"We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly,

all at once, before a word has been spoken."

- Fydor Dostoevsky

BPOV

Bella winced as every eye in the room turned to stare at her.

In reality there was actually only thirty or so people in the hall but the way they were staring at her Bella felt as if she was standing stark naked in front of the entire kingdom. A few of the faces were curious, a couple even oddly admiring but the majority stared at her with unmasked dislike, even hatred. Bella's eyes caught on a man standing to the far left, he was stunning and she was momentarily left breathless by this beautiful stranger, he was tall and lean, his face had a regal air to it with high-set cheek bones and a strong jaw but it was his eyes that caught her. They were large and fringed with dark lashes, deep, dazzling, emerald green orbs that were narrowed in hatred, after meeting hers he turned away in apparent disgust.

Bella looked ahead, trying to dispel the unnerving image and was greeted by who she could only assume was King Carlisle Volturi coming forward to greet her. Carlisle was attractive and seemed too young to have children her age, his hair still full and a dark gold colour, he exuded great strength and intelligence like a king should but he greeted her with warmth and familiarity, as if their families hadn't been at war for decades, Bella instantly like him.

"Isabella, I'm so glad you could come, I am Carlisle Volturi, please just call me Carlisle," he smiled warmly into her eyes while taking her hand and placing a kiss on her knuckles, not giving her a chance to curtsy, which was lucky as Bella doubted she had the balance. He then turned and held out his hand, a beautiful woman floated to his side "and this is my wife Esme," Esme looked at Bella with touchingly sincere concern and warmth as she asked how Bella's journey had been. Bella blinked after a moment, finally coming out of her shocked daze enough to answer.

"It was fine thank you, and please call me Bella." She smiled shyly back at the couple.

"Ofcourse, now come, we must introduce you to everyone." Bella's attention shifted, momentarily, to her surrounding, the entire room was paved in white marble, excepting the huge windows that took up most of the walls, Bella imagined normally it would have a clean, pristine and elegant feel to it but the light from the setting sun had lit the room on fire, turning everything shades of rosy pink and deep gold and warming everything. Bella was so absorbed in her surroundings that she had barely noticed where they were leading her, and so she was shocked when they stopped in front of the hostile man with the beautiful eyes. Bella inwardly gasped, no this couldn't be-

"Bella this is Edward Masen, your new personal bodyguard."

Bella breathed a sigh of relief until she realised, this man, who seemed to hate her so much, would be forced to accompany her everywhere and would be responsible for her safety. Carlisle misconstruing her expression quickly assured her she would be keeping her current guards as well.

Edward gave her a tight nod, quickly looking away. Confusion made Bella glance around the room, if this wasn't Laurent then who was?

Carlisle, interpreting her confusion, winced, as he talked he began leading her back to the centre of the room, "our son Laurent is out hunting with his brother Jasper, we weren't expecting you for a few hours, you see but he'll be back for the feast."

Bella accepted this, silently grateful that she could postpone meeting him for a couple of hours, then something else occurred to her.

"Feast?"

"Well it's actually more of a small ball but yes."

"What's the occasion?" Bella asked weakly, her head already reeling at the idea of more witnesses to her humiliation.

"You ofcourse!" Carlisle answered with a chuckle, Bella's stomach made a panicked lunge at her throat while another part of Bella died of the horror, this could not get any worse.

"Ah now may I introduce my daughter Rosalie. Rosalie this is Bella."

Apparently it could, they had stopped at a stunningly beautiful blond dressed in a blood-red gown, Bella suddenly felt very plain in her simple blue dress and blushed. Rosalie sneered at her condescendingly before turning away, not bothering to give any further sign of acknowledgement. Carlisle seemed embarrassed by his daughter's behaviour and hurried Bella over to meet a girl named Jessica, after that Bella stopped remembering names or faces, her mind too busy and overworked to hold them for long.

After introducing her to everyone, Esme seemed to sense that she would need a rest and had a manservant take her to her rooms, Bella was surprised to see that Edward was following a few paces behind, it made her feel intensely awkward.

EPOV

Edward silently contemplated his new charge, she was beautiful, he grudgingly gave her that, she had chocolate hair that was swept up in a complicated style, she wore a simple deep blue dress that complimented her almost translucent skin, her eyes were the same chocolate brown as her hair but somehow deeper and more velvety. It had not gone unnoticed by the court either, Edward remembered his disgust at some of the blatant leering of the other males in the room and Rosalie's obvious jealousy at having the attention stolen from her.

As Edward had been silently musing they had reached her room, Bella reached for the door and Edward noticed she was trembling, he suddenly felt terribly for his behaviour towards her.

"Bella…"

"Yes?" She murmured turning to stare at him.

"Welcome to Forks."

A/N: Huh, I just realised I don't have any Cullens in this story, maybe I should make Emmett's last name Cullen, read and review. Oh yeah and I added quotes