"So I received a letter from Leon yesterday. Can you believe, he failed to mention that he has a fiancée. He invited me to the wedding and yet this is the first I've heard of it, I feel like I should be put out," Lorelie said as she got to her feet, using the headstone to push herself up, picking up the flower basket.
Beside her, Bramble looked up, then sprang to his feet, bouncing past her as she brushed a hand against her grandmother's headstone, then her grandfather's before walking back into the cottage, Bramble crashing around in the kitchen – still not entirely settled in his full-grown body.
"I hope you don't get any bigger," Lorelie said as she picked up her old brown cape and headed through the house towards the front door, "Just a few months and you're a giant, any larger and you can't sleep on my bed."
Bramble whined at her as she opened the door and she rolled her eyes before they both looked towards the forests, the howls of wolves echoing through the air to them.
Bramble bounced in excitement and Lorelie gestured for him to leave first.
"Go on then, I'll see you later," she said and he raced off into the woods, Lorelie closing the front door behind her. "I'll see you next week," she said to the air, as if her grandparents could hear her, looking back up at the shuttered cottage, now quiet and empty... and yet it didn't feel unused.
Turning on her heel, she joined her horse where he waited for her before heading into the woods, letting out a stream of breath, watching the cloud bloom against the chill winter air, her horse's hooves crunching on the snowy ground and icy leaves as Lorelie ran through what she needed to do that day.
First she was due at Rose Castle, then she would have to do her rounds before meeting up with Jean as he was returning from town as well as coming back to the castle as she had promised Jake to an evening of cards.
The sight of the castle was a welcome relief when she finally reached it and both she and her horse hurried into the grand entrance hall and the warmth.
"Hello, dear," Vanessa said, as Lorelie slid down to the floor.
"Hello Ma'am," Lorelie said, handing her cape over to another servant.
"Dr. Rowe is upstairs, I shall let him know you've arrived," Vanessa said, smiling before walking away. Lorelie didn't wait for an invitation; she went straight upstairs to one of her favourite rooms that looked out over the gardens.
Voices from a floor above made her glance up to one of the balconies across the hall and she spotted Lord Braydon and Lady Rosalia, talking with some of the servants, discussing an event Rosalia's eldest sister wanted to host.
Further along, she passed one of the studies and spotted Kilan with Princess Briar, both of them pouring over notes and maps, quills poised over books, laughing about something from one of their latest adventures.
She collapsed into her favourite armchairs once she was in the sunroom and leant over to peer out of the window to the gardens below, almost certain she would spot the last of the castle's masters down below.
She was right.
Far below, she could see the sun-blonde and white-blonde of Beldon and Luka. Luka was attending the roses that never seemed to die whatever the season and Beldon was lounging on one of the benches, his back against a pillar, book open in his lap.
Hurrying footsteps down the hall drew her eyes from the last pair just as the doors flew open and Grey burst in followed by Ally and Ozzy.
"I told you two to leave me alone!" Grey was snarling back at them.
YOU ARE READING
Red Roses - (FCRAs 2016 Winner)
Fantasy**Winner of 'Miraculous Magic' category in the FCRAs 2016** Lorelie May does not go into the forests. She knows there are monsters within those trees. She faced and survived them once and is unwilling to take that chance again. Until she is f...
