hissed with frustration, and the shield roiled with my irritation, shifting its shape and contracting around our side.
"Easy, Bella," Zafrina whispered to me.
I clenched my teeth together.
Aro continued to concentrate on Edward's memories. Edward's head bowed, too, the muscles in his neck locking tight as he read back again everything that Aro took from him, and Aro's response to it all.
This two-way but unequal conversation continued long enough that even the guard grew uneasy. Low murmurs ran through the line until Caius barked a sharp order for silence. Jane was edging forward like she couldn't help herself, and Renata's face was rigid with distress. For a moment, I examined this powerful shield that seemed so panicky and weak; though she was useful to Aro, I could tell she was no warrior. It was not her job to fight but to protect. There was no bloodlust in her. Raw as I was, I knew that if this were between her and me, I would obliterate her.
I refocused as Aro straightened, his eyes flashing open, their expression awed and wary. He did not release Edward's hand.
Edward's muscles loosened ever so slightly.
"You see?" Edward asked, his velvet voice calm.
"Yes, I see, indeed," Aro agreed, and amazingly, he sounded almost amused. "I doubt whether any two among gods or mortals have ever seen quite so clearly."
The disciplined faces of the guard showed the same disbelief I felt.
"You have given me much to ponder, young friend," Aro continued. "Much more than I expected." Still he did not release Edward's hand, and Edward's tense stance was that of one who listens.
Edward didn't answer.
"May I meet her?" Aro asked - almost pleaded - with sudden eager interest. "I never dreamed of the existence of such a thing in all my centuries. What an addition to our histories!"
"What is this about, Aro?" Caius snapped before Edward could answer. Just the question had me pulling Renesmee around into my arms, cradling her protectively against my chest.
"Something you've never dreamed of, my practical friend. Take a moment to ponder, for the justice we intended to deliver no longer applies."
Caius hissed in surprise at his words.
"Peace, brother," Aro cautioned soothingly.
This should have been good news - these were the words we'd been hoping for, the reprieve we'd never really
thought possible. Aro had listened to the truth. Aro had admitted that the law had not been broken.
But my eyes were riveted on Edward, and I saw the muscles in his back tighten. I replayed in my head Aro's instruction for Caius to ponder, and heard the double meaning.
"Will you introduce me to your daughter?" Aro asked Edward again.
Caius was not the only one who hissed at this new revelation.
Edward nodded reluctantly. And yet, Renesmee had won over so many others. Aro always seemed the leader of the ancients. If he were on her side, could the others act against us?
Aro still gripped Edward's hand, and he now answered a question that the rest of us had not heard.
"I think a compromise on this one point is certainly acceptable, under the circumstance. We will meet in the middle."
Aro released his hand. Edward turned back toward us, and Aro joined him, throwing one arm casually over Edward's shoulder like they were the best of friends - all the while maintaining contact with Edward's skin. They began to cross the field back to our side.
The entire guard fell into step behind them. Aro raised a hand negligently without looking at them.
"Hold, my dear ones. Truly, they mean us no harm if we are peaceable."
The guard reacted to this more openly than before, with snarls and hisses of protest, but held their position. Renata, clinging closer to Aro than ever, whimpered in anxiety.
"Master," she whispered.
"Don't fret, my love," he responded. "All is well."
"Perhaps you should bring a few members of your guard with us," Edward suggested. "It will make them more comfortable."
Aro nodded as if this was a wise observation he should have thought of himself. He snapped his fingers twice. "Felix, Demetri."
The two vampires were at his side instantaneously, looking precisely the same as the last time I'd met them. Both were tall and dark-haired, Demetri hard and lean as the blade of a sword, Felix hulking and menacing as an iron-spiked cudgel.
The five of them stopped in the middle of the snowy field.
"Bella," Edward called. "Bring Renesmee... and a few friends."
I took a deep breath. My body was tight with opposition. The idea of taking Renesmee into the center of the conflict... But I