“Can you fix it?”
Isabella sat next to her sister the following morning at breakfast. The entire family was present in the dining hall for the first time in a fortnight, the loud buzz of conversation surrounding them.
Rosalie held the broken clasp close as she examined it. “I can have it fixed, of course, but I might have better luck getting you a new chain and blessing it.”
Isabella worried her lower lip between her teeth. “Can I carry the drakkar in my pocket in the meantime for the same effect?”
Rosalie contemplated this. “It certainly could not hurt. I don’t know if it’s the same as wearing it. No one has ever tested the theory.”
Edward leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table to see his sister-in-law around his wife. “What are the consequences of her not wearing it?”
“Well, she went for a goodly amount of time not wearing it when she gave it to you. Her immortality will slowly reverse itself, but I believe the process speeds up the longer the amulet is not worn.”
Isabella frowned. “So, I won’t suddenly become an old woman in the time it takes for you to return it to me?”
“Nay, but I shall hurry, nonetheless.” Rosalie pocketed the broken necklace, returning the charm to her sister.
“That would be odd,” Edward commented. “To see you in the form of your true age.”
Isabella’s frown deepened. “I daresay none of us would like that very much, as I am well past the age of a normal lifespan.”
Edward’s eyes widened. “How old are you, exactly?”
She cast her gaze toward the table, fingering a scratch in the wood. She had long hoped he would never ask her that question. “One hundred and fifty-seven.”
Her words were so quiet he had to strain in her direction to hear them. “The things you must have seen.”
“Aye.”
“The knowledge you must possess.”
“Aye.” When it became apparent he wasn't going to revolt from her or expect her visage to turn wrinkly and gray, she looked up at his awed expression.
“That’s astonishing. And in all that time, no man ever caught your eye?”
She gave him a warm smile. “None but you. I do not believe you can possibly comprehend the relief I felt when I came to realize how much I care for you. I was afraid something was wrong with me.”
“That’s so long to live alone.” Edward picked up her hands, softly kissing her knuckles.
“Aye. It was difficult, but I had things to occupy my mind. It wasn't until you grew up and it didn't appear we would be matched when I truly became restless.” Isabella moved in closer, her lips hovering inches from his. “Now I have you.”
“Save it for the bedchamber,” Emmett remarked from down the table.
Ignoring him, Isabella kissed her husband gently and pulled back. “Truthfully, it does not disgust you to think of my age?”
“Nay.” His brow beetled. “I had not thought about it before our wedding day, considering that I did not know of your immortality. After that, it was an aspect of yours which I merely accepted as a matter of fact.”
“Does it make sense to you?” Isabella barely noticed when others in the hall began to get up and leave, so absorbed was she in the conversation about their heritage.
“Carlisle explained it all. How there was a prophecy, only your Mother knew nothing of it until a visitor came to pay her respects after Rosalie’s birth. The only knowledge anyone had of the sword before that consisted of the Blood Prophecy stating it belonged to you, the royal family of the True-Sworn.”
Isabella picked up the tale. “At that time, they thought the value of the sword lay in its creation and the materials of which it’s made. The household rarely became ill, but they thought it due to the pleasant climate here in Stormcoast. However, the woman who visited told Mother her newborn baby had gifts beyond belief, and Esme had only to search the old scrolls for the truth.”
Edward looked thoughtful. “Your mother must be quite old, as well.”
“Mm.” Isabella took a sip of her drink and went back to the story. “She waited until Rosalie’s wedding day to become immortal herself. She knew how it could be done, but not the ramifications. She raised the three of us and saw us happy and grown before we were allowed to know about the secrets. She did worry about me, since I didn't have a mate. Her tradition for her daughters was to make the change with the spouse on their wedding day, but I reached that age with no signs pointing to matrimony.”
“She took a chance, then, on everyone being healthy and safe through this process. Immortality is not necessarily a prize as much as a burden.”
Isabella nodded. “Mother went first, but on the same day as Rosalie, Emmett, and Father.”
“All Rosalie has to do is say a few words over the item?” he confirmed.
“Essentially.”
“And you are the only daughter who doesn’t hold any magic.”
Isabella bristled at his statement. It had always been a sore spot for her, the fact that she had taken so long to find a mate and lacked any specific talents. The fact that she was so different from her sisters. So incredibly ordinary.
“ʼTis true,” she answered curtly.
“But you have other talents and qualities which make you special.”
She sighed. There was no use being angry with him when he hadn't meant any harm. “You would think such a thing. You are my mate, after all.”
He squeezed her hand in understanding and changed the subject. “Have you spoken to Mother recently about the prisoner?”
“Mikael is languishing beneath the keep for the time being. I know what she desires to do, but it wars with her sense of right and wrong.”
“Ha! As if he deserves such considerations.”
Isabella studied her husband’s countenance; he had regained a pallor once lost, and his eyes shone brighter than emeralds once again. He was fully rested, recovered, and he would suffer no lasting ill effects from his injuries. Her mother was fine, too, healed and back to her usual self. But, did any of that negate the trouble Mikael had caused? The lives lost could not be placed solely on Mikael’s treachery, but he was an instrumental piece in the deception which allowed The Forsaken the chance to gain the upper hand. If not for Mikael, their success against the True-Sworn would not have been as likely or as thorough.
“I agree with you, husband, but Mother thinks at all times of the greater good above the desires of the few.”
"Then he will gain forgiveness? That would be unthinkable."
She was shaking her head before he even finished speaking. "Nay, but she has considered leaving him in prison rather than executing him."
"She took swift action after discovering the other traitors. Why be lenient with Mikael?"
“She blames herself, thinking she should have seen it coming or meted punishment at the first hint that he was dirty. Mother believes she should have accepted Tanja’s offer to execute him after our first ride out turned fruitless.”
“She can’t take everything on her shoulders,” he protested.
“As the chieftess, she can and does take all responsibility. It has been so for as long as I can remember. I have told her; Alise has told her. Rosalie has certainly made her opinion known quite vociferously.”
“And Father?”
Now Isabella sat with her side resting against the table, her body angled to face her mate. “Father has changed since the battle. Have you noticed it?”
Automatically, Edward’s gaze roamed the room in search of the man he considered his father. “He seems most reluctant to leave Mother’s side.”
“Aye. He has said many things about that night. He regrets not beheading Caius immediately, though we have told him we understand his urge to make the man suffer.”
“I have had a similar conversation with him, wherein he told me he wished he had taken more time with torturing Caius.”
Her brows lifted. “He is at odds with himself.”
“I must agree.”
“I know not what any of us can do to make him see he had the right to choose whichever path he thought best in that instance.”
Edward took up the hand she rested on the table, playing with her fingers. “I cannot imagine the way he felt seeing his wife with an ax blade buried in her heart.”
There was a commotion from behind them, and they turned at the intrusion. Isabella stood at the sight of her father, normally so calm and composed, looking wild-eyed and holding Mikael by the scruff of his neck.
“This man is a traitor!”
His words echoed throughout the room, and nobody moved. Edward looked at his wife to gauge her reaction. She looked confused.
“I should have acted more swiftly with the man who attempted to kill your chieftess. I should have beheaded him the moment I realized what he’d done. Now this man relaxes in prison instead of facing his due.”
He shoved Mikael until he fell, and the smaller man crawled rapidly across the floor, imploring the nearest warrior for help. Eleazar stared uncomprehendingly down at him, then back up at Carlisle.
“This man is guilty; we all know it. He told Isabella he provided inside information to The Forsaken for the sole purpose of taking her as his own mate.”
“Father—” she began, but he silenced her with a motion of his hand.
“He is guilty.”
Carlisle withdrew his battle ax from its place at his side, and several people in the hall shouted in his direction. Eleazar stepped between Carlisle and Mikael with his hands up.
“Your highness, I would never presume to tell you what to do, but you know our chieftess has not reached a conclusion on this man’s fate.”
“Spare me!” Mikael cried from his place on the floor. “I was a fool, but please don't kill me!”
“You deserve to die, that much is true,” Isabella said as she approached, thinking of her own disgust for him and his actions. “But Eleazar speaks the truth. Mother has the ultimate say in what happens to this scum, and she hasn't made a final ruling.”
“I don't care!” Carlisle bellowed. “There is no honor in sitting back and allowing someone such as this to breathe for one more second!”
“Father, please.”
He ignored Isabella and made a move to go around her and Eleazar.
“Demon-Hide.”
At the sound of his battle name and the acidic tone in which it was spoken, Carlisle froze.
“Place this prisoner back in his cell and see me in the war room.”
Esme left the dining hall through the same door she’d entered without any doubt that her orders would be carried out. Still, Carlisle hesitated.
“Father, please do as she says.” All Isabella could focus on was how much trouble he would be in and how in the world her mother could reconcile his actions with the fact that he was her husband.
“I’ll take him back, your highness,” Eleazar offered. “You go and speak with Esme.”
He nodded dumbly, barely focused on those around him any longer.
As the dining hall cleared out, Isabella and Edward went back to their own chambers where she paced up and down the length of the sitting room.
“I don't know what he was thinking, pulling a stunt like that.”
Edward watched her from the couch, but made no move to interfere with her manic stride. “He’s thinking that he can't believe he didn't see how Caius was a traitor beforehand. He’s thinking that his pride rides on knowing these things in enough time to protect his wife. It’s one thing to allow her to be in charge, to support her and her every thought and judgment. It’s another to sit back while she’s murdered, for all intents and purposes. Caius had no knowledge of the immortality running through your mother, and he wanted nothing more than to assassinate her in order to gain favor with our enemy. Do you understand how Father would have felt over that?”
She stopped moving to stare at him. “This is about his pride? Are you serious?”
He put his palms up. “On the one hand, he accepts that she is in charge, even celebrates it. On the other hand, he struggles with not being capable of overruling her when he believes her to be wrong.”
“He has the right to disagree with her, and does.”
“He grieves over the mistakes they both made, and he wrestles with the way to fix what went wrong when it can’t be fixed.”
With a sound of frustration, she dropped onto the couch beside him. “He risked his neck over his feelings?”
“I didn't say it was a wise move.” He shifted closer to kiss her on the temple. “Don’t you harbor ill feelings toward those who injured me?”
“Of course.”
“And you’d change it if you could? Kill them before they could kill me?”
She shuddered. “Don’t speak of yourself and death in the same sentence.” He waited silently until she relented. “Fine, I see your point. We all wish we’d rooted out the traitors before they had the chance to act.”
“Mother will be fair with him, aye?”
Isabella settled into his side, sighing when he slipped an arm around her. “I hope so.”
“Then maybe they can level justice together, as the team they are meant to be.”
“Sometimes I can’t fathom how I spent so many years on this earth without you.”
He kissed the top of her head and cherished the weight of her against him. “Now you never have to wonder again.”
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