Roses Always Have Thorns [Completed]

12. An encounter

'Alekzandre, my legs will fall off soon!' Rose whined.

It was around eleven in the morning, and it was long since they left the inn. In four hours of non-stop walking, they managed to get to the other side of town and, much to Alekzandre's relief, not that far from exiting the town.

'We'll stop in an hour, now be careful so your hair isn't showing.' Alekzandre growled.

After Alekzandre's persistence, Rose agreed half-heartedly on snitching one of the inn's blankets and using it as a cape.

'No, we stop now.' Rose said, locking eyes with Alekzandre. 'Come on, Aleksandra, we've been walking for kilometres. We're nearly out of town. Why don't we take a break now, so we have the energy to make a distance between us and this town?'

Alekzandre considered the idea, before sighing in defeat. As much as he wished to get out of town, the idea wasn't bad.

'Fine. We'll stop for ten minutes at that bar, but that's it.' He said, pointing to a bar. 'Got it?'

'Yes, sir!' Rose exclaimed before trotting to the bar, not minding that she left Alekzandre behind.

She pushed the doors open and walked in confidently, unaware that everyone stopped talking only to look at what she was doing. She took a seat at the bar hunched just like Alekzandre taught her to and smiled at the barman as she took her cape off her head.

'What are you doing here?' The Barman asked suspiciously.

The barman, a bald man with a bit of junk on him, was a smart man that gained a lot of experience with people throughout his years working that bar and it wasn't the first time he had to do with stray kids.

Just then, Alekzandre entered and seated himself next to Rose. The Barman couldn't help but groan. Another brat.

'Kids aren't allowed here.' The barman said. 'Where are your parents?'

'They're with me.' A voice behind Rose said. 'Come on.'

Rose turned around, curious to see who her saviour was, but when she did, her heart nearly skipped a beat.

'Miss Black!' Rose exclaimed, before jumping right into the woman's arms.

Seeing how things found a resolve, people began ignoring them and returning to their boring chats.

'O-Off, Rose.' Amanda stuttered. 'Get off.'

Alexandre couldn't help but stare in awe at Rose, who squealed and jumped around the dark-haired woman. He knew Rose was a happy-go-lucky person, but he never saw her to that degree of happiness before.

'Miss Black, ' Rose said excitedly, pulling her to Alekzandre. 'this is Alekzandre. He helped me get here.'

Miss Black looked at Alekzandre and as if thunder had struck her,  her face darkened.

'Now that I think of it, why aren't you in Vienna with Lady Van Burgh, the young lady?' Miss Black asked, raising her voice.

Noticing how a few heads turned their way, Miss Black pulled Rose and Alekzandre to a table. She had them seated in front of her, before lowering her head, her cheek twitching.

'What are you doing here?' Miss Black growled.

So this is Miss Black, Alekzandre thought.  He barely knew anything about the woman, but it wasn't anything unexpected; she was very fierce and with an aura that reminded him of his mother.

'I want to find my uncle, Miss Black!' Rose said excitedly.

Miss Black narrowed her eyebrows. 'What uncle?'

'You know, my uncle. Edmund Agler!'

Miss Black sighed as she put her face in her hands. For a few minutes, nobody said nothing.

'What are you doing here, Miss Black?' Rose asked.

'That's none of your concerns.' Miss Black said derisively, snapping her head up. 'Rose, I forbid you to meet that man.

A/N

Aaand... Cliffhanger! Sorry, not sorry. How was this chapter?

Yes, it was short, but the cliffhanger was too tempting to resist.

Anyhow, I took a small break over the holidays, and I can't say it wasn't efficient. I got to sort some things out in my life and I got a better sketch on the plot.

About the book, I say we have about five chapters left, including the epilogue. Isn't it exciting?

Good news, if you're reading this chapter is already finished or is going to be in a couple days. Yes, you heard right.

I finished this chapter on the last day of winter holidays(like, right now, I'm probably posting this in February, so hi people from the future!), and I'm going to be done with the rest of the book by the end of February.

By the way, I entered the Open Novella Contest recently. If you're wondering what the heck that that is, it's a Wattys-like competition where you have to write a book between 20k-40k in 3 months or so.

I entered with a book called 'Death's Tournament'. It's actually something similar to the Hunger Games, so if you like the series, you might actually like my book as well.  I really love the cover I made, and I've gotta show it to Y'all:

Pretty cool, right? If you like this, just so you know, I also have a cover shop. So, yeah.

See you in the next chapter!

-Avery