The Black Rose (11 page)

“
Was it something
I
said
?
”
Wilhelmina tried to replay the day in her mind, but nothing jumped out at her. Maybe it was something Edolie told him
.
She shook her head
knowing it was wrong to make assumptions
, for now she should just let it be
. I
t was no use worrying over something when you didn’t have enough information.

Milly
also
hadn’t talked to Wilhelmina
in a while. The last time she had talked to Milly was when they were in her room talking about
Lord Melanthius
, which was almost three weeks ago
.
Since then her
friend
had been
busy helping prepare for Edolie’
s wedding.

Wilhelmina also had the feeling that Milly was trying to avoid her because every time they ran into each other, Milly would say “Sorry, but I
got to go
,” before running off and disappearing. Normally
she
would make some complaint
and they would chat for a little bit
, but lately she seemed to be in a hu
rry to get away from Wilhelmina, or maybe she was just really bu
s
y and Wilhelmina was over thinking things.
It was odd behavior, but then again, the palace workers have never been under the stress of planning a wedding.

“It’s no use dwelling on something you don’t have answers to,”
She
sighed
in frustration
as she
sat down in a patch of lumairas in the Queen’s Garden.
A
fter reading that book
,
Wilhelmina discovered a fondness for lumairas.
They resembled a mix between lilies and orchids, and were a
beautif
ul fuchsia color, which made Wilhelmina
think of Delaney and her love of bright pink. She giggled.

The sun was setting
and Wilhelmina waited anxiously for the flowers to glow. Lately she had been out here every night just to watch them glow. It strangely soothed her, something she needed right now.
S
he has been spending most of her time agonizing over Jerome and Milly. The flowers provided a temporary solution to her frustration, but even among the flowers she found herself wondering about those two.

Wilhelmina didn’t know why Milly was avoiding her, but had a strong feeling that she must have found out something in the library. Did the story of Lord Melanthius have something to do with her? Wilhelmina pondered the idea that maybe the sorcerer story
related to her in some way
, but she couldn’t
figure out what the connection was
.
It also didn’t seem very logical, since he was banished from the kingdom before she was born. He also didn’t appear to be a threat since no one seemed to worry about him. If they were worried, his name would have likely come up sooner.

It was no use. Wilhelmina had nothing to go off besides that book, and that book did not give her much information. She fell back among the lumairas and it was then she realized they were glowing. She watched t
heir soft pink glow and after awhile found it hard to keep her eyes open
.
She
sat up
and yawned
, “Wel
l I guess I should go to bed.” Wilhelmina
stood up and headed back into the palace.

Jerome and Edolie’s wedd
ing was just a few days away.
She
sighed, Milly was probably really busy and she was over thinking it, but she knew for sure she wasn’t exaggerating the Jerome situation. He
definitely
was avoiding her.
No one just walks past you in a hall without some form of a greeting. Then again, maybe he had a lot on his mind? Wilhelmina shook her head; she needed to stop worrying about Jerome.

She
froze as she spotted Jerome standing on the second floor balcony.
The balcony was located at the end of the hall and over looked the castle entrance. He was still dressed in his uniform, so he must not have gotten ready for bed yet. He was also alone.

“
And I was just thinking about him
,” Wilhelmina thought to herself.
Irony wasn’t her friend.

She
debated as to whether
or not
to go
up
to her room, or to talk to him.
The flight of stairs leading to her room was just straight ahead, so she could easily go up them without being noticed. However,
she wasn’t going to
be able to
find out
if or why
Jerome
was avoiding her until she confronted him
. Wilhelmina took a deep breath to calm her nerves. If she wanted to
know what was going on
, now was her chance to corner him and talk to him.

Jerome didn’t even turn around when she stepped onto the balcony next to him. He was staring intensely at the night sky.
His face looked as if he was deep in thought and Wilhelmina wondered what he was thinking so hard about. She stood there for a little
while
to see if he
would notice
her, but when he didn’t say anything, she decided to interrupt his thoughts.

“What
are you looking at?” Wilhelmina asked causing Jerome to jump. She giggled. He really hadn’t noticed her at all.

“
Wh
-
What are you doing up?” Jerome stuttered.

“I went to see the lumairas,” Wilhelmina smiled innocently at him, “You?”

“I-I was…” Jerome stammered
. He still hadn’t recovered from shock and the strange pang in his chest was back,
“just getting some fresh air.”

He had a bad feeling about this and
because Wilhelmina had sneaked up on him, he had no time to prepare himself. It was hard enough to avoid looking at her when he spotted her in the palace. Why did the curse affect him so much? Jerome
forced himself to think and then
realized that the curse probably had the same affect on any man that met her, like the guy she had danced with. Wilhelmina wasn’t allowed out so it never happened before, but because he was in the palace and spent time with her, he was
greatly affected by the curse placed upon her
.

“
Are you alright?
”
Wilhelmina asked noticing Jerome was a little pale.

“I’m fine, but I should probably go to bed,” He said beginning to walk away from Wilhelmina.

“Wait,” Wilhelmina said grabbing his hand, “
A
re you avoiding me?”

Jerome froze. “
So she has noticed,”
He thought to himself and turned slow
ly to face her
, “I
-I…have my reasons
.” It wa
s
as honest of an answer as he could come up with without telling her the truth
. H
e made a promise to King Wilhelm and Queen Henrietta.

“So you are avoiding me,”
Wilhelmina repeated
.
Saying it again proved that she had been right and her heart sank. What had she done to make him not like her?

“I-I have no choice,” Jerome stammered. He could feel his heart pounding. The more he looked at her, the more his desire for her grew, “I should go.”
He tried to think of Edolie, but that didn’t work, and then he tried to tell himself it was the curse, but t
hat didn’t help either. He felt
trapped in his desire for Wilhelmina.
It was as if his heart had been taken over and his brain couldn’t reason with such emotion.

“Why can’t you tell me?” Wilhelmina asked, “Is it something I did?”

“N
o,” Jerome said wishing she would stop trying to hold him back.
“
Look, it’s
not your fault, I can’t….” He stammered and before he had time to think, he felt her lips against his. His heart melted in that kiss and all feelings for Edolie were forgotten.
Wilhelmina’s eyes widened
.
S
he was too in shock at first to pull away, but once she realized what was happening, she panicked.

“
Wh
-
What are you doing?” Wilhelmina
exclaimed
as she pulled away from him.

“I-I” Jerome stuttered, but his heart couldn’t take it. He lost all will to fight
the curse
that caused him to love Wilhelmina. “I love you,” He declared.

Jerome’s eyes went from a bright blue to a dark gray. The curse was controlling him and he had lost all will to fight
it
. Wilhelmina
hadn’t noticed his eyes change color from the shock.
She was not expecting this and she could feel him staring at her with longing. She began to panic.

“You’re to marry my sister,” Wilhelmina said feeling as if the world was shattering beneath her feet, “You can’t love me. I don’t, I don’t love you
.” She shook her head defiantly. It was true; she liked someone else.

“I won’t marry her, I’ll marry you,” Jerome said grabbing her hand, “You’re a princess too, it’ll work out.”

“I-I can’t,” Wilhelmina said pushing him away, “You’ll marry Edolie and don’t you dare call off the wedding.” She looked at him with a stern face
despite the tears forming in her eyes
, “You love her, I’ve see
n
you with her,
you
just have pre-wedding nerves.” She
stammered
trying to make sense of what was happening
, “Just don’t do anything stupid!” With that said, Wilhelmina ran up the stairs to her room.

Wilhelmina fell down on her bed and sobbed. How could that have happened?
Since when
did Jerome love her? She had seen him with Edolie. They were happy together. What happened? She was so confused and hurt.
Wilhelmina knew it, knowing secrets only
made
things
worse
and now she might have ruined her sister’
s wedding.
She
prayed that Jerome would forget about her and marry Edolie. She didn’t love him, so she wouldn’t marry him either way, but she didn’t want to
hurt her sister
.

Wilhelmina ended up crying herself to sleep and woke up the next day to the sun
shining through her window
. She blinked at the brightness
as she crawled out of bed
. When she stood up, she noticed
she was still wearing the same lavender
dress she was wearing yesterday. The memories of last night came back to her and she began to sob. Why did that have to happen?

Once she had managed to stop crying, she washed up and
changed clothes
before heading down for breakfast
.
She
hoped Jerome had forgotten everything
about last night and secretly prayed that it had only been a very bad dream
. However, she could
still
feel
his lips
against hers and knew there was no use in denying what happened. Her lips had been tainted.

Wilhelmina took a deep breath to calm
herself
. She didn’t want to look as if she had been crying. She needed to act as if nothing had happened last night in case she did run into Jerome and Edolie.  However, to her
surprise, Milly was sitting at the dining table when she arrived
instead of Edolie and Jerome
. Wilhelmina hurried over to take a seat across from her friend as a maid quickly went to get her some breakfast.

Mill
y was not just an ordinary maid, so s
he had some special privileges, such as eating with the family and being allowed to attend balls. She also wore a different uniform than all the other maids. The other maids wore the traditional black dresses and white aprons, while Milly
wore a red dress. She had a white apron that she only wore when working. Milly was older than Wilhelmina, but instead of acting like her nanny, she had been her dearest friend. 

Milly smiled, “I finally got a break.” There was no way
she could avoid Wilhelmina now. She also knew it was wrong of her to do so, after all it wasn’t Wilhelmina’s fault and avoiding her wouldn’t
make the problem go away
. In
the end Milly just had to pretend that she never overheard the conversation in King Wilhelm’s study.

“So do you have the day off?” Wilhelmina asked as Milly finished swallowing down a piece of sausage.

“Unfortunately no,” Milly sighed, “I just have time to eat breakfast. Edolie’s freaking out because the wedding’s in two days.
We’ve changed the decorations more than five times this week!
I’m surprised she’s giving us time to eat!” Wilhelmina giggled. The maid then returned with a plate filled with sausage and eggs, and a glass of milk for Wilhelmina. She thanked the maid before returning her attention to Milly.