ROSES HAVE THORNS-Chapter 99 - Early Bird Gets The Worm

Buuzzz Buuzzz

The early morning silence was broken by the dull vibration of Kurt’s phone buzzing on the wooden dresser beside his bed. When he cracked open his eye, he noticed that Diana was somehow still latched onto him. Her breathing was soft and steady, a stark contrast to her crying in agony a few hours earlier, as she continued sleeping even through the noise.

At first, he didn’t move. His tired eye just stared at the dark ceiling as he wrapped his arms around Diana’s back, wanting to feel the warmth and weight of her before he inevitably had to leave.

That moment of peace was quickly disturbed by Father Time, reminding him that he had a job to do, and that time does, in fact, not wait for anyone.

Buuzzz Buuzzz

’And that’s my cue to get up. I hate early mornings...’

With agonising slowness, he moved his arm away from her and reached for the device. He swiped the alarm off before the noise actually could wake her, the screen’s harsh glow illuminating to him that the time was 4:05am.

With that done, he tried to shift his body to sit up, but as soon as he moved, her hands tightened. Even in her sleep, her fingers curled into his shirt with a desperate, iron-like grip. Her brows furrowed as if she sensed him slipping away. Kurt immediately froze and waited for her features to soften again. It took a couple of minutes of careful manoeuvring and delicate finger prying to loosen her grasp and replace his warmth with the pillow he was using before he was finally free.

He then slowly slid out of bed and took a moment to pull the thick duvet up to her chin, tucking her in securely to ensure she wouldn’t wake from the sudden chill of his absence. After a quick icy shower to shake off the lingering fatigue from the night before, he grabbed a scrap of parchment and a fountain pen lying on the dresser to scribble a short note:

Had to head out early to take care of urgent business. Will hopefully be back later today, or tomorrow by the latest. Love you.

– Rosie.

After unlocking the door with a beep, he left his room card next to the note, grabbed the bag with his disguise inside, and silently stepped out into the dimly lit corridor, where he found Emelie standing with her back to the wall, waiting for him.

"Hey, morning." She greeted.

"Emy? I thought you said you wanted to meet by the docks." He whispered while peeking through the door and gently closing it, enabling the auto lock feature to kick in.

"Why’re you whispering? Is there someone inside?"

"Yeah, Diana. She swung by last night."

"She did? Why? Actually, never mind. I could properly take a guess."

"Augh. Let’s not talk here. C’mon." Kurt walked ahead of Emelie and entered the elevator together to go down to the lobby.

"So, why’d the principal come over? She miss her little Rosie~? Or is it that she found out about the public spanking?"

"What? How’d you know? Don’t tell me that shit already hit the newspapers?"

"No. Kiana will most likely suppress any news outlet using her royal status to keep what happened to her on the hush hush."

"But last night she played a recording of the princess moaning to my spank."

"Oh, did she now? Do tell, Kurt. How’d she react when she brought it up to you? I bet it was ugly. Hell, I’m surprised you’re still alive considering what happened last time." Emelie smirked as she started teasing him.

Ding

"Hey, Kurt!" Darwin waved at the two as they stepped out the elevator. "Ms. Valentine came by last night asking about where your room is. What was that about? First Emelie Herst, and now Diana Valentine?! Just who are you?"

"I am... inevitable."

"What?"

"Please ignore him, Darwin. I noticed this before, but he likes to spout out random things at times. Also, forget about what you saw last night. I hope you understand what I’m trying to say." Emelie shot him a meaningful look.

"Forget? Why would I– Oh! Aaaaah... I shall not inquire any further on this topic."

"Just like that?" Kurt raised his eyebrow. "You’re not gonna delve any deeper?"

"There’s no need. If what I’m thinking is correct, then soon the world will be brought into chaos, and this hotel will go down into history as the place that housed a legend at the start of his journey."

"See Kurt. Now you’ve got the front deskman spouting a bunch of nonsense."

"No, Emy. I fear that Darwin may be on to something. And I need to be fully prepared for it."

"I’ll be rooting for you all the way." Darwin looked at him like he was a hero and pumped his fist downward.

"Heh. Thanks, buddy."

"Can you two stop being so melodramatic? Kurt, let’s go. Dominik should be at the docks when we arrive." Emelie pulled him by the arm as she made her way to the exit.

The early morning air was biting, and a thick fog covered the entirety of cobblestone streets. As they stepped out of the hotel and into the gray hush of the city, the only sound that could be heard was the synchronized click of their boots against the damp pavement.

"So is Principal Valentine fine? She didn’t have a meltdown, did she?" Emelie asked as she fastened the strings of the hood over her head to try and keep her head warm.

"She’s fine. Granted, she was a bit drunk when she attacked me–"

"She attacked you?"

"–But other than that, there shouldn’t be any problems. I left a note, but I’m not sure how she’ll take it when she wakes up and finds me gone.

Emelie glanced at him, her single eye sharp and unreadable as she watched his side profile. "I hope you know what you’re doing."

"I know," he muttered, his mind drifting back to the cold smile and the crushing grip from the night before. "But there’s no way I’m giving her up. Besides, if I really do decide to leave her, then I suspect you’ll find my headless body just lying somewhere, and Diana’ll be missing."

"What the hell? Are you saying she’ll decapitate you and disappear with your head? What the fuck, Kurt?"

"Hehehe~ Maybe. It’s kind of sweet once you think about it."

"Sweet? Wait. Why are you blushing?"

"So many questions, Emy. Don’t you think it’s my turn now? For instance, those tags. Did your contact finish forging the fakes?"

"... Yes, they did." Emelie answered like she didn’t just hear him say the craziest thing. "I gave them to Dominik since he said that he wanted to verify them with the chief. I already told him that they will expire in twenty-four hours, but I guess they needed to double check."

"So that means they’ll expire tonight?"

"Yeah, at around 8pm to be exact, which is more than enough time seeing as we’ll be there by midafternoon."

"Haha. I’m getting excited just thinking about wasting those cultists. After saving those kids, of course."

"Don’t underestimate them. This is a big operation for those cultists, and there will be powerful foes. We can’t risk getting into a fight when those kids could be caught in the crossfire. So like you said, let’s save those kids first before we attack them."

"You’re not opposed to fighting them? I thought for sure that you would’ve called my enthusiasm reckless."

"It is reckless, but I’m confident that we’ll come out on top. Those scumbags deserved everything that we’re going to dish them." Emelie clenched her fist as a faint green aura surrounded her body.

"Ooou, I’m definitely like this side of you, Emy. You’re getting my blood pumping."

The rest of the walk was spent in silence. Once they reached the entrance gate of Eldoria, they took a carriage and rode toward the lower end of the city, where the scent of salt and rotting timber began to replace the soot of the coal fires.

As they neared the docks, the towering masts of merchant ships began to emerge from the clearing haze, with the morning sun slowly creeping up from beyond the horizon. Bells of small boats and ships could be heard gonging in the distance, which was all accompanied by the squalling of seagulls.

"We’re early. That, or Dominik’s late." Emelie noted as they stepped onto the weathered walkboards of the pier, where their ship was docked.

"It’s 5am on the dot." Kurt said as he took a quick look at his phone. "Let’s give him a couple minutes. I’m sure he’ll be here soon–"

"Hey guys!" A voice from afar.

"–Speak of the devil."

"Morning Kurt, Emelie. Phew! I’m not late, am I?" Dominik heaved, looking a bit disheveled.

"Pffft! Hahaha! What the hell? Your face, hahaha!" Emelie suddenly burst out laughing.

"Huh? What’s wrong with my face? Even the carriage coach was laughing when he saw me. The hell is going on with everyone today?"

"D-Dom. Here, take a look." Kurt pointed his phone in selfie mode at Dominik for him to take a look.

When Dominik took the phone and saw what the big deal was, all the laughs he received this morning started to make sense. His face was full of red lipstick kiss marks.

"W-What the! Mia, you went too far..." He frowned and embarrassingly gave Kurt’s phone back to him.