The Forgotten Princess Rose
Chapter 162

Chapter 162: Chapter 162

"Daniel, you crazy bastard! I didn’t know you had it in you to talk to her let alone ask for a dance. You didn’t get it."

Daniel walked ahead of his friends not wanting to hear them remind him of his rejection. "It is not that I didn’t get it. I will return for it later since she just wants to look around. It’s her first time seeing a ball."

Tom, one of Daniel’s friends, folded his arms. "You’re not fooling us with that. She is an Ambrose. She had to be at all types of balls before she disappeared. Wherever she was she didn’t lose acting all high and mighty. You should have found out where she suddenly came from."

"You would have been able to make some money if you found out," said Rick, another friend.

"Do you take me for an idiot to ask such a thing while the lord was right there? That man is no stranger to attacking anyone to protect his family. I was looking to ask when we danced. That blue-eyed bastard ruined the chance," Daniel said, angry that his shot was missed.

"Hey, is what they are saying true that she came with him? She appears and suddenly we have an outsider here. I’ve started to think that she might have been his woman. Why else would she not be interested in marriage?" Rick questioned.

He continued, "It’s not like she’s young like Anna. They should be desperate to get her married fast unless we couldn’t find any blood on our wedding night?"

Tom considered the possibility. "It could be that or she has much to learn. What does she know about being a lady or becoming a good wife? Why haven’t they come out to tell us where they found her? Something is up."

"Whatever it is, it might be a story worth putting into a song. Imagine how many would pay to discover the story about the missing Ambrose in music and a play. Then there is her wealth. It is just what I needed to have an opera in my name finally," Daniel plotted.

"I don’t care about a wife who has much to learn about being a lady. She can always learn over time and if she slept with the bastard, it means the price to marry her would go up. Don’t you remember the rumours about what the lord wanted to offer who married Anna? I would be close to getting my dream," Daniel said, seeing the opera within his reach.

"You’ll only have a good chance at her if the story about where she has been comes out. Do you think she’s in love with the bastard? I warned you that with the king allowing them to come here all those bastards would do is take our women and then go home leaving us to look at children with those eyes. Bastards!" Tom spat.

Daniel knew there was something based on the threat he received but there was still a chance. "The lord should not be so foolish to let his daughter be with a foreigner. It is not like him to let outsiders into his home so why this one?"

Rick smiled as he had the answer. "It is like I told you. She is his woman. My father always speaks of how beautiful Madeline was in her prime and Rose is the closest thing we could get to seeing it. It was fate for one of us to get what our fathers missed. That bastard came first to fuck- Ugh!"

Rick’s cries startled the group as he stumbled to the right, holding his face.

"What?" Tom yelled, confused by Rick’s cries. He had not seen anything. "Don’t you dare pull this prank on us again."

Daniel didn’t think it was a prank. He was certain he saw something small move in Rick’s direction but thought his eyes were playing tricks on him until Rick cried.

Daniel stepped back when he noticed blood dripping on the ground where Rick stood. "He was hit. Who-"

Daniel didn’t finish as he heard Tom cry.

This time since he was standing close, Daniel saw a rock fall. "Who is it? Come out instead of hiding!" He yelled to the shadows.

Daniel patted Tom’s back, needing his friend to be ready to fight whoever was near.

Zayne tossed the third rock he was holding into the air and caught it as he stepped out where Daniel could see him. "I thought my aim might have been bad. You and your friends make good targets."

"You," Daniel said, surprised to see Zayne standing before him. "Are you aware of who you just troubled?"

’Three mouthy idiots?" Zayne answered.

Zayne picked up another rock as he drew closer to Daniel. "I told you to protect your fingers. Must I inform you to protect your teeth?"

Daniel took a step back with each Zayne took forward. He wasn’t a fighter and even if he was, he had his hands to protect. They were his livelihood.

Daniel couldn’t depend on his friends to help him since they were holding their bloody faces and trying to find the right moment to run away without being struck again. "We’re allowed to talk just as everyone else in town has talked. What do you think happens when you stick to a lady like her? That is if she is a lady."

"You," Rick said, needing Daniel to shut up. It was easy for Daniel to speak when he wasn’t the one wounded.

"Don’t," Daniel tried to stop Zayne but his attempt was useless as a rock was thrown his way. "Ha," he laughed after ducking the first one but didn’t have any luck avoiding the second.

Zayen closed the distance between them and grabbed Daniel’s right hand since the left was busy covering the bruise made by the rock. "None of you will speak of this because if the lord finds out how you spoke of his daughter, he will ruin your lives and if I see you again, I will take your lives. Go," he ordered the two.

Rick and Tom didn’t think twice about leaving.

"They said more than I did," Daniel argued. The left side of his face became a bloody mess thanks to the wound above his eye. A little more and he might have been blinded, never again able to read his music notes.

"I happen to hate you a little more for approaching her. You are fortunate that I left my sword behind," Zayne said as he looked at Daniel’s fingers.

Daniel sighed in relief but then a pain far worse than what he experienced with his face was felt in his hand. Daniel wanted to scream to voice his pain or yell at Zayne but he was in shock.

His hands were his life. They were his way to make money as a talented pianist yet he was now staring at his broken fingers. He could only stare in shock.

"I would have been more pleased with them cut off," Zayne said, not satisfied with the state of Daniel’s fingers.

"You, you just stole my way of making money. All for talking about a woman," Daniel said, the shock slowly fading. How was he to play on stage tomorrow when his fingers were like this?

"You made the mistake of having plans for my woman," Zayne explained to Daniel. "They might heal if you take good care of them but if you so much as utter a word about Rose or plot to approach her again, not only will I cut off your hands, I shall take you with me to my ship as a prisoner."

"It might amuse me to see you try to play a piano with no hands."