Heart of Rose

everything forgotten but a memory

Chapter 1

Present Day

She was running.

She had been waiting for this moment for ten years and she finally got away from the men who had enslaved her. Like some of the other women, she wasn’t made to do the type of work that required her to be on her back.

She was a lady and she knew it. She couldn’t remember what kind of lady, because that tragic day she arrived here was the last memory she had of anything, except for occasional flashbacks of what her life was like before it all ended.

There is one thing that flashes through her mind—a face rather than a thing. She dreamt of him—a handsome man smiling down at her when she was a child, wiping away the tears she had shed so many years ago.

His name was Gideon—and that was all she remembered. Gideon, she thought. While she was running, she prayed to the Lord that she could find him. He had played her hero once and she was praying with every ounce of her that he would do so again. She needed him to remember her.

She didn’t slow down, afraid that the men may catch up with her. She’d been running for an hour now and she still wasn’t ready to slow down; too scared to even let her guard down for a second. Finally, she couldn’t breathe and she ducked behind a tree, closed her eyes and just listened. She couldn’t hear anything anymore. She slowed her breathing and saw a giant. The way he just stared at her, not moving, not speaking, just standing there, made her highly uncomfortable.

Finally he spoke, “Why is a pretty girl like you wondering in this forest alone?” He glanced at her feet. “And with no shoes,” he continued. Suddenly, it all became too much and Rose just passed out. If it weren’t for Lucas, she would have hit the ground hard, but he was quick and he caught her and laid her gently on the ground, turned and called for the men he had been hunting with to come forward.

One of them called to him and asked, “Lucas, what do you want to do with her?”

“We will bring her back to the grounds and let Father decide, but personally I’m hoping we can keep her. She would be good help around the grounds and she would be a pretty picture once she is cleaned up, don’t you think, eh?”

“Of course, sir.”

With that, Lucas lifted Rosaliee into his arms and hid her neatly under his coat and slowly made his way back to the castle grounds to show his father the wonderful game he had just caught. He was hoping that he would be pleased, assuming that his father would at least thank him for bringing home a little fun.

Half an hour later, they arrived back at the castle and he handed Rosaliee to one of his men and slowly dismounted. He handed the reins to one of his men and took Rosaliee back into his arms. It was about this time that Rosaliee started to wake up and when she finally cleared from the haze, she screamed and punched Lucas in his left eye, catching him off guard. He dropped her and she didn’t waste a second.

She took off and ran as fast as she could, but an arm wrapped around her waist and hauled her up over his shoulder, making her feel uncomfortable. She started to struggle and was quickly stilled by the voice of the one from the woods and if she were to guess, it was the same one she had just punched in the face and he did not sound happy.