"The further I got from where I left you, the more guilty I felt. I did not mean to abandon you." Rose wrung her hands.
The words had flowed out so easily up until this points, but now the weight of Rose's actions on that fateful day began to weigh heavily on her.
"Yet, somehow I believed that if I just stayed put long enough you would find me. So I ate my food as slowly as I could and talked about all the safe subjects I could think about." The Princess's eyes darted away. "The meal was wonderful, but there was something strange about the man with whom I was eating."
"Was he unkind to you? Did he make you uncomfortable?" The Guardian's eyes narrowed.
Rose quickly raised her hands. "No, nothing like that. He was wonderful. It was everyone else who was acting strange. They were all exceptionally courteous, even to the point of groveling. It made no sense to me until we got ready to leave and the innkeeper called him 'Your Majesty'…"
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Little Haven stared wide-eyed at the man with the scruffy bread. "Your Majesty?!"
The child had been so careful to hide her own name that she had not even thought to ask her dinner partner about his identity. Falling on her face, she bowed before the king of Birle.
"No need for that, little Rose. Please stand up." Rhodri reached down and lifted the child's chin from the ground.
"I had no idea," Haven said, staring at her well-worn shoes when the king released her face.
"It was delightful to have such a candid conversation. I do hope it will not end just because you have discovered that you were talking to your king." Rhodri sat up straight in his chair and chuckled.
Brushing off her dress, Heaven stood and glanced toward the door. "I should be going."
The child knew how worried her brother must be. Since he had not come for her, she must go back for him.
"Do you have someone to protect you?" Rhodri asked quickly.
Haven remembered what she had promised. "I will when I get back to where we were," she answered at last, hoping he would not pry any further.
Rhodri was crestfallen. He sighed. "I did not realize. Allow me to escort you back then. It is too far to walk anyway. We can find your guardian and I will leave you in peace."
Haven snapped her head toward the king. "Guardian?" 'Did he know all along?'
"Yes. Your parents are dead, so whoever is taking care of you is your guardian. You did just say that you have one of those, correct?" the king raised his eyebrows.
'Oh, that kind of guardian... I suppose my brother is both.' "I would like to go back now, please."
"Of course," Rhodri signaled the guard who had attended him in the city. "Tell the coachman we will be going back to Vayle."
"But Sire, you are expected back..." the soldier clamped his mouth shut when he saw the forbidding look of the ruler.
"It is a good thing I am the one in charge then, isn't it," Rhodri said blandly. Although no one knew, the king had been on a personal mission for quite some time, and something about this child pulled at his consciousness in a way he could not fully explain.
Beyond that, there was no way he was going to abandon Haven at the inn and just head home. His chivalry would not let him.
The rest of the soldiers filed into the streets and the king resumed his 'nobleman' persona. Those inside the inn only knew from a previous trip where one of his own men slipped up. The innkeeper had been sworn to secrecy in return for patronage.
The trip back into Vayle was short, but felt like an eternity. The little girl looked frantically out the window in case her brother might pass her on the road. Alas, no hooded figure on horseback came into view. When they reached the town, Rhodri had the carriage ride slowly back to the spot where they had met.
"I could help you look if I knew who we were looking for. Can you describe them?" Rhodri offered. The little girl's distress was too much. He wanted to fix it any way possible.
However, Haven felt like she had already said too much even admitting that someone was looking for her. Her little heart was torn in two. In her silence, tears welled up in her eyes.
They looked all afternoon either by the carriage or on foot. By the time evening came, Haven was unsure how to proceed. Rhodri, on the other hand, was becoming more and more solidified in his conviction.
The more he spoke to Haven, the more certain he was that she was something special. She was like a light in the darkness.
His suspicions only deepened when the child had no idea about the city of Vayle. No one seemed to recognize her and yet everyone she passed paid her a smile. She was like a little walking miracle. With this knowledge, Rhodri became convinced that she must have materialized in answer to his pleas to the Maker.
Because of these growing beliefs, the king had stopped asking her questions about her past hours before and started to encourage her about her future. Rhodri told her that he would not leave her side and that she could depend on him. He talked about the nice things at the palace and the delicious food there.
"Are there children?" Haven asked. It was one of the few times the child was brought out of her sullen state.
"If someone like you were in my palace, I would invite every nobleman's child to play with her." Rhodri smiled, happy to have finally found something to interest the girl.
"You are a nice king. That child would be very lucky indeed." Haven looked around. The streets were beginning to empty. "How far is your palace from here?"
The king, who was leading the girl back toward the carriage, stopped dead in his tracks. "Not far. Not even half a day away by carriage. Would you like to see it?"
"I don't know..." Haven paused.
"You could spend the night in the nursery. I know the nanny there would love some company. We can come back tomorrow to continue searching if you want." The king tried not to influence her by his tone, but his wishes were obvious.
Spending the night in the open air without any money or shelter did not sound appealing. On the way into town they had passed by the trees where Haven was sure that their horse had been, but it was nowhere to be found either. There was only one choice.
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty." Haven tugged his hand toward the carriage, a small smile on her face to show her sincerity.
Rhodri squeezed her hand. "You are very welcome. For as long as you are with me, little Rose, you will be taken care of."
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"I went back to the palace. The king showered me with every gift, but as he promised, he took me back to Vayle every day for a week. Then he had the nanny he hired do it until I had gone through every inch of Vayle.
On the last day of my search, I bumped into an old woman. She asked me what I was searching for. When I didn't answer, she patted me on the cheek. 'Stay where you are and what you are seeking will eventually find you,' she told me. My face suddenly felt cool and my worry was gone. I returned to the palace sure that you would come for me."
"Hanna strikes again." Silver muttered, a mix of anger and relief at the Fate's actions. "For she is the one who sent me to the palace knowing I would find you there." The man's face was pained. "I searched for years for you, but every lead I got led to a dead end. I was forced to come back to Rynnlee, but I never stopped thinking about you."
Rose wiped a stray tear from her eye. "I wish I could say the same. Eventually my silly games of how you would find me and take me on adventures became only games. I doubted my memories as childhood fantasy and locked them away because they were too painful."
"I am sorry," Silver touched the woman's knee. He had no desire to cause her pain.
"No, I am sorry for having forgotten you! It was wrong of me." Rose covered her face with her hand.
Silver clicked his tongue. "None of that. We are together now. What happened then?"
Nodding, the princess continued, "After a year of residing in the palace, the king confided in me a secret: he had been searching for a child to adopt and possibly name as his heir. He asked very humbly if I would consider being his daughter.
I mulled over the decision, but by then the memories were already mostly tucked away as fiction. Who wouldn't want to be a princess?! I agreed, but also always found myself fighting against the title and the position. I never felt like I deserved it, you know?" Rose paused, seeing the recognition on Silver's face.
He did know. The Guardian had never felt worthy of his own title nor did feel like he ever deserved a place in Alexis's and Gareth's family. "I understand, but I do hope it did not hurt you too much growing up."
"It did not hurt me. If anything, it kept me humble and stubborn. I think I get that first trait from you." Rose placed her hands upon her brother's.
He chuckled, "I am afraid the stubbornness is from me as well. I am more stubborn than you will ever be, but we should not make it a contest..."
As Rose had already detailed much of her life in the palace to Silver before she knew who he was, the two fell into a happy silence. Both felt unburdened and free. The Guardian looked at the window and realized just how many hours had passed while they spoke.
"I guess I should stop hogging you all to myself," he said sadly.
"What do you mean?" Rose furrowed her brow.
"Are you hungry? There are some people I would like you to meet. That is, if you feel up for it."
Rose's stomach grumbled. How had sitting and catching up brought her so much hunger? "I would love to eat and meet whoever you deem worthy."
"Worthy might be a stretch in some cases," Silver winked as he stood, "but I'll introduce you anyway."
With that both siblings donned their cloaks and headed out into the growing evening.