it only was just before I found out about Renesmee and everything kinda went to shit," I said, picking at a thread on my jeans. "But I still feel..." I hesitated, pondering my words. Angry? Hurt? "Betrayed."

"I don't blame you. If I was in your place, I probably wouldn't forgive me. And even though I ask - beg - for your forgiveness, I don't expect you to give it to me now, or ever. You've been hurt enough. I didn't expect to be a person that would hurt you, too," Rose said, reaching out to pat my knee.

"My mates, and the Volturi, always say they don't give second chances. I know they don't think I should give you one. But I was, and still am, a Cullen, and we always give second chances. So maybe it doesn't mean forgiveness, but... I'm willing to move past it," I said haltingly. "By Volturi standards that makes me a pushover, I'm sure, but I think we all lose our way sometimes. It's what we do to make it right that's more important."

"You're going to make a good queen, Rowan," Rose said, peering intently into my doubtful eyes. "Maybe you don't see it, but I do. The best rulers aren't marked by their might but by their ability to know when to use it. You have that ability in a way that I never did. You're better than us all, Rowan."

I studied her, trying to find anything in her expression that would indicate that she was lying, but there was no trace of deceit in her face. "I have never understood what you saw in me. I've never been anything more than your equal, if that. But for what it's worth... thanks."

"Someday, Rowan, I hope that you see in yourself what I do. But until then, you'll have to take my word for it," Rose said, giving me a small, sad smile. "I stand by what I said: you're the best of all of us. You always have been."

Edited 6/26/2021