A Rose To The Flames

Chapter 2

I wake up to my father vigorously shaking me. "We can't heal you. We need to take you to the palace. Lie however you can to make sure that you aren't caught." He commands me.

I don't move, focusing on my pain. He punches me across the face. "Do you understand?"

I nod slowly and then doze back asleep, not fighting to stay awake.

I wake up to bright lights pointed in my face. I blink away my tiredness and try to sit up. A pair of hands push me back down. A face appears above.

She seems like she's in her early 20's and she's beautiful.

"Honey, we need you to relax. We are trying to help you." She says calmly, like she's done this a million times before.

I nod but then immediately roll over and throw up into a bucket that was conveniently placed there.

I lay back down and try to remember what happened. It all comes back to me like a punch to my face.

I bolt straight up and look at my stomach. The sword lies nearby and the doctor is patching it up.

I lie back down. "Where am I?" I ask, confirming my suspicions.

"You're in the palace infirmary." She answers. I internally groan.

I lie silently while she finishes stitching me up. As soon as she's done I sit up.

"You should be resting." She says.

"I'm fine." I say, standing up and stumbling a little bit but catching myself.

"Who are you." I ask walking towards her, a hand on my stomach as if to keep it together.

"I'm your nurse, Rose." She replies and I widen my eyes and then shuffle back.

"How do you know my name?" I demand.

"I know your folks, it's probably been a long time since you've been back from the bandits who kidnapped you." She says causally.

"What bandits?" I ask.

"You were kidnapped when you were 6. Do you not remember? Did the sword wound affect your memory?" She bombards me.

"No... It wasn't the sword wound..." I slowly say. "I'm glad I escaped." I quickly recover.

I start to walk towards the door. My stride with a bit of a limp in it.

"Not so fast, Rose. You need to rest." She says and I roll my eyes and walk back to the bed and lie down.

After a few minutes she eventually leaves the room. I hop out of bed and look out the window. Great. A second story room. I carefully climb onto the window sill and crawl down the window.

When I'm as low as I can get, I carefully drop from the ledge. I land and roll with my momentum.

I stagger upwards and start to head out of the palace.

"Hey. Hey!" My peace is interrupted by a man's voice. I turn around and he runs up to me.

"Are you okay?" He asks, barely out of breath.

"Uh, yeah." I reply and start to turn away.

"Wait." He grabs my arm to turn me around. I wince as he grabbed a bruise.

"Sorry." He says letting go. "I-uh saw you-uh limping and was-uh wondering if you-uh needed help." He stutters out.

I look him in the eye, then spin around a little too quickly as I stumble and fall but he catches me. I lean over to puke at the sudden movements and manage to puke right on his shirt.

I back away. "I'm so sorry." I say for the first time noticing the red and black emblem on the sleeve of his white shirt. The one bearing an eagle.

"Here, I'll get cleaned up and you can rest in my room. You obviously aren't well." He offers.

"No." I refuse. I subconsciously hold my hand over my stomach.

"Are you okay?" He asks, genuine concern in his voice. "Can I see what's wrong. I could probably fix it." He says.

I look up and see his brow furrowed and worry clouding his chocolate brown eyes. Then I remind myself that being concerned for the townspeople is his job. If he knew who I really was, he wouldn't care about me.

My vision blurs and I stumble right back into his arms. He sits me down on a nearby rock.

"Can I look?" He asks.

My head spins and I puke to the side again. This time hitting his shoes. What is wrong with me, I've never been so affected my a stab wound.

He doesn't wait for me to answer and gently lifts up my shirt. Just enough to see the wound. He inhales sharply, and I notice the blood staining my white shirt.

"Let's get you to the infirmary." He says standing up.

"No." I croak out.

"Can I take you to my room to help you get better?" He asks. I don't object so he takes that as a yes. He picks me up carefully and I inhale sharply in pain.

He then rushes to his so-called room, taking many twists and turns throughout the castle. He lays me down on his bed and takes a needle and thread out of a bag hanging up on a nearby wall.

He proceeds to stitch my wound and once he's done I stand up.

"No." He says sitting me back down.

"Watch yourself." I tell him.

"No, you need to rest." He says and tucks me into his bed.

He takes off his shoes and then looks over to me. I pretend I'm sleeping, but really I'm watching him. He turns back around and takes off his shirt. He quickly puts another one on, turning to look at me.

He walks back over to the bed and takes the pillow that I wasn't on and lays down on the floor. I wait until he's asleep and uncover myself.

I stand up and tip-toe towards the door. My hand a hair width from the handle. The floor lets out a long creeeeeaaak! as I shift my weight. I freeze, looking straight at the bare door.

"Stop." He groans. He slowly stands up to usher me back into his bed. After many hours of thinking I finally doze into sleep.

🥀 A/N 🥀
How did you like the second chapter. Make sure to vote and comment if you enjoyed it.