Master of the Rose: Chapter Two

When I forget my sovereign, may my God forget me.

- Lord Thurlow

“Kalyca, no!”

The mother of the child of five held her squirming, tomboy-ish daughter back as the strawberry blond creature fought with all her little might.

“Let me go!”

“You can’t go with Hoshiko, he must be a prince now.”

The chocolate eyes grew moist as she caught the eye of the brown headed boy just once before he was forced into the car. She tried to follow its flight with her eyes, but they became blurred by the fall of rain.

No, it wasn’t tears. It was just raining, was all.

The sky was sad.

“Hoshiko!” she cried out once, just willing him to hear her.

Three days ago, Hoshiko had gotten a letter with a large, red wax rose seal on it. The honor, she was given to understand, was mighty, and to not accept, asinine.

“I don’t really know what’s going on either,” her best friend explained to her. “Mother says it’s from the Order of the Rose, but I don’t know who they are. They want to make me a Prince, Kalyca!”

“That’s wonderful, Hoshiko, it’s what we’ve always dreamed about.”

“No, it’s not,” he shook his head, and the small child felt her heart sink. “They….they’re going to take me away, Kalyca. I’ve got to go away to be a Prince.”

“Away?” Hoshiko had closed his grey eyes and nodded. “But…but you can’t! Tell them no, Hoshiko, tell them no!”
“I already did!” he exclaimed. “They won’t listen, they’re sending me away.”

And now they were. They’d tried to hide him, they’d tried everything they could think of, but in the end, the car had still come.

Hoshiko was being taken away.

Kalyca managed to break from her mother’s grasp for an instant, trying to follow the car and rescue her prince. However, this plan was thwarted swiftly as her mother’s hand clamped down around her small wrist.

“No more, Kalyca! Hoshiko must continue his family’s honor. He is going to be a Rose Prince. Maybe if you are very good, someday they will pick you to be the Rose Princess!”

“I don’t want to be a Princess!” the sobbing child exclaimed. “I’m a prince! And I want Hoshiko!”

Not knowing what to do, her mother had simply handed the distraught child to her nurse, who tucked her into bed.

But Kalyca couldn’t sleep. The thunder was too noisy, the lightning too bright. The tear trails on her cheeks made her feel hot and dirty. She wanted to kick and squirm, but that would only make her bed a mess.

How could she possibly sleep when every part of her screamed, “Go!”

What choice did she have? She would go.

Rising, she wriggled back into her clothes, tying her shoes herself, and sneaking out of her door. She was too nervous to keep her steps silent, and so she privately thanked the thunder for its impressive display. Before she even knew it, she was at the door to the outside.

What was she doing? She had no idea where she was going, or where the Order of the Rose would have taken Hoshiko.

That didn’t matter. She’d have to be brave. She had to find them.

Hoshiko was counting on her. She was his prince.

Fear was not an issue.

Opening the door carefully, she cautiously stole out into the pouring rain, the street lights cutting dully into the dark of the night. Lightning was far more effective in illuminating the path, and, with only her heart to guide her, Kalyca started running.

“Hoshiko!”

She had to find him. She was his prince.

…

“The post has arrived, Miss Kalyca.”

“Hm?” Seventeen year old Kalyca’s nose poked out over the bridge of the book she was absorbed in, blinking to try and adjust to the real world. Actually, for the moment, she hadn’t even been reading. She’d been thinking about that dream still. She noticed the mail set down on the small lamp table next to her, and the gears in her mind finally caught up to speed. “Oh, yes, thank you, Helen.”

Helen nodded, and exited, leaving Kalyca alone to sort through the letters. One for father, one for mother, a bill, one from the electric company, one from the golf club her father belonged to, one from…..

She stopped. Her hand hovered over a slightly red tinted letter, a large, red rose seal stamped onto it. She dropped the rest of the letters to the side, trembling slightly. She blinked once, twice.

She wasn’t seeing this.

It couldn’t be possible.

For the briefest instant, she considered the idea that maybe it was from Hoshiko…..Or maybe they were making her a Prince. She doubted both of these, and carefully picked up the sweet smelling letter – it smelled of roses, of course – in her shaking hand. She turned it over, the words, “To Miss Kalyca Alluvium,” in fine, black cursive. She gulped, very delicately cracking the seal. After a very long time, she peeled back the envelope’s fold. After an even longer time, she pulled out the letter.

She didn’t dare look at it, just set it in her lap, staring.

It couldn’t be possible.

After what seemed an eternity, she very carefully picked it up, as if she didn’t fully trust it – of course, she didn’t. Slowly, she unfolded the stationary, closed her eyes, took a breath….

And began to read the letter.

“Dear Miss Kalyca,

“You are probably unaware of this, but our last Rose King, King Jason Kerman, has recently passed on. By custom, his mate has followed him to the next life. We are, currently, without leadership, a problem which must be amended soon.

“In order to do this, however, we must have a new Rose Queen, and for that, we shall need a Rose Princess. For all your grace, charm, sophistication-” What the hell? Sophistication? Who were these people? “-and excellent breeding, it is by a consensus of the Rose Princes – who jointly rule until such time as a King rules us again – that we select you for this high honor. A car shall arrive to collect you on the sixteenth. Until the day whence you arrive, we await your coming with baited breath.” Uh huh….sure….Who talked like this? “Sincerely ever yours,

“Prince Damon Maelstrom, Current Rose Chairman.”

Very slowly, Kalyca put the letter down. Blinked once. Blinked twice.

She began to shake, realizing all too much what this meant.

So now they plan to take me away, too? Lock me up in this….Princess….charade?

Oh, no….this couldn’t be happening…..

Kalyca got up, and fled to her room.

…

“She is an excellent choice,” Damon had agreed when one of his Brothers unearthed her. He wouldn’t have picked her out himself, but there was a certain something to this Kalyca girl that was quite…..suitable for a Rose Princess.

“Her breeding’s unquestionable.”

“I’m told she’s something of a tomboy.”

The Prince had waved that aside. “That doesn’t matter, Damon! It’s an new world, quite different from the old days when our last Queen – God bless her – was chosen. Feminine power, and all that. Women are starting to rule the world!”

“Starting?” he’d asked dryly, but in the end, could see no reason why she should not be presented as a candidate in front of the other Brothers. And to his utter amazement….they’d picked her.

He’d been thinking they’d choose the red head from Ireland, he would have voted for her himself – elected chairman over the proceedings by the Princes, he was not allowed to vote.

But, no…..They’d chosen Kalyca Alluvium.

He felt a twinge inside of him at the sound of her name. Was it merely the excitement – as Kellan had suggested – of getting the chance to become what they spent their whole lives waiting and wishing for – Rose King? Was it the idea that this might be, with a two in ten chance, his future mate, his Rose Queen? Was it realizing that he’d written to her, she was on her way?

It was more than looking at her picture and seeing a pretty face, the brown eyes staring back at him challengingly.

He was intrigued by that challenge. He wanted to know what else lay behind those chocolate eyes….and that was something he’d never really wanted before….

What secrets are you hiding from me, Princess?

It was the sort of challenge he’d never really been offered before.

It called him.

She called him.

In the end he’d congratulated his Brothers on their choice, and said he’d get right to work drafting up a letter. That was his duty and right, as chair.

He’d re-written that letter a dozen or more times.

No, it wasn’t because it was the girl, specifically. He was writing a letter to the Rose Princess, and no one had done that in almost half a century.

It had to be perfect.

It was not for the girl. It was for the Princess he would serve loyally whether he was a selected duelist or not. That was his training. He’d lived nearly his whole life knowing and respecting it.

As I served my last Queen, so shall I serve you.

They had their duty. It must be done.

Their duty, nothing more.

To Be Continued….