I have been worrying about my Beta and my mate since the moment I sent him to Sicilia. I knew that he had a mate in Sicilia so he could use the chance to get her out as well. I knew by now that my mate was clever enough to escape and she would hopefully get to the palace, with William's help.
My father was currently on a diplomatic visit to the Isle of Maga, the realm of the witches. I was trying to read one of my favorite books, the Merchant of Venice. It was novel Rose was reading when I met her.
There was a knock at my door. "Majesty, it's Edward."
"Enter."
"Your Majesty, the guards report that they found the Beta with two women. He was wounded and unconscious. The women were taken into custody but they put up a bit of a fight. One of them claims to be Lady Rose of Sicilia."
My wolf immediately perked up at the mention of our mate. I had to fight to keep him under control.
"Define 'a bit of a fight', Edward."
"The one of the women refused to be separated from the Beta, as if she was his mate. The other one, the one that claims to be Lady Rose, started barking orders and telling the men to tend the Beta's wounds. We were just staring at her until she started yelling at us and we helped her save the Beta. She even literally ordered two of the men to stand there and try not to look stupid." I raised my eyebrows at this but secretly I was proud that I had a mate that wouldn't tolerate any nonsense.
"What did she do after that?"
"When the men tried to bar her companion from going with the Beta, she yelled at them for not allowing the Beta's mate to accompany him. Then when Bowser asked her if she was the queen of the entire realm, she said that she was not but that she would be. He also said that if she was the future queen then, he was witch. She replied with 'Then why don't you find a way to magic your lips shut because if you don't I will do it for you.' Then the strangest thing happened, she gave him a look and suddenly Bowser couldn't talk anymore. He would move his mouth but no sound would come out."
"Sounds like the woman gave Bowser his comeuppance." I said. I knew Bowser, he was loyal but he was a loud mouth. I knew that he would eventually find someone who could make him shut up.
"Yes majesty, but they took her prisoner because of the principle of it. We can't have random she - wolves forcing the palace guards to be silent."
It dawned on me what he was saying, "Edward, where is she?" My voice was cold with fury. My mate was kidnapped when she was a newborn pup and then years later had her wolf sealed away to make her easier to control. If I had my way, she would never be caged again.
"The dungeon, majesty."
"Bring her to me."
Rose's POV
I was taken to the dungeon after I made the idiot shut up. I wondered if he really expected that everyone tolerate his loud mouth. It reminds me of something that Hildy said just after she had begun working for me, men are dumb.
The guard that I had forced to shut up came and open the door to the cell I was in. He gestured with his hand, and I could imagine what he would say, 'This way, your majesty'.
I was brought to a room that looked like a study room. There was a mahogany wood desk with a matching chair and over by the window there was a book shelf that held more books than I had at home. Jared was seated in the chair. The look on his face was carefully neutral. He was wearing a simple navy blue tunic and black trousers. Even in that he looked great, my wolf was whining about not being able to touch her mate.
There were guards in the room, whether they were to keep me from doing anything stupid or to protect the prince, I couldn't decide.
Jared was the first one to speak, "Leave us."
The man that brought me said "Majesty -"
"I would not be the alpha king if I couldn't defend myself. Leave us."
The man nodded and all the guards left the room.
"Did you have a good trip, my lady." Jared asked.
"It was the absolute best trip. I simply love being attacked on the road by bandits and having to use my petticoats to keep your beta from bleeding out." I replied with sarcasm dripping from my voice.
"I am sorry, dearest, but how close were you to the palace when it happened?"
"We were in the royal forest, not even half an hour's ride away when it happened. You have bandits that are either very desperate or very stupid, or some combination of the two." I found it odd that the bandits would try something like that so close to the palace.
"Love, they were not bandits, they were mad wolves. When wolves go mad, they lose all sense of right and wrong. They will stop at nothing to get what they want and Goddess help anyone who tries to interfere or gets in their way, even by accident. But they can be very charismatic."
"Basically, the werewolf equivalent of human sociopaths. They can be all warm and friendly but if you say or do the wrong thing, even by accident, it's as if a switch gets flipped. And you are stuck next to the most dangerous thing in the room."
"Yes, exactly like that," Jared said gently, "Rose, how did you know?"
"The duchess was like that." I said softly. The more I look back on my life, the more I realize that it should have been obvious that the duke and duchess weren't my real parents. I don't even look like either of them. Not to mention, no mother would have been that cruel to her daughter unless she was seriously touched in the head.
There was a knock at the door that interrupted my thoughts "Enter," Jared said.
A man came in, he was an inch or two taller than me with brown hair slightly darker than mine. His eyes, though were blue grey, just like mine. His face had proud features that I could easily recognize from my own face, that were currently slack with shock. I could sense a bond with him that was familial in nature
"Rose, thank the Goddess, you're alive." he said, giving me a hug. When he finally let go, he said "Rose, it's me, your father."