Page 25 of Swords and Curses

"You haven't even shown her the best bit." Saul grinned lasciviously.

"You didn't put in a sex dungeon, did you?" Rosa asked him.

"He tried," came Balthasar's dry reply.

"A dungeon didn't seem your kind of proclivity," Eli said, and she hugged him tighter.

"Open it, Rosa," Saul asked and pointed to the tall wardrobe on the other side of the chamber. She indulged him but couldn't help but turn back and look at Eli when she reached for the handle.

"You remembered?" she asked.

"Of course I did," he said with an amused smile. "You made me read them to you so many times."

When Rosa was a girl, she'd bought a copy ofThe Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobeon a rare trip to Penrith with her father. She enjoyed it so much that she asked Eli if he had the others in the library. After confessing his ignorance, he had promptly bought the complete set, and for months afterward, he had read them to her.

Both enjoyed them immensely, much to the amusement and befuddlement of her parents. The wardrobe in front of her was glossy mahogany and carved with motifs—a large tree, the lamppost, the witch's ice castle, fauns, ships, and standing regally on top of a dais was Aslan himself, carved in perfect detail.

"The wardrobe wasn't what I was referring to, Wylt," Saul huffed.

"Shut up, Saul," Eldon and Rosa said at the same time. She opened the door and looked at the crushed mulberry colored outfit hanging inside.

"Ah…something you expect me to wear? Because I haven't played dress up since I was seventeen," Rosa said in confusion.

"Little Red Riding Hood, if I recall correctly," Eli said.

"How did… Never mind! I don't want to know how many of your creeping cronies have been spying on me over the years." She looked at the outfit again, and all that registered in her mind wasleather."Is there a reason for this?"

"You are going to a ceremony tonight, and it's tradition," Eli said smoothly. "Eldon will come for you at sundown."

It wasn't asbad as Rosa expected. Whatever the Vanes were planning, she had a feeling she wouldn't be the only one dressed for battle. Like the dress Eli gave her, the soft leather pants fit like a glove. There was a long sleeve shirt made of a warm, sturdy fabric, high collared and cut in a V-neck, the hem falling to her knees.

Next came a stiff leather breastplate that clipped firmly at her sides, and it was stamped with a stylized rose in the center of a seven-pointed star. Her vambraces were stamped with the same insignia and they fit her forearms perfectly. The knee-high boots she found were the same mulberry wine color, flat soled and buckled at the sides. She took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't look like the heavy BDSM model she was expecting. She looked like a warrior.

There was a knock at her chamber door, and Eldon entered. He wore something similar in black, a merlin in flight instead of a rose over his chest.

"Rhosyn, you look wonderful," he said, giving her braid a playful tug. "That man of yours is going to fall all over himself."

"Thanks." She blushed. "You look pretty menacing yourself."

"It's been a while since I wore it," he admitted. "I'm glad Bleddyn has foregone cloaks for jackets, much easier to move in." He held up hers for her. It hung to her ankles with a large hood, her insignia on the back. She slipped it on and felt ready to take on the world.

"Come, Rosa, they will be waiting for us," Eldon said.

"Any hints as to what I'm about to walk into?"

"Not a single one."

Rosa only had to step outside to be thankful for the warm layers and new boots she had on. A bone aching wind had picked up, and she was quick to pull the hood up over her head.

"And you're sure that this ceremony can't be done inside?" Rosa asked as she hurried to keep up with his long strides.

"Absolutely sure," he said, dark hair blowing around him like a raven crown. "Nothing might happen, or you could easily blow up Gwaed Lyn, who knows?"

"Is magic always this temperamental?"

"Yes, and it's also true that it comes with a price." Eldon took her hand when they reached the forest so they wouldn't get separated in the dark. "You will forget about the price until it claims it, and then you will know the weight of it."

"What was your price?" she asked softly.

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