Page 13 of Blood and Roses

Your Jane.

Rosa wokeon the couch the following morning with a blanket of old letters on top of her. She had sworn that she would only read a few, but once she started, she found herself incapable of stopping. As Rosa tried to sit up, a wave of nausea threatened to push her back down. The empty wine bottle lay on the floor beside the couch.

"Not a good idea, Rosa," she said aloud as she gathered up the letters. They were all written with such a familiarity and affection. Despite the wine encouraging her to keep reading at the time, she now felt like she had witnessed something so intensely private that she should be ashamed of her snooping.

People don't love like that anymore, she reflected as she showered and got dressed. Her adventures with the opposite sex had been a disappointment. There was never that all-consuming passion for the other person. She had boyfriends, even liked a few of them. All her relationships ended with either her or them not beingenough. They were distractions from study, someone to drink and hang out with. The way Balthasar and Jane had written to each other, you could feel that being apart from each other was physically and emotionally distressing for them.

It is in your eyes that I truly know myself, and only the touch of your hand over my heart makes it feel like it is beating…The line floated through all other thoughts. Rosa felt something spark deep inside of her, and it wasn't what she expected. It was loneliness and a longing that she had never felt before.Don't fall in love with a dead guy, Rosa. That's right up there with your Rochester crush.She looked at her phone and swore at the time. It was midday. Cecily was going to be furious.

Rosa hurried across the grounds, waiting as a limousine with black windows drove past and down into the underground garage. More visitors that would need feeding no doubt, and she had been too drunk to get up on time. Inside the kitchen, Vera took one look at her and handed her a coffee.

"Oh, dear, you look awful," she said. "What did you get up to last night?"

"Lots of wine," Rosa said as she took three painkillers from the medicine box. "Is Cecily up today?"

"Back on the horse and ready with the whip. She's been working the three J's hard this morning. The Vanes were in a mood, grumbling about breakfast, and the way the girls tell it, Mr. Saul has upset his brother."

"I think he brings it on himself some days. He's a bored, rich kid. I don't know why he doesn't go somewhere like London."

"Every time he does, Mr. Eli has to bail him out of trouble. Until their Gathering is over, Mr. Saul is bound to the house just like the rest of them."

"Sounds about right." Rosa put her cup in the dishwasher. "Any idea where Cecily might be?"

"Up on the third floor, cleaning the rooms, I imagine."

"Thanks for the coffee."

Rosa hurried up the passages, pausing when she heard raised, arguing voices. She went further down the walkway towards the sound and stopped at a wooden access door.

"The southern families feel uneasy about this treaty, your grace. Some don't even believe that they still exist," an unfamiliar male voice said.

"The southern families are fools if they think they are truly gone from the world," Eli said coldly. "They are like rats, hiding in dark shadows. You think there may be only one or two, and suddenly, they're swarming you."

"Maybe we should let them come. We'll fight them on our terms, on our land," another new voice said.

"You don't know of what you speak," Balthasar's voice replied. "Ryn's people are a legion. They would destroy the world if they found it entertaining enough."

Wrong Balthasar, Rosa reminded herself as her heart skipped a beat.

"You're letting your imagination get away from you, young prince. They're not as fearsome as you imagine."

"You forget I've fought them before to protect the soft southern lords."

"Watch your tongue, boy. I may not have the blessings that come with the royal blood, but I'm far older and stronger than you."

"Enough!" Eli shouted, making Rosa jump. "If the tongues in this room cannot be civil to each other, then I'll have them ripped out."

Rosa backed away from the door and hurried to the main walkways. The feeling that the Vanes were caught up in criminal activities heightened exponentially.

Being hungover is making you paranoid. You know what these businessmen are like. They think they're kings and generals, and every corporate takeover is a war.

Rosa pushed it away as silly imagination and opened the third-floor door. She walked through the now clean hallway, the large paintings uncovered to reveal Vane family portraits. She slowed to look at the generations and the strong likenesses. She found herself pausing in front of a portrait dated in 1810 of Balthasar's namesake.

The memory of the way you looked walking in the sunshine by the lakes, your hair free and wild, fills me with desire and hope for the future. Never forget you are my light, dearest Jane.

"Creepy, aren't they?" Belinda, one of the maids, appeared in the doorway with a bucket and a mop. "I feel like I'm being watched all the time in this place."

"Yes, creepy." Rosa tore her eyes off the painting. "You haven't seen Cecily anywhere, have you?"

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