The Rose Bride by Nancy Holder Read Free Book Online Page B

through the hedge maze and the topiary garden, and pushed open the
chateau’s
front door.
    Desirée barred her way.
    “She’s here, Mother!” she cried.
    Like a shadow moving across the wall, Ombrine appeared on the stairway. She glided slowly like a wolf
    “She was out all night again,” Desirée said triumphantly, her eyes glittering as she stepped out of her mother’s way.
    “Rose!” came a voice. It was Elise, her long gray braid hanging over her right shoulder of her nightgown, her eyes puffy with sleep. “Child!”
    “She is not a child. She is fourteen years old this very day,” Ombrine said. Her eyes became slits as she took in Rose’s disheveled appearance. “We have gone through this, Rose. There is talk in the village of dark doings. Of groups of sorcerers who gather to do unspeakable things. The wife of the crown prince has died and the baby with her. It is said that magicians were involved”
    Rose blinked. Oh, the poor princess. And her little baby too?
Hélas
, what a terrible pity.
    “I’ve heard talk of magic as well,” Elise put in. “The prince must be so grief-stricken:”
    “Alas for him,” Desirée said blithely.
    “But we are speaking of Rose,” Ombrine said, glaring at her stepdaughter.
    “Madame, m’excusez
, but you know I’m not a sorceress,” Rose said, knowing she must defend herself. “I did nothing to the princess.” In fact, she had lit a candle for Princess Lucienne the very night of her father’s death.
    Ombrine raised a hand to silence her. “I may know that, but others don’t. And others talk. Your father would have wanted you to marry well. But we can’t manage that if you continue to shred your reputation by sleeping unprotected in that wretched garden. How many times have I explained this to you?”
    “Dozens,” Desirée purred. “She just won’t listen to you, Mother.”
    “Tais-toi
, Desirée,” Ombrine snapped. “Will you cease your endless chatter?”
    Desirée sputtered, then fell silent.
    “I’m sorry,” Rose said, understanding an apology was required and she had to make it sound realistic. “I couldn’t sleep.”
    ‘Allow me to take her to her room, my lady,” Elise said with a curtsy. “I’ll have her cleaned up and ready for breakfast in no time.”
    Elise started down the stairs. Ombrine kept her eyes on Rose as she lifted a staying hand. Elise stopped where she was. Desirée caught her breath and bounced on her heels, as if she’d already guessed what was going to happen next.
    ‘As I mentioned,” Ombrine said, “Rose is fourteen. She hardly needs a nurse. And as we have no younger children in this family . . .” She let the sentence trail away, unfinished.
    Rose’s world collapsed to a tiny circle, and the circle was Elise’s face. Her nurse’s eyes were enormous, her mouth an 0 of shock.
    “We . . . in this house, they keep the nurses on,” Elise said in a strangled voice. “I came with Madame Celestine herself, and the understanding was ... I ...” She gripped the banister with white knuckles and stared at Rose.
    “Oh, please, Stepmother,” Rose blurted, taking a step forward. “Please, don’t do this. I was wrong to spend the night in the garden and I’ll never do it again. I swear it.”
    “She’s an unnecessary expense,” Ombrine insisted.
    “No, she’s not!” Rose wailed. “She’s all I have in this world:”
    Ombrine pulled in her chin as if she’d been slapped and pressed her bloodred fingernails against her chest.
    “My dear, your loyalties are misplaced. Mademoiselle Elise is only a servant. But your stepsister and I are your
family. We
are all you have in this world: Sheturned her head slightly over her shoulder, as if she couldn’t quite be bothered to look Elise in the face.
    “Start packing,” she ordered her, sweeping back up the stairs.
    The shadow she cast on the room below was bitter and cold.
    Rose and her nurse said their good-byes in the rose garden, weeping as though each had