Waiting For Spring

King James

“How did they get out?” I demanded of one of my guards as the others worked to keep the fire from spreading.

“They broke through all the cell doors by using their combined weight. As far as we can tell your majesty.” The guard answered, eyeing the smoldering cells that once housed all our prisoners. The same cells Arlarose had first been placed in. “They easily overpowered the watch guards and swarmed the palace.”

“Why did they break out to be captured again? Some barely made it from the cells before they were apprehended again.” I walked away from the dimming fire to be met with a worried Troy.

“Fifteen men are unaccounted for and the representative from Gwendyln, Lord Gregor is also missing.”

“You don’t think- “

“Simon is one of the missing prisoners.” Troy interrupted and instantly the panic inside my body started to bubble to the surface and I felt the overwhelming need to run.

“Arlarose,” I gasped, as my heart dropped out of my chest and I sprang towards the palace doors, turning my back on the now smouldering cells.

Troy wasn’t too far behind as I charged through the palace, brushing aside weary guards and stray ball guests.

Instantly, as I round the corner, I felt the blood in my veins run cold. The four guards that were tasked with guarding the doors to my Rose’s room were prone on the palace floors.

I pushed myself to run harder until I flung the doors open and a nightmare stared back at me.

She wasn’t here.

Frantically, my eyes darted throughout the room for any sign of her, for a scrap of dress or an errant shoe but there was nothing. Then I saw it, her ruby tiara, the red roses glinting back at me from the place where they rested beside the fireplace.

Slowly, I made my way over to the tiara, gently picking it up and twirling the intricate roses between my fingers.

“You don’t think she ran with them? Do you think this may have been her plan all along?” Troy gasped from the doorway as he regained his breath back.

I looked back, and for a moment I thought they might hold some truth. I saw the hatred in her emerald green eyes, and I believed it. I believed she could have run.

That’s when I saw the only thing in this world, she held dear. The only thing she would never be parted with. Her small silver necklace with her parents faces staring back at me. I strode across the room and scooped it up, holding it close to my chest.

“She would never leave this.” I affirmed. “She was stolen.”

Beside the necklace was a knife with blood that I hoped wasn’t hers, but I knew it couldn’t be because she would never allow herself to be bested by a weapon she considered an extension of herself. My little Rose had thorns because she knew she needed to be able to protect herself. Everyone in her life had proven to be a poor substitute for her own protection. I had failed her. Just like she knew I would.

“What are we going to do?” Troy asked, desperation creeping into his voice.

“Find her. I’ll search every mountain, forest and town until she’s returned. We will not rest until Arlarose has been safely returned to my side.”

“I’ll prepare for the search,” Troy said, leaving quickly to prepare our men.

I remained behind and glanced around the room again. This was the place my princess had spent so much of her time. She had barely had the chance to live and again she had been stolen away.

Sinking into one of her sitting room chairs, I clutched her tiara and locket close and whispered, “Where are you my Rose?”

To be continued in When Winter Falls.