Chapter 1

EPOV

"On your feet you Spartan filth!" I tried not to visibly smirk at this pathetic guard. He spit at my feet once I had stood up and proceeded to bind my hands behind so I couldn't try anything "funny." I was a prisoner of war. But that was part of the plan. I was to pretend to have been defeated in battle. Athens was seen as sophisticated and clean but most of its citizens were as stupid as dirt.

I had been taken prisoner, stripped of my armor and weapons, and supposedly of my dignity. How very wrong they were. I was being led to the richest man in Athens who had all the power, though they had the appearance of a democracy. Whatever.

The giant doors opened and I was shoved into a large room with a long dining table in the middle of eat. In the rags I was given to wear, I was shoved down to my knees at the feet of Charlie Swan. To keep up appearences, I kept my eyes on the floor and did not speak. He ignored my for a while. Once he was finished with whatever he had been doing, he turned in my direction.

"Is this Prince Edward?"

"Yes, sir. Though I must say, he doesn't live up to his reputation. He all but fell over on the battlefield." I tried not to let my pride get the better of me. Otherwise the plan would have been ruined so I just concentrated on the floor.

"Prince Edward," Charlie said firmly.

"Yes, sir?" I answered still staring intently on the floor.

"Looks like you already know your place. You may look up," he said as if talking to a small child. I composed myself before slowly lifting my head upwards. But there was somebody there that almost changed my composure.

A woman. She was looking at me intently, with her soft, brown eyes with matching wavy hair. She had the fairest skin I had ever seen. She was beautiful, but she was the wrong person to be looking at in my position.

I felt a sudden pain, realizing I had just been hit on the my head. I grunted and let my head fall.

"STOP!" Great. Her voice was that of an angel. This woman was going to be the one to break me. I hear footsteps and then they stopped.

"Isabella! He was leering at you!"

"He was not father!" I noticed somebody kneel down in front of me and lifted my face up to examine my head.

"Isabella! Get your hands off that filth!"

Without turning around she retorted, "He's a human being father, just like the rest of us." That sure silenced him. After a moment our eyes met again.

"Are you alright?" she whispered.

"I've been better." She smiled, but it was a sad smile.

"Are you?" She froze. The look on her face told me that nobody had ever asked her that question. Yes, Athens must have been paradise. But she never answered.

"Take him back into the dungeon," Charlie ordered, bitterly. I was yanked to my feet and shoved out of the hall. When my brothers came tonight, I would be sure that Isabella would be safe.

Isabella. Her name brought a smile to my face.

"What are you smirking about!" It was a rhetorical question so I kept my mouth shut. But I kept smiling because I would see Isabella very soon.

I hadn't realized that I fell asleep until I heard screams. I knew what they meant, so I just sat up and waited. I finally hear voices coming closer and saw the guard cowering below my brother, Emmett. Anybody would, he's huge. But in a muscular way.

"Don't kill him!" My brother froze, about to stab him in the chest.

"Why not?" he whined.

"Because I want him to be a servant in our household."

"Fiiiiiiiiiine." I laughed. Emmett could always cheer my up. But the guard was petrified. I walked over to where he had put all my stuff and changed before hurrying to the big hall.

I burst the doors open to find Charlie on the floor bleeding and Isabella surrounded by my brother-in-law Jasper and a few of our men. But what I was shocked at was that she had two swords in her hands. Before I could stop him, Jasper lunged at her and they became locked in a duel. She was good. Not just good, amazing. But Jasper never lost and she ended up against the wall with his sword at her throat.

"Jasper, stop," I said calmly knowing he would not kill a woman. He turned to look at me and smiled.

"How are you Edward?" He asked without lowering his sword. She turned to me with wide eyes. Then she looked hurt. I wouldn't admit it, but I hated to think that I was the reason she looked that way.

"Jasper, lower your weapon." He looked at me concerned and I just nodded my head. She was breathing heavily, but slupped against the wall now that she didn't have anything sharp pointing at her. I slowly made my way over to her, but didn't dare to touch her for fear she would reject me.

"Are you alright?" I asked. She let out a laugh but it sounded nervous. She finally looked up at me.

"I've been better," she managed. I smiled down at her, for she was a head shorter than I was.

"Isabella, you"

"Bella." I looked at her confused.

"I prefer Bella."

"Alright then. Bella you must come with me."

"I can't, my father"

"If you do not come with me," I interrupted her, "the men who come after me, after Athens is destroyed, will not be so kind as to ask if you are alright, understand?" She stared at me for a minute, but I knew she was smart enough to figure out my meaning.

"I will make sure that your father is left alone. You have my word." She kept staring into my eyes as she was looking for something. After a moment she nodded meakly.

"Just keep your head down and stay behind me," I said but not as an order. If she was seen behind me, then it would tell everyone she was not to be touched.

We left the hall swiftly and I gave orders that Charlie Swan was to be left alone, not to be harmed any further. A set of horses was waiting for us at the gates.

"Can you ride, Bella?" She nodded. I would not have asked any other woman, but she was the only one I had seen able to wield not only one, but two blades.

"Bring another horse," I ordered. A white mare was brought to us. How fitting.

I mounted my steed right away and looked over to see Bella mount her horse. She said she could ride but seeing her actually mount a horse without any help was just another surprise. She noticed me gauking at her.

"What?"

I just shook my head.

"Let's head for home men!" Everybody cheered. Everybody except Bella. I caught her looking back at her home, now destroyed and noticed that she had tears streaking down her cheeks.

For some reason, I was determined to change that.