The Enchanted Rose by Konstanz Silverbow Read Free Book Online

require hot water. I suggest you get more boiling over the fire.” She nods and goes back into the hallway. I follow after her, grabbing her forearm.  “We’re going to save him. You have my word.” 

    I pace in the kitchen, Madrid sits at the table, and Nadi waits at the door to their bedroom as the physician finishes bandaging the man’s leg. 
    When he enters the room, a grim look is on his face, but he is not nearly as hopeless as he appeared when he first arrived. 
    “Will he be all right?” I whisper, not wanting the seamstress to hear. 
    “I will return tomorrow to check on him. I removed the infection, but it is too early to tell if the disease spread farther into his body. Tomorrow should prove whether or not he will live. But for now, he sleeps peacefully.” The man nods before exiting. 
    “Thank you, Your Highness. For your kindness, I will do whatever you need of me.” She curtsies low before me. 
    “You will be paid handsomely for all the dresses you make. Tomorrow, the physician will return to check on your husband. Do not be surprised if helping hands arrive to fix your roof and door.” 
    More tears fall onto the woman’s cheeks. “Thank you!” 
    “Madrid and I will return upon the news of your husband’s full recovery. And then, you shall make my dresses.” I don’t give the woman a chance to thank me again. Madrid follows after me as I leave the cottage.
    Once we are a distance from the seamstress’s house, Madrid walks beside me rather than behind me. “That was kind of you, milady.” She smiles again. 
    “I cannot deny it—I acted with something to gain as well.” I look ahead, mulling over everything. Madrid looks at me expectantly. I look away before answering her. “It delays the wedding, even if only by a few hours.” My cheeks warm.
    “You should not be ashamed of that—you do not love Prince Chavez. It isn’t right for anyone to force you into marrying him. And you and I both know how strongly about it he feels. Perhaps the best course of action, milady, would be to speak with him about the matter and see if he has some answers.” 
    I grasp my maid's hand and look her in the eye. “Thank you. I hadn’t even thought to speak with Chavez. I suppose I believed him to be under my mother’s influence, but I can’t know until I talk to him.” I only hope I’ll have the courage to ask him such questions, should I find a moment alone with him.
    If Queen Jossa found out I was trying to get him to help break the betrothal, I can only imagine the rage both kingdoms would face. No one wishes to go up against her.  
    But some things are too important to let go. Like Osric. I can’t lose him. Not now, not ever. Not in any way. Jossa won’t win. Whatever reason she has for trying to force us apart, it isn’t good enough. True love is something people search for all their lives. Sometimes they find it—often, they don’t. But when you find the one you’re meant to be with, it is a beauty that cannot be broken or torn apart.
    My cheeks redden further with thoughts of being in Osric’s arms again. I know he won’t visit tonight. He likely had to return to Wentsden and won’t be traveling back right away. He has other things to attend to, just as I do. But I look forward to the nights he does visit like I look forward to taking my next breath. 
    “Milady, where are we going?” Madrid interrupts my thoughts. I look up and that realize my feet have brought me to the market, though my mind was elsewhere. But I know why we are here. I find the seamstress’s former building. 
    It appears the person who purchased it has not yet transformed it into anything. Wood covers the windows like they aren’t meaning to, either. I reach between the slats, and with all my might, I pull the wood from the frame. 
    Slivers puncture my skin, but I don’t care. Nadi will own this place again. The kingdom needs her, just as they need farmers and shoemakers and blacksmiths. She