The Rose Princess Read Online Free PDF Page A

know from a hole in the ground!”
     the girl exclaimed, vermilion rising in her cheeks. Pressing her lips into a hard,
     straight line, she continued, “Everyone, head on over to Grau’s bar. I’m gonna stay
     here and hash this out.”
    “Hey now,” the giant shot back.
    “Just who’s the leader here, Stahl?”
    “You are. And I don’t think anyone here questions that. It’s just, this time—”
    “This time I’m in over my head, so you thought you’d shoot your mouth off? So, I suppose
     you’ve just been watching out for me all this time, have you?”
    The girl’s eyes blazed with a fierce light that silenced the giant—Stahl.
    “Okay,” Stahl said after closing his eyes and persuading himself. Gripping the handlebars
     once more, he shouted, “You heard what she said, people. We’re going to Grau’s!”
     
    Once she was sure the roar of their exhaust and all other signs of them had vanished,
     Elena glared at the ruins.
    There was no sign of the traveler.
    Putting one hand to the left side of her chest, the girl tried to get her breathing
     back under control. The weapon she had wound about her waist felt unreliable. Still,
     Elena sent herself into the ruins with a gait that firmly planted one step after another
     on the paving stones.
    Although she soon found the horse, D was nowhere to be seen. The ruins covered quite
     a large area, and there were plenty of places to hide. Having played here since childhood,
     Elena knew the area like her own backyard, but finding the traveler on the first try
     would be difficult.
    “Just you wait and see. I’ll show you what you get for ignoring me!”
    As she spoke, the right hand that’d rested on her hip came up, and a streak of black
     shot out and wrapped around one of the ruin’s stone beams. A second later, Elena was
     swinging easily into the air.
    From the top of the highest beam—some thirty feet up—she commanded a view of the whole
     ruins. But as much as she strained her eyes, all she could find were scant spots of
     green between the ruins and the ground below. Although she was supposed to be searching
     for D, Elena then turned her gaze to the west. Even before her eyes had focused on
     the manor, her lips twisted and her teeth gnashed.
    Just as her anger was approaching its peak, a voice called out behind her, “Don’t
     even think about it.”
    The fact that it took Elena a full second to turn in amazement showed just how angry
     she was.
    A metallic clatter resounded from her right hand, and out of her fist spilled a long,
     thin chain. With a weight the size of a small stone at one end, it was this same chain
     that had allowed her to swing up there.
    The young man of unearthly beauty who stood behind her was met by a razor-sharp gaze.
    “These ruins haven’t done you any harm,” said D.
    “Well, I’ll take it out on you, then,” Elena replied as she toyed with the chain in
     her hand. She must’ve had nearly fifty feet of it wrapped around her trim waist. It
     wasn’t the sort of thing they taught girls at finishing school.
    If D hadn’t come out when he did, she probably would’ve broken some of the beams or
     knocked a hole in the ceiling.
    “You’ve been a real jerk,” the girl continued. “And just to clear something up—if
     you think we’re afraid of those lousy knights, you couldn’t be more wrong.”
    “What do you want?” asked D.
    The wind fluttered the hem of his black coat. Some of its threads were loose, and
     the lining was visible. The edge of the garment was badly frayed.
    “To do this!” the girl cried.
    A whirring flash of black ripped through the wind to coil around D’s arm and torso.
    “Ah!” Elena gasped, but the wind devoured her cry. Stunned, she stared at the tree
     branch her weapon was wrapped around. D must’ve had it ready all along. No doubt he’d
     figured out earlier what kind of weapon she carried. He stood in exactly the same
     spot as before.
    “You’re good,” Elena