Rose Lover: Rosenrot Part Two (complete)

Part One 

News is quick to spread about Queen Primrose’s pregnancy. All of the kingdom is in jubilation over the revelation, and already people are planning on welcoming the new heir to the kingdom. I am excited for my friends, having grown up with Rosso and Bianco, and coming love Primrose as family, how could I not be? But there is a part of me that holds a small sliver of doubt about the upcoming child. After all, Rosso and Bianco nearly split the kingdom due to their own differences. 

This is a child conceived by both of them, and maybe Primrose will give birth to a son. As advisor to the palace, I have a great deal of grief over this issue. Taking care of Rosso all these years is one thing, and I’m not sure I can look after three of him.

But the more time I spend with Primrose, the more she makes me see the beauty of it. I never considered myself a child-rearing person, but the more I see of the baby clothes, the bassinets, and the joy on Primrose’s face, the more I feel myself come to an awakening. 

“Are you not afraid?” I ask Primrose one day.

“Oh, I am absolutely terrified,” she says with a laugh. “But I know I have Rosso and Bianco with me at all times.”

“That is what I mean,” I reply with a sigh.

“Why, Yves,” Primrose puts her hands on her burgeoning hips. “You’re not worried history is going to repeat itself, are you?”

“Minutely, my queen.” I bow my head down low. “I have known the brightest of days and the darkest of nights because of your husbands. I would hate for you to watch your own children split the kingdom in two.” I chuckle. “And I would hate to mediate such a thing again.”

“You did not have me with you before,” Primrose says with a bright smirk. She lays her hand on my shoulder. “I am not one to let my children run about like monsters.” She quickly glances around in case her mother-in-law is about, then looks back towards me. “I plan to raise this baby, or babies,” she flinches, “knowing they have to consider others ahead of themselves.”

“But aren’t you scared of the future? You cannot know it, you cannot control it,” I gasp.

“That’s a baby,” Primrose chuckles. “My main job is to make sure it gets to that point in one piece and well-loved. I cannot control it, I can only watch it blossom. Surely, you understand this, being with Rosenrot?”

“Roses are different,” I sigh.

“But just as unpredictable,” she shakes her head. “You can tend to your garden with all the knowledge and love in the world, yet there are things you still cannot account for.” She furrows her brow. “Why do you ask, Yves? Has something come up?”

I sit back and hold my head in my hands. “All of Miror is all in an uproar for babies. Everywhere you look, they are celebrating it.” I lift my head. “Blanchefleur and Alise have been talking about a family for ages, and now, I feel as though they are trying. It has made me question myself and what I want.”

Primrose hums. “Well, what is the question? If you do not want babies, then do not have one simply because Miror has gone mad.” She sits down beside me. “And if you do want one, do it because you want it and will love it.” She places her hand on my back. “Have you discussed any of this with Rosenrot?”

I press my lips into a tight line. “They know something is troubling me, but they do not know what it is. I have been afraid to bring the subject up. I have no clue what their feelings on the matter are.”

“Most Prim take this sort of thing very seriously, too,” Primrose sighs. “Family is a big matter to them, not one that is talked about flippantly.” She glances towards the windows, letting her long eyelashes catch in the sunlight. “It is best you talk to Rosenrot now. What they say may help your mind settle.”

“But what if we are both settled on different things?” I ask quietly. 

“I truly do not think that will be the case, my dear friend. But if it is, well-” Primrose hesitates and places her hand over mine. “I think you two are strong enough to talk things through.”

I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “We are.”

When I return home that evening, I find that Rosenrot is still working somewhere in the garden. I decide to take a bath and get comfortable, relax a bit before Rosenrot gets home. In the bathroom, I sink into the hot water of the tub and lay back.

“Now that is a lovely sight.”

I nearly jump out of the water. I turn back to see Rosenrot smirking in the doorway of the bathroom. I glare at them and huff. “How long have you been there?”

“Long enough to admire the beauty of my partner in all his glory.” Rosenrot saunters into the bathroom. “What’s wrong?” they ask. “You never take baths unless something is bothering you.” They sit down on the edge of the tub and stroke their fingers through my hair.

I close my eyes and lean into their palm. 

Rosenrot shakes their hand. “Come on now, Yves, out with it. You’ve been churning over something for a while now, and I am sick of you not talking to me.”

I lift my head back up and look at them. “All this baby talk throughout Miror-”

Rosenrot grimaces and makes a disgusted noise. “All this hullabaloo for something that isn’t even theirs to celebrate. This is an occasion for Primrose, Rosso, and Bianco. It should be intimate, not a farce.”

“Yes, well-” I start off again, slowly.

“It’s selfish of people to make this about themselves and turn it into a party, that’s all I’m saying.” They glance down at me. “Whenever you and I decide to discuss the notion of family, then we’ll do it the right way for us, and-” They stop all of a sudden, coming to the root of my problem all on their own. “That’s what it is,” Rosenrot whispers. “All the celebration for the baby, and you’re wondering if that’s what we should do.”

“I know we don’t have to,” I grumble. “But everyone keeps going on about it and I keep thinking about it and thinking about it until it’s tumbled around so much, it comes out like one of those smooth stones!”

Rosenrot sighs. “I should have known.” They turn to me and run their fingers through my hair. “I guess I wasn’t thinking about it.”

“How?” I laugh. “Tell me how you don’t think about it, because if I think on it one second longer, I will lose my mind.”

Rosenrot shrugs. “Simple. I have you.”

“That doesn’t help!” I whine and lay my forehead on the rim of the tub.

Rosenrot throws their head back and laughs. “No, silly, I mean that I don’t need to worry about it, because I do have you. When the time is right, it will happen, and if the time never happens, then that is fine too. If you need to discuss this to know your heart, then we can.”

I pout slightly and raise my head back up again. “You had a human mother,” I murmur. “And your zaza was a prim. How did it work?”

Rosenrot shrugs. “Like all couples. Nothing special except their love.” 

“No!” I grump. “I mean like-” I frown a bit. “Did they have to-” I trail off, afraid to bring up the topic that brought me discomfort.

“Don’t worry,” Rosenrot says comfortingly. “Prim are not like humans, remember. We do not need to have sex or do anything of the sort in order to have a child.” They stroke my hair comfortingly. “For Prim, it is different. We go through cycles in the year where we can sprout blossoms. These manifest as tiny buds all over our vines.” Rosenrot lays their hands on their chest. “Much like how certain creatures go into ovulation - we only need a special water to awaken the buds and allow them to bloom.”

“Where do you get it?” I ask.

Rosenrot dips their head down a bit. “Deep in the Tulgy Wood where the Prim come from, there is Looking Glass Falls. The water comes from a spring high above that no one can trace. It is said the first Prim were born from those waters. It’s there that I must water myself in order to awaken the buds when they show.”

“But is that something you’d want to do? How many buds would blossom?” I have so many questions and my heart is racing.

Rosenrot looks over me for a moment, silent before they offer me their hand. “Come on, get out of the tub. Your beauty is distracting me.”

My cheeks flush and I take their hand. Rosenrot wraps me in my robe and places a kiss on my cheek. 

“Many blossoms don’t survive, if any.” they say quietly. “But that is not important at the moment. What is, is you.” They lay their hand on their chest. “Yes, I would love to raise blossoms with you, but if you do not, then that is something I don’t mind foregoing.”

“You say you want them, but you want to set all that aside?” I gasp.

“That is not what I said.” Rosenrot shakes their head, then points in my face. “I say I want to do it with you. I only want this full-heartedly if that is what you want as well.”

“Oh,” I gasp. “I… I hadn’t thought about it on those terms.”

Rosenrot gives me the eye. “What terms were you thinking of?” they scoff.

I bow my head and laugh. “You know? I’m not certain. I really don’t understand what I was thinking.”

Rosenrot brings me into a hug, wrapping their long arms around me. I feel safe with them, more than anyone in the world. I lay my head on their chest, and in that moment, everything is clear to me.

“I want a family with you,” I murmur.

Rosenrot squeezes me tighter. “Are you sure? You’re not just saying things to me now?”

“No,” I shake my head. “I want this. I know I do. It’s like Primrose said - as long as I have you, I think everything will be okay.”

Rosenrot pulls back and clasps my face in their hands. “I won’t be budding again for a few more months. We’ll have time then, to plan and prepare ourselves.”

I nod. “That’s perfect.”

Rosenrot hugs me close again. “Yves, you’re the one who is perfect.”

Before Rosenrot can bud, the new prince is born. Primrose gives birth during the evening, and I am woken from my slumber by one of the royal guards. Dragged to the castle, I stand with Rosso and Bianco, who have been banished outside the royal bedchambers to pace feverishly.

“But why can I not be with her?” Rosso roars brazenly. 

“It isn’t proper,” one of the nurses says.

Bianco’s eyes narrow into a look I have rarely seen on his face. “Proper?” he scoffs. “We are out here because of proper? Not because our wife, our love, is at a health risk? Not because of something that could be harmful?”

I quickly take Rosso’s sword from him before any harm can be done. “It would be best if you just let them in. Who cares about propriety at a time like this?” Before I can even coerce the nurses from the door, Rosso and Bianco shove past them, barging their way into the bedroom.

I sigh. “At least I took his sword in time,” I scoff. I set the blade aside, then stand near the window. Outside, the skyline is fading from dusk to dawn. Everything is purple and pink, gently suffusing all the eye can see.

I hear the squall of the baby, and the cheer from Rosso and Bianco. I sigh in relief and slouch down into the bench under the window.

“It sounds like the new heir is here.” My sister walks up beside me, holding her painting supplies in hand.

“Have you come to paint the moment?” I yawn.

“I was instructed to, but I just need to get a quick glimpse of the baby and then I can make a dramatic rendering at home.” Alise sits down beside me, and I rest my head on her shoulder. 

“Been keeping the dogs at bay all night?” Alise asks. She strokes my hair as I lean on her.

“They broke in around midnight,” I yawn. “They scoffed at the protocol and have been beside Primrose all night.”

“Good for them,” Alise chuckles.

I sigh and hold her hand. “I have some good news,” I murmur. “I need to share with someone or I might burst.”

Alise looks at me as I sit up. “Go on, I have some good news myself. We can make a trade.”

I am grinning from ear to ear. I never expected myself to be this excited. As I look at Alise, though, and her curious expression, I know now more than ever what I want. “Rosenrot found a bud last night. It could be a little while longer, but once there are more, we are going to the Looking Glass Falls. We’re going to try for a blossom.”

Alise slaps her hands on my cheeks and shakes me. “That’s my news! Only with me and Blanchefleur!” She grins from ear to ear. “I’ve been bursting to tell you, but we wanted to wait and make sure!”

We pull each other into tight hugs and laugh excitedly.

“Yves! Alise!” Rosso steps out of the doorway. “Get in here this instant.”

We both grin at each other one last time before we go into the bedroom to be the first people to see the Prince. As advisor, I preside over the naming and signing the documents for his birth certificate and records. Alise, as the royal painter, is sketching the scene so she can paint it on grand scale to commemorate the moment. 

“Ludovico,” Primrose murmurs as she places the small bundle in my arms. “It was my father’s name, and now it is his.”

Ludovico whimpers softly. He struggles with life, as all new babies do. He twists and turns as he gets used to this new feeling. He is in a world strange to him, where he is vulnerable, but still wholly protected by a new set of walls. 

“Prince Ludovico the first,” I say to him. “From this day on, I decree the celebration of your birth. Born on the pink dawn, you cried your first breath at these hours.” I have Rosso hold the ink pad which I use take his footprint and handprint, and have Bianco ease his hand and foot onto the paper. I sign the document of his birth and seal it with wax. 

Over the next few weeks, I am able to focus on Rosenrot as the royal family is sequestered during Ludovico’s first month. Each day, Rosenrot and I rise to count the buds on their body. Rosenrot suggests no more than ten - any more and we risk the blossoms not getting enough nutrients to grow. 

Once we count eight, to head to Tulgy Wood and the Looking Glass Waterfall.

“What will happen?” I ask them. “What if we have eight blossoms? Will we have eight to raise?”

Rosenrot chuckles. “I told you before, having all buds survive passed blossoming is very rare. At most three, most likely one. Sometimes, nothing happens at all. It’s all up to chance now.” They kiss me before we leave.

There is a secret path in Tugly Wood that only the Prim are allowed to take. As much as I want to journey with Rosenrot, I am not permitted inside the ancestral lands of the Prim. Instead, I have to wait outside until they return from the waterfall.

I am lucky to have Alise with me - she and Blanchefleur decided to go with us so we would have family to comfort one another on our separate paths. Alise and I stay at an inn near the borders of Tugly Wood. There, she busies herself by drawing. Since she was little, she has always drawn to keep her mind busy when she is worried. I have never seen her draw the way she does now, like some sort of Hatter possessed.

“This is maddening.” She sets her things aside. “I cannot take this. I thought for sure they would be back by now.”

“It’s only been a day,” I say, as heavy-hearted as she is. “We must be patient, that is all.”

“I don’t want to wait! I want to be with them!” She kicks the claw foot of the bed and, when it hurts, she whines again and flops down onto the bed. “I hate all this waiting. We have to wait for them to come back. We have to wait for the blossoms. And then we have to wait again to see which blossoms take!” She kicks and thrashes on the mattress, then goes still and quiet again. “It’s maddening! Stupid Prim. I should have been able to go with Blanchefleur.”

I take up her drawing pad and glance through the pictures. Inside, I see sketches of Primrose holding Ludovico, of Bianco grinning, and of Rosso sobbing. As the pages go on, the images change. There are sketches of Blanchefleur holding a bundle. There are drawings of the small buds on the vines of our lovers’ arms. There are drawings of small rosebuds barely in bloom, and then petals that open up into the sleeping face of a child.

“I used to love my baby dolls,” Alise murmurs. “I used to love holding them and taking care of them.” She closes her eyes and sighs. “I always wanted to be a mom, but I never wanted it so much as when I’m with Blanchefleur.”

I set the sketchbook aside. “I never knew I wanted anything like this until I was with Rosenrot. Now it’s all I can think about.”

“You always hated my baby dolls,” Alise chuckles.

“Funny,” I smile. “Now, I wish I’d had one too.”

A few days pass. Each day, we go to the edge of Tugly Wood to wait. On the fourth day, they finally emerge. 

We race towards them, grabbing them in our arms and finding them completely soaked. In order to be watered, they had to submerge themselves in the waters directly below the waterfall and soak there for three days.

“All I want is to go home,” Rosenrot whispers, “and be with you.”

In a few days, the buds start to grow bigger. Eventually, they start to turn red. Each day I awake, I quickly look over Rosenrot, going over each of the eight buds. I wish I was talented like Alise and could sketch them as they grow, but all I have is my own memory to look back fondly on.

The buds become bigger each day, growing much more red than before. Unfortunately, at least four wither away before they blossom. We hold out hope, taking care of the four that remain. Two are on Rosenrot’s arms, one on their chest, and the fourth grows near the base of their throat.

I wake one day to find Rosenrot holding the blossom from his shoulder in his hands. “It will be alright,” they assure me. “We have three. That’s more than I expected.”

I kiss them and take the fallen flower from their hands. As I look it over, I feel it shift. I gasp softly, watching as the petals start to move and open up more.

“Rosenrot,” I gasp aloud. “It’s moving! What do I do?”

Rosenrot clasps their hands around mine, holding them fast. The blossom opens wide and, inside, there is something the size of my little finger. It’s so tiny I can barely make out the features, but it stretches and twists on the petals like Ludovico did during his first moments in the world.

“It’s a miracle,” Rosenrot gasps. “This is not supposed to happen!” They quickly take the blossom outside, holding it in the sun. The petals of the rose have faded, turning a faint, dusky pink. The child starts to cry, though it is so small and helpless.

We quickly act to take care of them. We make a bed of fresh earth for them, in direct sunlight, where they will be warm. Blanchefleur and Alise assist as best they can, but this is a strange situation, and a miracle at that.

The little one grows each day, their pink petals becoming more and more vibrant. Despite how tiny they are, they take water, as much as they can get. Their bed of earth soon becomes too small for them, and we have to find them a new one.

The remaining three blossoms fall away, but none of them have the same life the pink one did. Soon, the little one is as big as my palm, and we can make out their features.

“Nothing like this has ever happened before,” Rosenrot whispers to me. “When a blossom falls, that usually means it has failed.” They cup our little one in their hands, sitting on the bench where we had fallen in love.

“Well, they need a name. We cannot keep calling them a miracle forever.” I take them from Rosenrot and they snuggle into my sleeve like a blanket. 

“Lolovivi,” Rosenrot replies. “It’s a charm for Prim, a word of promise.” They look at me. “This one reminds me of that word, each morning I see them.”

I kiss the soft pink petals. “Hello, Lolovivi,” I whisper. “I am your father. And I will love you forever - that is my promise.”