Rosalind's POVThe marsh sucked at my feet with every step and it took all my strength to even pull out one foot and step forward with another. I made the mistake of looking back and I saw Adelyn enter the marsh with what seemed like the fury of the world on her face. She moved fast and before I could blink, she skidded and landed on her back splattering mud everywhere. I laughed and my belly tender from her kneeing protested and I almost lost my balance falling forward until I caught myself. The person farther ahead was the girl that had picked a fight with the other girl. She seemed to have gotten a hang of this moving-in-the-mud thing. I looked back at her opponent that lay unconscious and unmoving. A shiver ran up my spine. I hoped she was still alive. Seeing the nobles dolled up it was easy to forget how dangerous they were. They had enough gold and silver to have their children trained immediately after they were weaned. Even the ladies that would be little more than orname
Rosalind's POV. I left the infirmary shortly after a shell-shocked Adelyn left. I didn't feel safe sleeping when Adelyn, who had tried to kill me how many times in front of everyone, could be allowed to hover by my bedside like some evil spirit of death. The doctors had protested but in truth, they were glad to see me go. They didn't know how to address me. I might have become a crown princess but I was also an omega so I had no idea if they would actually accept me as a crown princess because I had never seen something like this done before. There was a knock on my door and I froze wrapping my robe around me. I had been in the bath for hours and no matter how long I washed I didn't think I would be able to remove some things.I opened the door only to see Cillian. The world stopped and I found tears running down my cheeks. He was alive. Of course, he was alive and he would remain so for a very long time. That mirror had wanted to break me and it nearly had. "Cillian!"He wrapped
Rosalind's POVI chose to live. By that, I mean that I chose to be Killian's fiancée. We walked together hand in hand as we entered the hall that was used for official undertakings and for celebrations. The entire council was there suited at their dais. The silverbags/nobles occupied the common rows and as I entered I had the remarkable thought that apart from the servants catering to the guests I was probably the lowest-ranking wolf in attendance. Cillian was already there with Adelyn standing next to him both decked in the most expensive-looking silks in Collian's colours of blue and white and the sight of them standing there looking like the perfect couple made me stop moving. Killian's arm went around my waist forcing me forward while making it seem like he was just being affectionate. My heart raced and my hands grew clammy as the attention of all those in attendance fixated on my skin. I couldn't breathe until I did. Killian's arm urged me forward until we stood next to Cill
Rosalind's POV.One minute I was moving with the party towards the safe room, the next Adelyn shoved me to the side. "What are you doing?" Our lives were at risk. Surely she didn't want to pick a fight now of all times? Worse, we were at the back of the council and the priestess having been the closest to the guards."It's your fault that Cillisn refuses to mate with me. Find some other safe room to stay in." Adelyn snarled in my face. Yes, apparently we were doing this. I shoved her aside and tried to stand up but she held on to my leg and twisted it dislocating my ankle and I screamed. A scream that was lost in the noise from all the chaos. I went down, my leg unable to carry my weight. When I looked up she was gone, they had just rounded a corner in the ball so I couldn't see where exactly they had gone. Pulling myself up and ignoring my burning ankle that would need to be reset before it could heal. By the time I had finished hopping to the corner, the priestesses, council m
Rosalind's POVAfter that cryptic woman left having dropped that ominous warning, I laid back in bed thinking and thinking about the ways I could escape with minimal risk. I couldn't risk my life on the off chance that Killian didn't feel like bailing me out. Cillian was mercurial and while some days he seemed like an absolute darling, it never lasted. Things might change now that I was his fiancée but I sincerely doubted it seeing as he wanted this engagement about as much as I wanted it. Which was not at all. So no, I wouldn't wait for him to save me. That being secured there was only one way out of this room. It was the door. I would be monitored by the guy in black, River, but at least I would be able to check my vicinity to make sure she hadn't been lying about us being in a different kingdom. I stood up pleasantly surprised when I didn't swoon or have sudden upsetting headaches. The drugs had worn out.Then I went to check the washroom and the dresser. There was water and
Rosalind's POVRivers turned back to face me. My breath slowed as I asked. "Can I check if I have it?"River's brows drew together in confusion. "Have what?"I swallowed thickly. "Magic."I know it seemed crazy. I was the crazy one for even thinking that I could have anything like that but being here had done one thing. It has taken my mind back to the Mirror of Reflection. The only time I had seen magic before being abducted. I had been unable to fully process it between being in the trials and seeing the princes I cared about due to its reflection. But now looking back at it, I recalled my scream and the corresponding crack in the mirror. It might have been a coincidence but I needed to make sure that it was. That I wasn't like these… rogues. River stared at me like I had taken leave of my senses. "Currently, only purebloods can wield magic and no offence but if you were one of us, you would have grown up here," Then he shrugged. "Or you would be dead."I rolled my eyes at him.
Killian's POV"Why aren't they here yet?"I was beyond anxious. It had been almost three days since Rosalind was taken. I didn't realize how much she had meant to me until her disappearance. When the ultimatum had arrived barely hours into the kidnap and subsequent search for Rosalind, I had wanted nothing more than to give them what they wanted and have her returned to me that very instant. But there were annoying things like procedures and council meetings that had to happen first because I wasn't crowned King yet alongside my brother. Once that happened, the first thing I would do would be to get rid of the council and do things at my own pace. The council has wanted to wait them out. Call the rogues' bluff so to speak in Arthur's exact words. "Who do they think they are? They only have one princess elect, we can get another, we will not negotiate with terrorists that put our palace in jeopardy with their witchcraft."I glared at him. If it had been his daughter that they had
Rosalind's POVI blinked in surprise at the possessive tone of Killian's voice. Initially, when he hugged me, I thought it was weird but I had just been kidnapped so I brushed it aside thinking that it was a heat-of-the-moment thing or even because of the people around. He wanted to seem like the perfect fiance u could understand that, this however, I couldn't understand. I moved forward, the door slamming behind me as I went to my wardrobe to bring out clothes to wear. "I went to see Cillian," I replied offhandedly as the tension in the room built.I was reaching for a dress when suddenly I felt Killian behind me. I turned to look at him but to my greatest surprise, he shut the wardrobe and then pushed me up against it, his hazel eyes flashing. "Why?"I looked up at him confused by his question and his proximity. "Because I love him. Why are you asking so many questions? This engagement isn't what you want either. I am just a whore, remember? A low-class whore you have no intere