Black Rose (Rose Kisses #1)

4

Isaline Winter

Rewritten/Edited: 4/16/2019 at 12:27pm

**********

Amina had stayed with me for as long as she was allowed to. The others had taken their turns visiting, coming in groups of threes, but Amina had been beside me the entire time. Only when night fell and the night shift began did Amina finally give in and allow herself the luxury of sleep. I'd forced her to return to her own room, for both of our sakes but more so for her than mine. Today had been stressful and I longed for even a small slice of peace.

I closed my eyes and allowed myself to drift off into a dreamless sleep. I'd only been asleep for an hour or so when I was ripped from the darkness with a loud crash. Paying no mind to my injuries, I forced myself upright and grabbed the closest weapon I could find: a butter knife.

I raised my arm to strike when the intruder yelled out in surprise. "It's me!"

"Kiev?" I questioned. "The hell are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd stop by during my shift," he explained. "I was hoping you'd be asleep by now but clearly; I was wrong."

I put the butter knife back in its place and ran a tired hand through my hair. "You have to stop sneaking up on me like that, Kiev."

"I didn't know you'd go killer on me," Kiev retorted. "I would've been a little more careful but as I said, I thought you were asleep."

I chuckled and patted the space beside me, making room on the tiny bed for Kiev's large frame to fit comfortably beside me. We sat in silence for a few minutes, lost in our own thoughts but comfortable with the presence of the other. My favorite part about our entire friendship was that there was no need for words between us. I didn't have to say anything for Kiev to know what was wrong and vice versa.

"How do you feel?" he whispered.

"Fine," I answered dully. He gave me a long look and I sighed, leaning back against the mountain of pillows piled behind me. "I'm tired."

He snorted. "Aren't we all?"

"I suppose so," I said.

Kiev grasped my small hand in his much bigger one and squeezed gently. Then he kissed my knuckles gently and rose from the bed. "Get some sleep, yeah? We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

I watched him as he walked to the door. Just as he put his hand on the door handle, I couldn't stop myself from blurting out, "I love you."

He turned towards me and smiled softly. "And I love you. Now get some sleep."

The door closed silently behind him and I was left alone again. Sleep had long since evaded me and I had no desire to find it again. I spent the night staring blankly at the ceiling above me, remembering what it was like before my life went to Hell.

**********

"This is stupid," Amina grumbled as we sat side by side, squished into the back of a small car. The group had been spread out between three cars and while the others enjoyed the luxury of much bigger and spacious vehicles, Amina and I had drawn the short end of the stick.

I grunted as the car sailed over another speed bump. "I think my tail bone is fucked."

Our job was in Braveheart, a small country just east of Elysia and nestled on the edge of the Black Sea. It was expected to be day's journey, maybe less if we were lucky, and we were to arrive just in time to celebrate the prince's eighteenth birthday. The reasoning behind Aida's odd request was that the De Lucan prince was coming to power, seeing as his father was well past his due date. Aida wanted us to scope the place out and, essentially, see if there was any reason to feel threatened and to eliminate the threat should the situation call for it. She was as paranoid as she was powerful and there were rumors that the De Lucan prince was almost as strong as Aida was, maybe even more so. Aida had no intention on sharing her title anytime soon and she would see to it that she never had to.

As we passed through the small town that encircled the Braveheart palace, I felt my anxiety levels spike. Long ago, I had called Braveheart a home. My mother had been born and raised here and for a short while, I had been raised here as well until business called my family to Elysia. Even so, Braveheart had always been home to me; I had family here. It'd been so long since we'd last met that I feared they might not remember me but I had hope of reconnecting with them as soon as I could. If I had had the chance, I would have returned to Braveheart much sooner but it was my father that had kept us in Elysia. After my mother's death, I made it a goal of mine to return someday.

I supposed today was that day.

"Are you okay?" Amina asked suddenly, pulling me from my thoughts. I nodded reassuringly and looked out the window as we pulled into the castle grounds. We'd arrived a couple of minutes later than the others but on time, nonetheless.

"Remember the plan," I reminded quietly as the car door opened. We were greeted by an elderly man with kind eyes and cocoa brown skin.

"Welcome to Braveheart," he greeted warmly. Despite our protests, he collected our bags from the trunk and instructed one of the servants to bring them up to our rooms. He then gave us a brief tour of the grounds, showing us to the stables and the gardens before finally leading us inside to the ballroom where the prince's birthday would be held later on that night.

"The guests are expected to arrive in about an hour or so," he informed us. "It should be enough time for you all to ready yourself but please, do feel free to take all the time you need. The party does not officially start until about 9 pm and dinner will be served at 10 pm."

With those last bits of information, he led Amina and me up to the section of the castle reserved for guests. The royal quarters could be found on the other side of the castle, heavily guarded and almost impossible to get into without having been personally invited or escorted. I planned to do some digging later but until I could find the time to do so, I prepared myself for the role I'd been assigned.

**********

"I am so uncomfortable right now," I whined as I shifted around in my dress. It was blood red and far too risqué for my taste, revealing more than I wanted to show. There was so much tulle on the skirt that I was almost positive I was going to trip and fall to my death at some point.

"You look amazing," Amina chided. "Though I wish you would've covered up a bit more. Your tattoos take away from the image you're trying to project."

Spanning across my entire back and down my arms were ancient rune-like tattoos gifted to me by the previous King and Queen of Elysia after having proven my worth as an Assassin; a Winter, at that. Every Assassin had tattoos that differentiated them from other Assassins and also gave insight into the skills that they possessed. For example, my mother had tattoos that resembled streaks of lightning because of her affinity for electricity. She could cause full-scale blackouts in any country and could send a billion volts of electricity into the human body using just her finger. She was the most lethal Assassin I knew and not a day went by that I didn't remind myself how far I was from being perfect, compared to her.

"Isa."

I blinked up in surprise. "Yeah?"

"I lost you there for a second," Amina said quietly. "Where'd you go?"

"Nowhere," I replied. She didn't seem convinced, holding my gaze for a few moments before she finally let the conversation drop. If it truly bothered her, I'd talk to her about it later on tonight but right now, we needed to focus all of our attention onto the task at hand.

"Alright, so from what I've gathered, there's a pre-party ritual that Royals do called, 'The Introduction'," Amina explained as she applied some lipstick in the mirror. "People will be introduced as they enter and then they'll be led to the ballroom for the party. Aida instructed to be introduced last. I don't know why she wants it that way, but she does."

"So, we're basically going to sit around for the next half hour and then show up fashionably late?"

"Yup."

"I should take a nap then." 

*****

I said I would try and update 2-3 chapters a day but obviously, that was the fattest lie I've ever told