The Rosewood Prophecy

Chapter 49

                                                                          Katherine

"Kath, you're beautiful." And then his lips were on mine, a touch as light as a feather yet magnified a thousand fold in my system. I froze—eyes wide, cheeks warm. All I could think about was how soft his lips were, how he had taken my first kiss, and how this was Aaron Kane who was kissing me, the same Aaron whom half the girls in the Academy would kill to date. My heart thumped in my chest. And then he pulled away, smiled at me with that oh-so-charming smile, and passed out, lurching forward into my arms.

I shook my head, trying to dismiss the images and clear my mind so I could sleep. Yet the scene replays in my mind's eye, and I'm transported back to that moment when Aaron kissed me. If I concentrated hard enough, I could still feel his lips on mine. My cheeks burned.

On the bed, Aaron slept peacefully next to Charles and Christina. I tossed and turned on my makeshift bed on the floor, unable to sleep. I tried to distract myself by thinking about Josephine and the drugged ginger ale. Why would she try to drug us? What did she want from us? What did she want from Aaron? These questions swirled in my mind as I slowly drifted into a light slumber.

I awoke to a chorus of voices above. "Charles, Christina, please settle down, your loud voices are giving me a headache." Aaron grumbled.

"But we're hungry," Charles whined. "It's time to get up, Aaron."

I sat up, stretching out the knots in my back from sleeping on the hard floor. "How did you sleep, children?"

"Very well," Christina replied. "Much better than when we slept in forests." Charles nodded and crawled to the edge of the bed to peer at me. "Why did you sleep on the floor?"

I glanced at Aaron, who had his head in his hands, then quickly looked away when I felt a blush coming on. "Because Aaron here had a few drinks too many, and he took up all the space on the bed." Not that I would've slept in the same bed as him anyway.

"Ugh, my head feels like it's going to split in half," Aaron groaned. "What happened last night? How much did I drink?"

"You don't remember?" I snapped my gaze back to him, staring at him in disbelief. "You don't remember anything from last night?"

"Not really..." Aaron rubbed his forehead and tried to think back. "I was talking with Josephine...we shared a few glasses of that ale...and then...and then..."

"You kissed me," I said softly, almost to myself.

"What was that?"

"I said, Josephine drugged you," I hurriedly jumped to a more important topic. "She drugged the ale, and if I hadn't showed up, she would've seduced you. You should've seen it: she was holding your hand, literally trying to make out with you, and you two were this close to kissing."

"Aaron! I thought you were dating Kath!" Christina, who was listening to our conversation, exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah, don't cheat on Kath!" Charles folded his arms and shook his head at Aaron in disappointment. My cheeks were burning.

"Don't be silly. Charles, Christina, go get ready for breakfast. This is grown-up talk; you shouldn't be listening." I shooed the giggling children into the bathroom. Aaron

watched me, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"What?" I demanded, knowing full well how red my face was.