Chosen

Chapter Nine

Elle~

I got up from the luxurious bed that gave me a dreamless slumber and grabbed the mint green dress with a square neckline and long sleeves from the maid, walking behind the large divider. After I got dressed, I sat at the large vanity I had in this bedroom, allowing the maid whose name was Harriet, to brush my long blond hair, the brush moving smoothly through my wavy locks. While she was at work, I gazed at myself in the mirror, the bags underneath my eyes starting to make an appearance. Harriet must have noticed I was unhappy for she placed the brush back on the vanity.

"Miss Giselle, why have you been sad for the past week?" Harriet asked out of curiosity. I looked up at her in the mirror.

"Because, Harriet, I miss him. I miss Alistair. I miss seeing his eyes, the way he walks, his hair, his voice, I miss him in general." I said, the sadness blending with my voice.

"Oh, I see." Harriet whispered, and grabbed my cross necklace from the vanity's countertop, hooking it around my neck.

"You may leave now, Harriet. I won't need your services until later." I said, receiving a curtsy from Harriet and then complete silence as the door closed completely. I got up from the vanity, slipping on my matching mint green slippers, and left the room. My eyes haven't seen bright color in a long time, not since when I was at home, the wildflowers portraying as the borderline for the trails. The guards that stood watch outside my room stopped me.

"Where are you going, miss?" One of the guards asked.

"I was wondering where the gardens was. Could you take me there?" I asked persuasively.

"Alright. To the gardens." The guard said and the two guards led the way with me quickly behind. They had such long strides, I could barely keep up with them. As soon as we had reached the gardens, they stopped abruptly, causing me to almost bump into them accidentally.

"The gardens, miss." The guards said, and moved aside, allowing me to gaze at the large masses of flowers, bushes, trees, and fountains. It was beautiful.

"Thank you." I said, and walked down the steps into the gardens. I smelled the pansies, the tulips, daffodils, but I wanted to find the roses. Roses were my favorite flower.

Searching through the different kinds of flowers, I found lily of the valleys, peonies, poppies, but still no roses. When I reached the center of the garden, I gasped in awe. Different kinds of roses were planted in the middle of the gardens, with a large fountain shooting water into the base of the fountain placed in the middle. This is the most beautiful place that I have ever in my lifetime. I plucked a red rose its growing spot, and held it in my hands.

" I am not surprised that I would find you here." Someone said behind me, causing me to turn around quickly. It was Alexander.

"You know, I used to come here all the time when I was a little boy. I would hide by the rose bushes and scare Alexandra whenever she came here to read one of her thick books she always carried in her arms.

"Alexa reads?" I asked, not expecting her to read. She seems like one of those girls who would have played dress-up and played with dolls.

"Alexa used to read." Alexander said, emphasizing the words "used to".

"Why doesn't she anymore?" I asked. How could someone love to read, but stop reading for no reason?

"Alexa used to read all the time, until a suitor said reading made her too nerdy, so she stopped reading all together, and never read again." Alexander said, rage boiling up in me.

"If she loved to read and someone who have married her said no just because she loved to read, that doesn't mean she has to stop reading altogether! That's just rude on that suitor's part for saying that to her." I said angrily.

"That's the exact same thing I said to her, but she didn't listen, saying she valued marriage over reading." Alexander said, shaking his head side-to-side.

"Wow." I said, sitting down on the edge of the fountain. Alexander sat down as well.

"When I found you in your village, I didn't expect you to keep sitting there in front of me. I had expected you to try and break free of my grasp. You're very different than others that I have taken from their homes." Alexander said, turning his gaze to me. Uneasy, I stood up and walked a bit away from him.

Alexander noticed my uneasiness, exclaiming, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that was a sore subject to talk about. I shouldn't have brought it up."

I nodded.

"It's fine, it's just when I found my parents lying there dead, I found the book that I had put away in the library the day before. Inside, there was a bookmark with words written to me from my parents saying they loved me and to stay strong. It's like they knew you were coming and they would be dying." I said, turning to face him.

Alexander's eyebrows were knit together.

"That is rather odd. Maybe they had a watch troop to look out for outsiders. That could have been possible. I have had villages that had watch troops out for outsiders that met us." He said, puzzled.

"Has there been any word from Alistair?" I asked, hopeful he asked about me.

"No, he's been busy with peace treaties in different countries. Why?" Alexander said, raising an eyebrow at me.

"No reason." I said, my heart sagging. Alistair hasn't sent a letter asking if I was alright.

"Yeah, right. You miss him, don't you?" Alexander said.

I ignored his question, I already had to go through that question with Harriet.

"I know you miss him, Giselle. Don't worry, you'll be back with him soon enough." Alexander said, getting up from the fountain and left me.

Hopefully what Alexander said was true, but I had a bad feeling that he was wrong.