As Always, thanks go to my lovely betas- prettyflour and ninmesarra! You ladies ROCK!
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Rosalie was so tired. The day had been full of upset and stress. She felt like she could sleep for a fortnight. But every time she closed her eyes, she was up again to empty her stomach until all that was left was dry heaves. The memories held her captive in the darkest, blackest, and dirtiest dungeon imaginable. She felt as though she needed to scour herself with the roughest and most abrasive substance she could find. The feeling of big, meaty, dirty hands on her skin was a memory that felt as though it happened only yesterday. She had cried until her eyes were almost swollen shut. Her throat was raw and when she tried to talk her voice erupted out more as a croak. She was completely exhausted and devastated.
She needed to leave, but was afraid of being seen and captured. Rosalie didn't want to take the chance of her friends getting hurt. She didn't want a war or battle to break out. It would break her if they were killed because of her. Rosalie thought that just might be the string that unraveled the weak hold she still had on sanity.
She got up from her bed and stepped quickly across the cold floor. She stood before the fireplace trying to warm herself from the outside in. She felt frozen. As though she were made of cold, hard, unforgiving stone. Her bones felt brittle; it was hard to force movement.
Esme Alice was staying with Jessica for the next couple of nights. Rosalie was in no shape to care for the toddler. She hated the silence and being alone. Especially tonight with her memories.
Without another thought, she quickly walked out of her chamber and down the hall just a ways to Emmett's. She knocked quietly and stepped in without waiting for an answer. He sat up quickly and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. "Rose?" he whispered.
"Aye. It is. I can nae sleep. Can I just…" she stopped, hesitating for the impropriety of the situation. Deciding she could send decorum straight to hell, she continued, "Can I just stay here tonight? I dinnae want to be alone. I can nae be alone anymore with these thoughts."
He stood and gathered her to his chest. Emmett carried her as though she weighed no more than Esme Alice. It was warm and wonderful, sunshine in the night, to feel his strength encompassing her. He laid her gently on his bed and covered her up before sliding in behind. He pulled her close to his chest and asked, "What can I do to make it better, Rosie? I want to help ye if I can."
She yawned and then replied, "Tis nae anything ye can do. I must work it out in my own wee mind. Tis just that I had nae really thought on it for a long time and then to have it thrust in my face again…" Her words trailed off and her throat closed with the threat of sobs. Her eyes clouded over with tears she thought she'd spent.
Emmett tried whispering sweet words of nothingness in her ear as he rubbed soothing circles into her shoulders and back. Her appreciative moan had him smirking in satisfaction. "Just ye relax, lassie. Nay one will hurt ye in hear. They'd have to kill me first, and that is nay easy chore. Ye are safe here. Tomorrow the Piersons will be here. Try to get some sleep, please?" he was almost begging her to sleep. He placed a chaste kiss on her cheek as he fought his body's desire to have her.
She nestled in closer to him and sighed again. Her body was trembling, but he wasn't sure if it was from cold or fear. Her feet were so cold; he was surprised her toes were still attached. "Can ye tell me a story, Emmett? Just one of ye're childhood?"
He agreed and began, "When I was but six years old, Edward and I…" he got no further before her breathing evened out and just barely after that, her soft snores filled the room.
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The next morning, Rosalie had a massive headache. She almost wanted to cry again from the pain, but refused. She slowly sat up and glanced around. Her surroundings were unfamiliar. It took her a moment to recall she'd sought Emmett for comfort. She hadn't cared if they'd been caught either. The embarrassment of the possibility turned her cheeks pink as she quickly left for her own room to ready for the day.
She no sooner stepped foot through the door than she was set upon by several large men. They were slapping and kicking, punching and pinching, pulling hair and caressing her all at the same time. It was maddening. She screamed out, but was rewarded with a merciless backhand across her face, making her lip bleed.
She fought as hard as she could but it was no use. They had her and were quickly making their way through an opening in the wall. It shocked the hell out of her to see it there. She had no clue the keep had secret tunnels leading to God knew where. Her body was growing tired but she would not let them subdue her so easily.
They went down, down, down, deep into the belly of the keep before taking so many turns she'd never find her way through it to get back in this way. It seemed like forever had passed before they were going up, up, up, and emerging into the sunlight. She could see the keep wall from her vantage point in the woods. It was disheartening not to see an alarm having gone up yet. She had screamed after all. Surely someone would have gone investigating.
She was tied up and tossed across the pommel of a saddle. The force of contact was sure to leave her ribs bruised. They chanced a few glances behind them and set off through the heavily wooded forest. All the while Rosalie prayed Please God, not again. Please God not again. I can nae do this again.
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Emmett was filling a tray with food. The rest of the household had already broken their fast. Edward and the men were out at the practice fields, readying for battle as secretively as they could. Bella and Jessica had taken Esme Alice out to the loch to pick flowers. He was filling a platter with bread and cheese when a scream rent the air. The tray was dropped to the floor and his heartbeat accelerated. His breath hitched and he ran quick as he could to his room, taking the stairs two at a time. He was afraid he'd be too late.
He threw the door to his chamber open, finding it empty. He cursed, because he was wasting precious time. Emmett busted through the barely opened door of Rose's room and looked around quickly.
The sight of a struggle was evident. Her candlesticks had been knocked to the floor, the mirror was hanging crookedly, and the wash basin had shattered. There was no door opened, he'd passed no one in the halls, where could they have disappeared to? He quickly left the room again, running down to the hall to send a serving lad to get Edward. They needed to figure out where she had disappeared to.
It seemed to take forever for Edward to return to the keep. The laird was out of breath and his expression was grieved. Emmett's heart was in his throat as he explained to his twin.
They took the stairs back up two and three at a time, rushing to get back to Rosalie's room. Emmett had been gone no more than ten minutes, so they can't have gotten too far with her. Michel quickly reported that six of the men that had been within the keep, as well as one of their serving wenches, had left at some point, but no one saw them leave. Edward's brow furrowed before he recalled why that could be. "They must have figured out a way into the tunnels. But I dinnae ken how…" Edward's long legs carried him quickly to the wall. He twisted a sconce, pushed a couple of bricks before he fully remembered the way to get the door to swing open. The men looked at each other and were getting ready to begin their descent into the underbelly of the keep. A cry went up from the walls. The Piersons were here. And so was Jacob the Black.
Emmett and Jacob met together in Emmett's room so that Jacob could tell Emmett his findings. Jacob had hidden his face beneath a cloak, so when he pushed the hood back, Emmett gasped in horror at the bruises that were mottled over his face. His naked torso was in even worse shape, bearing bruises, scrapes, and cuts. "What the hell happened to ye Jacob?"
Jacob laughed darkly. "The bitch spotted me in the keep of the MacDougald's. It took me three hours to get away. I joined with the Pierson's to get here safely. I see the MacDougald's are now trying to hold court here. They are working with Victoria for some reason. Weel, I can nae say that for certain. I ken that I saw them meeting together. I dinnae ken why though. I could nae get close enough to hear what they said."
Emmett clapped a hand to Jacob's shoulders and told him in as few words as he could about Rose's past with their new enemy and that she was missing. Jacob's eyes turned black. For all of Rosalie's crankiness, he still considered her a friend. He did not want those men to have her. Especially not considering what they must have in store for her. He could admit that she was probably the most beautiful woman in all of Scotland, but that did not mean that they could do with her what they wanted if she said no.
Emmett and Jacob quickly joined the Pierson in the laird's solar. The Pierson agreed to their plan and they set forth to put it in action.
~*HR*~
Rosalie was thrilled when they stopped no more than twenty minutes away. She was even more surprised to find that the dirty laird of the MacDougald's was absent from their party. She knew he would be fiercely angry and exactly how cruel he could be in his punishments. She glanced around and noticed Victoria was with them. Rosalie growled fiercely at her, and was not surprised to see the witch flinch. She wanted to laugh outright, but Rose was afraid.
Shoring up her courage, Victoria walked over to where Rosalie sat and spit at her. Since Rose wasn't tied up, she stood quickly and slapped Victoria across the face. Victoria raged her fury at her, "Ye can nae do that! I am in charge here, and I will have ye killed ye bitch! Dinnae touch me again.
Rosalie laughed at her naiveté. She didn't know who the hell she was up against. She had no doubt the MacDougalds had somehow found her. That bastard laird of theirs was cruel and vicious. He was only toying with Victoria. It was quite likely she'd be dead before the day's end. But not until MacDougald violated her, too. Rosalie couldn't help but think that maybe he already had. She'd noticed that Victoria seemed to be a loose sort, freely giving her favors out to the village men for coin, regardless of the status she held as healer of the clan.
Holding out hope, Rosalie prayed that someone had heard scream and was even now working on trying to find her. She couldn't stand the thought of leaving Cullshire. This had become her home, regardless of her determination not to stay too long. She loved the people there and had begun to think of them as family. That was why as soon as this was all over, she'd be leaving. She could not even begin to think of putting them in any more danger. Especially The laird's family; Bella, Esme Alice, Edward, and Emmett meant too much to her to continue putting them in harm's way for the sake of her own selfish desire to be safe. The curse she was under was too strong. She couldn't pull anyone else under with her.
Everyone she'd ever loved or cared about had been murdered and some tortured. She could recall after being taken by the MacDougalds at five, how the maid that cared for her had been brutally raped and murdered for trying to sneak Rosalie out in the dead of night. It was unfathomable to allow anyone else to court the same fate.
She'd heard a year after she'd managed to finally free herself from that evil and vile prison that the merchant that had helped her had been tortured and killed, his body left to hang outside the walls of the MacDougald keep. It was so disturbing that Rose suffered nightmares- seeing the faces of them both asking her why she'd cursed them and begging her to stay away before they were damned to hell in the afterlife.
How on earth was she going to get out of this mess without any of her new family paying the price for her?
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A/N: Ok people, please let me know what you think (Remember, I do answer each review... You may get teased if you ask for it!)! I want to know what kind of ideas you may have for Rose to escape! What do you think we will happen?
Also, if you haven't checked out the Show Me Your Patriotism Contest, you should! Find the profile by searching authors for SMYPContest. :-D See you soon!