The Forgotten Princess Rose
Chapter 109

Chapter 109: Chapter 109

Mary sat outside the room waiting for Rose to exit and explain what happened. She had never witnessed any of the women she travelled with being this way so it scared her. She was then concerned about Rose not coming out of the room for over three hours now.

Mary contemplated knocking on the door again to see if Rose would answer. Was Rose well or was she still shaken up? She would need to eat right now but what if she had fallen asleep and the knock disturbed her?

"This isn’t what I signed up for," Mary sighed. She was not the best person when it came to comforting anyone. There was always the worry of saying the wrong thing and making the situation worse. "She needs to eat."

Mary stood up to knock on the door. Just as she was about to, she heard Finn’s voice.

"What are you doing? Why is she not at your side?" Finn asked, looking around for the little woman.

Zayne wasn’t far behind Finn so Rose had to come out now.

"We are all back and if you want to hear how it went, you will need to go down to listen. Is Rose inside?" Finn questioned, hoping that she was. Zayne was already annoyed by King James and didn’t need to be searching for Rose.

"She is. Something happened and I do not understand it. It looked like she couldn’t breathe for a moment but then she came here and hasn’t come out," said Mary.

"How long ago was this?" Finn asked, going to the door to open it.

"The sun was much higher in the sky when we were outside," Mary answered.

Finn opened the door but before he could step inside, he heard someone coming and saw Zayne. As he expected, Zayne searched the area for Rose and then looked to Mary for an explanation. "She is inside. Mary said something happened to make Rose run here."

"Leave us," Zayne said as he entered the room. He closed the door behind him after entering.

Zayne went toward the door which led into Rose’s room but to his surprise, Rose was sitting in a corner of his part of the room. Her arms hugged her feet while her head rested against the wall. She had to be uncomfortable if she was sleeping like this for a while.

He was gone for most of the day and was not expecting to return to this. Zayne had left her alone with Soren and Brian before Janice came along. Rose had been fine then and she was fine during the ride here.

Zayne approached Rose as quietly as he could. He was curious about what happened and why she chose to sleep there instead of in her room where she could have locked the door. He would like to lift Rose to place her on the bed where it would be more comfortable but he couldn’t take the risk.

Zayne stooped down to be at her level and called to her, "Rose."

It took two more calls before Rose opened her eyes, startled at first but then she relaxed when saw that it was Zayne.

"You are back. Mary said you wouldn’t be back for a few hours," Rose said, rubbing her eyes as she was still sleepy.

"And how long ago was that? How long have you been here sleeping this?" Zayne asked. He reached behind Rose to move the curtain to the side to let more light into the room.

Rose realised it might be far later than she thought. "I do not know."

The reason she was present in this room quickly came back to her and Rose felt embarrassed. Embarrassed and ashamed of herself.

"I am pathetic. I panicked over nothing,’ Rose said softly. How was she to face Mary after this when she couldn’t speak of what happened? Was she to reveal her time in the brothel to Mary so it better explained why she sometimes broke down like she did?

"You are not pathetic, Rose. You are healing from years of witnessing things many others couldn’t bear seeing for a day. You can’t overcome your past in a few days. You need more time to heal and adapt to your new life. You are trying to rush healing and it will only do more harm than good," said Zayne.

"I don’t want to always be in fear. I want to be like everyone else," Rose said, wanting to be better now despite Zayne’s advice.

"Like everyone else? They’ve got their problems. Some just hide it better than others. After we go out to war when we return to our kingdom, I have to send many of my soldiers to their homes or a doctor as they have witnessed so much death that it affects them. They don’t join the army the next day or a few days from then," Zayne said, his memory of their breakdowns vivid.

"Some return in weeks while it takes others months. Some of those men are present. None of them can judge the way you are now and I will not judge you. I’m sure in due time, your fears in the past will no longer be present. What you must focus on now is finding a way to help calm you when you feel afraid."

Rose felt a little better knowing that the soldiers were like her in a way. "What way?"

"You like putting yourself in spaces like this when you are afraid. If you don’t like doing this anymore, we can search for something else to give you peace of mind. One of the men here holds onto a necklace belonging to his wife when he is afraid. Another repeats his favourite childhood story out loud and Finn chooses to annoy me," said Zayne.

Rose laughed but covered her mouth with her right hand as didn’t want to laugh at anyone. "I don’t have such things to bring me comfort. I wouldn’t dare annoy you."

’We’ll find something for you when we go further into town tomorrow. I don’t have to go to the palace tomorrow so you can buy what you need then. Perhaps a little bunny to comfort the big bunny?" Zayne teasingly suggested.

Rose’s laughter stopped. If she could bite Zayne on his hand, she would. "I would not bring a bunny here as it would be both afraid and angry with you."

"You can have it as a pet," Zayne explained.

"And then I would have to keep hearing you tease me about a bunny. Besides, I am not ready to look after anything. Even if it is just a pet. I am eager to have a look around the town. What was it like to be inside the palace? To see the royals?" Rose asked, her interest in the palace helping her to forget the earlier event.

Zayne didn’t want to speak of the palace as he was still annoyed by the king and the princess trying to add him to her games. Still, he did not want to disappoint Rose. His description might be the only way she could imagine what it would be like to be in the palace.

"It is grand. Far larger than this mansion with large gardens surrounding it. There will be a festival soon so you should prepare what you will wear," said Zayne.

Rose grew even more excited as she had never experienced a festival.