The Forgotten Princess Rose-Chapter 327

After a quick walk through the garden, Rose parted from Zayne to find a quiet corner to read a book she brought along. Her pace when reading had increased but there were still new words that stumped her.

Rose waited for Anna’s arrival as well as Mary, Finn, and Krystle to join them to add more dinner guests for the celebration. Rose wanted Charlotte to join them as well but did not receive a response as yet. Janice was going to come which made Rose happy.

"Where is she?" Rose heard Anna’s voice. She didn’t know how much she missed her sister until she heard Anna searching for her.

"I am here!" Rose said as loud as she could for Anna to find her. She set the book aside to finish later and stood up.

"Rose!" Anna yelled, rushing to her sister to hug her. "It is about time you returned. I missed you so much."

Anna was disappointed that Rose could not make it to her wedding. It would have been fun to have Rose by her side as well as her mother but then again, it saved Anna from having more drama from her grandmother.

Rose looked at the man waiting to be introduced. "You must introduce your husband to me. I do not know where Zayne is to introduce them."

Anna let go of Rose and turned around to look at her husband. "He is Paul Shepherd. If you visit the palace, you might find him there in the court. He was one of the lucky men not replaced. This is my sister, Rose Hamilton."

Paul bowed slightly to greet Rose. He knew exactly what the Hamilton name meant and he was well aware of who Zayne was. The men from outside the kingdom in the court spoke about Zayne so much that Paul felt he knew him. "You are just as your sister described you to be."

"And you," Rose said, greeting Paul with a curtsy. "You two met during her visits with the queen?"

"We did. I might have placed myself in the path of danger to get to speak to your sister," said Paul.

"You are a soldier in the court?" Rose asked.

"I am tasked with protecting the men from our kingdom and at other times, I inform the court about the palace’s safety. It is what I did before when King James was alive," Paul explained.

"You look so young yet you were able to find good work in the palace. My husband is also a soldier," Rose said and noticed how Paul smiled.

"We are all aware of your husband, Lady Hamilton. Though we were once enemies, there is still some respect for his victories. I was lucky to have been among the group his soldiers did not kill the day he attacked the palace," Paul shared.

"Forgive me if I might seem a little wary concerning you. You are a soldier and you were there when my husband took over. I hope your intentions for marrying my sister lie only in loving her. If there is something else, I won’t hesitate to send my husband after you," Rose warned Paul.

It wasn’t unlikely that anyone who once served King James might be plotting on Zayne since he led the downfall of the king’s reign.

"Rose," Anna said, surprised by the threat.

"It is fine, Anna. Your sister is right to look out for you. I assure you that I love your sister. I know that our royals were not once perfect or the right fit for this kingdom. Still, I was angry by their downfall but the kingdom doesn’t need revenge now. Our daily lives are finally back to normal," Paul said, seeing no need for war.

Paul continued, "There are men. Well, some men wanted to attack the people your husband left behind but they were captured. Some were imprisoned while others were killed. I won’t lie that there aren’t any more allies of King James plotting. You and your husband should be careful."

"I will tell Zayne but I’m sure he’s already aware somehow. I need to look for him. I brought gifts for the two of you. You’ll need to forgive me since I brought gifts based on how Anna described you to be in her letters," Rose said now in case Paul might not like his gift.

Paul saw it as impossible for him to not like the gift. "A gift from a Hamilton is an honour. I will treasure it."

"Enough of this. You have him speaking like he is in the court at the moment. You can relax," Anna said, going to Paul to fix his shirt. "Rose is not as serious or judges too much like you have her in your head. Other than my mother and I, she will be the next person for you to be relaxed around."

Paul wanted to be relaxed but how could he when it wouldn’t be long before he was next to Victor and in the presence of Zayne Hamilton? He did not come here to fight over speaking to Rose in the wrong tone.

"I have something to share with you, Anna. You should find the men," Rose told Paul. "They might be having a drink and our mother is with Zayne’s mother. Oh, you are not to tell anyone she is Zayne’s mother.

’His mother?’ Paul thought. ’The former queen?!’

Rose walked holding Anna’s hand. "Your husband is quite handsome but I am a little surprised you went for a man in the palace. After what happened with finding out my father and how the princess was, I thought you wanted nothing to do with the palace."

"I didn’t. I was visiting Willow and stumbled into Paul. You should have seen him. He would stand in my path but say nothing. Before I could speak to him, he would hurry away. It bothered me at first but then I looked forward to seeing him. I stopped seeing other suitor and waited for Paul to finally speak," Anna shared.

"I am happy it happened this way. I don’t know if I would be as happy as I am now if I married the man courting me before Paul. I do not think he approached me to get close to Zayne to harm him. At least I do not hope so. That would hurt me a lot," Anna said, hurt from just thinking about it.

"I was mostly trying to scare him as your older sister but father must have done that already. Oh! My good news," Rose remembered why she was alone with Anna. "Zayne and I will be expecting our first child. Surprisingly, they are not near to keep watching me-"

’What?" Anna exclaimed, stepping away from Rose.

They startled some of the maids passing by.

Rose laughed. "Why did you move? I won’t pass it to you if you are close. Do you not know how it works?"

"Of course I do. I am a married woman and I heard talk about it before. There is a child inside of you," Anna said, staring at Rose’s belly. "I will have a niece or nephew?"

"You will," Rose replied.

Anna started to approach Rose to hug her but stopped.

Rose couldn’t believe she was adding another person to the list. "I haven’t turned fragile all of a sudden. I will not break if you hug me."

"No, but your husband could easily break anyone he thinks hurt you. I am happy for both of you. You shall be a wonderful mother. I must note to be careful around you. I do not want to be scared by Zayne again," Anna said, remembering the time when she first spoke to him alone.

"Alone?" Rose asked, puzzled.

Anna did not want to speak about it. "We should find the others."