Chapter 79: Chapter 79"Rose, do you have visitors when I am not here?" Zayne asked as the amount of blankets didn’t make sense for just two women being here.

    "No! I would not bring anyone into your home. Who do I have to invite here-"

    Rose was silenced by Zayne throwing one of the blankets over her head. Rose pulled the blanket from over her head and looked down so she wouldn’t glare at Zayne. "That was not nice. I have been giving the guards at the gates blankets so they don’t freeze to death. They come back with a bit of dirt at the bottom."

    "There must be a lot of mud by the gates. It was raining a little last night. What do you use to clean your boots? Zayne?" Rose asked, tempted to wave her hand in front of his face to get his attention. "Are you listening to me?"

    "Unfortunately, I am. If I tell you what the boots are cleaned with, would you try to clean them for you? Clean the boots of the men who have not been the kindest to you? Do not look so surprised as it was not hard to tell they were being cold," said Zayne.

    "They were at first but now that has changed. We are not friends but after I take blankets to them, they would return them with little berries they find. It is much better than what you have noticed before. I don’t see why I cannot clean their shoes. I am the maid-"

    "My maid, Rose. I am the one who hired you to work here. You are not to clean their muddy shoes. I am quite interested in how they cannot survive the cold. Are they not wearing their uniforms or armour when I am not present?" Zayne asked.

    There was no way for those two to be cold if they were wearing the right clothes. Zayne was starting to get the feeling that they might enjoy ordering around Rose.

    "They do. I swear it. It is me who fails to believe that the clothes they wear keep them warm. They have that small space by the gates to go in when it rains and there is nowhere for them to start a fire to keep warm so I go to them. Please do not bring it up to them," Rose pleaded.

    Zayne smiled, taking note of the opportunity before him. "Then, get rid of the annoying bird if you want to save those two from my wrath."

    Rose balled up her fists. "I cannot do such a thing. It only cries out when its parents return to feed it. Janice said that I was lucky the other birds returned after I had touched the little bird. We shouldn’t disturb it."

    "I cannot sleep at night because of your little friend. I would much rather you make friends with the rabbits running around. Then dinner will be sorted out. It is either the birds or the guards that I will deal with. Choose quickly," Zayne said, lifting his shirt.

    Rose covered her face with her hands before she could see that he was showing her a small gun. "You shouldn’t hold your shirt like that."

    "I am not showing my body to you. I was getting my gun," Zayne said, pointing the very gun toward the nest where the noise was coming from.

    "Gun? You mean..." Rose trailed off as she imagined the things the town guards had to their sides. She had been hearing that guns were getting more dangerous by the day.

    She vaguely remembered the awful sound one made the day she had tried to run away with Alexander and Mathias.

    Rose opened her eyes to see what kind of gun Zayne had and to her horror, he was pointing it toward the bird. "You cannot do that. What gives you the right to harm the bird because it is noisy?"

    Zayne raised his hand so the gun would be out of reach from Rose. He wouldn’t be so cruel as to kill the bird in front of Rose. The show of her trying to protect it was better than he planned as he got to witness her hopping around like the little bunny that she was. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Rose stopped as she could not reach that far to get the gun from Zayne. She made the mistake of grabbing his shirt when she had been jumping to get the gun. "I just want to hang up the blankets in peace. I cannot stop you from doing whatever you please with your home. Forgive my actions."

    "Giving up already? I never placed you as someone to quit so easily, Rose."

    "You are far taller than me, Zayne. Do you expect me to kick you to make you fall or better yet, climb you? I will never be strong enough to do either one so I will just leave you to do as you like. I hope you can sleep at night after knowing what you have done," Rose said, turning around to back Zayne.

    "The very reason I couldn’t sleep was because of your little friend up there. I am starting to believe that you have been spoiling that little thing which is why it will not get up to start flying. It only needs a bit of motivation," said Zayne.

    "It doesn’t need any motivation from you. I fear you might throw it instead of helping it learn how to fly," Rose said, wanting Zayne to stay far away from the bird.

    "Well, I am not a bird. I don’t speak bird to know to tell it how to fly nor do I know how to fly. When my siblings needed to learn how to swim, I found the best results came from throwing them in the water. You should have seen the way they got out of the water. I would pay anything to see it again," Zayne said, laughing as that memory came to his mind.

    Rose was frozen in place as she started to put together how much of a monster Zayne might have been to his siblings. "I think I have misjudged you. You are not as kind as I thought. The first clue should have been how you cut off someone’s fingers."

    "It was for good reason," Zayne reminded Rose.

    Rose shook her head, not believing him. "I am going to stay quiet before I am the next noisy thing who finds a gun pointed toward them or my fingers gone. The last thing I will say is that you should be careful with that gun. I have overheard that they are bad."

    "You won’t speak to me anymore?" Zayne asked, knowing Rose wouldn’t last long not talking.

    Rose nodded her head. He could never try to punish or kill her for being too noisy.

    Zayne put away his gun. "Weren’t you excited to tell me about how your writing is and to let me hear the words you have memorised? Now that I am here, your lessons are to continue. Are they not?"

    ’This awful man,’ Rose thought. He wasn’t playing fair with her. Zayne knew how much she had been waiting to show off what she did while he was away.

    Rose bit her lip. She had to make the hard decision of whether to speak and have her lesson today or not speak which would have her miss a day of learning.