Roses Read Online Free PDF Page B

sympathetic leaders that intend to appeal in the forthcoming poll . . .”
    All three visitors blushed and shuffled their slippers.
    “Ma Dane, you know we are always very grateful for the support you have given my husband over the years.”
    “Good. I’m sure Pa Coo-se-Nutoes would not want to support the . . . the . . .”
    “ The Beautiful Spectacular ,” muttered Peony.
    “Yes. I’m sure he would not want to support something that endangered his position. In fact, I shall ask to visit it with him today to be sure. The whole thing seems very suspect to me. We do not want a repeat of the Red Wars.”
    Ma Usa flinched.
    “Has it—is it that bad?”
    “It’s critical. The Neighbor has played a dangerous game,” Ma Dane spat the words. “It has gone too far with its University of Magic and military force. The backlash was inevitable.”
    A silence ensued in which Ma Dane slurped her tea.
    “Did you see that new House of Shell girl at the Crit-se-Prom ball?”
    With visible effort, Ma Usa replied, “Why yes, it was shocking—her hem was practically above her ankles.”

    Later, with her cheek shoved against the wooden floorboards of the nursery, the child could not forget what she had heard of the circus. She had disregarded most of the chat, not understanding it, but the circus with the magnetic ring of The Beautiful Spectacular had stayed foremost in her mind.
    “Don’t twitch!” screeched Nan, pushing her heel further into the child’s back as she lay face down. “Nasty, vile creature!”
    The child had been caught escaping the drawing room and was now receiving her punishment. Rather than mull over her blatant disregard for rules, as she had been instructed, the child was musing the possibility of running off again this very afternoon. She had been contemplating escaping the grounds of Rose Herm for a while, having grown bored of its constraints. She desired fresh lands to explore and had already plotted her escape: a large zouba tree that stood beside a pond and leaned toward the high iron fence. She had just been waiting for a reason to flee.
    There was a knock at the door and Nan hissed irritably.
    “Come in, then!”
    The maid fumbled with the lock and as she swung the door open Nan released the child and tried to look as though she had been giving a school lesson.
    “ . . . that is how Pervorocco won the Red Wars and restored order after years of savage bloodshed. The Neighbor then repaired its State and a lenient attitude was taken toward Magics thereafter . . .”
    The maid was trembling so much that the tea set rattled as she placed it on a table. The child had not seen this maid before and suspected she was new. The new house staff—fed with gruesome tales of a silver, wild being—were always the most afraid of her.
    “This tea is cold!”
    The maid wrung her hands on her apron and tried not to look at the child.
    “But I—but I just boiled it, Nan. It’s scalding!”
    “You must have dawdled on the stairs. Get away and don’t make the same mistake in the future.”
    The maid scurried from the room so hastily that she forgot to lock the door.
    “Don’t you even think of touching that food! You will miss dinner again for your wickedness.”
    While Nan fell upon the meal and began tearing into the bread and butter, the child crept slowly past her.
    “If you continue to disobey me, then you will starve!”
    Nan turned and in that moment, the child ran for the door. Nan was well past middle age and too slow to catch her. As the child dashed away, she was followed by an agonized howl.
    Switching between the rambling, grand corridors of the main house and the twisting passages of the servants’ quarters, the child expertly snaked her way to the gardens, stopping only to catch her breath before she continued. With the sun beating upon her back, she climbed the zouba tree and slithered down its long vines to the ground on the other side. There she paused, the thrill of the