by Bone, K. L.
Edward’s voice was as controlled as it had been angry moments before. “It was that bad, wasn’t it?”
Garreth simply nodded. “I’ve seen worse, but…only once.”
“By the Gods, I am such a fool.” Edward turned towards the door. “I have to find her. I have to tell her that…I have to tell her…”
“It’s too late. The next time you see her, it will be at the head of the Black Rose Guard.”
“And you?”
“Will join her. I am sorry, Edward. You are my Captain and my brother, but…I can’t watch the Queen do this anymore. Just…no more.”
Chapter LII
“A few days later our men gathered in the rose garden outside these walls. Like those of the Ciar Court, every single rose had turned black. As they have been ever since…until now.” Her voice faded in the quiet room where she sat between Garreth and Nolan.
“My Lady.” Jonathan, who had slipped into the room part way through the story, approached from the left side of the room. “I thought you should know…”
“What is it?”
“The roses, they are not just red. They are violet as well.”
Her eyes moved to Garreth’s. “At the Ciar Court?”
“They were violet as well.”
She turned back to Jonathan. “When did you see this?”
“Right before the fight. Brendan and I were standing near the garden and they literally transformed before our eyes. One moment they were red and then random petals began to bleed purple.
Just as they turned black all those years ago, Mara thought silently.
“Red, purple, black. What does it mean?” Nolan asked.
Mara turned to Garreth, allowing him to answer the question. “The myth of the roses,” he began, “is that the roses are connected to the royal family. When a new Prince or Princess is born, the roses bloom white. During a royal wedding, they turn a deep, crimson red and during a war, a more brilliant shade, closer to freshly spilt blood. Once, you could tell the state of the family from the color of the roses in the royal gardens.” He drew a deep breath. “When Liza died, the first black rose was seen in the garden. But then…”
“The night I took the Vow of the Black Rose, every rose in the courts turned black.”
“The men took it as a sign,” Garreth stated. “That the Gods had blessed Mara’s quest for vengeance. Men flocked to take their vows from the youngest to the most experienced of knights. She rode out with well over a hundred men. The number grew to well over three-hundred before the year was over.” He looked at Jonathan. “When did you say the roses changed?”
“Just before the fight began. We were trying to figure out what was going on with the roses, which is why we were not in the castle at the time of the attack.”
Mara turned back to Garreth. “What were you doing before you saw the roses at the Ciar Court?”
Garreth gazed at her for several moments attempting to recall what had sent him to the garden. “I had just finished escorting Lady Sandra to see Edward.”
Her head turned slowly from Garreth to where Regald stood in the far corner of the room. “And when you escorted her to the ancient grounds, what happened?”
“The roses turned purple and red, though mostly purple.”
“Wait,” Nolan interrupted. “Red, white, black…but what is violet?”
The Captains exchanged multiple glances. “Royalty,” Mara answered.
“Well,” Regald said, “she is engaged to the Prince.”
“But not of royal blood,” Garreth stated. “The roses only respond to those of the royal bloodline. They never change for those who merely marry into the line. Or at least, they never have before.” His expression became focused on Regald. “Could she be carrying the Prince’s child?”
“It’s possible, though not likely. I mean, they could be…intimate. But I do not think they are. They have a massive wedding planned and Mathew has always been protective of ensuring the legitimacy of his bloodline. A trait I believe he has passed down to his son.”
“Lady Sandra,” Mara interjected. “Who is she?”
“See, that is the thing. No one is really sure. She was in an accident and found with only a few scattered memories as a child. I was the one who found her. She was in bad shape, like she had been in a major accident of some kind. She was eventually taken in by one of the noble families as a lady-in-waiting and eventually found herself working in the Queen’s household. She met the Prince a few years ago. The marriage was arranged and I was officially placed on her guard detail.”
“Mathew put you, his Captain, on another’s detail?”
“I thought it was strange at first too, but I had been watching over her ever since I found her, so I was happy to take the assignment.”
“There is another possibility.” Edward suddenly joined the conversation, drawing all eyes to where he stood along the back wall. “I would like to speak with Mara first to discuss it.”
She did not question this, but instead glanced around the room before her eyes settled on Jonathan. “It is getting late. We should all get some sleep and reconvene tomorrow.” She drew a breath as she addressed Jonathan directly. “Keep no less than four men on the outer doors at all times and call the men back to the castle.”
“Who, my Lady?”
“All of them. I want every single member of the Black Rose called back. They have forty-eight hours. Mathew’s challenge cannot go unanswered.”
“Yes, Captain. It shall be done.”
Chapter LIII
Mara turned to face Edward from the privacy of her personal chambers. Edward stood a few feet away from her, dressed in a clean, black shirt that had been borrowed from Brendan’s wardrobe. “The outfit looks good on you,” she said, “but then again, I always knew it would.” She took a few steps closer, standing about half-way between the door and the bed. “You said you wished to speak with me, Captain?”
“Don’t do that, Mara.”
She paused. “You’re right. I am sorry, Edward. What is it you wish to speak with me about?”
It was his turn to pause. “I am really not sure how to begin. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“That doesn’t sound like a very good start.”
Edward sighed and then drew a deep breath. “I spoke with Lady Sandra on the way over here. We talked about her past, what little she could remember of it. She had a few, scattered memories about her mother. She claimed that her mother told her stories as a child.”
“Stories? What stories?”
“Stories about me,” he answered. “And they are of such vivid clarity, filled with details that no one should know…let alone someone so young.”
“What do you mean?”
“She knows things, Mara. Things she should not. About that night…”
“The night you were tortured? How could she know?”
“It got me thinking,” Edward stated slowly. “Her loss of memory could be from an accident, as she says…”
“Or?”
“From an enchantment.”
“An enchantment? That seems a bit of a stretch.”
Edward stepped forward and gently took her hand. “Come here.” He led her over to the bed where she took a seat at his bequest. “Mara.” He spoke her name gently, taking a knee before her. “I need to ask you something.”
“Yes?”
“But first, you must hear me.”
She shifted on the bed uncomfortably. “What is it?”
She gazed up directly into her eyes. “I love you, Mara. Nothing you say will change that. I have left you alone for six hundred years.” He pursed his lips as he attempted to draw breath. “I will never leave you again.”
“Edward, you’re scaring me.”
“And it is the last thing I ever want to do.”
“Ask your question.”
“She spoke of her mother—a woman of moonlit skin, dark hair and violet eyes.” Mara’s head titled slowly to the left, her eyes narrowing
as she stared at him. “I need to know, my Lady. If there is any way that this girl is your daughter? She…she looks like you.”
Mara’s eyes narrowed still further, transforming her gaze from violet to silver. “What?”
“She looks like you,” he said again. “Dark hair, pale skin…and her mother had your eyes; the rarest of any within the royal bloodlines.”
Mara stood from the bed, jerking her hands from his. “How dare you? How could you ask me such a thing?” She stepped several paces forward, drawing a series of long breaths before turning back to face him, anger shining through her. “Do you really think I would have kept a child from you? Do you find me that heartless?”
“No,” he said firmly, rising from his kneeling position. “Not heartless, Mara. Protective to a fault. If you hid a child to protect her from the Queen.”
“From you, Edward? You honestly believe that I could have bore your child and hidden its very existence from you?”
“Mara, I’m sorry. With the roses and the appearance…I had to ask.”
Her head lowered slightly, her expression tightening with a pained expression. “No, you don’t think I would keep your child from you. You thought I would keep another’s.”
“Mara, your daughter would be of royal blood. It would have explained why all of these things are happening. I…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I had to ask.”
Anger continued to flow through her. “How could you? How could you think I would…” She pressed the back of her hand against her forehead, then jerked her arm back to her side. “I loved you. I have always loved you. You and no other. Not in twelve hundred years! How could you not know?” Edward stepped closer and grabbed her arm. He forced her against his chest. “How could you?” she asked again, but the anger was quickly leaving her voice.
His tone matched her pain. “I am sorry, Mara. I am so sorry.” He pulled her closer.
“I love you,” she sobbed. “I have always loved you. I have always…”
“Forgive me. Please, Mara. ignosce mihi, mea rosa, mi amor.” He moved his left hand to the back of her head, completely enfolding her into his embrace.
“I’ve loved you all my life. I swear, I…”
“I know,” he soothed her. “Gods, I know.” He lifted her in his arms, carrying her towards the bed. He sat down on its edge, continuing to hold her in his arms, slipping his arms around her back to keep her body against his chest. “Mara, my Mara. mea rosa immortalis,” he whispered and she raised her gaze at his words. He dipped his head and kissed her with all that he was worth. When he was forced to pull back to draw breath, he kept his eyes upon hers. “I would give anything to undo the pain that I have caused you. Anything. But I can’t. All I can say is that I love you. te amo, rosa, mea rosa immortalis. I love you. I will never leave you again.”
She searched his dark eyes and found nothing but conviction of the strong, powerful man who had stolen her heart and never let it go. “Edward,” was all she could manage before he leaned down and offered another searing kiss.
Chapter LIV
The first rays of the morning sun had come and gone long before Mara finally awoke wrapped in the circle of Edward’s arms. Her cheek was resting on his chest, her arm across his torso. His hand lay gently upon her bare back, holding her close as she slept. He had awoken hours before and had remained as still as possible so not to wake her. She had unpleasant dreams, struggling against a ghost that could not be seen, only felt. Waking at her movements, he pulled her from the nightmare. “Don’t leave me.”
“I won’t,” he promised.
She had closed her eyes at his words, enfolded in the safety of his arms. When her breathing had finally settled to the steady rhythm of sleep, he laid awake watching the first rays of the sun seep through the small window in the corner of the room. “ignosce mihi, mea rosa, mi amor. I am so sorry.”
When she arrived in the Arum Court dungeons, he thought he was surely hallucinating. Her soft, strong voice sliding through the room. I must be dying, he had thought. She has come to me at last. Yet she had been real. The exact image of the vision he had attempted so desperately to banish from his mind over those hundreds of years of solitude and loneliness.
His hand moved slowly down her side, pushing her hair away from her as his eyes roamed her pale form, his fingers trailing over her body as though attempting to memorize every inch of her pale form. Her shoulders were slender, but strong from years of carrying the heavy blades he had taught her to use as a child. Her long arms and slender wrists, so smooth to the touch. Then his finger reached her side and over the long, jagged scar, the only flaw to her otherwise pristine skin.
Edward had not seen Mara since the destruction of the Muir Court. He had been sent in search of a child, the last Prince of the fallen Court. Instead he had found Mara, kneeling at the edge of the sea. The water was a deep, beautiful blue with sunlight dancing off the edge of the waves as they crashed upon the white sand.
Mara’s silver sword lay on the ground beside her, blood staining the dark metal, seeping into the ground below. “My Lady,” Edward’s deep voice fought through the strong breeze to reach her. “Have you seen a boy? They say he might have run this way.”
Mara did not acknowledge his words. She remained perfectly still, watching the sun slowly lower itself into the rising tides of the sea.
“Mara, have you seen a child?” His inquiry was again met with silence. “Mara?”
She drew a breath and slowly answered his question, her gaze remaining upon the blue waves. “There is no child, Edward.” The water shimmered in the falling sunlight.
“What…I don’t understand.”
“It is not complicated, my Lord.”
“Are you saying that you have not seen the child?”
“There is no child, Edward,” Mara stated again. “Not anymore.”
Silence fell over them as Edward began to digest her meaning. “Are you saying that you…”
“The line of the Muir Court has ended.” Her voice sounded hollow. She finally turned to face him, meeting his gaze directly. “Liza’s death has been avenged.”
“But…”
“That,” she spoke firmly, “is all you ever need know.”
She stood from her kneeling position, raising her blade from the blood-soaked earth—a splash of crimson on a sea of white sand. She took several steps forward, walking carefully until she reached the edge of the ocean’s waves. She paused, staring into the brilliance of the falling sun, then stepped into the edge of the water, the blue waves stroking the edge of her long dark skirt.
She knelt down, lowering her sword into their gentle grasp. For a moment, the blue waves turned to red as the water cleansed the blood of its court from the edge of Mara’s blade. Then the water cleared, the last blood of the Muir Court carried away by the powerful ocean tide. Mara stared into the clear water for what seemed a long time before slowly turning and walking back to where Edward stood, watching silently. When she reached him, she looked up and stared into his dark eyes. “It’s done, Edward. My vow is at long last, fulfilled.”
Edward studied her for several moment moments before finally replying in an almost haunted voice. “You killed the child.”
“I killed the Crown Prince of the Muir Court and avenged the death of our Princess.”
“He was a child.”
“So was I,” Mara replied. “And yet look what my vengeance has bought them, this court of the sea who killed our sweet, sweet Liza.”
“But he was a—”
“Prince. A young prince who would become a man. A man who would remember this day until the rest of the world had long forgotten it. Don’t you see?” She drew a sharp breath. “He would remember this day and then, many years from now, he would seek his vengeance upon those who destroyed everything and everyone he ever held dear. And he would come for us, Edward. For you, for me, or worse…someone else.”
“Mara.” It was Edward’s turn to sound hollow. “You have
gone too far. This…” he shook his head, “this is against everything we are. Against our codes. The codes I taught you!”
“You taught me to fulfill my vows, Edward!” Anger began to spill into Mara’s previously calm voice. “The first rule of being a knight. Protect the realm and always, always keep your vows. I swore to destroy this court and I have done it. I have done my job. Perhaps it is time that you start doing yours!”
The wind became stronger, causing sand to rise and swirl between the two Captains. “What are you implying?”
“You haven’t done your job since the night she died! You are useless, a shell of the man I knew. The man I followed. That I pledged my life to. The man I…” She had to fight down the words. “The man she loved.” Tears burned the surface of Mara’s eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “I did my job. She’s been avenged. I only pray it allows you to find some measure of peace.”
“You did not do this for me!” Edward shouted. “This, all of this,” he motioned behind him to where thick, black smoke rose from the remnants of the castle from unseen flames, “you did this for yourself. As though it could make things better. As though you could bring her back from the dead with your vengeance.”
“Is that so?” The threat of tears subsided as anger rose. “I am not the one who vowed to love one woman, and then gave his heart to another at the first possible opportunity! I am not the one who fell in love with a Princess. The one woman,” Mara’s left hand clenched tightly at her side, “the only woman, in the entire kingdom that he could not have. You lost your head, Captain, and we have all paid the price. Our entire court has paid the price for your forbidden love. And now the Muir Court has paid as well. All because of you! You are responsible for every life lost since that night, Captain.”
