Rose paced her room for the most part of the morning. Ti flowed a little too slowly. She couldn’t count the number of tis she pulled the letter out of the envelope to stare at the words, trying her best to recall exactly what Thomas had said as he read the letter.
Sotis, she would walk towards the window to stare out of it, and without aning to, she started thinking about if it would be easy to escape this room.
She was on the first floor; getting down didn’t seem to be a problem. She could always use the drapes—she could rip and tie them together to form a rope.
The problem was that she wouldn’t even get to the ground before she was spotted. Dayti was completely out of the question, but guards patrolled the castle during the night.
If she did manage to get to the ground, the dogs would get her—and even if the dogs didn’t, Rose couldn’t scale the castle walls. And if there was a side door she could use, she didn’t know where it was or how to unlock it. It was a terrible plan.
She turned away from the window and folded her arms. The only thing she could think about was escaping on the way to Futherfield or while in Futherfield.
That was why she needed to find out all that she could about Futherfield, but she couldn’t go around asking questions. She couldn’t give Caius a reason to suspect her.
Rose was still lost in thought when a knock echoed in her room. She pushed herself from the window and walked to the door. She didn’t get to it before the door opened and Welma walked in.
Rose stopped abruptly as she stared at the maid. Her expression didn’t say anything, but she didn’t have the restlessness in her eyes as she had that morning.
"You look better," Rose comnted.
"You look worse," Welma replied.
Rose shrugged. "I thought the next ti I’d see you, you would be missing your head—but yet here you are. You owe again."
"Yes," Welma said reluctantly.
"I’m guessing the Queen quite liked the information you provided," Rose smirked.
"Well, yes—but at the sa ti, it’s not good for you."
Rose shrugged. "That’s not news. What has she planned this ti?"
"Surprisingly, nothing," Welma replied.
"Nothing?" Rose asked in horror. She was almost disappointed. She was ready for sothing worse than kidnapping and poisoning.
"Nothing," Welma repeated.
"She isn’t going to try and stop him from taking with him?" she asked, still in disbelief.
Welma shook her head. "No, but she did sothing odd."
Rose narrowed her eyes. "What?"
"She went to see the King, and when she returned, she was all smiles and said sothing that made the ladies cheer."
Rose frowned. "What did she say?"
"’The King agrees with . Now we wait.’"
"Wait for what?" Rose asked.
"I do not know," Welma said.
"That’s not nothing," Rose whispered and chewed on the nail of her thumb. If the King was involved now, it ant more trouble for her.
"She didn’t give any orders," Welma replied.
"Of course not, because she is going to ask the King to take care of it." Rose didn’t think she had bothered the Queen enough that she would report her to the King.
"I don’t think it’s what you think," Welma replied. "The ladies whispered sothing when the Queen left—sothing about marriage. I—" Welma stopped speaking when she saw the look on Rose’s face.
"What did you say?" she asked.
"They said if the crown prince was married, he wouldn’t pay attention to you. But the King refuses to listen to the Queen’s pleas."
"You think the Queen asked the King to get the crown prince married?" Rose asked.
Welma nodded.
Rose frowned. That didn’t make any sense. But if the crown prince was married, she would finally be free.
"Are you sure about this?" Rose asked.
Welma shook her head. "As soon as the Queen arrived, I was chased away. Her orders were to report everything I see and to make sure I leave nothing out."
Welma watched Rose carefully. It was hard to guess what she was thinking.
"Rose," Welma called.
"Did you find out anything about Futherfield?" she asked.
Welma shook her head. "I ca here as soon as I left the Queen. I wanted to tell you sothing so we both didn’t have to worry about the Queen—and to thank you."
"I don’t want your thanks," Rose whispered. "I want to know about Futherfield and if it’s close to Edenville. A map would go a great way."
"A map? Those are hard to co by."
Rose internally cussed as she looked around the room. She couldn’t read—how would she read a map? How would she even find one? The shelves in this room were empty, and this was the only room she was allowed in... the crown prince’s room.
However, there was no way she would understand what she was looking at. She had seen glimpses of maps before, but Rose had never needed one. Would she just ask for directions on the road? It couldn’t be that easy.
Aside from escaping the crown prince, she had to make sure she got to Edenville safely. Rose had heard stories—especially about won traveling alone. It would be unfortunate if she ended up in a worse situation while trying to get away from him.
"Welma," Rose suddenly called. "Can you read a map?" she asked.
"No," the maid said, vigorously shaking her head. "What are you thinking?" she asked.
"I don’t know, Welma," Rose stared at her with intense eyes. "But I have to go ho, more than anything."
Rose dropped onto the bed and looked at Welma with heavy eyes. "You have to help. You’re the only one I can ask."
Welma sighed and nodded. "The only place there would be a map would be in the library, the crown prince’s private study, or the archives. I am not allowed into any of these places. I can’t steal a map, but I can ask around."
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