Dream Trysts: A Sleeping Beauty Story (Passion-Filled FairyTales Book 4) by Rosetta Bloom

looked at the tiny room with stone walls. There was a plain bed covered with a simple quilt in the corner, and the woman with her device. It didn’t seem like she imagined her parents’ castle. Even when her mother visited in her dreams, she’d show her parts of the castle. This looked so unlike anything she recalled.
    “You doubt me,” the woman asked.
    This struck Rose as odd, but she didn’t want to offend the woman. “No,” she said. “I just thought the castle would look different.”
    The woman, who was dressed in a long green dress, lifted her arm and pointed behind Rose. Curious to see what she was pointing to, Rose turned and saw a tiny window behind her. Rose went and peeked out. They were in a high tower of the castle. As Rose looked out, she knew that this was in fact her parent’s castle. The grounds, even in the cover of darkness, looked the same as when her mother showed them to her in dreams. She turned back to the woman. “Why did I appear here, and how?”
    “You left your keepers without telling them,” the woman said. Her voice was flat and cool, and something about it unnerved Rose.
    “I came back, though,” Rose said.
    “But I hadn’t known,” the woman said. “I’m a fairy from the realm and I was sent to find you and bring you to your parents.”
    Rose nodded. She should’ve just asked Dwennon and Hilly. Now she’d caused them to worry. To worry so much that they’d called in another fairy to find her. “Well, I am sorry,” Rose said. “I didn’t mean to cause anyone worry.”
    The woman smiled. “It’s alright,” she said, and then stood up, leaving the contraption and walking over to Rose. “Are you ready to go see your parents?”
    Rose peeked back toward the window. It seemed late, but she didn’t think it was late enough. “Is it after midnight already? Dwennon and Hilly said we couldn’t be at the castle until after midnight.”
    The woman’s lip curved up, with what was almost a malicious smile. “They’re right,” she said softly. “Only after midnight are you safe. That’s why you’re here, and not in some other part of the castle.”
    “Oh,” was all Rose said. Then she looked at the contraption. “What is that?”
    “It’s a spinning wheel.”
    Instinctively, Rose stepped back and tugged a hand to her chest. “Why is it in here?”
    The woman shook her head. “Don’t worry. It’s missing the needle,” the woman said, and pointed to spot near the large wheel on the device. “See.”
    Rose looked and saw no needle, but she didn’t feel at ease. She felt alarmed. “I should go,” Rose said as she looked toward the door.
    The woman shrugged. “Certainly,” she said, walking toward the middle of the room, where the bed sat. “We just need to put on the gift your fairy cousin left for you. She’d like you to wear it.” The woman picked up a small satchel that was on the bed, and Rose could have sworn it wasn’t there a moment ago. The small pouch of red silky material rested on the woman’s palm, and she held it out to Rose.
    Still feeling a tad apprehensive but not sure why, Rose opened the pouch. “What is it?” she asked as she reached inside. She felt a prick on her finger. “Ow,” she said.
    Then everything started to go blurry. She could feel herself falling, and then everything faded to darkness.
     
    ***
    “It’s the spinning wheel’s needle, of course,” Maurelle said as she looked at the girl on the floor. Weak, weak thing. She would have been easily influenced by Edmund, Maurelle thought as she reached down and picked up the pouch that lay beside Briar Rose. She pulled the spinning wheel’s needle from the bag, walked it over to the machine, and placed it in its proper spot. It was done. Briar Rose would sleep for a hundred years. An ageless sleep. She was glad when she’d heard that old Hilly had altered her spell. Yes, the girl’s slumber would hurt Blissa, but the girl would be none the worse for it. She would