Page 26 of Blood and Roses

Rosa walked slowlyup the stairs, a foreboding feeling taking root in the base of her spine with each step she took. It felt as if she was trespassing on some sacred place that no one was meant to go.What could be so terrible about an attic?At the top of the stairs was another door. She took a deep breath and pushed it open.

Rosa had been expecting cobwebs. She had been expecting broken furniture, bones of their victims, a Cerberus, any manner of horrible things. What she found was staggeringly beautiful. The large attic windows let in a flood of afternoon light thatilluminated hundreds of canvases and sculptures. There were paintings on easels and propped up on desks and tables. There were framed works hanging from the walls and miniature paintings in between piles of books in oak shelves.

Very slowly, Rosa stepped around tables and chairs covered in paints, brushes, and easels. There was a neatness to the seeming clutter with brushes meticulously ordered and cleaned. There were writing desks covered in sketches and half-finished letters. She stepped slowly through the rows of works, each beautifully rendered in whatever style that took the artist's fancy that day.

There was a magnificent painting of Michael the Archangel in the style of the Raphaelites next to an impressionistic work of the lake. Still lives were half finished next to portraits and landscapes. The baroque paintings were in the same style as the family portraits, a masterful use of light and darkness. It was like walking through an incredible warehouse full of stolen treasures.

Chaise lounges and comfortable couches were scattered throughout the large space, and towards the back wall was a massive, four-poster bed with heavy red velvet hangings. Rosa forgot all about cleaning or obeying Pearl's orders. All she wanted to do was study the beauty around her.

Rosa no longer cared about how scared she was, how frustrated and rejected she felt by her mother, how she was serving a family of monsters and that she had fallen in love with a man from a bunch of old letters. Those feelings were all replaced by the bewitching play of color and light.Who had painted all of these? Why hide them all up here?Then something black blurred through the air, knocking her over with a startled cry.

"Whatdo you think you are doing in here?" Balthasar loomed over her, every inch of him radiating with violent fury.She got to her feet and backed away from him. "How did you get in here? What makes you think you have a right to barge into other people's sacred spaces? How dare you!"

"I didn't mean?—"

"Didn't mean to what? To come in here and snoop about in my private things?" He closed in on her, and she stepped in the wrong place, knocking over an easel. He moved, far too quickly to be real, and caught the canvas before it hit the ground.

"Just get out!" he shouted in frustration. His voice was changing, turning into a growl. His normal warm brown eyes changed to black as he stared her down. "Get out of here now, or being a Wylt won't stop me from killing you!"

Rosa turned and bolted through the artworks and bookshelves. She made it across the threshold just as the heavy oak door slammed behind her. She stumbled on the polished stairs, slipping backward and landing hard on her side. She ignored the pain in her hip and got to her feet, limping the rest of the way down.

Rosa pushed her way through the bottom door and back into the hallway. She hurried into the passages, and it wasn't until she had the safety of wood and stone walls around her that she started to cry.

Instead of going into the kitchen, she went down into the cellar and hid behind a wall of red wines. She pulled her knees up to her chest as she shook.The way his face changed... How could the sweet man from the letters be that? Why the hell did Pearl send her up there to begin with?

CHAPTER EIGHT

The door to the cellar swung open, and someone walked in, humming to himself. He stopped at the reds, stuck his golden head around the corner, and spotted Rosa hiding.

"Hello, darling. What are you doing all the way back there?" Saul asked as he took down a bottle.

"Nothing," she said, wiping her tears off with the back of her hands.

"I can see that." Saul uncorked his bottle, took a swig, and passed it to her. She hesitated a moment before accepting it and taking a large mouthful. He sat down on the dirt floor beside her. "I heard Bal shouting. I didn't know it was at you."

"It was my fault. I took the wrong door or something. I thought there was an extra room up there to clean," Rosa mumbled before taking another drink and passing him back the bottle.

"Yes, well, my brother isn't the easiest person to get to know at the best of times. When he's under pressure, as he is at the moment, he can become a real bastard." Saul took another mouthful. He was still dressed in his tux from the night before as if he was just beginning his bender not twenty hours into it.

"I invaded his privacy," Rosa sniffed. "Oh, shit, I think I nearly destroyed one of his paintings."

"Ah, well that would've definitely set him off. It's the only thing he really enjoys these days. No doubt it was an accident. Who told you to go up there? I bet it was Pearl. She knows better than to go up there herself. She's such a nosey little bitch."

"I'm sure she has her nice side."

"If she does, only Lily has seen it. She tried to flirt with Balthasar once upon a time, but he's never been interested in her. The only comment he's ever made is that he likes them nicer."

"How was the party?" Rosa asked wanting to get off Balthasar and the type of women he liked.

"Boring. Same faces, same jokes, same old games. It's all so tedious some days."

"Hopefully, the Gathering will keep you amused. It seems like Eli is putting a lot of thought into it."

"Yes, the great party of the millennium. If it weren't for that damn thing, I would be asleep in a big hammock on an island with a gorgeous girl under each arm. You should come with me. You would have a grand time. Get away from the morbid bastards of Gwaed Lyn."

Rosa laughed and took some more of his wine. "God, I can't even imagine what lying on a beach would be like. I wanted to cook and travel around the world, but I was summoned back here."

"Eli likes to have a Wylt around. I think he believes that they are a steadying influence on the rest of us. Salt of the earth and all that."

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