Just a Pretense
Chapter 6: Accident

Author's Note: To clarify some stuff. Just things I thought might not have made sense and things people asked about.

'"That would explain the vampirism." Bella murmured under her breath,' – Chapter 4

I think this was referring to the fact that Emmett knew about Edward's being a vampire and not minding. Edward probably doesn't talk much to people affiliated with his natural family anymore. Edward is of Forks, because he wants to be different, in a way, and not treated specially because he is Carlisle's son.

How is Bella hiding her hair? Is she using a hat or does she simply have short hair? Also when she goes out to the town with Edward is she still in disguise or not? Has Edward ever seen her without her disguise?

Bella is not really hiding her hair. I mentioned in Chapter One that her unusually long hair was tied back. It wasn't unusual for men in the medieval times to have long hair; just that Bella's hair is a bit longer than a man would usually leave it for. Her hair is just 'passable'. When Bella goes out to town, she is still dressed as a 'boy'. Not that it is hard because all she needs is a shirt, tunic, breeches and boots. If she went out as a girl, she would either be recognised, or someone would put two and two together. She has to go out as a girl under disguise – more on that later. Edward has never seen her without her 'disguise' to date – meaning he has never seen her simply in a dress, hair done up and so on. She's been dressed as a boy for about a week, so there hasn't really been time. More about that later as well. I should mention she binds her chest, a bit like Alanna – this just works, so let's leave it at that, alright?

Disclaimer: Twilight not mine. Neither is Tortall related stuff. I can always dream – if that did anything.

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Bella woke up, confused and with a slight headache as she pushed herself upright to stare blearily out the window and flopping down again, tired. She had a feeling she had been dreaming, though she couldn't honestly remember.

"Bella?" Alice was up already, and stuck her disheveled head back through the door. "You don't really have to get up yet, you can take another five, but breakfast is in a while and you have classes today."

Ah, right. Bella had been exhausted after doing the homework she had neglected before and she was pretty disorientated now. If she hadn't been though, she would have been aware that it was the beginning of a new week, and her Page training would continue as usual. Not to mention all the slave driving. Lucky she had Alice as her 'mother' to remind her.

Alice giggled at her 'master''s expression and ducked back into the washroom, coming back as neat and presentable as a maid can be. Bella got the feeling Alice knew something she didn't, especially from the amused expression on the girl's face, and felt slightly uncomfortable.

She sighed as Alice stifled another giggle, pulling her shirt over her head.

"Willing to tell me what is so funny?"

Alice smiled at her sweetly and innocently. "Why nothing, sir." Her face twitched. "Or if anything, you'll find out."

"Alice!" She hated it when her friend and maid left her in the dark. It was more than a little annoying.

There was a knock on her door and Bella finished her dressing quickly, darting into the washroom as Alice opened the door.

"Ah, thanks Jessica." Bella heard Alice say as she was passed something and the door closed once again.

Bella smoothed her hair, brushing it back into a ponytail and went out. Alice was setting the basin of steaming water on the new fire which burned in the small fireplace, and walking over, Bella washed her face and hands in a portion of it, as did Alice. They appraised each other. Presentable.

As the bell chimed, Alice wished her well – she wasn't going the same way or going yet at all – and Bella gave her a wave and left.

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Edward was patient as he watched Bella – Bel, that is. She was 'Bel' right now – exit her room and politely came up beside her.

"I have the feeling you will get lost again today, Page Swan." He commented dryly as she looked up at him.

Bella flushed slightly. It was true, she supposed. Somehow she had managed to get a lost quite a few times. Lord Carlisle had been kind enough to let her off, but Edward started to accompany her – the other boys were getting a little annoyed.

Edward sat as usual with his tray of untouched food and Bella glanced at him as she munched down her breakfast. He seemed unusually quiet today. She had not noticed the day before; as she had been pretty much running around for the whole day in her work, but today his behaviour was a little more obvious. Why was he being so… cold?

Ice plunged into her heart as she realised it could have possible been due to the events two days ago. He had been so cheery, witty, open then, but now reverted to someone colder than he had ever been with her.

Even as a friend, he had been companionable and joked around with her. This new sort of quietness was a little daunting – especially as she tackled with her new emotions now, even if she could not quite understand them.

The bell rang for the first class of the day and Edward gathered his and her trays as he rose fluidly from his seat, giving her a slight and thin smile.

"I'll meet you in Mathematical Skills." He breathed into her ear as he began to move away to throw away the unwanted food and deposit trays.

Bella rose from her seat and glanced after him, confused still, but she had no time to dwell. After being tardy for a few lessons and being piled with additional work, she had gotten the picture – tardiness was punished. After all, one of the lessons was that a knight had to be on time.

She rushed back to her room and collected her bag with the books and pages which she would need today. She hoped she wasn't missing anything. Doing one last sweep of her room, she exited the door and ran down to the Mathematical Skills corridor, trying not to kill anyone. Edward raised an eyebrow at her as he waited near the door.

Bella bent over, resting my palms on her thighs as she panted. Edward appraised her calmly and in a slightly amused manner and ushered her through the door as a late Emmett also came thundering down the corridor and hurtled in after him.

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The lesson did not go as well as Bella might have hoped. It turned out she had left something, even after the sweep of her room. She had left one of the pages of the equations which had been set for homework somewhere and now would be rewarded with another three pages additional to do. She almost groaned, but knew the teacher would just give her the customary 'you-deserved-it' look.

"Riding next." Bella heaved a sigh as the boys trailed down to the stable yards.

"Mm." Edward commented, non-committally, as he surveyed the overcast sky 'casually'.

"Do we always have riding?"

"That's what a knight does." Emmett joined them from behind. "Sit in a saddle all day long, all week. So on."

"Painful."

"Sure is." Emmett agreed cheerfully and Bella grimaced.

Out the corner of her eye, she saw Emmett also glance concernedly over at Edward's serious and ramrod straight figure. So he probably noticed Edward's sudden attitude change as well. He seemed as in the dark as she was.

Entering the stables, each page went over to their horse, saddling up, checking girths and tightening straps. Then the horses were urged outside and the pages stood in a line, waiting for the call to start – something only established properly to the new pages a few days ago. At horsemaster Jasper's command, the pages all mounted their horses smoothly and began to turn out and trot up the usual path.

It was quite leisurely as the pages simply followed the trail, learning how to ride better on their horses. Bella rode next to Edward and Emmett, and although it was a quiet ride, there was a companionable silence – well, at least for a quarter of the whole course.

As we passed the halfway mark which showed where a quarter was before doubling back at halfway and passing the mark again, Emmett finally broke the silence.

"Bel! Race you to the tree!" He pointed towards the tree which was the next landmark – checkpoint, if you must.

Bella measured the distance and wrinkled her nose. Truth be told, she didn't like speed all that much and was perfectly fine with their current pace, but another look at Edward's serious, closed face, she felt it perhaps better to get away – even if it was for a while only.

"Alright, I accept your challenge."

"General rules. Unless you don't know them."

Bella glared at Emmett. "Of course I know them!"

"You call the start, Edward." Emmett called over his shoulder as Bella drew level with his horse.

Edward frowned now, and reluctantly began to call the start. "Ready, Set… and go."

Bella and Emmett shot off, racing towards the tree, their horses running at a full gallop. She wondered if Jasper would catch them out for it and give them more punishment tasks. She hoped not, but she would make the most of this.

Bella whooped as she nudged her horse ahead. It obeyed faithfully – she was not one for spurs, so the horses liked her considerably more. She could see Emmett behind, tapping his horse's rump somewhat gently with what looked like a cane. It obeyed at the merest touch, leaping to draw level again.

The scenery shot by at tremendous pace as Spirited, Bella's horse, drew ahead once more in a fresh burst of speed. She felt she had an advantage – her horse was naturally a horse built for speed. Thoroughbred and trained by her own family – it was a horse she could readily trust.

Suddenly an animal shot out in front of Spirited and the mare slowed suddenly, skipping sideways in its surprise to avoid the animal. Bella tried to muffle her scream as she slid off the saddle and painfully hit the ground. She pulled herself back up into a sitting position, her head reeling, and saw her horse's hooves flailing above her as Spirited reared and her eyes rolled in her continued panic.

"Bel!" The piercing shout came from a distance away.

"Swan!"

As Bella began to retreat into the darkness and she slumped backwards onto the ground, she saw Spirited calm considerably and a wave of calm wash over her as well. Ah, her horse was going to be alright. Her mind dimly recognised it was probably Jasper's ability even as she felt cold, hard, secure arms slide around her and she drifted further into the darkness and into unconsciousness.

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Edward watched as the two galloped away, trying to beat each other. He had not missed Bella's look before – she knew something was up. He had promised he wouldn't be as he had been before, and what he had done had not been right. He could not deny to himself now that he liked this girl-dressed-as-a-boy a lot, however, acting so rashly had not been like him before. It was time to be careful.

He froze as he saw, with his enhanced vision, the animal dart out in front of the horse, and the horse react in panic. It skipped aside and Bella fell off as Spirited reared.

Bella. "B – " Edward began, before stopping himself. "Bel!" He needed to remember that.

Jasper was shooting past him in an instant, concern etched all over his face and waves of calm rolling off him – so immensely so that it was hard to feel the urgency connected with the situation. Edward abandoned his horse and sped over with his vampire speed – which he usually tried to avoid displaying in public – and immediately went to Bella as Spirited calmed and stood there, panting heavily, the whites of her eyes still showing, eyes still rolling in controlled panic.

The other Pages who had been quite close had doubled back and were gathered around and the other straggly pages at the end had clustered around also. Edward glared at them as he supported his unconscious friend into a sitting position.

"Keep riding. Resume!" Jasper ordered, as he gathered up Spirited's reins.

The crowd dispersed and Emmett came, leading his horse and Edward's, and looking extremely pale. He glanced over Bella worriedly and watched as he picked her up easily and went over to his horse. Edward glanced at Emmett and he went over to assist. Together they managed to get Bella seated in front of Edward on the horse.

As Emmett turned away to remount his own horse and Jasper had started to ride away, he urged his own horse into a walk, not pressuring it because of the added weight. Glancing at Emmett and Jasper ahead to check they were not watching, slowly he lowered his head and pressed his lips to Bella's head in relief.

He would not say it, but at this moment, felt a tremendous amount of relief that Bella was safe and sound. She would need to be examined for her injuries; however, the main thing was that she was alive.

She was alive, and his long dead heart soared with that knowledge.

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Author's Note: I hope that's okay. It looks short to me for some bizarre reason. I don't know. Anyway, haven't written next chapter, but here's the first bit of it:

Jasper could barely begin to understand the complex emotions which rolled off Edward. He had known Edward for a long time now, and yet the measure of concern, urgency and the one emotion – that he could exactly identify yet – puzzled him.

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