Rose, Wilted: Book 1

Chapter 27 - Broken

"I died that night. I never thought there was any hope. Because the one way for me to escape my fate and lift the curse was for someone to fall in love with me. It was beyond anyone to love a monster. I gave myself up to the demon. And then- I saw you at the stream so long ago and I recognized myself in you. The self-loathing. The pain. And I thought that-," his voice caught a little, "-that if anyone could understand me, it would be the peasant girl with the pretty blue eyes."

I almost laughed.

"Love," I whispered. "The answer in every fairy story ever written, and I didn't even consider it. I feel like a fool now."

"Don't," Adam said. "You did it in your own time. And you know you're the only one who could have done it at all."

I nodded absently, toying with his shirt a little.

"So...what do we do now? You're King. And I'm... I'm still a peasant. You have your kingdom back. What do we tell people? Just kidding, the King was the one who kill- the King was alive all along."

Adam winced.

"King. It was all I ever wanted as a child. Now..."

"And Jayla is still out there!" I said. "Can she get into the castle now? What if she comes and attacks us? What if-,"

"Anna, please stop. My head is already spinning. We'll just take this one step at a time, okay?"

I let out a long breath.

"Okay."

Adam sighed.

"We ought to see what's happened at the castle."

I nestled my head deeper into his chest.

"Do we have to?"

He chuckled.

"Yes. There will be time for this later, I promise."

My cheeks suddenly flushed hot.

Later.

Carefully, I unwrapped my arms from his torso and extracted myself from his grip, even if he seemed reluctant to let go. I stood on wobbly legs.

"Help me up?" he asked. "I'm not quite used to this body yet."

I gave him a hand getting to his feet and he very nearly fell over again, but I caught him in time. He draped his arm over my shoulders and for a moment my heart constricted and my stomach fluttered. Then I relaxed. I walked him over to the fountain, but realized something.

Avoln's body was gone. There wasn't even a trace of blood on the fountain's rim.

As I looked around I realized I could see green grass again too. There were no more roses to be seen anywhere, not even thorns.

Adam took his arm away from my shoulders and began to walk on his own, but he stumbled and caught himself on the fountain's rim. His knuckles were white from the effort of keeping himself up, but the rim was crumbling under his grip. I gasped and helped him sit down.

Adam gazed at his hands.

"I'm still strong."

"You don't think you're still..."

Adam shook his head.

"No. No, of course not. It's just an after effect. I'm sure it will diminish after a while."

I nodded, biting my lip.

"Let's keep going," he said. "I need to see what's happened to the castle."