Bella Donna
By Roxanne Fox
Published by Roxanne Fox at Smashwords
Copyright 2013 Roxanne Fox
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Epilogue
A note from the author:
When you read this you will see words that are nonsense-such as do'na for do not-or lines that sound odd grammatically. I wanted to convey a certain accent as it sounded in my head when I was writing this so that is why I have added them. This the first time I have attempted to write in such a way so I hope as you read it, it sounds in your mind the way it did in my own as I wrote it.
Enjoy.
~Roxie
If you live on Kiloran Isle
You pay no king a tax
Your land is yours for free.
But if a Kiloran comes for your daughter
A payment it must be.
Chapter 1
Bella tried to not let the short poem repeat in her mind as she gently held the white rose between two fingers, avoiding the thorns. The rose was one of the fabled ever blooming white roses found only on Kiloran land and there was a price to pay should she be caught-at least that is how the fables went.
Bella looked up at the dilapidated castle. Vines were snaking up the walls and through the openings where windows once were. No one had seen a Kiloran in nearly three hundred years and it had been over a hundred years since the last girl had supposedly disappeared from the land. She was on the property of her own accord just like Bella, but unlike Bella she had gone to the castle because she was unwilling to sign the agreement for living on Kiloran Isle; free land if you are willing to forfeit your life or the life of a daughter or wife-always a woman-if a Kiloran should come asking for her.
Gretchen-as she was named in the story-was said to have walked right to Kiloran Castle and was never seen again. A long howl, the beast of Kiloran they would whisper around the fire at night, was said to have called out that evening.
Bella placed the shears on the stem of the rose.
Gretchen's fable was one of many around Kiloran Isle. It was odd to have to sign such a paper to live for free but many people agreed and nothing had happened because of it. Of course there were many who refused and left the island, mostly young girls who didn't want to sign a paper like the fabled Gretchen. Bella hadn't cared, it was of no mind for her to stay and take care of the family land; raise a family of her own on it, and care for her parents as they aged.
