by Matie Cole
“Yes, but there is no reason why she cannot do both,” June continued, still saying this as if it had just come to her, not that she had been thinking about the wonderful couple that Bryson and Rosalyn would make for a while. “I believe what Rosalyn is really looking for is somewhere to be happy.”
Bryson considered this for a moment, knowing that Rosalyn could be happy at Goraidh Castle and with him, if that was what she chose to do. She had clearly very much enjoyed her time and got along well with everyone. No one had a bad word to say about her, and she had given no complaints...
“But let's say a man had been married before,” he asked June, acting as if this was not a question directly related to him, even though they both knew that was not exactly the truth. “And something tragic had happened. Something had made him so sad that he vowed never to get married again?”
“I would tell the man that grief makes us believe many things,” June replied instantly. “But that our minds can be swayed and changed. Just because a man has found love and happiness once, it does not mean that it cannot happen again. Particularly if he comes across someone special...”
Now there was no way to deny that Rosalyn was a special woman. She had captured everyone in a wonderfully unexpected way, especially Bryson, but he could not deny that he remained afraid to overstep that line and to see how she felt about him. So many potential barriers stood in their way.
“Can a man love a woman who does not know her name?” he wondered, more to himself than June. “Can he fall for her fully and ask her to be his wife when he is not sure what her past entails? What if there is a man out there who she has already married? Or betrothed to? What if she has a family?”
June gave up the pretense of not having a conversation with her boss and she stood right beside him. “But if she has a husband or a family, then why has no one come looking for her? She cannot be from too far away for you to have found her where you did. She could not get far alone with nothing. A husband or a family who leaves Rosalyn as they did surely does not deserve someone as wonderful as her.”
Bryson turned to stare at June in surprise. He had not thought of it like that. “Yes, that is true, June. You are right. Rosalyn is far too wonderful to be neglected as she has been. She needs a family who loves her.”
“Which could happen right here,” June finished for him. “Anice is very taken with her and I believe that her father might be as well. Since everyone in the clan is so fond of Rosalyn, I am very sure that everyone would be happy if she were to stay and marry the leader. It would be a very joyful moment for all of us.
Bryson knew that June spoke for everyone as she said this because she was friends with the whole clan. She had always been a very perceptive woman, so her opinion meant a lot. He was not entirely sure what he was going to do yet, he did not feel ready to speak directly to Rosalyn just yet, but it was pleasant to know that he had his clan rooting for him, wanting him to find happiness all over again...
Bryson knew that he should be sleeping. He had retired to his chamber hours ago, but he was far too restless to even lie down. Everything that had happened over the last month, particularly the conversation that he had experienced with June today, made him restless and he could not settle on it.
He knew that he loved Rosalyn, deep down he had known it from the first second that he spotted her lying by the river, and he had been wanting to marry her for just as long, but the fear still remained. He could not abide the idea of marrying her and then losing her the moment that her husband from her past life came along. But June had him thinking. If there was another husband, then he should have found Rosalyn already. If Bryson was married to her and she went missing, then he knew that he would not rest until he found her. He would not stop until she was back in his arms.
In fact, he would do that even now and she was not his wife. He felt so strongly about her that he would instantly need to know where she was no matter what. He would not be able to stand it if she had vanished into thin air. Surely, a husband would feel the same way. Rosalyn was so perfect that any man would be lucky to have her and would not be able to cope without knowing where she was.
“She cannot be married,” he muttered to himself, now able to outright agree with June now that he was alone. “She cannot have a family. I do not believe that she will be missed by anyone.”
Bryson still wanted her to remember her old life, he knew that she would not feel like a complete person until she had everything within her mind. But if there was nothing there in her old life worth remembering, then did it matter what they did now? Was there any reason to put off proposing?
“What if she does not even want to marry me?” He suddenly slumped onto the side of his bed as this thought overcame him. “I have been so focused on my desire to marry her, I have not considered it.”
Rosalyn certainly seemed to like him a lot and he felt a zinging of chemistry between them whenever they were close to one another, but that was not a guarantee that she wanted to stay at his castle forever, living with his clan, abandoning her chance to go back home as soon as she remembered. If she wanted to, that was what he would offer her. But Bryson could not continue making plans for Rosalyn without knowing what she wanted too.
He knew that it was late and she would likely be sleeping, but since he was nowhere near resting himself, he thought it best to go and check. Just for peace of mind. He decided to take a walk through the castle and to casually stroll passed her bedroom. If it was dark and there was no noise from within her room, it would be safe to assume that she was sleeping, but if not then maybe they could have the much needed conversation about feelings so that he could plan his next move from here.
“I have fallen in love with you,” he whispered to himself, practicing what he would say to Rosalyn when he finally got to see her. He needed the words to be absolutely perfect. “And I would like for you to be my wife. However, I understand due to the complications in your current situation, that might not be the easiest thing for you to agree to. Without your memories, it must be very challenging for you. So, I would like to have a discussion beforehand to see what your thoughts are with all of this.”
Did that sound too formal? He could not work out whether or not it would come across as awkward and too much like a business deal. This would not be some marriage deal to create peace between two clans or to make things run smoother, this would be love and he wanted to convey that.
The only problem was Bryson had not had to convey love for far too long.
“What was that noise?” The closer that he got to where Rosalyn was sleeping, the louder the cries of anguish became. Instantly, he panicked and picked up the pace, wondering what could possibly have happened to his beautiful angel. He did not like those painful sounds coming from her at all.
“Rosalyn?” Normally, he would not walk into a woman’s bedroom without an invitation, but this was not a normal situation. His poor angel sounded like she was being dragged through the pits of hell and all he wanted to do was release her from whatever caused her so much heartache. “Rosalyn? What is it?”
He was shocked to find her sleeping, battling with an unknown assailant as she rested, thrashing against the bed sheets as if they were trying to strangle the life out of her. This was not the peaceful angelic sleeper that he had found by the river, this was a woman possessed by something that wanted to kill her. It pained Bryson to see her this way, to know that she was suffering.
He wanted to end it, but he was not sure how. How on earth could he shake her from such a terrifying sleep without frightening her even more? He did not want her to be afraid, he did not want her to run.
His poor angel. She was plagued by something painful, possibly something from her past. Maybe they did need to worry about that more than he thought after all. If it could make her experience this much terror, then there had to be something within it...
Chapter 7
“N o, please!” Rosalyn screamed out as a shadowy figure chased her. This had ha
ppened so often now, it occurred every single time that she went to sleep, so she knew that the person with a knife was unlikely to catch her, but that did not stop terror from screaming through her body. “Please, leave me alone.”
Her heart pounded, it rocketed so hard against her rib cage that she was afraid that it might burst out of her chest at any given moment. She could hardly catch her breath because she had been running for such a long time, her lungs were ragged and sore, but she could not allow that to get the better of her. If there was one thing that she was really sure about, it was not giving up. She could not stop. Stopping meant death. It meant that knife would slam into her body and the life would be choked from her.
“I do not want to die,” Rosalyn screamed backwards, using a little bit of her energy to attempt to save herself once more. “I do not want to be killed. I have done nothing wrong. Nothing...”
“You have,” the snake like voice hissed back. It was not a snake anymore, the thing chasing her had taken on a human form. It looked more like a man than a beast. But the hissing had never stopped. “You know you are wrong, you have done wrong. You need to remember what you have done...”
“I cannot remember,” she sobbed back. “I have no memory of everything. Not even my own name.”
She continued to run. Her feet pounded against the floor. Sometimes it was the soft ground of the forest underneath her, other times it was harder, like a path, shooting pain up her knees, but she kept on going. Every inch of her body ached but she continued to push herself. She made herself run.
“You are going to be killed,” the voice continued. “You will die. You deserve to die. You have to die.”
Why did she deserve to die? Rosalyn did not know why she deserved to die, but she felt it. Someone hated her enough to want to kill her. She thought herself a nice enough person, everyone at Goraidh Castle seemed to like her enough, so why did this shadow want to kill her? She had done nothing wrong.
This was her past. Rosalyn could sense that this had something to do with the life that she had at Goraidh Castle, her real life, which meant she should have wanted it to catch her, but she did not. She was terrified by the idea of it getting her because then everything would end.
What if it is me? she thought to herself as she ran. My name, and I do not want it?
The fear of the real her catching up an taking over was a real issue for Rosalyn. She was so happy and set in her life at Goraidh Castle with all the people that she had quickly grown to love, including little Anice, that she was not sure she would ever want to leave. Was that the reason she did not want to get caught?
She could not outrun herself forever. It was possibly time to give up the race and to see if there was a reason that this dream kept coming to her. Maybe it was the moment that she needed to let it come to her.
Rosalyn paused and leaned forwards to grab on to her knees, hoping that her breath would come back for her. The figure was coming, the shadowy figure was catching up for her. She was scared, chilled to the bone, her blood was icy and painful, but she could not continue to run and fight. It was not working.
“I am here.” The blade of the knife, no, the sword, really judging by the size of it, was pressed against her, jabbing into certain areas of her skin. It had not yet quite burst through her skin and killed her, but the threat remained. The very real terror that something was going to kill her. “It is time.”
“Rosalyn,” a new voice called out to her. A friendly voice that felt far more welcome. “Rosalyn.”
“Who is it?” she yelled back. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“Ignore that,” the snake hissed, right into her ear, begging her not to pay any focus on the stranger talking. “Do not listen. You need to focus on me. On the fact that you need to die.”
“Rosalyn, what is happening? Rosalyn, come back to me. I need you.”
Rosalyn liked the sound of that voice, it was far more welcoming than the snake's. It did not seem to hate her like the snake did. She wanted to find the source of that voice, to lean into it, to be saved by whoever it was. Even if it meant escaping the real her for even longer. Maybe she would never go back...
“You cannot run away,” the snake continued. “You cannot escape your death forever. You must die...”
“Rosalyn, come back to me. Stop this, I am afraid. Please, Rosalyn.”
The other voice made everything else fade, it dragged Rosalyn away from the danger of the snake. Even the coldness of the blade was warming up and transforming into something kinder. The voice was saving her, dragging her away from hell, taking her from the truth of herself. Rosalyn was more than happy to go with the voice, to follow wherever it wanted to lead, to be pulled away from the snake of truth.
The more that the black dark nightmare faded, and the brightness of light and waking up over came her, the easier that Rosalyn found it to breathe. Her lungs bloomed like flowers, they opened up and let the air inside, and the rapid pace of her pulse slowed to something a lot more normal.
“Rosalyn! Oh, my goodness.” As soon as her eyes fluttered opened, Bryson gasped with relief. Seeing her thrashing about like that in so much pain was too much for him. He hated it. It had taken him such a long time to wake her up as well. He felt like he had been calling her for a very long time. “You are alright.”
Without even thinking about his actions, Bryson ran with his gut instinct and he pulled Rosalyn towards him for a hug. He sensed that she needed some warmth and some comfort. He could see that she did not feel safe right now and he needed to remind her that she was. That he had her.
“You are alright now,” he whispered quietly into her ear. “You are awake. Away from the danger.”
“Someone is coming for me,” she sobbed into his chest. “Someone wants to kill me. I can feel it. There is someone out there looking for me, trying to find me, with bad intentions.”
These words frightened Bryson as much as they did Rosalyn. He feared her past almost as much as she did. But he had not considered the idea of her past being negative, of no one seemingly coming to find her because they wanted to harm her, but now the idea had been planted in his mind.
She had been hurt when he first found her in the woods, she had suggested that herself, so that was something to worry about. Especially if it was something troubling her nightmares. There was a chance that her subconscious wanted her to recall the danger that potentially could come for her.
“There is no danger here,” he reassured her through his own worries. “There is nothing for you to worry about tonight. I am here for you. I will save you. I shall make sure that no one gets to you.”
Rosalyn pulled back to look at Bryson gratefully. Her eyes shone with delight, like there was sheer joy dancing through her system. “It is you who saved me from my dream. You are also the one who saved me in the forest. It is as if you are my hero and I need you.”
Bryson felt a warmth travel through his body at those words. He had never thought himself a hero before. It seemed that while he was considering Rosalyn his angel, she thought of him as a hero. He enjoyed that idea, he would have loved to have been there for her as much as possible.
“Well, if it is a hero that you are looking for, then I shall be there for you always. You never have to worry again.”
“I know. I can tell.” Rosalyn pulled back a little bit, but not enough for her to let go of Bryson. She was not ready for that yet, nor was Bryson. He had not ever touched her like this before and it felt wonderful. “You have looked after me for a very long time now and I am so utterly grateful for that.”
A thickness clung to the air as both Rosalyn and Bryson looked at one another. They had seen each other before, but never in such an intense way and it struck them both hard. Bryson knew with absolute certainty that he loved her now, there was no wondering and working it out any longer, he was in love with her for sure. Rosalyn had been afraid to fall for Bryson, her hero, while she did not know what her past was, but as he held her gaze, that har
dly mattered anymore. When they were in a tight bubble like this, just the two of them really experiencing their emotions for one another, there was nothing else that could get in the way. Not even her fears or the nightmares that she had been having, not even her real name.
Rosalyn did not think about her actions, she simply went with what she wanted to do. She leaned forwards with her lips pursed, needing to kiss him more than she had ever needed anything before in her whole life. What she could remember of it anyway. She had never been kissed before, nor had she ever wanted to kiss another human as far as she knew, but if she did not kiss Bryson right now then she would die. Perhaps it was because she was still in a slight dreamlike state and none of this felt exactly real.
Although if it did not feel real before, it did the moment that their lips crashed together and fireworks exploded in the pit of her stomach, Rosalyn was dragged into reality in the most wonderful way. Every cell inside her body reacted, flipflopped, and swam in chemistry and it was incredible. She could not believe that her and Bryson had never kissed before, and she was also not sure that she ever wanted to let him go.
Bryson was blown away by the kiss. Not only was it everything that he had been wishing for, but it also answered his question without him needing to ask it in a stilted businesslike way. Ever since he first found his angel, he had wanted to kiss her, but he could never have pictured it feeling as good as it did.
Kissing Rosalyn took his feelings to a brand-new place, it took his body to another plane of existence, it felt phenomenal. Now, it no longer mattered what had happened in her past, it did not matter who she was, he needed her to be his wife. Fate had brought them together and it was because she was meant for him.
June was right. There was no reason for him not to find happiness and love a second time around. Especially if it was better for him and Anice, and Rosalyn was wonderful for both of them.