Black Rose (34 page)

           
“The roses turned purple and red, though mostly purple.”

           
“Wait,” Nolan interrupted. “Red, white, black…but what is violet?”

           
The Captains exchanged multiple glances. “Royalty,” Mara answered.

           
“Well,” Regald said, “she is engaged to the Prince.”

           
“But not of royal blood,” Garreth stated. “The roses only respond to those of
the royal bloodline. They never change for those who merely marry into the
line. Or at least, they never have before.” His expression became focused on
Regald. “Could she be carrying the Prince’s child?”

           
“It’s possible, though not likely. I mean, they could be…intimate. But I do not
think they are. They have a massive wedding planned and Mathew has always been
protective of ensuring the legitimacy of his bloodline. A trait I believe he
has passed down to his son.”

           
“Lady Sandra,” Mara interjected. “Who is she?”

           
“See, that is the thing. No one is really sure. She was in an accident and
found with only a few scattered memories as a child. I was the one who found
her. She was in bad shape, like she had been in a major accident of some kind.
She was eventually taken in by one of the noble families as a lady-in-waiting
and eventually found herself working in the Queen’s household. She met the
Prince a few years ago. The marriage was arranged and I was officially placed
on her guard detail.”

           
“Mathew put you, his Captain, on another’s detail?”

           
“I thought it was strange at first too, but I had been watching over her ever
since I found her, so I was happy to take the assignment.”

           
“There is another possibility.” Edward suddenly joined the conversation,
drawing all eyes to where he stood along the back wall. “I would like to speak
with Mara first to discuss it.”

           
She did not question this, but instead glanced around the room before her eyes
settled on Jonathan. “It is getting late. We should all get some sleep and
reconvene tomorrow.” She drew a breath as she addressed Jonathan directly.
“Keep no less than four men on the outer doors at all times and call the men
back to the castle.”

           
“Who, my Lady?”

           
“All of them. I want every single member of the Black Rose called back. They
have forty-eight hours. Mathew’s challenge cannot go unanswered.”

           
“Yes, Captain. It shall be done.”

           
Mara turned to face Edward from the privacy of her personal chambers. Edward
stood a few feet away from her, dressed in a clean, black shirt that had been
borrowed from Brendan’s wardrobe. “The outfit looks good on you,” she said,
“but then again, I always knew it would.” She took a few steps closer, standing
about half-way between the door and the bed. “You said you wished to speak with
me, Captain?”

           
“Don’t do that, Mara.”

           
She paused. “You’re right. I am sorry, Edward. What is it you wish to speak
with me about?”

           
It was his turn to pause. “I am really not sure how to begin. I don’t want to
hurt you.”

           
“That doesn’t sound like a very good start.”

           
Edward sighed and then drew a deep breath. “I spoke with Lady Sandra on the way
over here. We talked about her past, what little she could remember of it. She
had a few, scattered memories about her mother. She claimed that her mother
told her stories as a child.”

           
“Stories? What stories?”

           
“Stories about me,” he answered. “And they are of such vivid clarity, filled
with details that no one should know…let alone someone so young.”

           
“What do you mean?”

           
“She knows things, Mara. Things she should not.  About that night…”

           
“The night you were tortured? How could she know?”

           
“It got me thinking,” Edward stated slowly. “Her loss of memory could be from
an accident, as she says…”

           
“Or?”

           
“From an enchantment.”

           
“An enchantment? That seems a bit of a stretch.”

           
Edward stepped forward and gently took her hand. “Come here.” He led her over
to the bed where she took a seat at his bequest. “Mara.” He spoke her name
gently, taking a knee before her. “I need to ask you something.”

           
“Yes?”

           
“But first, you must hear me.”

           
She shifted on the bed uncomfortably. “What is it?”

           
She gazed up directly into her eyes. “I love you, Mara. Nothing you say will
change that.  I have left you alone for six hundred years.” He pursed his
lips as he attempted to draw breath. “I will never leave you again.”

           
“Edward, you’re scaring me.”

           
“And it is the last thing I ever want to do.”

           
“Ask your question.”

           
“She spoke of her mother—a woman of moonlit skin, dark hair and violet eyes.”
Mara’s head titled slowly to the left, her eyes narrowing as she stared at him.
“I need to know, my Lady. If there is any way that this girl is your daughter?
She…she looks like you.”

           
Mara’s eyes narrowed still further, transforming her gaze from violet to
silver. “What?”

           
“She looks like you,” he said again. “Dark hair, pale skin…and her mother had
your eyes; the rarest of any within the royal bloodlines.”

           
Mara stood from the bed, jerking her hands from his. “How dare you?  How
could you ask me such a thing?” She stepped several paces forward, drawing a
series of long breaths before turning back to face him, anger shining through
her. “Do you really think I would have kept a child from you? Do you find me
that heartless?”

           
“No,” he said firmly, rising from his kneeling position. “Not heartless, Mara.
Protective to a fault. If you hid a child to protect her from the Queen.”

           
“From you, Edward? You honestly believe that I could have bore your child and
hidden its very existence from you?”

           
“Mara, I’m sorry. With the roses and the appearance…I had to ask.”

           
Her head lowered slightly, her expression tightening with a pained expression.
“No, you don’t think I would keep
your
child from you. You thought I
would keep another’s.”

           
“Mara, your daughter would be of royal blood. It would have explained why all
of these things are happening.  I…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I had
to ask.”

           
Anger continued to flow through her. “How could you? How could you think I
would…” She pressed the back of her hand against her forehead, then jerked her
arm back to her side. “I loved you. I have always loved you. You and no other.
Not in twelve hundred years! How could you not know?” Edward stepped closer and
grabbed her arm. He forced her against his chest. “How could you?” she asked
again, but the anger was quickly leaving her voice.

           
His tone matched her pain. “I am sorry, Mara. I am so sorry.” He pulled her
closer.

           
“I love you,” she sobbed. “I have always loved you. I have always…”

           
“Forgive me. Please, Mara. ignosce mihi, mea rosa, mi amor.” He moved his left
hand to the back of her head, completely enfolding her into his embrace.

           
“I’ve loved you all my life. I swear, I…”

           
“I know,” he soothed her. “Gods, I know.” He lifted her in his arms, carrying
her towards the bed. He sat down on its edge, continuing to hold her in his
arms, slipping his arms around her back to keep her body against his chest.
“Mara, my Mara. mea rosa immortalis,” he whispered and she raised her gaze at
his words. He dipped his head and kissed her with all that he was worth. When
he was forced to pull back to draw breath, he kept his eyes upon hers. “I would
give anything to undo the pain that I have caused you. Anything. But I can’t.
All I can say is that I love you. te amo, rosa, mea rosa immortalis. I love
you. I will never leave you again.”

           
She searched his dark eyes and found nothing but conviction of the strong,
powerful man who had stolen her heart and never let it go. “Edward,” was all
she could manage before he leaned down and offered another searing kiss.

           
The first rays of the morning sun had come and gone long before Mara finally
awoke wrapped in the circle of Edward’s arms. Her cheek was resting on his
chest, her arm across his torso. His hand lay gently upon her bare back,
holding her close as she slept. He had awoken hours before and had remained as
still as possible so not to wake her. She had unpleasant dreams, struggling
against a ghost that could not be seen, only felt. Waking at her movements, he
pulled her from the nightmare. “Don’t leave me.”

           
“I won’t,” he promised.

           
She had closed her eyes at his words, enfolded in the safety of his arms. When
her breathing had finally settled to the steady rhythm of sleep, he laid awake
watching the first rays of the sun seep through the small window in the corner
of the room. “ignosce mihi, mea rosa, mi amor. I am so sorry.”

           
When she arrived in the Arum Court dungeons, he thought he was surely
hallucinating.  Her soft, strong voice sliding through the room
. I must
be dying
, he had thought.
She has come to me at last.
Yet she had
been real. The exact image of the vision he had attempted so desperately to
banish from his mind over those hundreds of years of solitude and loneliness.

           
His hand moved slowly down her side, pushing her hair away from her as his eyes
roamed her pale form, his fingers trailing over her body as though attempting
to memorize every inch of her pale form. Her shoulders were slender, but strong
from years of carrying the heavy blades he had taught her to use as a child.
Her long arms and slender wrists, so smooth to the touch. Then his finger
reached her side and over the long, jagged scar, the only flaw to her otherwise
pristine skin.

           
Edward had not seen Mara since the destruction of the Muir Court. He had been
sent in search of a child, the last Prince of the fallen Court. Instead he had
found Mara, kneeling at the edge of the sea. The water was a deep, beautiful
blue with sunlight dancing off the edge of the waves as they crashed upon the
white sand. 

Mara’s
silver sword lay on the ground beside her, blood staining the dark metal,
seeping into the ground below. “My Lady,” Edward’s deep voice fought through
the strong breeze to reach her. “Have you seen a boy? They say he might have
run this way.”

           
Mara did not acknowledge his words. She remained perfectly still, watching the
sun slowly lower itself into the rising tides of the sea.

           
“Mara, have you seen a child?” His inquiry was again met with silence. “Mara?”

           
She drew a breath and slowly answered his question, her gaze remaining upon the
blue waves. “There is no child, Edward.” The water shimmered in the falling
sunlight.

           
“What…I don’t understand.”

           
“It is not complicated, my Lord.”

           
“Are you saying that you have not seen the child?”

           
“There is no child, Edward,” Mara stated again. “Not anymore.”

Silence
fell over them as Edward began to digest her meaning. “Are you saying that
you…”

“The
line of the Muir Court has ended.” Her voice sounded hollow. She finally turned
to face him, meeting his gaze directly. “Liza’s death has been avenged.”

“But…”

“That,”
she spoke firmly, “is all you ever need know.”

She
stood from her kneeling position, raising her blade from the blood-soaked
earth—a splash of crimson on a sea of white sand. She took several steps
forward, walking carefully until she reached the edge of the ocean’s waves. She
paused, staring into the brilliance of the falling sun, then stepped into the
edge of the water, the blue waves stroking the edge of her long dark skirt.

She
knelt down, lowering her sword into their gentle grasp. For a moment, the blue
waves turned to red as the water cleansed the blood of its court from the edge
of Mara’s blade. Then the water cleared, the last blood of the Muir Court
carried away by the powerful ocean tide. Mara stared into the clear water for
what seemed a long time before slowly turning and walking back to where Edward
stood, watching silently. When she reached him, she looked up and stared into
his dark eyes. “It’s done, Edward. My vow is at long last, fulfilled.”

Edward
studied her for several moment moments before finally replying in an almost
haunted voice. “You killed the child.”