Rose hesitated, the half-eaten chicken forgotten in her hand. The tantalising smell of baked meat mingled with the earthy scent of the garden and the subtle, alluring aroma that always seemed to cling to Elliot.
Her gaze flickered from his kind, inviting eyes to the imposing, silent walls of the Blood Castle, then back again.
"Leave the Blood Castle?" she repeated, the question tasting strange on her tongue.
The thought of stepping beyond its gates, even for a short while, sent a flicker of both apprehension and longing through her. She thought of Cassius, sleeping soundly in their bed, his earlier possessive words echoing in her mind. You are mine, Rose.
'Cassius would not like that,' Isolde's voice whispered in her head, a soft warning.
