“You’d better make her sit before she falls,” Alice said. “She’s going to pieces.”
It was only then that I realize I was shaking, shaking hard, my entire frame vibrating until my teeth chattered and the room around me seemed to wobble and blur in my eyes. For one wild second, I wondered if this was how Jacob felt just before exploding into a werewolf.
I heard a sound that didn’t make sense, a strange, ripping counterpart to the otherwise cheery background music. Distracted by the shaking, I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
“Shh, Bella, shh,” Edward said as he pulled me to the sofa farthest away from the curious human at the desk.
“I think she’s having hysterics. Maybe you should slap her,” Alice suggested.
Edward threw a frantic glance at her.
Then I understood. Oh. The noise was me. The ripping sound was the sobs coming from my chest. That’s what was shaking me.
“It’s all right, you’re safe, it’s all right,” he chanted again and again. He pulled me onto his lap and tucked the thick wool cloak around me, protecting me from his cold skin.
I knew it was stupid to react like this. Who knew how much time I had to look at his face? He was saved, and I was saved, and he could leave me as soon as we were free. To have my eyes so filled with tears that I could not see his features clearly was wasteful—insanity.
But, behind my eyes where the tears could not wash the image away, I could still see the panicked face of the tiny woman with the rosary.
“All those people,” I sobbed.
“I know,” he whispered.
“It’s so horrible.”
“Yes, it is. I wish you hadn’t had to see that.”
I rested my head against his cold chest, using the thick cloak to wipe my eyes. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself.
“Is there anything I can get you?” a voice asked politely. It was Gianna, leaning over Edward’s shoulder with a look that was both concerned and yet still professional and detached at the same time. It didn’t seem to bother her that her face was inches from a hostile vampire. She was either totally oblivious, or very good at her job.
“No,” Edward answered coldly.
She nodded, smiled at me, and then disappeared.
I waited until she was out of hearing range. “Does she know what’s going on here?” I demanded, my voice low and hoarse. I was getting control of myself, my breathing evening out.
“Yes. She knows everything,” Edward told me.
“Does she know they’re going to kill her someday?”
“She’s knows it’s a possibility,” he said.
That surprised me.
Edward’s face was hard to read. “She’s hoping they’ll decide to keep her.”
I felt the blood leave my face. “She wants to be one of them?”
He nodded once, his eyes sharp on my face, watching my reaction.
I shuddered. “How can she want that?” I whispered, more to myself than really looking for an answer. “How can she watch those people file through to that hideous room and want to be a part of that?”
Edward didn’t answer. His expression twisted in response to something I’d said.
As I stared at his too beautiful face, trying to understand the change, it suddenly struck me that I was really here, in Edward’s arms, however fleetingly, and that we were not—at this exact moment—about to be killed.
“Oh, Edward,” I cried, and I was sobbing again. It was such a stupid reaction. The tears were too thick for me to see his face again, and that was inexcusable. I only had until sunset for sure. Like a fairy tale again, with deadlines that ended the magic.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, still anxious, rubbing my back with gentle pats.
I wrapped my arms around his neck—what was the worst he could do? Just push me away—and hugged myself closer to him. “Is it really sick for me to be happy right now?” I asked. My voice broke twice.
He didn’t push me away. He pulled me tight against his ice-hard chest, so tight it was hard to breathe, even with my lungs securely intact. “I know exactly what you mean,” he whispered. “But we have lots of reasons to be happy. For one, we’re alive.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “That’s a good one.”
“And together,” he breathed. His breath was so sweet it made my head swim.
I just nodded, sure that he did not place the same weight on that consideration as I did.
“And, with any luck, we’ll still be alive tomorrow.”
“Hopefully,” I said uneasily.
“The outlook is quite good,” Alice assured me. She’d been so quiet, I’d almost forgotten her presence. “I’ll see Jasper in less than twenty-four hours,” she added in a satisfied tone.