Rowan Cullen was fourteen years old when she chose to run away from her abusive father.

Fourteen years old when she chose to stay with the Cullens.

Fourteen years old when she chose to trust them and keep their secret.

She was eighteen when she chose to help rescue Edward from the Volturi, even though it could mean certain death.

Eighteen when she chose to stand between Bella and her executioner.

Eighteen when she met her mates, kings of the vampire world.

Eighteen when she chose to trust them and eighteen when she fell in love with them.

She was nineteen when she was kidnapped by her father and nineteen when she chose not to be a victim any more.

Nineteen when she killed him and watched him die.

She was nineteen when she chose mercy over anger and forgiveness over resentment despite what her family hid.

Nineteen when her mates proposed and she said yes.

Nineteen when Aro chose truth over lies and life fell apart.

Nineteen and faced with hard choices.

And Rowan Cullen is ready to make those hard choices.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ V ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Welcome one and all to Penance! I've been very excited about this one for a while. Hope you enjoyed this prologue, a throwback to the prologue of Tenebrous and hopefully a highlight of the darker tone of this story. I'm glad you're all back with me here! If you haven't read Tenebrous already, make sure to do so before you dive into Tenebrous (or don't, I'm not a cop). Regardless, spoilers about circumstances of Tenebrous' epilogue below, so don't say I didn't warn you:

Some of you guys are seriously freaking out over the tracker mentioned in the epilogue. Please calm down. It wasn't Demetri. I would never do our boy dirty like that. Not to mention if I did, you all would probably hunt me down. Kudos if you can guess who it actually is (yes, it was someone mentioned in the Twilight saga).

One other note: this story is cross-posted on Wattpad under the username LiveLaughLoki if you want to check it out. There's a couple extra "chapters" (such as a cast chapter) that are difficult to include her on but are located in that version of the story. Anyway, I'm super excited to go on this journey with you guys and I hope you enjoy what is to come! I'll see you (hopefully) soon with the first official chapter of Penance!