Twisted Rose

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Chapter One

As soon as I was in my bedroom, I took a seat on the larger than life bed and simply cried. It didn't happen that often that I cried but, when I did, it was practically unstoppable. Why did I have to live in this place? It's not like I even fit in here. I'm not cut out to be a royal. Everyone knows it…some are just more discreet about it compared to others. My mother, on the other hand, was not discreet one bit.

She makes it so obvious and apparent that I didn't group how she had wanted me to, that I didn't grow up to be a younger version of her. I may thank the lord that that didn't happen, but she curses Him.

As I looked around my room, the tears halted for a moment. Gosh, the amount of times she had pushed and locked me up in here because I had apparently been 'bad.' I had always believed that I was one of the most badly behaved girls, but really it was my mother who was the weird one.

I soon got up from my bed and stumbled over to the balcony where I gripped onto the railing tightly for support. I didn't want to stay here a moment longer than I needed to. It was safe to say that I absolutely hated being royal. I didn't belong. I wanted out.

"Come on" I whispered to myself. "All you've got to do is climb down and run away. It can't hurt that much. Just do it" At that moment, I felt like I was going insane, but I had heard before that insane people didn't question their sanity. I was okay, for now.

Even though I knew it probably wasn't a good idea, I still straddled the railing on the balcony. I couldn't face another day being ordered around by my mother. My other leg swung over and my dress spilled over to the other side. Now there was only the hard part to do. How was I supposed to climb down the side of the house with a pair of high heels on?

With the thought if breaking my neck if I fell freshly in my mind, I lowered down until my foot had something to stand on and my hands had something to grip. It was a poor descent…one that left my hands cut and my legs grazed off all of my stumbles.

My legs were shaking once I finally got to the ground to the point where I had to stand a moment with the house as my support until I calmed myself down. With a tiny sob, I gathered the material of my dress up in my fists and made off in a slight jog.

"Miss Hathaway?" I heard a voice behind me ask just as I started running. I knew that I probably wouldn't make it very far, but I had expected to get further than this. This was just pitiful. I could hear his heavy footsteps as he ran after me, still calling my name. There was no way I was going to be able to outrun this man for long…not when I was wearing a pair of high heels and a dress that wasn't designed for running in. Once I reached the flowerbeds, a hand grabbed my own and pulled me back, making me fall over on the grass.

As soon as I was down, I brought my knees up to my chin and hugged my legs in, refusing to let go.

"Miss Hathaway, what are you doing?" He asked. His accent was foreign, telling me that it was Belikov. I wouldn't call him Dimitri…I would only make that mistake once in my life. I refused to answer him. There was no way that I wanted him to know my problems in life and I was certainly not going to tell him that the reason I was trying to run away with tears flooding down my face was because I had an argument with my mother of him. "I'm sorry, but if you don't tell me, I'm going to have to drag you back to that house and get help. I'm not letting you run off like this at night. You don't understand what's out there."

I didn't care about what was out there. I was royal, no one would try anything with me and even if I did walk into danger, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. I'd get out of being a royal…that sounds pretty good to me.

He gave a long sigh before beginning to drag me back up away from the flowerbeds. I thrashed around as much as I could, but it didn't take a genius to work out that he was a lot stronger than me. There was no way I was going to be able to break his grip of my own accord.

"I didn't want to have to do this, but you've left me with no choice" He grunted as he continued to pull me away. My mother was going to kill me if she saw this.

"No!" I screamed. "Fine, I'll go back. Just stop dragging me" He let go of my legs and held his hound out for me to take. Hesitantly, I took his hand and he pulled me up from the ground.

"What do you think you were playing at?" He asked as we walked slowly up from the flowerbeds. I honestly didn't even know how to answer that. When I look back on what I was thinking when I was climbing down from the balcony, I can't decipher my intentions. I overreacted as per usual, but almost ended up running away because of this one.

"My mother and I disagree on a lot of things" I spoke carefully. I didn't want to ruin her reputation as much as she annoys me. "She can be pretty harsh when I do something that she doesn't quite like."

"What did you do?" He asked. This was the moment where it got too awkward for me. "What made your mother so angry with you that you would cry and feel like you have to run away?"

"It's nothing much" I lied as we stopped at the wall that I had climbed down. "It's just the usual kind of things I do. I just don't act royal enough for her standards. I'm overreacting Dim- I mean, Mr. Belikov."

"You can call me Dimitri if you want to" He assured. "I'm sure you'll feel better by tomorrow. You should get some rest."

"Goodnight, Dimitri" I sighed before I turned around and began to climb up the wall, but I was stopped by Dimitri's hand on my arm.

"What are you doing?" He questioned. I lowered myself down again until I was on the ground.

"I'm going back up to my room" I answered with a confused look on my face. "I can't let my mother see me like this. She'd kill me if I ruined her reputation any more than I already have."

"I'm not letting you climb that" He insisted. "You could fall and hurt yourself and I am not having your blood on my hands. I refuse to let you."

"Dimitri, you can't control me" I reminded with a small smile. It was nice to have someone to care for you. "If anything, it's the other way round." He chuckled at me logic before shaking his head.

"I have more brute strength than you" He laughed. "If I don't want you to climb up that wall, you're not climbing up that wall. End of."

"Well, how else do you expect me to get to my room without my mother seeing me?" I asked as I looked around us with worry. If we stayed out here much longer, someone was bound to see us.

"Come with me" Dimitri grunted as he grabbed my forearm and yanked me over to the back of the house. I had never been around here before since I had never had any need to. I had always been kept at the front of the house. I was nothing but a pretty face to my mother. If I stayed in this house, that was going to be the way it was always going to be. There was no changing that.

"Where are we going?" I asked. "Dimitri, it would just be a lot easier if you would just let me climb that stupid wall." Even though I had only known this man for a day, I knew he wasn't stupid enough to allow a girl with a long dress on climb up a wall. He seemed to have sense which was something that not a lot of people had around here.

"Just go through the servant part of the building" He answered as he opened a door that led into a kitchen. Everyone inside stopped for just a moment to see who it was who walked in. Their jaws dropped, but they said nothing and then returned to their work. I didn't blame them. This probably looked like the biggest scandal ever heard of to them. "There's a set of stairs there. Go up and take the first two left. You'll be at the top of the main stairs. Make your way to your room and do not come out until tomorrow morning. Do you promise?"

"I promise I won't" I answered as he opened the door to the stairs that I didn't even know existed. "How do you know this building better than me already? You've been here for a day and I've lived here my whole life."

"There are a lot of things that you don't know, Miss Hathaway" He concluded. "There are a lot of things that are hidden from you. You're royal. You've barely scratched the surface of life. Me? I've gone all the way down." It seemed as though he had lived a tough life. Well, he would have done as a Russian man. Why else would he come over to this country? Whatever it was that had made me so upset for my seventeen years of life felt so little now compared to all of the things that he's probably had to go through in his life.

"Call me Rose" I said. It probably seemed slightly random to him, but I simply couldn't stop myself from saying it. "If I can call you Dimitri then you can call me Rose. Really, we're not all that different." He gave me a small but firm nod. I could tell then that I had hit a nerve. He quite clearly wasn't comfortable with talking about how own life…his own problems. Maybe it was just better for me to leave now before I said something that would ruin the friendship we had sort of formed.

"Go before someone catches you" He urged. With that said, I hitched my dress up and disappeared up the stairs. It was the first two lefts that he said, wasn't it? This wasn't fair! I've lived here my whole life and I can't even make my way to my bedroom without getting lost. Dimitri's been here for a day and he can manage it. Why does my mother keep me hidden from all of these things?

After about five minutes of scampering around, I finally found myself at the main staircase. It wouldn't be hard for someone to see me here, so I hurried off to my bedroom and collapsed on the bed before a knock sounded at the door. When I opened it, I found Lillia Zeklos. My breathing slowed as she walked in. Thank God it was someone that I could trust. Lissa was too busy with the party. I needed to talk to someone now…to cry to someone now. How had this day turned out like this!?

Well, chapter two's up! Hope you enjoy this chapter and please leave a review on your way out XD