Black Rose by K.L. Bone

through the leaves and swaying the roses
back and forth in its cool breath. Edward pulled back slowly from the kiss. The
smile on Mara’s face was enough to break his heart. “I’m leaving.”
    Mara’s
smile faded as though in slow motion. “What?”
    “I
came to tell you that I am leaving.”
    “What?”
    “I
am leaving,” he said a third time. “The Queen has ordered me to the East.”
    The
ground seemed to shift under Mara’s feet. She took a step forward, but
stumbled.  Edward placed his hand upon her left arm to steady her. Her
heart pounded in her chest. “You brought me here…” she searched for the words,
“to leave me?”
    Edward’s
hand tightened on Mara’s arm, his fingers digging deeply into her flesh. His
gaze fell to the ground as he said, “I came to…”
    “To
what?” she snapped, her voice more cross than she had intended. “To make sure
you what…leave my heart in pieces?”
    “To
tell you that I don’t want to go,” he spoke softly, unable to face her. “That I
don’t want…hurting you is the last thing I would ever want to do; the very last
thing.”
    “I
don’t understand,” Mara replied. “You are her Captain, the leader of her personal
bodyguard. Why in the world is she sending you away? It doesn’t make sense.
That doesn’t fit your job description, unless…is the Queen going East?”
    “No.”
Edward shook his head, finally raising his eyes to meet Mara’s gaze. “And I
can’t tell you why I am going or where and,” he inhaled sharply, “I cannot tell
you when I shall return.”
    Her
voice was aflame. “Well, then, what the hell can you tell me?”
    “That
I have no choice and that I would stay…if I could.”
    “And
the kiss?” she asked. “What was that?  Some sort of…” she searched for the
word, “pity? Guilt? A half-hearted goodbye to make yourself feel better? What
the hell was that?”
    “A
plea!” An unfamiliar strain filtered through his words.
    “What?”
    “A
plea,” he said again, shaking his head as his gaze returned to the green grass
of the garden floor. “I am asking, pleading, for you, knowing that you owe me
no debt nor do I have any right to expect you to say yes. Yet, I ask it of you
anyway…”
    “Ask
what, Edward? What could you possibly—” Her voice tightened in her throat,
diminishing to a deep, rasping sound. She swallowed hard. “What would you have
of me, my Lord?”
    “Don’t,”
he said. “Don’t do that.  I’m not…” He drew a deep breath. “I do not ask
this as your Lord or Captain. I ask it only as a…as a man.”
    “Ask
what?”
    “Wait
for me.” He spoke slowly, as though the words were held somewhere deep inside
him and had to be dragged carefully to the surface. “I know that this is
unfair, telling you this way and…and I have no right to ask. I know that. But,
I am asking anyway. Wait for me, Mara.  Wait for me and I will pledge to
you my devotion, my heart and my honor.” His hand dropped from Mara’s arm as he
bowed his head. “I know that you deserve more. But, it is all I have. All that
I am; and I offer to it to you.”
    Edward
continued to hide his face, staring towards the ground, unable to face the
woman for whose heart he pleaded. Mara’s thoughts trailed to a world without
him. It was unbearable, unthinkable. Edward was her strength, her savior, her
love. She couldn’t breathe. 
    Edward
leaned forward and pressed his cheek against her left shoulder. His entire body
sagged against her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Gods, Mara… Forgive me. ignosce
mihi, mea rosa, mi amor. Forgive me.” His body shuddered against hers and she
suddenly realized with a bitter chill he was afraid.
    “Edward,”
she whispered, attempting desperately to gather herself as best she could. “I
don’t know where your path will lead or what task you have been charged, but,”
she drew a deep breath, struggling to keep the anguish from her voice, “you are
the strongest man I have ever