Page 89 of Legacy of Roses

“No!” Rosalie shot into gasping wakefulness. “No, no, no!” She tipped her head back and closed her eyes.

But if it had been difficult to sleep before, it was impossible now. Dimitri had said he loved her. He had thought it was merely a dream, but she knew it had been the real him. And she hadn’t been able to say it back.

But as little as she wanted to admit it, it didn’t matter that she couldn’t return to sleep. She hadn’t been the one to cut their dream connection. Dimitri was no longer sleeping but truly unconscious.

Just unconscious, she told herself, refusing to think of anything else that might have severed the connection between them.

She slowly straightened and opened her eyes, still trying to calm her breathing. At least she had succeeded in getting a message out. Her brothers would be coming for her.

But she couldn’t just sit and wait. Dimitri didn’t have the time. She needed to do something to speed her brothers up and help them find her. She had to find a way to make enough noise that it would travel through the trees.

She considered her limited options. If she started screaming, she would quickly end up gagged, which would only make her situation worse. And if she acted too soon, her brothers wouldn’t be close enough to hear, no matter what she did. Even if Daphne ran flat out, it would take her some minutes to reach and locate Rosalie’s brothers—especially if they were invisible and asleep.

Assuming her brothers set out immediately to search for her, it would still take them some time to get deep enough into the trees to have a chance of hearing her. So as difficult as it was, the first thing she had to do was wait.

She marked off the minutes in her head, forcing herself to count steadily and not to rush. Focusing on the numbers actually helped, pushing the endless, rushing, consuming fears for Dimitri into the background.

While she counted, she felt around carefully with her foot until she located a small stone just within reach. It took a little maneuvering, but she positioned it in the perfect spot and waited as the minutes rolled out in her mind.

When she had finally counted enough, she flicked her foot upward in one swift movement. Thanks to the possession of three younger brothers, Rosalie had perfected a great many useless life skills. But on this occasion, being able to flick a stone with her foot with great accuracy turned out not to be as useless as she’d always imagined.

The stone sailed unerringly through the gold-toned early light of day and hit the snoring man in the side of the face. He grunted and shot upright, glaring around him.

“Who was that?” he bellowed, far louder than any shout Rosalie could have achieved.

“It was him!” she said quickly, inclining her head toward the second largest of Jace’s men. He had been given the dawn shift and had been looking surly and grumpy ever since the snorer had handed the watch over to him and fallen asleep.

She expected him to deny it, and for both of them to quickly figure out who was really to blame. But it didn’t matter if they turned on her. She didn’t care who was being yelled at, just as long as they kept yelling.

But the accused man leered at the snorer. “At least we don’t all have to listen to your racket now.”

The snorer surged to his feet and crossed the clearing in several quick strides. His approach made the other man look nervous, but he didn’t back down.

“I don’t even know what your problem is,” the man on watch said coldly. “I didn’t do anything.”

“What?” The snorer grabbed him by his collar. “You’re going to blame the girl with her hands tied to a tree, are you?” His voice rose. “You think I’m a fool?”

The accused’s temper overcame the last of his good sense, and he shouted back. “Biggest one I ever met!”

She wasn’t sure who pulled their arm back first, but they both managed to land a punch. They fell back, the force of the blows pushing them away from each other. But with an ear-shattering bellow, the sleeper rushed forward again, and the two fell into a brawl.

The remaining two men had woken from all the noise, and they cheered the fighters on, calling encouragement to first one and then the other, laughing at the early morning spectacle. If Rosalie’s brothers were anywhere in the area, they would surely hear the commotion.

The fight swung in her direction, and Rosalie pulled her legs up, bending her knees and scrunching her body into as small a space as her binds allowed. She had been even more successful at causing chaos than she had hoped, but she didn’t want to be injured in the process.

The rope tying her to the tree shifted and pulled. She strained to see if someone was behind her, but the trunk blocked herview. She wanted to call out, but she didn’t dare risk it in case it was her brothers. But could they really have made it all the way to her that quickly?

“Quiet for now,” an unfamiliar female voice whispered. “This should only take a moment.” The ropes vibrated, tugging back and forth. Were they being cut with a knife?

“Can you move?” the woman asked after a moment. “Once these are loose, we’ll have to get out of here quickly. We might not have much time before they notice you’re free.”

Rosalie didn’t know the identity of her rescuer, but she wasn’t going to turn down assistance.

“I can run,” she breathed. She hoped it was true.

She scanned the clearing for Jace, but there was no sign of him. He had stepped out just after dawn—either leaving for some unknown mission or else doing the day’s necessaries at some distance from the rest of them. Hopefully he stayed away a bit longer.

With a final rasp, the tension in the ropes collapsed. They dropped loosely around her, setting her free. Rosalie whisked her feet under her, crouching for a moment and being sure nothing had gone to sleep.

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