He took the contents of the box, the ribbon, leaf, rock, bit of rope, bone, and of course the ashes, and put them in one of the other boxes at the top of her wardrobe. He ran his hands over the bejeweled surface of the box once again and let out a deep, heavy sigh that seemed to come from the very depths of his soul.

Why was he doing this? Why was he giving this bit of her up to a girl he hardly knew? He knew that the box was worth a small fortune, priceless really. It was nearly worth as much as the necklace that Aro intended to gift the girl. 

He knew why Aro was giving the gift to the girl. It was part warning, part bribe. He was warning the girl that he was still watching, waiting, and he wanted to show her just how generous he could be if she became part of their guard.

He doubted it would work.

He was hoping it wouldn’t.

When he gave the box to Aro, his brother barely glanced at the box as he placed Queen Edith’s Sphere, a rather beautiful, if ostentatious necklace, inside along with his note to Bella. He looked to Marcus with his ever present smile.

“Will you include a note to our Bella, brother?”

Marcus simply shook his head and drifted from the room again. No, he would not include a note. What was there to say? He still hadn’t truly figured out why he was sending the box. Perhaps it was his silent way of showing his support, though of course Bella and Edward would have no earthly way of knowing that was what he was doing.

Strangely enough, he didn’t see the girl, whether she was still mortal or already turned, using the necklace; some women didn’t not like such extravagance. Didyme had been like that.

Didyme.

He still remembered that as fashions had changed from the loose fitting folds of draping fabric that had been preferred by the Romans to more grandiose designs of later time periods. She had found these fashions to be too constricting and had continued to prefer her own mode of dressing.

He had found her to be a breath of fresh air to their coven after the way Sulpicia and Athenadora acted, insisting on a lavish lifestyle where they had the latest in styles and jewels. She had been her own person. She wanted to be comfortable and wore gowns in the Roman fashion for centuries after others had begun to view it as a style that was limited to statues and other representations of the time.