A/N Apologies dear readers for the delay with this chapter. Work has been kicking my ass the last few weeks

Chapter 5

Bella awoke the following morning and grunted as she tried to untangle her feet from the bed sheets. She had tossed and turned most of the night in her new bed and now she was all tangled up. The bed was perfectly fine, it was more than fine really, it was far more comfortable than the bed she had back home. No, it wasn't the bed that kept her awake, it was her husband, Edward. Specifically the conversation they had in the library the evening before.

So, Edward was all but forced into this marriage the same as her. She didn't know if that made her feel better or worse about their situation, but it certainly explained why Edward was so cold towards her. She did hope however that after their talk in the library that Edward would be more civil with her, she didn't see how they could go on as they had been. At some stage he would be expected to come to her, and they would need to produce an heir, Bella paled at the thought. She still had no idea exactly what was involved in conceiving an heir but from what she had heard the experience could be a very unpleasant one.

She resolved to do her part in this marriage to make it bearable. She had decided during her sleepless night that she would make every effort to get along with her husband, surely they could manage to be respectful to one another? Bella knew plenty of marriages within the Court of Phenix that the spouses were not particularly close, but they still managed to get along amicably enough. Perhaps she and Edward could be friends, at the very least.

Once she was washed and dressed for the day Bella headed to the family dining room to break her fast. She was greeted there by various members of the Cullen Royal family.

"Good morning, my dear," Esme greeted her with a smile as she sipped a cup of tea.

"Good morning," Bella said quietly as she made her way over to the table to make her breakfast selections. She opted for some fruit and a small bowl of porridge and made her way over to the dining table. She sat beside Rosalie who was already sitting there eating her porridge. She smiled at Bella cheerfully. Bella was surprised that Rosalie appeared to live at Mason's End even though she and Emmett were not yet married.

"Did you enjoy yourself last night?" Rosalie asked.

"Yes," Bella replied automatically, not wishing to be rude. She turned to Esme and Carlisle, "Thank you so much for welcoming me into your family."

Carlisle just waved her off with a grin and went back to eating. "Of course my dear, you are family now so we want you to feel right at home here," Esme said with another genuine smile and Bella's heart was warmed with how happily Esme welcomed her into their family.

"How did you sleep?" Rosalie asked, eyeing the bags under Bella's eyes with a suspicious gaze.

Bella shrugged a little, "not too bad, I'm sure I'll get used to my new room soon." Rosalie didn't comment further but she didn't look convinced either, she was well aware of Edward's chilly treatment of his new wife at dinner last night and knew that it must have an effect on Bella. She wanted to say more, to tell Rosalie that they had conversed later, and things were starting to look better between them but she didn't feel comfortable saying such things in from of Edward's parents.

Just then their attention was caught by Alice, who had entered the dining room. She was greeted and sat across the table from Bella once she had selected her food. She peered around the table then, obviously looking for someone, Bella assumed in was Lord Jasper.

"Where is Jas…" she blushed and caught herself before continuing, "where is everyone else?" Bella grinned at her friends slip but then sobered when she realised that, aside from Carlisle, all of the other Cullen men, and Jasper, were absent.

Carlisle cleared his throat and looked a little uncomfortable, almost as if he had assumed they already should have been aware of their absence. "Well, my sons and Jasper felt it was time to head out and tour the perimeters of the province to ensure we are safely guarded against any attacks. They are doing a military inspection of the border." Bella was sure he was not giving them the full truth, not that she expected him to, but she did notice a slight pinching of Esme's features as he spoke.

"So…they have already left? Without even saying farewell?" Bella asked incredulously. She would have at least expected them to take leave of their family first. She was Edward's wife, surely she had a right to know if her husband left for any extended period of time?

"Yes," Rosalie answered hesitantly. "Emmet took his leave this morning, he said they should only be gone a month, this time." She looked at Bella sympathetically.

"Jasper mentioned it last night as well," Alice all but whispered. "I just didn't realise they were leaving so early of I would have been there to see them off."

Bella felt her face heat. So, it appeared everyone knew but her that the men were leaving and her husband did not see fit to tell her. She was mortified, could there be any clearer sign than this that Edward did not respect her? She suddenly felt ill and could not finish her food. She mustered all of the decorum she could manage and stood up. "Excuse me please, I believe I would like to take some air." With that she turned and left the dining hall, all the while feeling the pitying looks of her family at her back. She barely held herself back from running all the way back to her bedchamber. On her way out of the dining room she passed Lady Tanya who was heading in. She curtsied to Bella, "oh, good morning Princess Isabella. I awoke early this morning to see Edward off on his mission. I told him I would tell you goodbye from him." Her smile was victorious.

Bella smiled sweetly, hiding the anger building inside of her. "Why thank you Lady Tanya, how good of you to rise so early and miss out on your beauty sleep. I would hate to see you jeopardise your health on my behalf, I am ever so grateful to you." Lady Tanya's smirk fell from her face and Bella turned on her heel and strode quickly down the hallway and up the stairs not stopping until she reached her bedchamber.

Bella was not the type of personality prone to anger. But she was certainly angry now. What right did Edward have to treat her this way? She was his wife! Neither of them may like how their marriage came about but the fact was that the were married, and he had better start treating her with some respect. She resolved to speak with him of this when he returned in a month as there really was nothing she could do until then. For now, she needed to find a way of venting her frustration so she donned her cloak and walking boots and decided she would go for a long walk.

Just as she was about to step out the front door into the chilly morning, she was surprised to see Rosalie and Alice already there waiting for her, dressed in their own walking boots and cloaks. "We thought you could use a bit of company," Alice said. Bella just smiled tightly and started to walk, Alice and Rosalie falling into step beside her.

Forks really was a beautiful place, in a wild sort of way. At Rosalie's suggestion they made their way along the cliff, not too close to the edge, heading south from Mason's End. When they reached the far end of the crescent shaped cliff, they turned to look back at the castle which looked majestic as it stood there out on the very tip of the cliffs edge.

The wind was not particularly strong, but it whipped their hair and cloaks about them and there was a slight chill in the air. The sky was covered over with light billowy clouds, which seemed to thicken as Bella watched them. At either end of the open cliffs there were thick bands of tall pine trees and they were close enough to them that Bella could catch the heady pine smell from where she stood, despite the wind. To Alice and Bella, who were used to the hot sun, this was considered a poor day weather wise, but Rosalie assured them that it was actually quite a fine day by Forks standards...because it had not yet rained.

Despite the weather and the company that she had not asked for, Bella found her mood improving slightly. They decided not to venture into the woods without a chaperone, Forks was a safe kingdom but they were still a group of women out on their own so precautions had to be taken. They sat down in the damp grass as Bella did not wish to return yet and Rosalie started to pull a few wild flowers for herself from where she sat, there was an abundance of them scattered all through the long grass in a multitude of colours.

"He didn't tell me he was leaving," Bella pouted as she picked at a piece of grass. "Why didn't he tell me?" She crushed the grass between her fingers.

"Perhaps he forgot?" Rosalie said hopefully. Bella and Alice both gave her an incredulous look and she shrugged.

"Even Jasper told Alice and they had only just met!" she exclaimed, then looked apologetically at Alice. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Alice replied gently. "Though he didn't tell me they were leaving so early this morning, otherwise I'd have made sure to tell you last night…I did look for you, but you had already retired."

"I met Edward in the library…we talked."

"That's a good thing surely. Now you…" Rosalie started but Bella cut her off.

"No Rosalie, we talked about how much he hadn't wanted to marry me at all, that he had been coerced by our fathers." Bella's mouth twisted. She had thought their conversation last night was some sort of breakthrough, evidently, she had been mistaken. She looked at Alice accusingly, "you could have come to my bedchamber last night and told me!"

Alice pinked, "no Bella, I couldn't. What if Edward was there...with you?"

Now it was Bella's turn to blush, she felt her whole being get hot. "Oh, I didn't think of that. But he wasn't! You know he doesn't visit me like that Alice."

"Wait," Rosalie asked, her mouth agape and her palms raised in the air, her wild flowers all but forgotten on the ground, "are you saying you haven't yet consummated your marriage?"

Embarrassed, Bella merely nodded and stared hard down at her tangled fingers. She expected Rosalie to be surprised, what she didn't expect was the concern she saw when she finally looked up. "What? Surely that cannot matter now, we are married after all."

"Of course it matters!" Rosalie shrieked. "If your marriage is not consummated then it can still be annulled, I'm not saying that would happen Bella, but you won't have a secure marriage until you lie with your husband."

"What exactly happens when…" Alice started, ever curious about the marriage bed.

"Never mind that now," Rosalie almost snapped but Bella caught the hint of discomfort in her tone. It appeared Rosalie was not as innocent as they were in these matters. "Does anybody else know of this?"

"I doubt it, maybe Emmet?" Bella replied. Was this true? Could her marriage be annulled because her husband refused to lie with her? Then it clicked with her, maybe this was Edward's plan all along. Perhaps he regretted this marriage so much he planned on having it terminated. As a man and heir to a kingdom he would marry again with little scandal but as a woman, Bella was pretty sure her reputation would be destroyed. To be sent back to Phenix in disgrace by a husband that did not want her.

"Well, Emmet won't say anything at least," Rosalie muttered, and Bella could see the calculating look on her face. "You need to fix this Bella, as soon as Edward comes home you need to consummate your marriage. Just get it done."

"How do I do that?" Bella asked, and then another question popped into her head do I even want to? Did she want to stay with Edward? She didn't have an answer to that question. She did not want to return to Phenix in dishonour but neither did she want to live a life with a man who did not want her. She was getting a headache from this conversation. Perhaps if Edward discarded her she could find somewhere else to go, obviously the East was not an option, but what about the North? She really knew very little of Volterra, except that it was freezing cold and their notoriously private royal family line stretched back for generations. The North tended to keep to themselves, never interacting with the other three provinces to her knowledge other than for trade and the odd arranged marriage every now and again. Now that she considered it, that did not seem like the type of place that would welcome a disgraced Princess from the South.

Rosalie snorted, "he is a man, men do not refuse what is freely given to them."

"Are you saying that Bella needs to seduce her husband?" Alice squeaked.

"That is exactly what I'm saying," Rosalie confirmed as she stood up. "Come on, we have some work to do." With that she turned and headed back to the castle, with a bewildered Bella and Alice trailing behind her.

"She is insane," Alice whispered to Bella.

"I know, I can't just…just take all of my clothes off and jump into my husband's bed, that is crazy!" Bella paled at the thought, she could never allow Edward to see all of her burn scarring. He would most certainly insist on an annulment if he saw the extent of her ruined skin. For the last few days Rosalie had been up with all kinds of plans for Bella to seduce Edward when he got home. She was careful not to reveal what would actually physically happen between them, but Bella had a feeling that Rosalie knew more than she was letting on. Rosalie was eighteen and the plans for her wedding to Emmet were well under way, in fact they were to be married shortly after his return from his border tour. And she lived in the same castle as her betrothed, yeah, Bella was pretty sure Rosalie had some idea already of what would occur on her wedding night.

But Bella didn't and this made her almost hyperventilate at some of the suggestions Rosalie had made. Some of them just felt downright wrong. Why would she need to be undressed? Would Edward also need to be undressed? The thought made her squirm, and not completely in a bad way. Which just terrified her all the more.

To distract herself from Rosalie and her suggestions, Bella spent a lot of her time with her new family members, except for Tanya whose overly false sweetness was beginning to grate on her nerves. Other than Tanya though Bella loved her new family, especially Esme and little Maggie. Princess Margaret, she detested the name, was the ten-year-old daughter of King Carlisle's sister Princess Siobhan and her husband Lord Liam. Siobhan, none of the family would allow Bella to use their titles, was five years younger than Carlisle and had married Liam when she was eighteen. Unfortunately she had never become with child and had been considered to be barren, so it was a shock to everyone that after twelve years of marriage she became with child and Maggie was born. As the youngest Princess in the family, and by far the sweetest, Maggie was quite spoiled by everyone but she was a good child if a little wild at times. But that just added to her appeal, she was adorable with her jet-black ringlets and freckled face and when she pouted at you there was no way to refuse her whatever she wanted. And from the way she spoke about Edward people would be forgiven for thinking the man was a saint, Bella just smirked at this. Her husband was no saint.

Bella also got along well with Maggie's parents, particularly Siobhan, and most of Edward's cousins, excepting Tanya. Princess Kate, Tanya's sister, was only a little older than Bella herself and was recently married to Lord Garret and she was deliriously happy from what Bella could tell. She had seen Tanya rolling her eyes a few times behind her sister's back, she assumed that this was due to jealousy because Tanya remained unmarried even though she was the oldest sister. There was also a third sister, Princess Irina, but she had eloped with a much older man, the head of the Nomadian fleet Admiral Vladimir. It was not an approved match and caused a major scandal at the time and Irina had not seen or contacted her family since the elopement. Bella discovered from Rosalie that Tanya, Kate and Irina were the daughters of the now deceased Princess Sasha, another sister of Carlisle's. She had died many years ago in tragic circumstances when a fire broke out in the castle. Sasha, her husband Prince Ephraim and their infant son Prince Vasili were killed when a fire broke out on their wing of the castle, Bella had shuddered at this as she remembered her own ordeal with the carriage fire that killed her mother and brother. This meant that the three sisters were reared by their uncle Carlisle and Esme since they were young girls. Bella felt herself more sympathetic toward Tanya after hearing this story form Rosalie, she did not mention it but this was very close to her own story of her mother, so she knew how those girls must have felt.

She also met a number of the members of the Forks Court, introduced to her by Esme, who Bella thought was always entertaining one courtier or another throughout the day. It looked exhausting to Bella, but Esme seemed to bear it all with good humour and grace. She met Duke Alistair, the retired Admiral of the Fork's fleet, and his wife Duchess Huilen who was a close personal friend of Esme's. Esme promised to throw a ball once the men had returned so Bella and Alice could be introduced to their daughters Ladies Zafrina, Senna and Kachiri, Bella believed she had already met Lady Senna, she was a friend of Tanya's.

Both Alice and Bella were surprised to learn during their conversation with Duke Alistair that Jasper was actually a Major in the Forks army. He was the youngest major in the history of the Forks kingdom and he was considered a 'good catch' for a lot of the ladies of the kingdom even if he had an older brother, Barron Peter, who was to inherit the family lands and fortune. Alice was quiet after learning of this and later, when they were alone, she confided in Bella that she did not truly believe she had any real chance with Jasper now that she knew of his career and expected marriage prospects. What would he want with the poor Lady Alice with no dowry to speak of, even if she was the companion of a Princess? Bella did her best to sooth Alice, if she could she would give Alice money towards her dowry but Phenix had not been a rich Kingdom and Bella had little money of her own, if she was closer to her husband she could have approached him about this but as things stood she could not.

A few days before the men were due to return Bella, Rosalie and Alice were sitting together in the kitchen conservatory used to grow the more delicate fruits and vegetables that would not survive outside in the harsh Forks winds. It had been raining constantly for the last four days so they could not go outside but they enjoyed sitting in the conservatory listening to the rain beat off the glass roof and windows.

"So," Rosalie started, "we need to make sure that you are freshly washed the day Edward gets back and wear that nightgown I picked out for you from your trunk, I'm certain that one had been put in there for use on this occasion."

Bella rolled her eyes. "No Rosalie, I told you already I'm not showing up naked in Edwards bed."

Rosalie huffed, "I'm not asking you to! You've already made it clear you won't take your clothes off, but you need to do something to entice him…help me out here a little Bella. Your marriage is at stake."

"How about she just talks to him?" Alice suggested for the tenth time.

Rosalie rolled her eyes at this suggestion. "Right, because talking has helped so much already. No, we need action or Bella is going to end up a virgin for the rest of her life."

They were disturbed by a crash on the other side of the conservatory. They all looked at each other with wide eyes and then all but ran to investigate. The conservatory was laid out in neat rows of raised planters, some of which held large plants, so they had to run along the end on each row and look down the aisles to see what, or who, had caused that noise. Just as they reached the third row they saw an overturned plant pot on the ground and someone turn the corner at the other end and run through the entrance into the castle kitchens. "Tanya!" Alice said, shocked, "do you think she overheard us?" They all stared at each other without speaking, of course Tanya had overheard them and now she knew that the marriage was not consummated and that they were worried about an annulment.

They had no time to discuss the ramifications of what Tanya may or may not have heard because right at that moment the horn to alert someone was approaching the gates was heard. It was blown twice and at this Rosalie grinned broadly. "Come on!" she shouted as she took off running.

"What, Alice asked as they caught up with her. "What does that mean?" They were used to hearing the horn blowing when visitors came to the castle but usually it was only blown once, they did not know what it meant when it was blown twice.

"Two blows on the horn means its the royal family," Rosalie grinned. "It means they are home early."

Alice and Bella said no more as they reached the courtyard where they were joined before long by Esme, Carlisle and the rest of the family currently in the castle. Bella noticed that Tanya was absent. Thankfully the rain had eased to a light drizzle. They didn't have long to wait until the draw bridge was lowered and a large group of men on horseback came through the gateway. A large portion of the group broke away and headed back towards the stables, which left only two men on horseback.

Bella's breath caught, why were there only two? She had expected Edward, Emmet and Jasper to be together. The men were wearing hooded cloaks against the weather so she could not tell who was missing. Although as they came closer she could see by the bulk of one of the men it could only be Emmet. This was confirmed when he pulled down the hood of his cloak, his companion rider also pulled away the hood of his cloak to reveal it was Jasper. Bella could almost feel Rosalie and Alice relax beside her but when she looked at them they were both shooting her worried glances. Where was Edward? Bella felt a tightening in her chest and she felt like she might faint, Alice grabbed her by the elbow to steady her. Esme took a step forward, "Emmet?" she asked tremulously.

Emmet did not answer his mother but he turned his horse slightly to reveal a figure seated on his horse behind him. He could not be seen behind Emmet's large frame because he was huddled down somewhat. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief when they could see it was Edward there on the horse. That was until they realised that Edward was barely conscious, a few of the footmen ran forward and helped Edward who all but fell from the back of the horse into their arms. He made no move to stand by himself and so they quickly carried him inside. Bella watched this all unfold with a strange sort of detachment, as if she was not here in this moment but rather watching it from far away, from another place and time. It was only when she heard a hiccuped sob from Esme that she was snapped back to herself. Edward had been injured, he was hurt! Without any further thought Bella picked up her skirts and darted into the house after the footmen who had carried her husband inside.

A/N Apologies again for the delay in posting. And I'm also sorry for this little cliffy, I will try not to leave it so long to post again! Please enjoy.

Reviews are welcome and appreciated

C