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Izabelle Edwards was a girl of small stature. She stepped down the staircase quickly and quietly hearing all the commotion in her house.

Her father was return that night and she couldn't wait more to see him. Between her mother and her father, she preferred the company of her father more and it was a well known fact in her family. Unlike most, her father encouraged her love for reading and would surely bring her something to read whenever he went away. Her mother however, would rather see her with some needle and thread in her hand. Something Izabelle would rather not do until needed. Her sister on the other hand was excellent at needlework. When she compared her works with her sisters' she felt the need to go jump in a well. Books were better. With books one did not need to do anything but read and imagine a world beyond. Characters unimaginable in the real and sometimes exceedingly harsh world.

"Are you Miss Belle Edwards, Miss?" She heard a strange raspy and almost inhuman voice ask once she reached where the rest of the family was gathered. Everyone looked at her in horror. They had not imagined the possibility of her coming down leaving her work. The voice sent a cold shrill down Izabelle's spine and it only increased once she saw the tall, pale stranger standing near the old wooden door.

"Yes Sir. That would be I. Why, do tell, that you ask for me?" Izabelle asked with all the mannerism she could muster. Showing fear was not in the blood of an Edwards.

"Go back up Belle," Her eldest brother Gilbert warned her giving her a hard stare she rarely ever saw on his. face. Izabelle wondered what was going on. Gilbert was a gentle man. He had never warned her like he did just then. It was a stare, a command that left no place for argument. It made Izabelle all the more curious.

"Hush now y. Don't tell the Lady what to do. Miss Edwards, I have some work and information regarding Mr. Edwards that I am only to disclose to you as per Lord Drake Willington's order." He said sternly seeing his chance to speak. The strange man made an impression on Belle in a little wrong way and even after her trusting nature, she did not want to be alone in a room or anywhere for that matter with this red eyed man in front of her. He was inhuman. Where did he come from? Izabelle wondered. She has never seen people like him with such pale skin and wide red eyes. Eyes which were currently narrowed at her oldest brother almost as if one wrong move from Gilbert and he would eat him down till the last bone.

"My father? Well Sir, there is nothing that you can inform about my father that I would not like my family knowing." She spoke out clearly, not losing her ground and motioning him in like a good hostess. It was true. If there was any news concerning her father, she would like the whole family to know it and not just her. Everyone loved Robert Edwards more than words could express. He was a well admired, kind and gentle spirit much like Izabelle. He was a perfect father to his children, an ideal husband, an excellent businessman and a role model citizen. One bad fortune was not enough for his family to lose love or respect for him.

"Very well then," He said not taking more than a few steps inside the house. "A couple of hours ago, a storm stopped Mr Edwards on his way home and had him lose his control over his horse. Like any man would do, he sought shelter and in his search came across the property of Lord Willington.

Being a good person, Lord Willington let him have a comfortable time on his property with just one request in return. Mr. Edwards was asked not to touch anything or wander anywhere in the house without someone to lead him around as the mansion houses many things hard to replace. Against his words, Mr Edwards wandered off to the forbidden garden.

You see miss, the garden is personally tended to by the Lord. He doesn't even allow anyone he has known since his birth into that garden. Your father did the unthinkable. He wandered inside without permission and plucked the Rosa. A Rose for her youngest daughter who asked for nothing but a flower that did not grow around her town easily, he said. "

The family heard him quietly. They could not see the issue with a Rose or the Rosa as the man called it. Belle spoke not wanting her siblings to say anything reckless. Izabelle had always liked roses. The port her father was headed had shops and shops filled with roses. She wondered why he plucked it from the Lord's house instead.

"Your point Sir?"

"Ma'am, Lord Drake would like to have you in audience. I am to pick you up without y delay of any kind," the man's eyes again narrowed down at her older brother, "It is either that, or your father can stay a prisoner forever. " The stranger said making Belle worry for her father's safety. Prisoner for plucking a Rose! Surely the man must be insane.

"What atrocity!" Giselle exclaimed. "He just plucked a stupid flower!" Giselle was normally an ideal lady like person. The fact she spoke aloud against a person was enough to make Izabelle realize she wasn't the only one who thought this Lord was berserk.

"Girl, it is not stupidity. Our Lord had been extremely kind to him and he betrayed him by wandering off his property and picking a flower he cared for the most. He plucked the in his garden. Do you know he wished to give it to the one he would marry? The rose he picked was not ordinary. It takes months to grow it and only one rose buds from it. A Rose brighter, softer and prettier than all other. So Miss Belle, would you follow me out and talk it all there or would you be difficult?" The strange man said menacingly. His aura was evil enough to shut her sister up making her wonder what was in store for her. In a second Izabelle's mind was made up. She knew if she resisted and even if her brothers helped something bad was sure to come. She just couldn't shake off the feeling that there was nothing she could do but follow this man quietly if she wanted everyone to be safe.

"Belle you can not!" Asher said tugging at his sister who seemed to be believing the odd creature whom he refused to think of as a man. He loved his sister and she was the only one his age. If his father were to come back home he knew that Giselle would go away because she was already betrothed to a minor Lord a town over and his older brother Gilbert would join their father's trade and go to a town far away to expand it. He didn't want to be left alone. Not yet.

"I have to. If what this man here is saying is the truth, father is in trouble brother." Izabelle said facing her younger brother and then looked again at the man. He was the kind of man who could give kids nightmare without even trying. How can she go with him? The thought in itself was ridiculous. Asher tried to interfere again but Gilbert beat him to it.

"Then I am coming with you Izabelle." Gilbert stated knowing he couldn't let his youngest sister go away alone. It was dark and everything was too vague. Yes father was late but maybe he stayed some where. Who would believe such a strange man as this? He sister was too trusting. Naive when it came to the world of living. As a young girl she would go with anyone who gave her a candy. She was too good for this.

"No you are not boy. The girl comes alone. " The man said and her mother and sister started to speak up to but Izabelle hushed them, something she has never done before and looked at the man.

"Let me grab a cloak." Belle said, the man nodded. Not bothering to change out of her faded blue and white gown, she grabbed the warmest of her cloaks and stepped outside with the stranger. The words of her family fading as she stepped onto the carriage and it pulled forward with a start.

mment.

Love, 

Princess_arielanne