The characters do not belong to me. They all belong to the very talented Stephenie Meyer!
"Alice," I whispered, urgently shaking her shoulders. Rose stood at the door with a candle lit and our traveling bags at her feet. "We need to leave now!". Alice sat up sleepily rubbing her eyes. Wasting no time I threw a plain, homespun dress at her and demanded she put it on.
At last, Alice was ready. Rose, Alice and I quietly crept down the servants' staircase and through the hall to the kitchen door. Praying that our absence hadn't been detected yet, we slipped out and ran through the alleyway and down the cobble stone streets to the docks where our passage was waiting for us.
Once we were safely in our cabin, Alice demanded answers. "Why are we leaving now? We weren't scheduled to leave for at least a fortnight!"
I reluctantly answered. It was her father we were talking about after all. "Uncle Laurent decided he couldn't wait to marry us off to the highest bidder. He is too far in debt to the moneylenders. We were sold as mistresses on the auction block last night to settle the debt. The only reason we found out about it is Jeeves told Rose that he was up to something, and Rose followed Laurent to the meeting. I'm sorry, Alice."
"Bella? My own father?" Alice cried. Her chin was trembling and tears filled her eyes. Rose and I sat on her bed and wrapped our arms around her, giving her the only comfort we could. As cousins and best friends we had always been there for each other, no matter what. The room was quiet as each of us thought of what the future held for three innocent girls with no money and no connections in a foreign land.