Caius
Isabella's arm tightened around my own and her heart stuttered with what I'm sure is grudgingly given sympathy when, after Edward's whispered words and apparent epiphany, he immediately lurched into a violent expulsion of at least half the blood he had just consumed.
How unfortunate. Such a waste.
The Cullens swarmed around him and, having received a nod from Aro, Felix and Demitri released him into their care. "Oh Edward!," the pseudo-mother cried as she clutched his head to her chest. "Are you alright?"
If she didn't stop pulling so hard he wasn't going to be... That neck hadn't fully healed yet. Aro, in his infinite wisdom, stepped away slowly from the spectacle unfolding before us all and returned to the dais. Both parents murmured empty assurances to their son, who had managed I noticed, to withhold enough blood in his deprived system to at least maintain the slightest rubicund tincture in his previously black eyes. He would require feeding again much sooner now than he should have.
I felt my lip curl as I listened to the pathetic cooing below. At least it was only the parents. The blonde female and her robust mate stood aloof, while Jasper and his tiny wife made no attempt to hide the fact that they were far more concerned for Isabella than their spurious sibling.
Aro shifted close enough to catch my eye. Apparently he and Marcus had already decided our need to discuss whatever it was Aro saw inside Edward's mind. I nodded my understanding and looked to my dearest to see if she would be accompanying me.
"We must hold a short council," I murmured in her ear. "Would you prefer to hear what is said, which will most likely be unpleasant, or would you rather stay with Jane?"
Her eyes swept briefly over the spectacle created by the shaking and sobbing Edward held in the arms of his doting parents and signed without hesitation.
'I'm coming with you.'
I nodded and lifted the hand on my arm to press a brief kiss to her knuckles before guiding her to follow my brothers through the rear exit of the chamber.
OooOooOooO
"Oh the things I saw inside his mind!" Aro exclaimed as soon as we were all settled within his personal study. "So much information! It was rather overwhelming." He breathed.
I rolled my eyes at my brothers glee. Leave it to him to ignore the situation at hand in favor of his inexhaustible fascination with the extraordinary.
"Yes Aro, I'm sure you will extol the teeming contents of his mind to us for centuries to come. But for now, what can you tell us that pertains directly to the matter at hand? Is he guilty? If so, what punishment shall we assign him?"
Aro visibly deflated. "Without the onset of his psychotic break, Edward would not have attempted a renewal of his relationship with Isabella." He admitted soberly. "What that means for us is not exactly clear. We are dealing with a legitimate case of temporary insanity, but it did not affect Mr. Cullen until after his crime was committed."
'Psychotic break? Renewed relationship?' Isabella's hands flew through her questions. 'What in the world is he talking about?'
"She asks for clarification of Mr. Cullen's mental episode and of your reference to a continuation of their connection, Aro." I prayed, for her sake, that my brother would censor his report.
"Ah. Well, you knew already that your blood called strongly to Mr. Edward Cullen?" At Isabella's nod he continued. "It actually did much more than that to him in the long run." He supplied ominously.
She tilted her head as her frustrated expression morphed to one of perplexed confusion. "You see my dear," he continued, "we are not meant to go against our nature. Our health, indeed our very sanity, depends on us respecting our body's needs."
She nodded, confirming her understanding.
"By rejecting his very real need for your blood, he consigned himself to a slow descent into madness." Her eyes flew wide at this and she burst forth with another question.
'Why aren't all the Cullens crazy then?' A pause, a furrowed brow. 'Or are they affected as well?'
"It was not my primary focus, but I did notice that one other in the Cullen coven has crossed paths with their singer. Emmett did not hesitate to answer the call. As for the others, I do believe, given time, the departure from human blood could and would affect them all negatively. The result was more dramatic in Edward's case because it wasn't just any old human blood he was refusing." Aro didn't need to remind anyone about Isabella being the boy's singer.
"In a way, the boy has done you a great service Caius." Marcus intoned after a short silence. "For if he had obeyed nature, you would have most definitely spent eternity alone."
"He is guilty of breaking the law!" I exploded. "Period! I refuse to be indebted to that sniveling coward."
"In light of how we have profited from the boy's torture, by gaining Isabella into our family," Aro began hesitantly, "I feel he should be put into Volturi service and held firmly under Chelsea's control for no fewer than one hundred years. This will give the boy a chance to grow in a way he was not able to do while stifled by Carlisle's moral statutes. I assume this would be a most welcome alternative for him and his coven compared to immediate termination."
"You are allowed your opinions Aro, and I have my own as well." I snarled. "I see no good reason to keep him. He is foolish and adds nothing to our resources that we do not already possess. Keeping him amongst us is dangerous. Mark my words brother, if you keep him here nothing good will come from it."
"I am afraid I must agree with Aro." Marcus supplied, holding up a placating hand. "At least in the sense that the boy should be given a small chance to regain his natural equilibrium. What do you think Isabella?" Marcus asked, forestalling my next round of venomous exclamations."
'I.' She signed just before she dropped her hands, a look of distaste gracing her lovely face. 'I don't like the idea of permanently terminating what should be an eternity of existence if he really has been mentally affected. If he can be fixed, I guess I would say fix him.'
She turned guilty eyes up to me and I pulled her to me. "I am not, and will never be angry with you for having a different opinion than my own. I have no use for the boy, but I am fully accustomed to being outnumbered when verdict time rolls around."
I sighed. "Very well, but if he so much as drools in Isabella's direction..." I trailed off, glaring at my brothers.
Two solemn nods were given in return.