Lineage of Zeal, Book One: Rosemary

Chapter Seventeen: Reunion in Warrenton

"Rosemary, wait."

Rosemary stalked on downhill, ignoring the voice that called to her. She wanted nothing to do with anyone in that moment. Never mind that they were all together at this very moment because of her; she had had her fill of cherubic incubi, lovesick princes, and teenage mothers. All Rosemary wanted, her single, all-consuming thought, was to set foot in the reconstructed Warrenton and begin the search for her son anew. If anyone followed, they would be doing so at their own risk. She would not tolerate any more of this debacle of an expedition that her search had become.

"Rosemary, wait!"

Again, that voice, and again Rosemary ignored it. She wondered why they persisted, or even how they were keeping up, as she was practically running down the hill toward Warrenton. It was a wonder that they, whoever they were, were keeping within earshot.

"Will you at least stop and tell me what you're running from!?"

There was no need to, not after the situation the prince had put her in. Her actions should have said enough. So Rosemary believed, and she pressed on, ignoring the voice behind her until she heard a small cry, followed by the sound of a small body rolling through the grass.

Rosemary slowed her pace to a crawl and swore under her breath as she glanced over her shoulder to see Alphine helping Dota to her feet. "If you're planning on letting that girl touch me again, you'd better forget it," said Rosemary in a voice loud enough to be heard behind her. "I'm in no mood to be toyed with."

"That's not why we're here," said Alphine, patting the girl free of dirt and dried plant matter. "Levi asked that we leave him with Courtney and tend to you. Otherwise we'd still be with him." Alphine, now hand in hand with Dota, advanced toward Rosemary, each step measured and hesitant. When the pair approached a distance permitting conversation without the use of raised voices, Rosemary matched their pace and kept ahead of them.

"Then why are you here?" asked Rosemary.

"I just said. Because Levi asked," said Alphine. "I don't know what he expected us to do, but all you're letting us do is talk. So talk."

"I think I said enough by walking away," Rosemary said, lengthening her stride.

"Yeah, you said you've got problems and all you know how to do is run from them."

Rosemary stopped cold in her tracks and balled her fists so tightly her arms shook. "Little girl," she hissed through gritted teeth, "are you trying to instigate your own end? What could you possibly know? How many decades have you seen? How many lives have ended before your eyes? How much pain have you endured? You might be 'important to Leviticus', but if you speak down to me once more, child who hasn't even lived a quarter of my life, he'll find that there's one less important thing around for him to care for."

Alphine stopped a few paces behind Rosemary with Dota hugging her legs from the front. The little girl seemed ready to protect Alphine if the situation were to turn uncivil.

"Do you honestly believe," Alphine whispered, patting the head of the child clinging to her, "that it takes that long to know pain? That you're the only one who knows what it's like to feel like you're rotting from the inside?"

Rosemary's arms became still, but her fists remained clenched. "You don't know what it was like to have to live life knowing you weren't human but not knowing what you were. Without the very child you'd birthed. Without acceptance because of your appearance. You don't know what it's like living through all these years with blood on your hands that's only there because you had to defend yourself using the strength you were born with, and being feared and hated for that very same thing."