I lay face down across the sleeping bag, waiting for justice to find me.

Maybe an avalanche would bury me here. I wished it would. I never wanted to have to see my face in the mirror again.

"Don't..." Edward's voice was weak. He was obviously trying to find his control again, but it was difficult for him. He was taking comfort, being held by his mom like that, but he just felt so empty right now. Still...he never wanted to hear Bella think like that. He would never want something to happen to her.

There was no sound to warn me. Out of nowhere, Edward's cold hand stroked against my knotted hair. I shuddered guiltily at his touch.

"Are you all right?" he murmured, his voice anxious.

"No. I want to die."

"That will never happen. I won't allow it."

I groaned and then whispered, "You might change your mind about that."

"No, I don't think he would," Emmett said, his voice serious.

"Where's Jacob?"

"He went to fight," I mumbled into the floor.

Jacob had left the little camp joyfully - with a cheerful "I'll be right back" - running full tilt for the clearing, already quivering as he prepared to shift to his other self. By now the whole pack knew everything. Seth Clearwater, pacing outside the tent, was an intimate witness to my disgrace.

Edward was silent for a long moment. "Oh," he finally said.

That's probably not the best way to find out about that, Alice thought to herself. Then again, there is no good way to find out about something like this.

The tone of his voice worried me that my avalanche wasn't coming fast enough. I peeked up at him and, sure enough, his eyes were unfocused as he listened to something I'd rather die than have him hear. I dropped my face back to the floor.

It stunned me when Edward chuckled reluctantly.

Everyone in the room, reading the book now, were indeed stunned by that.

"He doesn't know what she thought," Rosalie was the one to say. It seemed that, right now, Edward and Rosalie were the most in-tune with each other.

"And I thought I fought dirty," he said with grudging admiration.

"The mutt definitely takes the cake in that arena," Rosalie hissed.

"He makes me look like the patron saint of ethics." His hand brushed against the part of my cheek that was exposed. "I'm not mad at you, love. Jacob's more cunning than I gave him credit for. I do wish you hadn't asked him, though."

"It definitely would have made me feel better if you broke his face," Rosalie hissed. She was looking at Edward, and her anger just seemed to get stronger after seeing how hurt her brother was.

"Edward," I whispered to the rough nylon. "I . . . I . . . I'm -"

"Shh," he hushed me, his fingers soothing against my cheek. "That's not what I meant. It's just that he would have kissed you anyway - even if you hadn't fallen for it - and now I don't have an excuse to break his face. I would have really enjoyed that, too."

"Fallen for it?" I mumbled almost incomprehensibly.

"Bella, did you really believe he was that noble? That he would go out in a flame of glory just to clear the way for me?"

"Well, it certainly sounds ridiculous when you say it like that," Emmett said.

"It sounds ridiculous no matter how it was said," Rosalie growled.