"Rosaline Capulet I have never stopped caring for you, I was foolish to ever think I could give you away even in the name of peace. Would you do me the honour of becoming my wife."

He could not be serious! I felt the anger creeping up, and I was trying my best to control it. First he gives me away to a family I despise, then he lies and tricks me into agreeing to this ridiculous betrothal, he condemns Benvolio to death after I told him he was innocent and he expects me to just forget everything and marry him. What a condescending, arrogant, self-entitled jackass. I was about to slap him back to reality when my rational mind took over my emotional one. Could I use this to my advantage? Could I sacrifice my future to save Benvolio? I had been forced into my engagement with him, could I enter another in order to save his life. Was it even an option not to try.

"Escalus, I couldn't possibly marry you under these circumstances. To start our lives together as someone is losing theirs would not be a good omen." It was taking every once of self control I possessed to remain calm and charming. I couldn't let him realize my true feelings. I saw a flash of anger pass in his eyes, this was going to require more work then anticipated.

"Don't take me for a fool Rosaline, you're trying to trick me into saving him. He needs to die for Verona to heal, there is no other way."

He had changed so much, the Escalus of my past wouldn't have been so cold, killing an innocent man in order to save his crumbling rule. His innocence was irrelevant to him I realized. He had found the perfect solution to his problem, he gets peace and he gets me. He never would have let Benvolio go, no matter if I had found proof or not.

"I am not like you I do not play with people's emotions in order to achieve my goals." Guilt flashed in his eyes, as I tried not to gag on my lies. I would do anything to save Benvolio, I would deal with the consequences of my actions later.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to imply that you were."

"Ben and I are friends, you have and will always hold my heart. But I cannot marry you when he is being sentenced to death. Now I must go." It was risky to walk out now, but I needed him to be desperate enough to forget all logical thought.

Relief washed over my body as I felt his hand grab mine.

"Wait, don't go." This might actually work, he was falling for it. Part of me felt bad for tricking him, but a life was hanging in the balance. "I can't simply let him go without any explanation, someone needs to pay for all the bloodshed."

The anger was back, so much stronger than before, it was like he had completely disregarded everything I had told him before. I should regained control over my emotions but the words left my mouth before I could.

"I told you Paris is behind all of this, he set Benvolio up and now he's run off with my sister and you are doing nothing to get her back. He is coming for your throne, and your continuing denial of the events unfolding is what will lead Verona into darkness, make no mistake about it ignoring the truth will be your downfall."

As my words hit him he let go of my hand. I needed to fix this, he was pulling away.

"Of course I understand you are worried about Verona and your people, this is a very delicate matter, but if anybody can figure it out it's you." I slowly approached him, placing my hand over his cheek.

"I cannot simply accuse him without any proof, he brought you back to me, he has shown me no reason not to trust him."

"So he hasn't show you any reason not to trust him, but what about me, have I shown you any reason not to trust in my words. And yet you refuse to take my word without any proof. And yet you expect me to marry you, you might be a fool after all."

"Rosaline…"

"No, you need to think about all this, I love you and would be more than happy to marry you, but I will not do so if more blood is spilled. We've had enough of that wouldn't you agree." Not giving him time to answer me I rushed out of the room. There was only a few hours left until the execution, if this plan failed I needed to try and come up with an escape pan.

The guard didn't even bat an eye when he saw me approach, he simply held out his hand waiting for payment. It had been so easy to bride the guard to get time with Benvolio. Paris would have no problem over taking Escalus throne if money was all it took to change the loyalties of his people.

The sight of him broke my heart, he looked like he had given up and resigned himself to his faith. As long as I was still drawing breath I was going to do everything in my power to save him.

"Ben" My voice was barely a whisper looking at him locked away and it was all my fault, my lies had put him here.

My voice startled him, clearly he did not expect me to return.

"Capulet, you shouldn't have come back, people will talk you have to start thinking of your future."

"It won't be much of a future if you're not with me to share it." Ben reached his hand out between the bars separating us, whipping off the tears that I couldn't hold in.

"We need to come up with an escape plan, the guard is easily bribed, maybe we can convince him to aid us in our efforts. Maybe cause an explosion as a distraction like on the day of our public betrothal, people were running in every direction, it might be the perfect cover to help us escape."

"No."

"No? What do you mean no, don't you want to live? Don't you want to run away with me?" My voice cracked as the words left my mouth. Maybe the kiss hadn't meant the same thing to him, maybe it was just a goodbye kiss. Now faced with the idea of running away with me he realized he wanted something different, someone different. "I mean if that's not what you want we can go our separate way as soon as we've left Verona."

"If I could I would follow you and your stubbornness to the ends of the world. But I will not let you become a traitor to the crown just to save me. I won't let you abandon everything for me."

"And what exactly would I be abandoning, apart from Livia I have nothing holding me here and god knows where Paris has taken her."

"But we would be fugitives, I would never be able to give you the life you deserve and if we were ever caught. If Escalus or god forbid Paris found us you would share the same faith as I, and I will not allow that to happen. Rosaline you need to let me go."

"You're asking me to watch you die and do nothing."

"I'm asking you to live." The guard came to get me, our time was up. I wasn't going to convince him to make a break for it, I was scrambling to save him but he continued to try and protect me even from inside his prison. I leaned in longing to feel his lips on mine. Regardless of what would happen next I would not be able to do this again. Feel him all around me, making me feel so warm and cared for. His kiss was gentle at first, but as my body started shaking he deepened it for a moment making me forget where we were and what was to come. When we finally broke apart, startled by the guard urging me to leave, I could barely move. The guard had to physically drag me away. I turned for one last look at the man that had managed to break through all my defences, a man I had begun to fall in love with, a man that was being torn away from me.

"Don't go and do anything foolish for my shake Capulet." Benvolio was wearing is usual smirk trying to look brave, but I could see the fear in his eyes, fear for what was to come or fear of what I might do I could not be sure.

Isabella found me crumbled in a hallway, sobbing uncontrollably. She wanted to go get Escalus, but I begged her not to let him know. My last hope now was that he would fall for my act and set Benvolio free. If he saw me in this state he would never fall for my lie that I was still in love with him. Not with my pain so evident on my face. Isabelle hid me away in her room as I slowly regain control of myself. Just as I finished getting myself together there was a knock at the door.

"Isabella have you seen,… ah there you are. Lady Rosaline would you care for a walk around the garden."

"Of course, how could I refuse my Prince."

Isabella was reluctant to let me go, she hugged me and watched me with worried eyes leave with her brother. Without Livia here, Isabella would have been the one person I could have confided in, but since it involved her brother there was nobody I could turn to.

"Rosaline, I've been thinking about what you said earlier. I'm sorry." My knees buckled at his words, I would have fallen to the ground if Escalus hadn't been holding on to me. All my strength had left my body, I had failed Benvolio.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you about Paris." What! Paris, he wasn't apologizing for killing Ben, he believed me. "I sent some guards to bring him to the palace in order to get to the bottom of your story, he was nowhere to be found. They went to your aunt and uncle's home to see if they knew where he had run off to with your sister."

"And?"

"They were being held against their will, once they were brought to the Palace Lady Capulet told me everything. About saving Paris, mending his woods, making him seduce Livia, sending him out to kill all these people in order to create disorder in Verona. They plotted against me, they were going to overtake me."

Escalus was outraged, but this wasn't news to me and neither was it news to him. He had simply not believe me when I told him the truth. How could he possibly claim to love me, when he couldn't trust me. That was why my heart had changed it's course, I don't know how it happened but I trusted Benvolio, and that trust had turned into love. As I lost trust in Escalus, my feelings for him turned from fondness to hatred.

"So you are going to let Benvolio go?" My voice stumbled a little, but he did not seem to notice that my entire existence depended on what words would come out of his mouth next.

"Yes." It was like was heart that had been put on pause for the last couple of days was finally starting to beat again. But I could not let him see that it was affecting me. "Yes we'll have to make an announcement to the people, turn Benvolio into a spy and this had all been a plot to uncover the truth. We will need to prepare for war. The people will need to be comforted and reassured that the crown will protected them. Announcing our engagement will be a good way to have them see that we have everything under control."

"Our engagement?"

"Yes now that Benvolio is saved, you will be mine." It wasn't a question, it was statement. He had said those words with such anger, challenging me with his eyes to contradict him. It's all it took for me to realize that were I to say no, Benvolio would not be set free, he would not be made into a hero who had uncovered the truth. My words would sealed his fate and mine, I wasn't sure if he would forgive me for the incredible foolish thing I was about to do.

"Of course, I will be your wife."