A Rose To The Flames

Chapter 17

I wake up with a start in next to Rowan. He looks down at me. I sit up and look around. Both of us are chained to walls of a carriage.

"Where are we?" I demand.

"I don't know, some carriage." He says.

I reach for my leg and try to take off the shackle. "It's no use, I have already tried." He states.

"What's going to happen? Why did he take us?" I worry.

"I don't know but all that matters is that we are together—" He starts. "That we are safe." He adjusts.

All of a sudden, the carriage stops and I stand up. The door to the carriage opens and a man comes in with two other people.

The main person points at us and the other two men rush over to us.

"No." I shout. "What are you doing?" I demand as they take our arms and unshackle us. They then rush us out of the carriage.

I blink my eyes when we reach the outside. The sun shines down bright and reflects off of the snow. I shiver and Rowan shoves the guard away from him to put his jacket on me.

The guard rushes back to Rowan and grabs his wrists harder this time. I see Rowan wince.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault." I whisper to him.

"Quiet." The man in front of us says.

I walk, awestruck by the beautiful snow. It gently floats down and lands on the already soft piles of snow.

I look up and a snowflake lands on my nose. I smile and laugh.

"Quiet!" The man shouts and turns around to look at me.

I continue laughing as the snow falls. It's so gentle but so harsh at the same time.

The man kicks me in the foot and I look at him.

"Quiet." He demands. He turns around, about to start walking.

"No." I mutter under my breath.

He turns back around. "What did you just say to me?" He asks, venom filling his voice.

"I said no." I argue.

He steps closer to me and whispers harshly into my ear. "I'm doing this to protect you."

"Lies." I say as he pulls away.

He leans back towards me. "I'm sorry I have to do this but I can't trust these guards." He whispers and pulls away.

"Give her 10 lashes once they're in their cell." He orders the guard. The guard chuckles and shoves me forwards.

Rowan clenches his teeth, but doesn't say anything.

We are shoved into a cell and the guards follow us in. The guard who was holding me takes out a whip and grabs my wrist. He rips Rowan's jacket off and throws it across the cell.

The other guard holds Rowan in place. My guard cracks the whip and smiles. I take a deep breath.

He whips me once. I grit my teeth. This isn't so bad.

Twice. It hurts worse.

Three times. I grab the bottom of my shirt.

Four times. I clench my fists.

Five times. I squeeze my jaw shut. If I scream, Rowan might get hurt.

Six times. I squeeze everything in my body.

Seven times. The guard purposely tries to hit the same spot.

Eight times. A whimper escapes my lips.

Nine times. I scream. Rowan tries to escape his guard.

"Don't..." I softly say to Rowan. He stops.

Ten times. The last time. I struggle to stand.

I turn around to look at the guard. He flicks the whip at my wrist and it catches. The guard smiles. Blood drips from my wrist to the floor.

Rowan rises and struggles in his guards grip.

Rowan finally escapes and runs over to me. "Are you okay?" He asks.

"I'm fine." I say looking at the guard who whipped me. He smiles cruelly. Rowan follows my gaze and growls at the guard.

"Rowan, no." I command.

The other guard walks over to the one who whipped me. "Dude, we talked about this. That was eleven times." He says.

"So?" The mean guard asks.

"Just leave." Rowan's guard says. He does as he's told and Rowan's guard walks up to us.

Rowan turns around to face him.

"I-I don't want to fight. I just wanted to apologize for my coworker." He says.

"You're not him. I don't have a problem with you." I say, understandably.

He nods and walks away, locking the cell door.

I collapse onto the ground and Rowan helps me sit against a wall. He takes off his shirt and tosses it to me. I take off my shirt as he looks away and put his on. I reach for the jacket and put it over the top.

He takes my ripped shirt and tears a small piece off. He takes it and wraps it around my wrist as a makeshift bandage. He looks up at me, his teeth still clenched.

I meet his eyes and sadness passes over them. He looks away and sits against a different wall. His fists tightly balled.

"Thank you." I says softly. He ignores me.

"What is going on with you, Rowan?" I shout demandingly.

"Nothing." He says, not meeting my eyes.

"I can help you, Rowan. You have to trust me. Do I mean nothing to you?" I ramble.

I stop and he meets my eyes. "No, you can't." He says. He bites his lip.

"Well, you could at least tell me!" I shout. "This isn't fair to either of us, Rowan. I could help, but we will never know because you won't trust me. You know what that is, Rowan? It's selfish." I drill into him.

I turn to face the wall, tears streaming down my face. I head a sound like a sob come from him. I don't dare look.

"I'm sorry, Rose." He whispers just loud enough for me to hear.

I falter, but I don't turn around.

🥀 A/N 🥀
Wow, wonder where they are? Stay tuned. If you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to vote and comment. Stay perfect!