Rose ambled slowly through the gardens, staring past the flowery vines hanging overhead. It was a beautiful garden, but years of watching it grow and fade had made her immune to its charms.

Instead Rose's mind wandered to the figure she had seen from her tower over an hour earlier. The girl had watched the cloaked figure move carefully along the wall.

'Why didn't I raise the alarm?' she wondered. 'I should tell them now.'

However, just like before, her mouth would not find the words. A feeling inside once again told her to let the stranger pass. So Rose swallowed her concern and pictured the man as she had last seen him.

She remembered how, with inhuman agility, the figure had dropped from a great height to the ground. Rose had stood transfixed. Then, without warning, the figure had turned, and his silver eyes flashed at her. Even now a dream from long ago tickled at her consciousness as she recalled the events. The girl struggled and failed to bring it into focus, but it felt so real that it could have been a memory.

Rose had precious few childhood memories, especially from before she met King Rhodri. It felt like they were walled in her mind somewhere, but once in a while she could peek over and catch a glimpse. Rose thought again about how she had been spotted. Her eyes grew wide and she smiled to herself, though she couldn't exactly decide why.

Those silver eyes: they had bewitched her, beckoned her even. That was the reason she found herself in the gardens. It was the last place she had seen the figure clearly, and she hoped somehow to get a better look. As the hour had passed, it seemed like the meeting would never be.

'Perhaps it was just a dream...'

Commander Borit and Lady Caitlyn stood on either side of Rose talking pleasantly across her as they strolled. The princess smiled and nodded often, but was too lost in her own thoughts to pay any real attention.

Only a short time earlier, the commander had shown up unannounced at Rose's quarters and invited the two women for a walk about the gardens. After seeing the stranger, Rose had jumped at the chance. She wondered now if she had made the wrong choice.

Aged somewhere shy of forty, Borit was quite handsome and very comfortable in the company of women. His short cropped hair, which was currently uncovered, was white blonde, hiding any trace of grey. His easy charm made the ladies at court swoon over his dark brown eyes, and even his long sharp nose was fondly referred to as prominent rather than birdlike.

Lady Caitlyn, Rose's lady-in-waiting, was twenty and although she was only a few years older than Rose, she considered herself quite mature. Her matronly qualities were both endearing and frustrating to Rose.

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The elder had come to serve her mistress at only fifteen, and so they had in many ways grown up together. Caitlyn was the closest thing Rose had to a friend, and so she allowed her many liberties including the coy flirting that was happening now. Rose didn't mind it really.

Although she didn't like the commander, their chatter kept her from having to participate in the conversational niceties expected of her station.

Lady Caitlyn's luxurious auburn hair was tied neatly with a satin ribbon and swayed about her shoulders as her hazel eyes took in the garden's blooms. Her shoulders shook as she laughed at something her companion had said.

"What do you think, your highness?" Caitlyn asked.

Rose froze. 'Uh oh, they are talking to me.' Tearing her eyes from the wall, Rose looked to find her friend was staring at her expectantly. "About what, Lady Cait?" she asked politely.

Caitlyn knew better than to chide her companion in front of the commander. "About the state of the garden. The grounds keeper has outdone himself, wouldn't you say?"

Wanly, Rose smiled. "I have very little to compare it to, I'm afraid. Perhaps we can take a walk down into Burke or, better yet, into the countryside. Then I can be better equipped to comment."

She arched her brow, challenging her friend to disagree. Caitlyn, however, knew better than to take the bait.

Burke, the city at the base of the castle's hill, was not a long walk, but it was one that Rose was seldom permitted to take.

King Rhodri requested that she remain in the castle grounds at all times unless under heavy guard. With these restrictions, being outside the castle was nearly worse than being in it.

The king had his reasons. Rhodri had found Rose and adopted her as his own. Having no other family, he worked desperately to keep her close and protect her. The older Rose got, the more protective Rhodri became. Like most seventeen-year-olds, Rose did not appreciate the strictures.

"You seem distracted, Princess Rose," Borit observed, trying to change the subject. "Is something on your mind?"

Rose cringed when people added princess in front of her name. She felt the title did not fit her. She loved her adoptive father, but a princess Rose was not. Everyone could bow and scrape all they liked in her presence; she knew most either resented her good fortune or were hoping for a chance to use her to advance their own designs.

Wisely she kept these thoughts to herself. "Commander Borit, you know how I feel about being called princess. I have asked you to call me Rose."

Borit gave a stunning smile as he shook his head. "You know I can do no such thing. Perhaps I shall stick to 'your highness' from now on."

The commander paused and lifted a bloom which had fallen from overhead. Its alternating bright pink and purple petals had not yet begun to fade. He offered it to the princess. "May I?" he asked.

'I'd prefer you keep your flower.' The young woman swallowed her words before they came out.

"Please do not waste your token on me. Cait is a much more worthy recipient." Rose thrust her friend between herself and the soldier as Caitlyn blushed profusely.

Borit inclined his chin thoughtfully and placed the flower behind the brunette's right ear. "A crown fit for a queen," he said smugly. "I hope I do not offend, Your Highness," the man added toward Rose.

'Borit is trying to make me jealous,' Rose thought, rolling her eyes inwardly. 'There aren't enough flowers in the world for that.'

"How could I be offended at a genuine compliment toward a friend? Lady Cait is far better royalty than I could ever be. I would have her as my queen in a heartbeat." The princess took her friend's hand in her own and kissed it gallantly, leading both into a fit of giggles.

"Don't do that, Your Highness. People will gossip!"

"Let them talk." Rose spun toward the castle. "I declare Caitlyn to be the future Queen of Birle! Prepare the coronation!" The princess announced.

The servants nearby looked at her wide eyed, unsure how to respond. The commander waved them away.

Borit's lips drew tight as he shook his head. "Again you have me at loss, Your Highness. Your kindness and generosity are…too much."

Knowing Borit's sarcasm when she heard it, Rose opened her mouth for a rejoinder when someone cried out from the outer battlement.

"Breach!" the soldier called, pointing to the inner wall. All three sets of eyes looked above them to the tall stone fortress.

Without warning, an arrow streaked down and lodged itself in Borit's thigh.