Queen of Rosewood Forest (On Hold)

Chapter 26

The door leads to the hidden chamber under the castle's cathedral. I open it and find the fires still lit by some miracle allowing me to see in the small room. I allow myself to catch my breath while I stare at the mural on the wall. As I calm down, something catches my eye, making me want to look at it closer. Taking a step closer, I notice the woman at the center of the mural bears a striking resemblance to a picture of my grandmother that my father had back home.

The woman has blonde hair like mine and wears a deep red gown. My father always said his mother favored the color red. I never got to meet my grandmother, but I knew that my father adored her. He loved her so much that he asked to be buried with the painting of her that used to hang in our home. The four men in the mural are not given as much detail as the woman in the center. I couldn't make out any details on them other than they each bore a different color on their clothes, and each held a small scepter.

It occurs to me that I snuffed out the lanterns in this room before attempting to escape through the tunnel, so them being lit now means someone else has been here. I climb the ladder and move the podium as quietly as I can. If someone finds me here, I could be in a lot of trouble. No one is supposed to know this castle exists so if someone is here it's probably someone from the village who accompanied Alun and Neven last time. When I get up into the cathedral, I sigh with a bit of relief seeing that no one is here.

I decided to find my way back to the bedroom I stayed in while I was here last. Finding it, I lay on the bed and curl up in a ball with a pillow clutched to my chest. It starts to set in that I just ran away from my best shot at survival, and I didn't bring anything with me. Last time I at least had a bag of a few necessities but now I don't have anything. I begin crying and after enduring everything that has hit me, I end up crying myself to sleep.

I wake up to a creaking noise and turn over to see Eben of all people quietly shutting the main door. I sit up and try to wipe my face of any tears or sleep that might remain. "I see you found me." I say hoarsely and sheepishly.

"Yeah. Aaden was pretty upset. Alun had to put out some fires." Eben says.

"I didn't mean to upset him. I just think it would be better if I just stayed away." I tried to explain a little in hopes he would leave me be. "I don't want to cause anymore problems for you all."

"Who said you were causing problems?" he looks at me confused but thankfully stays by the door giving me space.

"Isn't it obvious? I broke up Neven's relationship, I caused a fight between him and Aaden, and now I've made Aaden so mad that Alun had to be on fire control." I scoff, "I'm just trouble."

"We've always had those problems. I promise it's not you." He shakes his head. "We've always been jerks to one another, and that whole thing with Ally was bound to happen at some point."

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me," he nods, "I've been the middle man between Neven and Ally since we were teenagers, it was going to happen eventually."

"They've been engaged for that long?" I looked up at him, shocked.

"Not by choice. Neven's grandfather and my uncle made an agreement when my aunt got pregnant with Ally that they were going to start merging the four families. Since all the heirs ended up being male Ally and Alun's little sister Mira were the only way to do that."

"Oh..." I look down at my lap.

"Aaden said something earlier about how you don't like confrontation."

I tense then shrug, "Who does?"

"Fair enough," he nodded, "but he also said something about how it comes from your past."

I clear my throat and twist my fingers nervously. Taking a deep breath, I decided to try and trust him, "My husband wasn't very kind. When we first met my father thought he would be the perfect partner for me. He was in the beginning, but after we had the wedding and I moved in with him, he changed. He was one way when we were with my father or out in public, but different at home. I was one of the only women in our small town that worked and he said that since he was now my husband it was his right to control it. Once I found out that I can't have children, he seemed to think that was a punishment for not being an ideal wife. It caused a lot of problems, but I always thought he was doing it to help me. He said everything he did was to help me be a better wife," I look down at my ring and begin to fidget with it.

"Do you miss him at all?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

"Honestly, no. He was hard to deal with. I guess I am too, but now I'm beginning to realize that no one deserves the yelling and violence that I endured."

"Why do you still wear the ring then?"

"My father liked him," I shrug. "John was kind around him, and he was so happy when we got married. He helped John pick out the wedding rings because he wanted to make sure I would wear it."

"Interesting," he says softly. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure," I shrug.

"My mom's culture has a tradition for when someone leaves their lives. They take something that person gifted to them and they bury it. When enough time has passed for that person, they go back to it and choose whether to keep it or destroy it."

"I know we aren't married anymore, but I don't think I've ever taken this ring off." I look down at it, "I don't know if I could take it off, it seems like a part of me now, but I like the idea of your mom's tradition too. Can I think about that, or would it seem inappropriate since it's not my culture?"

"You can definitely think about it," he nodded, "it's meant to help anyone, not just our culture."

"Thank you," I whisper.

"I should probably tell you that Aaden is on hisway here. He wanted to make sure you were safe. I'll go find him and give yousome time to think." He pushes off the wall where he was leaning and then turnsback to me. "He really does care about you, and in a way we all do just so youknow. Whatever bullshit happens between us is gonna happen whether you're thereor not, but I know we all would prefer it if you were with us."