Rosalyn Osborne was a criminal, so they called her. Six years in prison changed her. No matter what others thought of her, she always knew her true self. She wasn't a criminal in her mind, but there was a public uproar when she was chosen for the Se...
My maids doll me up quicker than usual since I'd came up so late. They didn't put much makeup on me and just curl the ends of my hair. The dress was short, but was just as beautiful as my long gowns.
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I look at myself in my full length mirror for a second. You couldn't see most of my scars, I had my wig on, and everything seemed perfect.
"Darling, he's here." Quinn says with a small smile. I look up and shake the negative thoughts from my head.
"Thank you girls." I say with a smile and step out the door into the empty hallway with North. "Hey."
"Hello, Love." He says and holds out his hand for me. I give him a genuine smile and take his hand happily. "So I don't really have much planned, but I just wanted to be able to talk in peace."
"That sounds good to me." I say with a smile. "Where are we going?"
"Come on, let me show you." He says with a smile. It doesn't take long for us to travel up the spiral staircase to the long flat area of the roof near the back where nobody would be able to see us. It was cold on the roof, but the comfort of the darkness made it bearable. "Here."
North slips his tuxedo jacket off his shoulders and slips it over mine. I almost gave it back to him, but it was kind of cold.
"It's beautiful up here." I say with a smile and press myself closer to him to fight the wind. "And very peaceful."
"I love it here. Sometimes I just need a breather and it's always so calm up here." He smiles and walks over a few feet away from the edge of the building and we sit side by side. I stay quiet and just lean into his chest, closing my eyes slightly.
"I'm so scared, North." I say quietly and squeeze my eyes shut.
"What for?" He asks and puts a gentle hand on the side of my face but I still don't look at him.
"What if this doesn't work out?" I ask quietly. "I'd be going right back home to the nothing I started with. Here I have everything I want. I just don't know what I would do."
"I thought about it the other day, if for some reason I sent you home and something happened to you like Emily. I don't know how I'd be able to live with that knowing you were in pain because of me. Rose, I'm not promising anything but thinking of not being with you—"
This time he forces me to look at him but could barely keep eye contact.
"I couldn't imagine watching you walk out the front doors of this palace and riding away in some fancy limo and not regretting every single that happened up to that point." North murmurs quietly.
I wanted to say more than anything not to ever let me go. I wanted him to be able to hold onto me forever. I reach my hand up and caress the edge of his chin, then let it drop down to his forearm.
"I watched you leave the palace that once when we were kids with guard escorts. My parents talked to me that night and told me that sometimes the law can't always protect innocent people. There were seventy-eight cases presented to my father that day and even if they never said your name I knew they were talking about you." North pauses and I look back down at the ground.
"Why'd you make me stay when I first came?" I ask him quietly and tuck my hand into his.
"At first I thought it might be a way to repay you for what my family couldn't protect you from. But the first day I saw how high you still held your head and how the money and the palace weren't enough to keep you here." North shrugs. "If you stay, I know it is for me and nothing else."
I smile happily and squeeze his hand gently.
"North, I love you." I say quietly. "I know I've said it before, and I'm sure every other girl has, but I really mean it more than anything. I love you." I repeat.
North puts one of his hands on my cheek and kisses me. He pulls away for a second and I close my eyes, absorbing the moment.
"I love you too." He says quietly and kisses me again. I put my hands on the back of his neck and pull him as close to me as he can get. When I pull away from our kiss, I just want to feel his touch again. Suddenly it started to rain, only a little at first, and turning into a downpour.
I just sit there and laugh for a second. We stand up and for a second I just watch him. I reach up and kiss him one more time, the rain making it innocent and carefree.
"Come on." North laughs. "Let's go in." We run as quick as we can down the steps while holding hands and burst into the hallway in the palace, soaking the carpet and flinging water onto the walls every step we took. "Let's go to my bathroom, it's closer."
I agree with a simple head nod and just let him lead me by my hand swiftly through the hallways of the only floor I hadn't memorized. North pushes open the door that I remembered was his bedroom and leads me through there into his marble bathroom. My bathroom here was beautiful, but it wasn't anything compared to this.
"Wow." I mutter quietly, but quickly catch myself. I hadn't meant to even say it out loud but it was so hard not to.
"Here." North says and wraps a towel around my shoulders that were still covered in his jacket. "It wasn't even supposed to rain tonight, I don't know how that happened." He laughed.
"Honestly I don't know. At least I can scratch that one off my bucket list." I laugh slightly and wring my hair out in the towel.
"Have you ever written down your bucket list?" He asks me and sits on the edge of the hot tub size bath. I sit beside him while admiring the room.
"Emily and I did once but it was a few years ago. I don't even remember most of what was on it." I shrug slightly. "People like me would usually end up on the streets, addicted to drugs and alcohol, or both. Having opportunities, either of us, is just such a blessing."
He doesn't say anything, but reaches across to me and puts his hand over mine gently. I use the towel that sits on my shoulders to wipe my face off, hoping my makeup wasn't too disastrous.
"It's getting late, let me walk you back to your room." North says and loops our arms effortlessly. We walk back to my room in silence, my head leaning on his shoulder and my eyes almost closing from exhaustion.
When we get back to the hallway where my room was and a small group of selected in the hallway, all still in their evening gowns they spent the afternoon in.
"Good evening ladies." North says politely with a slight nod. I was slightly embarrassed, my hair wet, I'm sure my makeup was a mess, and I had the prince's towel wrapped around my shoulders.
"Good evening." They each offer a short smile. I remember all of their names now, but all of the girls I'd ever talked to had been sent home. Suddenly, one of the girls I remembered as Bailee breaks away from the crowd.
"How's your friend?" Bailee asks timidly.
"She's doing better." I answer a second later, being slightly caught off guard. "Thank you for asking."
"I'm glad." She nods and steps back into the group.
North follows me into my room silently and closes the door behind him.
"Sorry. That's not how I wanted to end the night." He frowns slightly.
"You couldn't have helped it." I shrug and wrap my arms around his neck in one last embrace before wishing him a good nights sleep. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, I'll come check on you before breakfast." He kisses the top of my head and leaves me alone. I could only imagine spending every night like the one I just had.
