The King's Lover-Chapter 522: Where Are We Going?

Chelsy had just tied the cloak around Rose’s neck when a knock echoed in the room. She jumped, and Rose couldn’t help but feel bad for her. Just what did Caius tell her? She had been jittery the entire time, wanting to do everything right.

Rose was curious and had to fight the urge to ask the sisters several times if they had an idea what was happening, but they were so engrossed with their task that she didn’t want to distract them.

"They are here," Isla announced.

"I heard the knock too, Isla," Chelsy said as she adjusted the hood over Rose’s hair, making sure it could easily slide off without ruining her hair.

She was also more brusque with Isla, and her younger sister did try not to make Chelsy any more stressed, but most times she failed woefully, as she did now.

Chelsy stepped back, tilting her head to the side as she stared at Rose, then she nodded. A smile slipped out of her lips, and for the first time since she started, her eyes relaxed.

Rose looked down, and the cloak didn’t cover the front of her dress—and it wasn’t from a lack of trying; the dress just had a voluminous skirt.

"Chelsy, I do think this is too much. One would think I am to be a bri—"

"You have to go now," Chelsy raised her voice to cover the sound of her sister fighting her giggles again and to stop Rose from completing the thought.

She walked past Rose to the door to unlock it. Rose sighed and nodded. She was going to trust this, but the fact that this was happening so late at night made her very confused. Rose walked towards the door, wondering who the King had sent to her at this time.

"Lady Rose," Maximus said with a brief bow as she appeared.

Lady?

Rose could never get used to him calling her that, and she couldn’t figure out why he would even call her that. Rose had an idea that Maximus was quite important, probably more than Thomas, but somehow he easily addressed her with a title when she was a commoner.

"Lord Maximus," she easily returned with a smile.

The man was still as ginormous as she remembered, and in the dark, he looked even bigger. He was dressed in black clothes, and his large sword was by his waist as usual.

The clothes made him look as though he blended with the darkness, but his face was pretty clear, and it gave an ominous appearance, as though one was staring at the face of darkness itself.

"Shall we?" he asked.

Rose shook her head, telling herself there was no reason to be scared and she was making things up. "May I ask where we are going?"

"You may not," he replied immediately.

Rose almost laughed at his bland, abrupt reply. He didn’t even offer any explanation. He just declined and left it at that.

She nodded and turned her head to look at Chelsy, who was still standing by the door, holding it open, but she kept most of herself hidden from Maximus.

Rose couldn’t blame her. Anyone would be terrified if a huge man dressed in black, carrying a huge sword appeared at one’s door at midnight. At least that was how she felt.

Chelsy smiled brightly at Rose while nodding, as if to encourage her. Rose nodded back and stepped forward. As soon as she was out of her bedchambers, the doors shut as if to prevent Rose from changing her mind.

Maximus was studying her, and Rose shook her shoulders to chase away her shivers. She didn’t want the huge man to see that she was scared and nervous.

She took a step forward, and Maximus stepped beside her. Rose did her best not to react, even though it felt as though she was walking next to a tree.

She expected him to lead her to Caius’s bedchambers, but he started walking toward the stairs, away from the floor.

Where are we going?

It was on the tip of her tongue, but then she remembered that he had said she could not ask him where they were going, so she bit back her question and headed down the stairs.

They walked in silence. It was very awkward, and more times than she would like, Rose was pretty convinced that Maximus was tricking her to some dark hallway to slice open her neck with the sword around his waist.

Thankfully, she convinced herself he wouldn’t kill her while she was dressed this elaborately; it didn’t feel like his style. Maximus gave off the vibe that he didn’t like to make a mess.

He was more likely to kill her in the washroom or outside where the blood could be easily contained, or he would strangle her so she wouldn’t bleed out. Was that what was going to happen?

Rose!

She internally yelled to stop herself from overthinking. She took a deep breath and looked around to distract herself. She noticed there seemed to be more guards the further they walked, but none of the guards bothered them, and they all bowed to Maximus.

Rose frowned as she realized they were somewhere familiar, and it wasn’t the way out of the castle. They were in a different wing. Rose frowned as she looked around, trying to jog her memory.

This was the way to the throne room. Rose had walked this way with Caius very recently, but that wasn’t just it. It felt more familiar than normal, and she would have noticed last time, but she was too preoccupied with them getting caught.

Then it hit her with enough force to make her dizzy. This was the way to the room where the lords held their meetings. Just before the doors, there should be a stairway. Rose realized she felt very different from when she had first taken this path.

Maximus passed the stairway, just as Caius had done on the night of his father’s wake, and he stopped in front of the huge doors that led to the throne room.

Rose lifted her head, but she still could barely see the top of the doors. The guards moved quickly to open the doors, and Rose’s mouth nearly fell to the ground at the sight before her.