Roses in Her Blood, Vengeance in His Veins

Let Your Hope Fall

Adam looked between the bandit and I. Hints of water gathered in his eyes and he fell to his knees.

I blinked slowly. The guards had moved, tying up the group members, but ignoring the one with the arrow. Because he's dead, a part of me said. I looked over at Father, he stared straight at me, his bluebell eyes glossed over with unshed tears. I looked over at Dawn, the horror written so clearly on her face.

They were gone, why were they so upset?

My left hand suddenly felt heavy. I looked down, and my eyes widened.

No.

I throw the bow away from me as if that would save me.

It was too late.

The guard who killed the leader stood by my side, a pair of shackles cradled loosely in his palm.

He grabbed my left wrist and pulled it behind my back. He took my other hand and brought it back as well. Cold metal greeted my bare wrists and I flinched.

"I apologise, Miss Smith, but it is the law." He pushed me forward and I tumbled under my own feet. He grabbed my upper arm and half dragged half helped me walk out of the garden.

"Kairi. . ."

The guard ended up bringing me to down to the dungeons. Not that I should have been surprised. I guessed he tried to be gentle when he threw me into the cell, judging from the way that he had changed it so that the shackles were in the front instead of the back and I didn't hit the wall. Unlike the bandits, who might of gotten brain damaged.

He locked the cell, giving me another pitying glance, and walked away. I looked around the cell, at the bars locking me in and at what I guessed I would have to call a bed. I walked over to the wall and slid down.

I was done for.

I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. Something tightened around my heart and my vision started to blurry. I let my head hid between my knees just as a sob ripped through me. My eyes were heavy with the amount of tears gathering. I tried to calm my breathing, to regain some sort of dignity. The tears poured out of my eyes.

Morning came quicker than I had hoped. I was hungry, but apparently I didn't have the honour nor privilege to eat. While I no longer heard the loud grumbles of my stomach, pain had replaced them.

A guard unlocked the cell and gestured for me to get out. I wiped my eyes and climbed to my feet. They hurt slightly, but I ignored them and slowly walked out of the cell. He grabbed me by the arm before actually dragged me out of the dungeons. I keep my gaze off the side, to the dirtied grey walls. I could not bear to glance at the one who would lead me to, to. I bite my lower lip.

My once lilac dress had turned grey from dirt and dust. He certainly wasn't help me in that. I dared to look down at my feet while we mounted up the stairs. The bottom of my dress looked brown. How perfect. This is just perfect. This is just as how I planned it to be, to, to go in a such a horrid dress in the arms of crime.

To make it even more perfect, because I looked down, I tripped over both the stairs and my dress. If it weren't for the guard hold me up, I would of landed face first into stone.

What a wonderful way to start the morning. Even better way to start the life of crime.

The guard seemed to agree by the annoyed sigh coming out of his mouth. He continued to dragged me until we were outside, stationed near seven ropes, six on them already occupied. Sweat clung to my brow.

Someone had started speaking, or maybe it was just in my head. I could only stand and watch as the bandits fell through the wooden platform. Their arms bound at their wrists failed to save them, though some of them had tried.

Had tried. I bit my bottom lip, my hands curled tightly with my nail stabbing my palms. Soon I, too, would be had. She had life. She had red hair. She was a merchant's daughter.

The guard pushed me forward, up onto the stage. The world spun, the only thing I could see or hear or feel, were the chains around my wrists. They were heavy, heavier than before. When had they gotten so heavy? Each step carried the weight of a god's wraith. How could everything get so heavy? Why is it so heavy?

There, there was something around my neck. What was around my neck? I tried to breathe, to get the air into my lungs, to get my eyes to work. But it didn't. I could only see blurs and black and white dots. Why couldn't I see? Why can't I hear?

Why can't I?

Why, why, why, why.

A cry broke through. Dawn, it was Dawn.

My vision swam back to the normal, and there she was, with the duke at her side. Along with our father and brother.

"-crime of wielding a weapon, she will hang." Tears flowed freely down Dawn's skin. The duke and Father pulled her into their shared embrace, the duke rubbing circles on her back. Father locked his teary eyes with mine. A single tear dragged its way down his left check.

Adam, Adam refused to look up, his posture tense with his fists at his sides. He would probably blame himself. I wanted him to look up, to see me. But Father's eyes were the only I could see.

A tear slid down my face. I thought I had done away with crying since I had cried all night. I blinked, sending waves of tears to fall down the curve of my checks.

I swallowed and tried to remember the blue of my father's eyes. The way he would greet us after coming back from overseas. How his eyes would light up when we liked the gifts he would bring back. Or whenever he saw Dawn dance, his face carved into a soft fatherly look of pure adoration. Did he ever look at me like that? Would he continue to do so even after this?

I shut my eyes, feeling tears lining along my eyes. Would this really be the end? Would I really never hear Dawn sing again? Or see Adam's face full of triumph when he came back after a hunt with an animal in his hands?

I will never get to see Dawn gushing about her husband again. I'll never get to see the light pop in her eyes, or Adam's, or Father's, or even-

The floor beneath my feet fell.

And I along with it.