Rose's Thorns

Chapter 8

We could still hear yelling throughout the castle when we got back, Roeger was sitting on the steps with everyone else when we arrived. The man in armor let us walk back alone seeing as he had business to attend to. "Where the hell have you been?" He sneered at us, his speech clear which was highly unusual for him at this time of night. 

"We went to the stables to see the horses." Lily confesses lightly with her head bowed. 

"Trying to run again?" He growled. I pushed Lily behind me and glared at the man who was briskly walking toward us. 

"No sir." Lily whimpered. 

"Rose?" He growled once he reached us. All I did was snort in reaction, while staring him dead in the eye. "Answer me." He snarled, when I didn't answer he growled before using the back of his hand to smack me across the face. "Answer me you disobedient twat." He lifted his hand again but stopped when a loud snarl echoed around us. Cedar stood on the steps eyeing the fat man. I smirked and walked around the Roeger I whispered to Dahlia I was headed to the bath chambers, in reality I was headed to the garden. The night air was bone chilling and I could see my breath when I exhaled, my lower lip stung as I took my tongue and traced the small slit his hand had left. I closed my eyes and let myself feel the icy air enter and leave my lungs freezing them slightly, it felt good, the fresh frozen air.

Most of the flowers that had been in the garden had already died from the cold, but there were still some roses climbing up the side of the stone wall near the back of the castle. One of the roses was white, while all the others were red as blood. I brushed the top of the cold petals with my thumbs before looking up at the dark sky. I looked back down at the rose and I knew that in a week, it would be dead. 

Like a dream little flakes of white began falling from the sky. I had seen snow before, but never in a garden in the dark of night. The flakes that fell were soft and melted on the ground as soon as they landed, however the roses looked otherworldly covered in the white powder.

The sound of clicking from my right dragged my attention away from the roses, there stood Cedar. "Hello your grace." I said to the dog, bowing my head. He licked his chops before walking over and smelling the roses. "Beautiful aren't they....too bad the name has been tarnished." I sighed and sat down pulling my skirt under my ass to keep it from freezing to the cold stones of the ground. 

Cedar sat beside me, his golden fur clinging to my dress the way a babe clings to his mother. I gently began to pet him, running my fingers through the long coat nature had given him. We stayed that way for a while before footsteps broke the silence. I turned to see the older man from earlier, his eyes which had been searching stopped on both Cedar and I when he saw us. 

"There you are, we have been looking for you for a while now." Assuming he was speaking to Cedar I turned back to the roses. "Our prince is grateful for what you have done." I turned back to him and smiled lightly. His eyes narrowed before they widened. "What happened to your lip?" I stuck my tongue out feeling the small slit on my lip that still held the nasty metallic taste of blood. I shook my head before standing up and wiping my dress and looking back at the man.

"I did what I did for Cedar, not for the prince, nor to gain any favors." I left him with that newly acquired knowledge and headed back to the grand hall where the fighting had stopped. When I walked in the Queen scanned my face with her eyes before speaking. I noticed that all the princes looked pretty pissed off and I wondered what the outcome of their argument was. 

"It has been decided that we will not purchase any of these young women." 

"As we said earlier, we know nothing of their intentions. All we know are their names, what they look like and that Rose is a mute." The king added. 

"It is unfortunate you traveled all this way for nothing, but we cannot make a queen nor wife like this. Those kings who believe they can are idiotic."

"You can stay the night, but in the morning you should go before the snow falls."

"Tis already snowing your grace." We all turned to see the old man and Cedar walking toward us. Cedar walked up to Prince Wolfe and laid at his feet. "It is only a dusting though." 

"Do you wish to add input to our situation Elder Garrick?" Prince Wolfe asked. 

"Nay, though I wish to speak with you after, meet me in the gardens."

"We can go now, we are done here, a decision has been made." He said looking at his father for confirmation. 

"Everyone may go." The king motioned us away with his hand and we left, I was following the men and my sisters when a weak hand gripped my arm. I turned to see Elder Garrick holding my arm, I sent him a questioning look when he gave me a small smile. 

"Come with me child."

"ROSE!!!" I heard the fat man roar, he stomped toward us stopping when he saw Garrick. "You should get some rest." He said, clenching his teeth. 

"What is the commotion?" I heard the strong deep voice of the prince ask from behind me. 

"I was asking Miss Rose to walk with me to the garden, I was hoping to give her the last white rose seeing as it will be dead in a week anyway."

"How is that cause for commotion?" He asked.

"Your grace, we are traveling far, Rose needs her rest." Roeger said with a bow. 

"She will come to the garden, then I will have one of my men escort her to a room."

"Yes, your grace." the fat man said with a bow before glaring at me. After he left, Garrick, the prince, and I walked out to the garden, the only sound was the clicking of Cedar's nails behind us. When we got back outside I noticed the snow was still falling, the ground was covered in white, untouched, pure. 

"My dear Rose, how did you end up in the company of that man?" Garrick asked as he cut the stem of the rose. 

"She is mute." Prince Wolfe said. 

"It's a long story." I said just after shocking the prince. "Your grace." I bowed to Wolfe in respect. "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."

The prince seemed dumbfounded while Garrick grinned and nodded. "That they are."

"How did you know Elder Garrick?" I asked as I gingerly held the rose as he placed it in my left hand.

"The way you spoke earlier was much to clear and enunciated for a common maid or w***e. I knew you were either a lady, or at least educated." I nodded as the prince's wheels spun round and round. "So how did you get an education?"

"My mother was a maid in the house of Lord and Lady Dyxon. I often went to their keep with my mother and little brother. Young Lady Dyxon was my age so we had the same tutors."

"House Dyxon was wiped out nearly ten years ago." Prince Wolfe said, I looked up at him sadly and nodded. It was then I realized just how tall he was, the top of my head just barley would touch his chin. 

"As was my village, which was how I met Roeger and Sigmond." I said turning back to Garrick who was looking at the rose in my hand. 

"I heard the villages in the west were ravaged." Garrick said. "You are lucky to have survived Rose."

"My name is Rowan." I said tightly curling my hand around the thorns on the rose, opening wounds on my hand, blood dripped from the space between my fingers and onto the white ground. "The fat man renamed me, he has a stupid obsession with flowers." I turned my hand and the blood dripped down the stem of the flower onto its once white petals, a small pool of red had accumulated under my hand on the ground where the snow had melted.

"Tell us everything." The Prince breathed out. 

I told them most everything leaving out the details that were too hard to share. I had felt the Prince shift a bit closer as his eye searched my face, seeking the truth of my facial expressions. When I was done Prince Wolfe gently cupped my face with his left hand and traced the small cut on my lip. The emerald in his right eye shone in the light of the moon, which the clouds parted for, his other eye was lit by pure fury. 

"And they did this?" His hand was on my face, his thumb gently tracing the cut on my lower lip, he was making my normally sharp mind a pile of mush, so all I could do was offer a slight nod of confirmation. His gaze shifted from my mouth back to my eyes. It was like he had cast a spell on me, I couldn't do anything more than stare at him.

"They will pay." He spoke softly, his deep voice barely audible in the cold night's air. His eye told me just how serious he was. The trance I had been in was broken by a small nudge on my leg, I looked down at Cedar who had begun to lick my still bleeding hand. I finally dropped the blood red rose to the ground in a pool of crimson. I smiled at the canine who sat beside me still cleaning my wounded hand. I looked back up at Prince Wolfe who was clenching his jaw tightly.

"Thank you, your Grace." I said to him, he raised an eyebrow as he looked at me in confusion. "For listening, and for freeing us from them." He smirked before nodding once. 

"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?" Wolfe looked at his dog who had finished cleaning my hand, he was now resting his head on the side of my leg while looking at the prince lovingly. "Were you to spoke 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." I sighed while looking at the ground. "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 smiled softly, yet sadly at him. 

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

"You will have your retribution." Prince Wolfe said before taking my left hand in his right. "I vow to you Rowan, you will get what you seek." I felt my heart do a quick jump in my chest and I nodded at the prince before remembering what I had heard earlier that day. "What is it?"

"I just remembered a conversation I overheard in town this morning I think you should be aware of." I said looking between the two men. Prince Wolfe looked pissed by the time I was done sharing what I had heard earlier. 

"A w***e planning to kill Henry and I so she could be queen, pathetic." He growled deeply, taking his hand from mine and running it through his hair before looking back down at me. "Come with us, please." He spoke softly, "I believe my parents should be made aware of these threats." 

"Of course your grace." I said running my hand over Cedar's head. Garrick went first, I was walking a step ahead of Prince Wolfe who placed his large and warm hand on the small of my back. A strange feeling washed over me, accompanied by memories, ones with my father, like my first time on a horse, some with my mother, when I would be ill and she would make me a bed of furs before the fire and make me broth of chickens with carrots and peas along with ginger roots. Memories with my uncle, how he taught me how to hold a bow and draw the string. The feeling was safety and it was something I hadn't felt since the day my village was destroyed. 

I was lost in my head when a hand was placed over my eyes. Prince Wolfe's hot breath on my ear made a tingling sensation appear between my thighs. "Sorry about that." I only understood when he took his hand from my eyes, his mother and father were both red faced and their clothes were dishevelled along with their hair. Lips were swollen and breathing was fast as they tried to relax in their seats comfortably, while looking upon the three of us. 

"to what do we owe this interruption my son?" the queen asked as she tried to catch her breath. 

"I have information that may be of interest to you...." Prince Wolfe began.