Rose's Thorns

Chapter 10

I was stunned, not only by the fact she could speak, but because of how intoxicating her voice was. She turned to me, her eyes finding mine before bowing. "Your grace, The fat man and his leech like to lie to people. I'm not mute, I never have been, but small men like them are afraid of women who are more educated than themselves."

"That they are." Garrick said in amusement while placing the snow white rose in her left hand. 

I listened to her speak to Garrick, he was right she did speak to properly to be a common w***e or a maid. I decided to keep quiet for a while after I commented on house Dyxon. Her eyes were filled with sadness as she looked back up at me, and it hurt for some reason. The little beast that had roared below shivered and went back to being a limp floppy thing when I realized she was in a state of mental anguish. 

"My name is Rowan." She said fiercely after Garrick called her Rose again. "The fat man renamed me, he has a stupid obsession with flowers."

As I held her face in my hand I could do nothing but stare at her, she was completely mesmerizing, the way her eyes sparkled as they reflected the moon. I wanted to kiss her so desperately when I ran my thumb on her lip, it was petal soft, and her eyes spoke volumes, she trusted me, I could see it there. She was trusting me to keep her safe from those men. "They will pay." I assured her, I would see to it that they would suffer in ways they could never dream of. 

I hadn't even noticed what she was doing to herself with the flower as she told us what had happened to her until Cedar walked over and began licking her hand. I watched as she dropped the once white rose onto the once white ground that were both soaked in blood. Rowan, the name suited her far better than Rose, for she had the beauty and intelligence of the Mother of all dragons and goddess of the forest.  

"Thank you, your Grace." She said softly, I raised an eyebrow and she seemed to understand. "For listening, and for freeing us from them." I was only able to raise one side of my mouth in a smirk, she shouldn't need to thank me. 

"I did say you would be owed a debt for what you did earlier." Garrick said looking at Cedar's bandaged paw. 

"You were the one who helped Elder Garrick and Jayson?" I looked at Cedar who had cleaned the blood from her hand and was now leaning on her leg while looking up at me. "Were you to have spoken up at dinner you would have been a queen instantly, gaining immunity from those men and gaining the favor of my parents."

"Aye I could have....but 'tis not my objective. I mean what girl doesn't dream of marrying a handsome prince and becoming queen? I couldn't risk the safety of my sisters. Had I shown the true colors of Sigmond and Roeger at dinner they would have taken my sisters and fled, trying to escape the wrath of the famed armies of the north." She sighed and her gorgeous eyes fell to the ground once more. "I could never let that happen to them." 

"You were willing to risk your safety for your sisters." Garrick said. "You could have been paid a handsome fee for Cedar's care, yet you vanished without a name claiming to not want to be rewarded. You would make one of the finest queens this world has ever seen." I saw her head move slightly as she looked at Garrick sadly. 

"A queen would have taken vengeance for the death of her loved ones." 

"You will have your retribution." I said, taking her injured left hand in my right. "I vow to you Rowan, you will get what you seek." I may have seemed calm but my heart was pounding out of my chest, something wasn’t right. I had only just met this woman, and yet I would go to war for her. "What is it?" I asked when her eyes went wide, a small blush painted her cheeks as she spoke. 

"I just remembered a conversation I overheard in town this morning I think you should be aware of." She told us what she overheard at the brothel that morning. Of course stupid Kenrom and his sister Ulain would speak of this in public like morons. 

"A w***e planning to kill Henry and I so she could be queen, pathetic." I huffed as I took my hand that was shaking in anger from her injured one and ran it through my hair, not caring about the blood that came from her body. "Come with us, please." I asked looking down at her smaller figure, "I believe my parents should be made aware of these threats." 

"Of course your grace." she answered as she pet Cedar's golden head. Garrick went first, I followed behind Rowan keeping my hand on her back, I had the need to touch her, to feel the warmth of her body, even just for a few moments as we walked back into the castle and to the grand hall where my parents were to be waiting for me to finish speaking with Garrick, 

The doors to the room opened and I wanted to lose my dinner as I saw my parents trying to make another babe. I covered Rowan's hazy eyes before leaning into her, my mouth just above her ear, so badly I wanted to nibble on that tempting lobe. "Sorry about that." I whispered to her instead. I heard my father clear his throat and I looked back up at them, only then did I take my hand from Rowan's eyes. 

"To what do we owe this interruption my son?" My mother asked while catching her breath

"I have information that may be of interest to you..." I said. 

Rowan.....

By the time we were done explaining everything to the king and queen the room was deadly silent other than the crackle of the fire from the hearth. The queen was the first to speak, while the king was still lost in thought. 

"Did they really make you do those things?" She looked horrified by the thought.

"Aye." I said softly looking down at the floor in shame. In order for them to understand I told them of the "training" Lorraine instructed. 

"I didn't know men like this existed. "Selling women like mere farm animals, it is positively despicable."

"That it is, which is why I think it best we stop them, in the morning we will charge them with a crime and sentence them." Prince Wolfe said from beside me. 

"You look like you want to speak." King Tyson observed looking at me. 

"Aye, I believe Roeger has plans to leave in the dead of this night." 

"Why would you think that?" Prince Wolfe asked, when I looked up at him I saw a trace amount of..fear? in his eye .

"There was once a soldier who was so captivated by Lily that he planned on setting us all free, he planned to steal us away while the men were too drunk to notice. We were supposed to be in the city another two days, but in the middle of the night they woke us up and made us all leave. They had seen the man speaking with Lily and gifting her with a flower. Roeger knows Garrick was gifting me with a flower, I can bet you that he is waiting for me to arrive back at my chamber so he can leave with all the flowers in his garden." 

"What a sick man." King Tyson growled as he pondered. 

"Why didn't he let the soldier buy Lily?" Queen Reymira asked. 

"He was a mere foot soldier, he was of no importance and Roeger had enough coin to last him for another five months. He was not going to let Lily be wasted on a man who couldn't pay him half of what he valued Lily at."

"He has values for all of you?" 

"Aye, he bases his value on the woman's assets and her facial beauty." I said feeling sick to my stomach. The queen's face went white as she understood what I meant. 

"How often did they...?" She asked. 

"Once every month after the bleeding starts." I felt comforted by Wolfe's hand on my back, I looked up at him and tried to thank him with my eyes. He seemed to understand because he smirked sadly. 

"We will have you escorted to your room, and we will post guards at all of your doors. If they are awake as you think we will say there is a threat on the prince's lives and that we cannot trust any of you not to be involved."

"Thank you my king." I said bowing my head to king Tyson. 

"I will escort you to your room." Wolfe said. 

"I don't think that is wise." I said looking up at him, as he questioned me with his gaze. "Last he saw us, you were with Garrick and I. He can't know I have told you anything, so why would the Prince walk the mute he denied marriage to, to her door in the middle of the night?"

"That is a very good point." Garrick said from the side. "But we also told him you were getting a rose that I believe is on the ground in the garden still."

"I will say nothing of it. He likes to call me a mute, so I act as one in his presence, tis why he struck me today."

"You are very smart." Garrick said as a compliment. 

"Educated....my mother used to say there is a large difference between smart and educated." 

"And you are both." His warm hand was still on my back as he spoke, looking down at me gently. "Forest!" His voice boomed through the room as he looked at the door. The armored man from earlier walked into the grand hall and bowed at the Prince. 

"My prince, apologies, but I still have yet to find her." He said smoothly before looking me up and down. 

"But I have, please take Rose to her room and stay by her door, there has been a threat on the heads of Henry and I. Rose found a way to tell us of this even with her being mute, so do treat her kindly. Be sure to check her room for the men she came with, they could be behind this. Have men guard the doors of all our guests tonight."

"Aye my prince, please come with me Rose." I turned to the Prince one last time giving him a small smile before bowing to him and his parents and following Forest out of the door. 

I followed Forest to a small room where men were sitting down singing an unfamiliar tune. 

"The sun was bright and shining, the women were singing cheerful songs. 

The hammer and the diamond rode upon the town of Lore

Woman screamed and children fled clinging to each other

the men were gone for far too long, gone away at war. 

The land turned red as everyone bled, something to remember

by the end of the night not a soul in sight, bodies on da floor.

Everywhere you went the streets wept blood, 

and that my friends was the end of the town of Feylore." 

I felt tears rush to my eyes as the words pierced my heart, there had been a song created about my village and the day of my nightmares. One of the men saw both Forest and I, he stood and bowed at Forest who seemed unfazed by the gruesome tune. 

"Sir Ghinn, how can we be of service?" The man asked while the others stood up and bowed. 

"This is Rose, she and a few other guests are staying the night, Prince Wolfe has ordered we guard their doors seeing as a threat was made on both he and Henry have been made aware of a threat on both their heads." The men looked pissed as they nodded in unison. 

"Aye sir Ghinn, we will do as commanded." The man then looked back at me, tears still flowing down my eyes as I thought back to seeing my mother on the bed, the blood and the gore. I felt my lungs restrict as I leaned into the wall to hold myself up. 

"Lady Rose?" Forest asked as he turned to me. I shook my head no and pulled myself away from them. I needed to get away, just like back then. "Lady Rose." I kept shaking my head no as I fell to the floor trying to be silent as I sobbed. "Go get prince Wolfe." I heard faintly.