Rose: Briar's Thorn Read Free

energy that made me just want to gaze upon it and confess my sins.  She changed her appearance and grew antlers and a feathered cloak in an instant.  She looked like a goddess to me and I knew this was Gretta Snow.  Then that actual goddess of nature reached through the bars to stroke my hair and said in a voice that was all sunlight and warm breeze, “It is alright now child.  Everything is going to be just fine.  We will all face the balance of the Scales together.”
    I looked around at the women, my sisters, and nodded through my tears.  We all looked back across the waters to the west.  Something evil was coming, something that had the reek of death and power.  It was the Gathering.  I felt my upper lip twitching up into a sneer as I thought. We're right here Marcus brothers, your move.
    But right now... I closed my eyes again and reveled in the contact as the fourth woman laid a crystal hand on my other cheek.  I thought back over the centuries before I had been cursed, to the last time I had physical human contact.

Chapter 1 – Cursed
    It is one of the few things I can barely remember about being... human.  It was so very long ago.  The touch of another.  Life in Romania back then was so much simpler than the hustle and bustle of today's overcrowded world.
    I was a happy girl back then, being raised in a small village by my loving parents. They were the tapestry weavers for the rich barons in nearby Citadel of Bucuresti.  The word held nothing but adventure and wonder for me back then.  The mountains we lived in were majestic, beautiful, and imparted a sense of unlimited possibilities.
    When I became of age, Safin, the son of the local shepherds came courting.  He was two years my senior, a broad-shouldered man with a muscular physique and a chiseled jaw that was framed by his curly black locks.  I was the envy of all the girls of the village.
    Safin was such a kind and gentle soul.  We would often sneak off into the forest and sit by a small pond to talk about all the future held for us.  We would have our own small herd of sheep in a neighboring village and have a little cottage to call our own that we would make a home of with the children we would have.
    The thing I remember the most was the warmth of his touch.  He would often cup my cheeks so he could look into my eyes, his own so dark they were almost black, with joy and mischief twinkling around in them.  He would hold me in his warm embrace as we would watch the sun set between the peaks of the mountains before walking the trails back to my family's home in the moonlight.
    I longed for the day we would be married, then I could lay in his bed and he could make a woman of me.
    I had unfortunately caught the eye of a man, Alister Marcus, when we made a tapestry delivery to his grand mansion in Bucuresti.  His family was powerful, they basically ran the entire realm behind the scenes, like puppet masters.  He craved power and wanted anything of value, and claimed it as his just dues.
    He had four brothers who were cut from the same cloth except the timid one, Cristian, who believed a man had to work for his due.  He was the youngest of the brothers Marcus, and I think the only good man of the lot.
    Once Alister had laid eyes upon me, the lech had determined that I was to be his.  He attempted to court me, even purchase me from my parents who refused.  I informed him time and again when he would corner me in local markets, or when I was out gathering materials for my parents.  He would shower me with lavish gifts.
    I informed him again and again that I was spoken for, that Safin and I were to be married that fall, on the equinox.  This did not sit well with Alister, who challenged Safin to a duel for my hand.  He did not expect when he made the challenge, that it would give Safin the choice of weapons, and Safin chose fisticuffs.
    Safin beat Alister soundly but chose mercy over landing the killing blow.  Alister retreated with his