Royal Blood

I glared at the wall. The sound of my father's answering machine sounded in my ear. My hand snapped the cell phone shut, ending the call. Flipping it open again, I dialed my father's number.
Maybe he was just busy, I would tell myself. Like those lies might actually be true...but, it helped soothe some of the hurt that wormed into my chest uninvited.
"Goldbrave residence." The voice on the other side of the line was wrong. It was a deep male voice with a gentle overtone. Not my father's charismatic speech.
"Bennie?" I muttered, blinking the tears away.
"Rosenne?"
"Yeah, it's me." My teeth worried my bottom lip, "Is my father home?"
"I-uh...yeah, I think he's home." I squelched the hopeful urge that rose in my stomach.
"Could I talk to him?" I muttered, "I mean, it doesn't even have to be for a long time, just to say, "hi"—you know."
"I don't know Rosie..." He sighed, "He's been extremely busy lately. I can barely get the maids to send in food without him refusing it."
"Please," I begged, "Just tell him it's me, I'm sure he wants to talk to me."
"I'm sure he does, Rosie," He muttered soothingly, "But maybe...maybe you should just give him some time. When he's done, I'll have him call you back, okay?" He wouldn't call me back.
"Okay." I bit my lip, hoping he didn't notice the crack in my voice.
"Alright," He didn't, "I'll tell him, good bye Rosenne."
"Bye, Bennie." The line went dead.

I didn't let the tears burning my eyes consume me and I dialed another number. It rang twice, "Hello." William's pleasant baritone filled my ear.
"William..." I cleared the emotion from my voice.
"Rosenne? What's wrong?" The fatherly concern that rang through his voice made my chest ache.
"Have you talked to my father recently?" I muttered.
"Not recently," He said, "Why?"
"Just curious..." I wiped my eyes.
"Rosenne, maybe he's just-"
"Please don't tell me he's busy." The loneliness in my voice sounded pleading and desperate.
"It's a possibility," William said evenly.
"He never returns my calls, he refuses to reply to my letters, and any message I leave him is ignored." I sobbed, "If I call, I'm lucky if someone picks up the phone. He's ignoring me."
William's sigh rattled through the cell, "Rosie...I don't know. Let me try to call him later. If he doesn't answer, I'll go to Goldbraven myself and make him call you, alright?"
A weak smile lifted the corners of my mouth, "I don't think it'll work."
"There you go again, thinking negatively." He chided gently, "Just...try to get your mind off of it."
"I'll try." I promised.
"Where are you anyway?" He asked, the same concern wafting through the phone.
"The summer home in the countryside." I answered, hugging my knees into my chest.
"Near Barron or Galenon?"
"Galenon." I wiped my eyes again.
"Are you there alone?" He asked.
"No," I rethought my answer, "The servants are here."
"Well...stay there. I'm going to come get you and we can go to Goldbraven together. Okay?" He said.
"Okay." I said.
"Alright, I'm going to let you go." He muttered, "Will you be alright if you're left there alone long enough for me to get there?"
"Yes." Why wouldn't I be?
"Alright...It's a three day drive. Are you sure?" He said, "I could take the train and be there within one."
"I'm sure." I muttered solemnly. I want to be alone...
"Rosie," He said.
"Yeah?"
"Stay there. I mean it, don't run off somewhere." He ordered.
"I will." It was a halfhearted promise.
"Promise me."
"I promise."
"Good. Well, I'll see you in three days."
"See you in three days..." The line ended.

I let the sobs rock me into a dreary half-sleep before I made myself get up. My alarm clock read: 10:00 a.m. It was still morning, so I had time to do what I wanted. Well, that is if the servants weren't cleaning...
I pushed myself up and ambled over to the mirror. My messed up bangs always flared out. Nothing I did would make them lie flat. The rest of my chestnut locks were workable. My fingers detangled what I didn't feel like running a brush through and I straightened out my nightgown. I frowned at the dress. It was one that my father had picked out for me. Sort of frilly and silky, but still pretty enough with the colors that made my jade eyes pop.
I couldn't help the reminder of him. My mind wondered to him often recently. He had never blatantly ignored me before. We used to be close. He used to tell me how business was, how he was beating Vaden Aro and how someday he'd put him out of business. He would show me how he did things so I could take over after him. He would spend time with me. Just the two of us...and sometimes William. I could tell him anything. There wasn't a thing that I kept from him, aside from the tiny things Bennie might catch me doing—those were our little secret.
We were so close...then he just stopped telling me things. He didn't want to have long conversations over breakfast and dinner. Then it was a miracle if I could get him to eat with me at all. If I wanted to talk to him, I had to start the conversation, and even then, I could barely get him to say two words to me. He would pass me in the hall or the foyer when I got home from lessons and he'd ignore me as if I wasn't there.
As if all of that wasn't bad enough, he sent me away. He sent me to our summer home in Galenon. It was hundreds of miles away from Goldbraven and Barron. It was like I was being punished for trying to be his daughter. None of my phone calls reach him. Even William just assumes he's busy.
Nothing I tell them does any good. All of them refuse to believe that something's wrong. They just use the same excuse over and over again. I have to beg and plead with anyone that happens to pick up the phone just to give him a message. If I ask to speak with him, they act like I confessed to murder...Maybe he just doesn't want anything to do with me any more...I'm sure he still loves me, but maybe he's just so busy with his work that he's forgotten me.

I dressed in my casual clothes, flattening my skirt to make sure it was appropriate length. I pulled on my knee-high socks and boots, fastening them securely before pulling on my shawl embroidered with the letter G.
I let muscle memory lead me out my door and down the hall. I passed by some of the maids at work, "Morning m'lady," They greeted. I would just nod their way, not in the mood to smile back—which was probably out of place. I almost always smiled back...oh well...
Just as my feet reached the top of the grand staircase, a knock that rang through the foyer sounded at the great double doorway. I froze. William couldn't have arrived already. He said it would take three days—and because he said he was traveling by car, she believed him. Even if he would have taken the train, it would have taken at least eight hours without delays.
If it wasn't William, then who was it? Everyone with half a brain knew my father's main residence was in Goldbraven. Why would they come here?
A wrinkled, pale butler—whose name I didn't actually know—opened the grand doors, "Yes?" He stepped away from the soft light that filtered in. How odd...
"This is where Rosenne Goldbrave currently resides, correct?" A tall, lanky man with wiry muscles wound down his arms stood politely in the door frame.
"Yes, it is." The butler said warily, "May I ask who happens to be inquiring?"
"Oh, my apologies good sir!" He smiled brightly, "I am commander Victor of house Jania from the headquarters of the familiars."
Familiars? This man was a familiar? They protected people didn't they? What did they want with me?
"Familiar?" The butler's wary tone didn't disappear, "What is it that you want with Lady Rosenne exactly?"
"Her father has requested protection, so I am here to present the ones that will be doing so." He looked around the foyer, "Is she home?"
"No..." The butler said, "As far as I know, she is out."
"I'm here." I said. My wobbly legs carried me down the staircase and toward the entryway.
"Ah, Miss Goldbrave." He gave her a polite bow.
"What did you say about my father?"
His smile softened, "He has requested that you be protected."
"Why? Did he say anything else?" For the first time in a while, hope coursed through me. Maybe, just maybe he wasn't ignoring me after all. It was a long shot, but I gripped onto it tight.
"His request only asked that you be protected, and his status ordered it up in rank of importance." Of course...he was a Goldbrave, practically royalty. It was a no-brainer that he would want the highest protection available for his only heir. The same heir that he practically exiled.
"Protected from what?" I muttered dejectedly.
"He didn't specify." He said.
"Well, you can tell him that I don't need any protection." I grumbled, "I'm perfectly fine. With or without him." I grabbed the door from the butler and threw it shut.
The shock on his face only registered for a few moments before he composed himself, "Would you like your lunch served to you in the garden, Lady Rosenne."
"Yes." I muttered. My voice was low and barely audible.
"I'll get right on that, young mistress." He gave me an odd smile, and an involuntary shiver rolled down my spine. I turned away from him and walked briskly toward the garden to get lost in the flowers.
That butler creeped me out. I should really write to father—like it would matter. The letters wouldn't reach him anyway. Even if the butler was sort of shady, I would have to handle it until William came to get me. I had three days alone and then I was out of here.

I let my fingertips gently trail over the petals of the well kept flowers around me. This was my favorite garden. Being the biggest of all of the summer homes, it gave me many places to hide and let go. There was a larger variety of flowers and vegetation in this one. This was also the one that my mother had commissioned when she was pregnant with me—or so William says. Father refused to talk about her for longer than a few minutes. Though, it must be true. Every statue throughout the garden had her face and likeness.
She died before I could ever remember her face. The only thing that I can recall is her voice. She had the most beautiful singing voice and she would sing me a lullaby written just for me. No matter how hard my father tried, he couldn't find a woman in the world that could do it justice. I haven't met a woman alive that could match my mother's talent.
I guess it was a good thing though. If I had found a woman who could do such a thing, any memory of my mother would have ceased to exist. The scarce pictures of her would be all that I would have left.
William always told me that I looked like her. I never believed him. She was so much more beautiful than I would ever be. I had my father's hair and eyes, and as far as I could tell, I looked more like him anyway. I didn't have any childhood photos of my mother to compare myself to, so I could never prove him right or wrong.
Maybe if I could get in contact with my father, I could ask him if we had any of my mother's childhood albums.
I hummed the gentle, soothing tune to myself as I sat beneath to a great willow tree in the middle of the garden. I hugged my knees into my chest and rocked myself into a peaceful, thoughtless oblivion.

William sighed again and rubbed his temples as he hung up his land-line phone. Damn that Alexander...his paranoia had sent him over the edge. This wasn't the first time Rosenne had called him crying. First, he ignored her at home. Then, he sent her away and ignored her there. Next, he was going to forbid William to speak to her.
If he didn't promise Rosenne that he would retrieve her, he would drive the half hour drive to Goldbraven and throttle him. For now, he would have to settle with a phone call.
He dialed his number. It rang twice, but the voice that answered was wrong, "Goldbrave residence."
"Bennie," William said, "Put Alexander on the phone.'
"He says he's busy." He said. William knew better.
"Put him on, Bennie." William ordered, running his hand over his short beard.
"One minute," The butler said disdainfully. William waited as patiently as he could manage for the brief moments that he was gone, "He says that he can't talk."
"I don't care if he's dead asleep or in the middle of important paper work, put him on the phone." He ordered.
"Yes, sir William, though I highly caution against it." The disdain in his voice was clear.
He was placed on hold for several long moments before Alexander's irritable voice reached his ears, "What is it William? I'm busy."
"Busy?" William snapped testily, "What is it that you're busy with? So busy that you ignore your only daughter's calls...so busy that she calls me crying because she thinks her father is ignoring her."
"She called you crying?" William could hear the regret in his voice.
"Who else would she think to call?" He said, "She's an only child with no mother or known relatives. Her own father won't take her calls. Hell, I'm acting like more of a father than you are right now!"
"I...I've been busy."
"Oh please...Alexander, you and I both know that is a load of pure bullocks." He said irritably, "You've let your paranoia take you away again. You've sent her away because of some danger that you've cooked up in your mind."
"It isn't paranoia, William!" Urgency coursed through his words, "Aro is not to be taken lightly. He's bloodthirsty and he knows that I'm trying to shut him down-"
"Alexander, this is madness." William waved away his argument. "Do you really think that she's going to be targeted because of your rivalry with Vaden Aro?"
"Don't you?"
"No!" His brows knit together, "Have you lost your mind? Are you losing your edge, or are you just driving yourself insane?"
"I'm not crazy—" He defended angrily, "bah, I should have known that you wouldn't understand..."
"Since I obviously don't understand, I'm going to do the job that you and your late wife wanted me to do as her God-father. I'm going to take her home with me." William said definitely.
"I sent her there to be far away from me." He groaned.
"I don't care. If she needs protection as you claim, then she'll be safe with me." William retorted curtly, "At least then she won't be so lonely."
"I—alright. Yes, take her home with you." He said dejectedly, "You can protect her...you know her..." He sounded as though he was trying to convince himself more than his old friend.
"What are you rambling on about? You cut yourself off too—" Realization dawned on him. He couldn't have requested a familiar. He didn't have the proper grounds for it to be urgent...Sure he was one of the few families left with that particular bloodline, but it wasn't urgent enough to summon one immediately. Or was it...
"Alexander."
"Yes, yes, I'm still here William." He muttered irritably.
"Have you requested a familiar already?" He asked grimly.
For a few moments, Alexander didn't speak, "Yes."
William pinched the bridge of his nose. This was over the top, even for him. "Idiot..." William groaned. "Do you really think that a familiar would do the job better than me, or even you yourself?" His silence told him his answer, "Alexander Goldbrave...you honestly believe that if someone wanted to harm your precious daughter, they would be able to get through you? Do you have such little faith in yourself that you would believe such a thing? Such little faith in me? Do you honestly think that I would let someone harm her? Are you so damn paranoid that you think the only way to protect her is to put her in solitude with a stranger!?"
"William..." He groaned.
"No. Enough, I don't want to hear any more..." He said, "I'm going to that summer home, and I'm going to bring her home with me. She'll stay with me until you get over your little bout of madness."
"Fine, fine, just..."
"Just what?" William said curtly.
"Just...tell her that I said I love her. Tell her to please understand that this is for the best." At least he finally had something to tell her.