A Rose With Thorns

Blossoms

Blossoms

The vampires had agreed to try and visit every two years, and that was completely alright with Rose and both Princes. They all wished to get to know each other better. Rose knew she was going to love their visits, and wished that they could have been closer together and seen each other more often, but these distant visits were also a safety precaution. Tension still ran high in both nations about whether the other was going to attack or not.

Though peace had been called, trust had not fully bloomed. So the visits were often guarded heavily. When Richard planed to take a visit to Vladimir, he had Rose guarded with six men at all times. He would trust his daughter's life with the two princes, who could protect her, but not until they reached the palace. So while their carriages bumped down the road, knights were positioned around the sides of Roses, four outside on steeds, one on the top of her cart and one inside. He sat stiffly watching the widows, not trusting the vampires.

He was one who did not care for the peace treaty between the two nations, and would have preferred to have seen all of the vampires wiped out.

Rose tried to encourage a conversation from him, but his only response was a low, short grunt. Eventually she gave up and sat silently bored the whole ride. The whole time she thought of all the games and things she could play with Erik and Charles when she got there. She wondered how much older than her they were and what kind of things they were interested in as well. It had only been a year or so since she had seen them and in that time she had barely reached a decade of life.

The bouncing ride lasted what seemed forever before loud horns broke through the air and echoed around the new castle. The guard tensed, visibly, and Rose attempted to stick her head out the window to catch sight of their destination. In minutes the carriage was pulled around to a stop, and the door opened.

Erik appeared and held his hand in to help Rose from her seat. The guard sneered and got up first, pushing his way past the prince and to take his spot near the front of the cart. Erik stared at him bewildered, wondering why a knight would show such disrespect to a royal. He turned his attention back to Rose and grinning she took his hand. “It’s so good to see you again!” She said happily, giving a small curtsy when her feet were solidly on the ground once again.

Erik chuckled and smiled at her, she was glowing. “It’s good to see you again too.” He smiled stunningly at her and gingerly led her towards the main entrance. “There are many things around the palace I’d like to show you.” Erik could feel excitement bubble inside of him. It was a curious feeling, to have his stomach twist inside of him, and make him nervous. He wondered if all day it would feel like that, and if he could make it happen all day.

Charles was in class at Rose’s arrival. It seemed like a mountain of work was laying before him, and his teacher was not about to let him leave. He growled and got to work, using his vampire speed to sort through the pile as quickly as possible. It had been a known fact for some time in the castle that Erik was the favorite. There were only a few people in the castle that didn’t put one son above the other. The king and queen were quite oblivious to it, and sadly so was Erik. He held his brother beside him in everything they did, he didn’t seem to think that the two were treated any different.

Some years, during birthdays or celebrations, he noticed it, but always made sure to compensate for his brother. Once he even gave up over half his birthday presents for his brother. It was a fact that Erik cared for his brother greatly, and Charles looked up to his brother.

“Erik, where’s Charles?” Rose asked, drawing Erik out of a memory.

Erik chuckled and smiled at her. “He has some homework he needed to finish before our teacher would let him leave. He’ll be done in a few minutes I’m sure.” Erik didn’t want his brother to finish soon, he wanted to spend time with Rose first, he did his best to hide his emotions from her however. “Why don’t we take a walk to the garden while we wait?” Rose smiled brightly, she couldn’t wait to find out what kind of garden Erik and Charles had.