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Later, when Sage had retired to her room, thinking about the endless possibilities of what Felix had meant when he said she would be the one to end Aro, there was a knock at her closed bedroom door. It was hesitant, a feathery tap that made her sit up straighter than she had been. She wondered if it was Seth, but there was no heartbeat from the other side. Perhaps Emmett or Esme, then.
She hurried to the door and her eyebrows rose a fraction when she saw that it was Elis, his hand held up as though he were about to knock again.
There was a pause, an awkward silence residing over the room.
Sage raised another brow.
Elis sighed, his shoulders sagging. "Hey."
"Evening," she murmured back because it was well into tomorrow and that meant there were only four days until the Volturi were scheduled to come. She did not have time for whatever nonsense Elis wanted.
"I know you're probably busy and--"
"Certainly, your ears work as well as your eyes and you knew that I was unoccupied at the moment. That is why you came, is it not?" Sage tilted her head and the gesture was demeaning, like she was speaking to a child.
Elis shrank, avoiding her eyes. "I suppose one might think that."
"So hasten this," she snapped, her earlier sympathy replaced by irritation. "Speak of what you want and then be on your way, please."
"I just--" he stopped again, running a hand through his hair and clenching his teeth. Sage could hear them grinding together.
"You what, brother?" she asked scathingly.
Elis winced as though he was hit. "I deserve that." He looked at her with imploring, begging eyes and before, she might have given into him, but now, with all she knew and what he did, she felt nothing.
Before, she had felt bad because she still wanted him to have that companionship with Seth and everyone else; they were all so close before she came and he did what he did. She wanted Seth to have that, at least.
"You deserve a lot more than what I have given you, Elis," she said in a vicious whisper, trying to unclench her hand from where it was making a print in the door. "I have said before that I knew circumstances were tough, but that did not give you the right to send word to the Volturi after you. . . after you knew."
And that was what it came down to--the fact that Elis knew everything that Aro did to her and still decided she was a monster who deserved it. That she deserved to go back.
Outside, a storm raged on, thunder pounding and lighting striking through the sky. The rain spattered against the window. Sage focused on it, if only to give herself a break from the turmoil within.
