The Rose Red Bride JK2 Read Online Free Page B

Vivienne.
    “Nonsense,” Isabella muttered, but the sisters elbowed her to silence.
    Alexander continued, ignoring them all. “Though Merlyn and Ysabella had not lived overmuch in this hall, there were servants within the walls and a castellan who saw to its administration in their absence.
    “And so it was that the castellan had a daughter, a lovely maiden who was most curious. Since there were only servants in the keep, since it was resolved that she could not find much mischief in a place so newly wrought, and since - it must be said - she was possessed of no small measure of charm which she used to win her way - unlike any maidens of my acquaintance -” The sisters roared protest, but a grinning Alexander held up a finger for silence. “- this damsel was permitted to wander wheresoever she desired within the walls.
    “And so it was that she explored the chamber at the top of the tower. There are three windows in that chamber, from what I have been told, and all of them look toward the sea.”
    “You can see three windows from the sentry post below,” Vivienne said.
    Alexander nodded. “Though the view is fine, the chamber is cursed cold, for the openings were wrought too large for glass and the wooden shutters pose no barrier to the wind, especially when a storm is rising. That was why no one had spent much time in the room. This maiden, however, had done so and she had noted that one window did not grant the view that it should have done.
    “Clouds crossed the sky in that window, but never were framed by the others. Uncommon birds could be spied only in the one window, and the sea never quite seemed to be the same viewed through that window as through the others. The difference was subtle, and a passing glance would not reveal any discrepancy, but the maiden became convinced that this third window was magical. She wondered whether it looked into the past, or into the future, or into the realm of fairy, or into some other place altogether.
    “And so she resolved that she would discover the truth.”
    “It was the portal to the fairy realm!” Elizabeth said with excitement.
    “There is no such place,” Isabella said with a roll of her eyes.
    “It is but a tale, Isabella,” Annelise chided. “Can you not savor it for what it is?”
    Vivienne eased forward on the bench, enthralled by Alexander’s tale and impatient to hear more. “What happened?”
    “No one knows for certain. The maiden slept in the chamber for several nights and when she was asked what she had seen, she only smiled. She insisted that she had seen nothing, but her smile, her smile hinted at a thousand mysteries.”
    Vivienne’s attention was captured utterly then, for she suspected she knew how that maiden had smiled.
    Alexander continued. “And on the morning after she had slept in that chamber for three nights, the damsel could not be found.”
    “What is this?” Isabella asked.
    “She did not come to the board.” Alexander shrugged. “The castellan’s wife was certain that the girl lingered overlong abed, so she marched up the stairs to chastise her daughter. She found the portal to the chamber closed, and when she opened it, the wind was bitterly cold. She feared then that the girl had become too cold, but she was not in the chamber. The mother went to each window in turn and peered down, fearing that her daughter had fallen to her death, but there was no sign of the girl.”
    “Someone stole her away,” Isabella said, ever pragmatic.
    Alexander shook his head. “She was never seen again. But on the sill of one window - I suspect I know which one it was - on the morning of the maiden’s disappearance, the castellan’s wife found a single rose. It appeared to be red, as red as blood, but as soon as she lifted it in her hands, it began to pale. By the time she carried it to the hall, the rose was white, and no sooner had the castellan seen it, than it began to melt. It was wrought of ice, and in a matter of moments, it