B L O O M

The New Kingdom

A grunt escaped her bruised, cracked lip as sunlight beat down upon her closed eyes. Calling for her to rise from the warm embrace of her bedding. Rose grunted in pain, her eyes flickering open before closing to avoid the harsh brightness of the room. Once Rose's eyes slowly adjusted, she took in her surroundings carefully.

The light streamed through the thin curtains, illuminating the room as the sun continues to climb higher and higher in the sky. The room was clean, save for a collection of bandages and salves that laid strewn across a nightstand that stood adjacent to the large bed.

Rose grit her teeth as she shifted, her head pounding and her body aching with every movement. Rose grinded her teeth at the searing pain, but swung her legs over the side of the bed nonetheless. Grimacing at the sight of the bloody bandages that were thickly wrapped around her bare legs and her bruised arms. The blotchy splashes of pale green and sickly yellow contrasted the deep maroon and painful purple cuts that painted her skin. Her right leg had a particularly nasty gash, a throbbing she felt as she reached out to touch it before recoiling at the fire of pain shooting through her leg.

Rose gripped the beautiful mahogany bedframe tightly before easing her sore body off of the bed, waiting for a second as her vision swam and black shockwaves of pain rattled her bones. Rose steadied herself before taking a hesitant step forward, careful to keep as much weight off of her aching feet, until she had stumbled her way to the cracked glass mirror. Sucking in a breath at the horrible sight.

Her face was covered in bruises and various scabbed cuts and gashes. Her right eye was swimming with blood that made her whimper in pain. Licking her bloody lips as the smell of blood and the taste of metal overwhelmed her mind; making her see stars. Rose leaned forward to inspect the top of her forehead, which was concealed by a crusted bandage. Carefully peeling back the layers of the thick cloth to see the sight of the large, oozing gash, the thread from a needle running across the inch-long cut to seal it shut.

The door creaked open suddenly, causing Rose's head to whip around at the entrance only for her mind to go blank as the red-hot pain blocked out all noise. Her ringing ears making her gasp as she sunk to the ground.

Rose felt hands gently grip onto the bare skin of her arm making her cry out at the touch as the hands began helping her steady herself on the ground until her vision returned. Rose's eyes focused on the scarred face of Tyrion, who was watching her intensely. His lips moved but Rose could only watch him, his words not breaking through the sound of bells clanging around in her head.

The two siblings remained collapsed on the floor for a few more minutes until Rose's head cleared enough for her to hear Tyrion's raspy voice call her name.

"Rose, you stubborn fool." Tyrion helped prop Rose up as best as he could, moving her back onto her bed. "You couldn't wait for someone to find you. You just had to get up, didn't you?"

Rose forced herself to smile at her brother, her lips cracking from the effort and beginning to leak fresh blood. "Sorry?"

Tyrion shook his head in disbelief at her attitude, smiling with a huff as he pushed the covers back over her sore body. Tyrion climbed onto the bed to sit by her side, his eyes moving across her face as his lips dropped into a frown.

"We were so worried, Rose." Tyrion spoke timidly, his eyes filling with tears as he looked over Rose's beaten face. "The maesters didn't know when you would wake up. If..."

Rose scrunched her nose at the assumption. "How long have I been out?"

"Ten days." His soft voice did little to soothe the guilt that instantly filled Rose.

"Have you been like this for Ten days?" Her eyes wandering over the deep purple bags and the greasy hair on her brother. His fingernails had all been chewed down to the nail bed, and his green eyes seemed far more ancient and wiser than she remembered.