{"id":2500,"date":"2023-04-05T20:48:25","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T20:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/?p=2500"},"modified":"2023-04-05T20:48:25","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T20:48:25","slug":"the-rainbow-rose-by-sam-kostakis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/2023\/04\/05\/the-rainbow-rose-by-sam-kostakis\/","title":{"rendered":"“The Rainbow Rose” by Sam Kostakis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Congratulations to our winner of the March 2023 Writing Challenge, “The Rainbow Rose” by Sam Kostakis. This piece is an aromatic retelling of the classic Sleeping Beauty fairytale. The prompt was to write a piece inspired by folklore or mythology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Author Sam Kostakis <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Read the Piece Below! <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For as long as she could remember, Rosie had been told the same thing by every fairy,
witch, goblin, fortune-teller, and peddling salesman to stop by the castle doors. She had had her
palm read, her tea leaves investigated, strands of her hair made into charms and dangled over
crystal balls. There had been charms, enchantments, spells, potions, and on one memorable
occasion, an enterprising warlock had tried a series of countercurses.

The end result was always the same.

On your sixteenth birthday, you will fall into a sleep like death. If your true love doesn\u2019t
kiss you, you will stay that way forever.

It was a clever curse, Rosie had to admit. Who falls in love by the time they\u2019re sixteen?
Surely, you can\u2019t fall in love while you\u2019re asleep, so the lucky lord had to come along sometime
before then. Or lady. Or liege. Or whomever. The curse hadn\u2019t come with a gender stipulation, at
least not as far as Rosie was aware.

There were only four months left until her sixteenth birthday, and Rosie was starting to
realize she might have a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRelax,\u201d Liz said. Rosie\u2019s favorite lady\u2019s maid swung herself into the elaborately carved
chair set before the vanity table Rosie never willingly used, folded her arms across the back, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

propped her chin on her hands. \u201cYou have\u2026 fifteen weeks, four days, six hours and twenty-
seven minutes? Plenty of time to meet someone, my lady.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosie cast a meaningful look at the carefully wound watch on Liz\u2019s wrist, the enchanted
one she had been trusted with two years ago. Liz waved her hand.

\u201cI can\u2019t remember the last time I checked that.\u201d

Rosie snorted and threw herself back onto her bed. She landed in a mountain of plush
pillows with a sigh, and Liz shrieked.

\u201cYour hair, Princess! I spend two hours on that hair!\u201d

Rosie sat up, catching a glimpse of herself in the vanity mirror. Sure enough, her crown
of braids was now lopsided.

\u201cMy apologies, Liz.\u201d

\u201cCome here.\u201d Liz stood and yanked Rosie\u2019s arm, dragging her into the vanity chair. \u201cSit.
You\u2019re supposed to be downstairs in half an hour\u2014\u201d

\u201cI could always stay up here.\u201d

\u201cNo. Every single eligible man in the kingdom is going to be here tonight.\u201d

\u201cThat\u2019s exactly what my mother said to me last week. There can\u2019t possibly be any
eligible men in the kingdom I haven\u2019t met yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be so sure.\u201d Liz pulled a single pin from Rosie\u2019s hair, and the whole crown
came tumbling down into a mass of neat braids, which Liz immediately gathered up. \u201cSomeone
probably found themselves newly unattached this week.\u201d

\u201cI don\u2019t think that typically lends itself to true love.\u201d

\u201cEh.\u201d Liz twisted her wrist, wielding a pin in the other hand, and piled Rosie\u2019s hair neatly
back on top of her head. \u201cYou never know.\u201d

\u201cDid you and Charlotte end well? Or Amanda? Or Francine? Or Daphne? Or\u2014\u201d

\u201cYour highness,\u201d Liz said. \u201cI beg of you, stop talking.\u201d

Rosie stood, examining herself in the mirror. Her hair was neatly arranged again. Her
emerald-green dress shimmered against her dark skin, the golden pattern of crowns and roses
subtlety stitched into the billowing skirts sparkling whenever she moved.

\u201cBeautiful,\u201d Liz declared. \u201cThey won\u2019t be able to take their eyes off you.\u201d

\u201cThat,\u201d Rosie said, as she slipped her feet into gold satin dancing slippers, \u201cIs exactly
what I\u2019m afraid of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosie stood before the massive double doors to the ballroom, waiting for the footman to
get his act together. He shuffled through his papers, cleared his throat, and said, \u201cReady when
you are, Highness.\u201d

\u201cAre you sure this time?\u201d Rosie asked.

\u201cOf course, of course\u2026 oh, just a moment\u2026\u201d the footman paused to reshuffle his papers,
and Rosie resisted the urge to sigh.

\u201cAlright, Highness. Ready now.\u201d

The two guards on either side of the doors reached for the handles, and the footman
stepped out onto the balcony before the great staircase. He lifted a tiny gold trumpet from its
place at his hip and blew a series of short notes. \u201cPresenting\u2026 firstborn daughter of His Majesty
King Benedict\u2026 Her Royal Highness, Princess Rosalind Nicolette Claire Sherriden!\u201d
Rosie stepped out onto the balcony and started down the right-hand staircase to
thunderous applause and more bowing and curtsying than Rosie cared to consider. Her dancing
slippers hit the polished marble floor, and almost immediately her mother was at her side.
Queen Annabelle was not a small woman, and though Rosie had been taller than her
mother since she was thirteen, she felt absolutely dwarfed now. Annabelle looped her arm neatly
through her daughter\u2019s and dragged her away from the crowd at the staircase, all courtiers and
ministers hoping for an audience with the next queen of Shirodor, irrelevant if Rosie didn\u2019t
survive the year.

\u201cListen closely,\u201d Annabelle said as she guided Rosie toward the dance floor. \u201cPrince
Quentin of Deamid is here tonight. Obviously, anyone who strikes your fancy is perfectly alright
by me,\u201d Annabelle said. \u201cBut I\u2019m sure your father would like you to spend your time this evening with some boys\u2026 of reputable parents\u2026 preferably heirs to kingdoms or empires. It
does not matter to me at all, my love,\u201d she added. \u201cBut to please your father.\u201d

\u201cOf course, mother,\u201d Rosie said.

\u201cGo dance!\u201d Annabelle commanded, and with a neat flick of her arm, she had separated
herself from Rosie, leaving her daughter adrift right at the edge of the dance floor.

\u201cMay I have the honor of this dance?\u201d the first prince asked, and Rosie hardly got her \u201cI
suppose so,\u201d out before she was swept into the chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosie danced with three princes, the son of a duke, and five of the commoners her parents
invited only out of desperation, determined as they were to exhaust all of their male options
before they started inviting single women to their parties.

After the last prince stomped on her foot with a heeled boot, Rosie decided she was
tapped out for the night. She slipped behind a heavy tapestry depicting her father\u2019s coronation
and out the small glass door behind it, onto a balcony that stretched a quarter of the castle\u2019s
length. She kicked off her slippers, enjoying the cool stone against her sore feet.

\u201cLong night?\u201d someone asked, and Rosie jumped.

A shadow unfolded itself from the side of the castle and moved to join her at the railing.
Rosie recognized him, but only in passing. This was Prince Quentin.

\u201cOh, no,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been enjoying myself immensely. I hope everything has been to
your liking, as well?\u201d

\u201cI despise these parties,\u201d Quentin said. \u201cI find them tedious. My parents are desperate to
marry me off to whatever eligible woman they can find.\u201d

\u201cThey can\u2019t possibly be any more concerned with marriage than my parents are,\u201d Rosie
said.

\u201cWell,\u201d Quentin said, waving his hand dismissively. \u201cCircumstances. My father is ill, and
I\u2019m likely to take the throne in the next year whether I desire to or not. You look increasingly
unlikely to survive the year, if the rumors are true, Princess.\u201d

\u201cThe rumors are true,\u201d Rosie admitted. \u201cDid you not notice the number of commoners
present at this party? It reeks of royal desperation.\u201d

\u201cThey\u2019ll be inviting women next,\u201d Quentin said. Rosie glanced up, shocked, and caught
the barest hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

\u201cI grow weary of that being everyone\u2019s next leap of logic,\u201d Rosie said. \u201cI have made no
secret of my lack of interest in members of either gender.\u201d

The upturned corner of Quentin\u2019s mouth spread into a full-blown smile. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to
finally meet someone who shares my inclinations. Or lack thereof.\u201d

\u201cOh,\u201d Rosie said. \u201cOh, you\u2019re\u2014you\u2019re like me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt certainly looks that way,\u201d Quentin said cheerfully.

\u201cHow long\u2014\u201d Rosie looked away with a soft laugh, bracing her gloved hands against the
carved marble railing of the balcony.

Beneath them, the dark velvet of the castle lawn gave way to the lights of Shirodor\u2019s
capital city. Rosie gazed out over it all, this vast kingdom she had always been expected to
inherit.

\u201cHow long have you known?\u201d

\u201cOh, years,\u201d Quentin said. \u201cI never did understand my peers\u2019 incessant fixation on the
young ladies. Whenever I voiced it, I was told either that I was too young, and it would happen
in time, or that I was covering for the fact that my preferences may lie elsewhere.\u201d

\u201cMy parents say those things,\u201d Rosie admitted. \u201cAnd\u2026 my closest friend. My lady\u2019s
maid, Liz.\u201d She tipped her head back, closing her eyes. The night air was cool on her cheeks; the
breeze dried the beginnings of tears from the corners of her eyes.

\u201cThey don\u2019t always understand,\u201d Quentin said. \u201cThey want to, I\u2019m sure, but they can\u2019t
fathom that something so critical to their experience could be completely unnecessary to another
person.\u201d

Rosie ducked her head, swiping at the corners of her eyes. When she looked to her left,
the corner of Quentin\u2019s mouth was turned up in a smile.

\u201cThank you,\u201d Rosie said.

\u201cWhat on earth for?\u201d Quentin shook his head. \u201cI haven\u2019t done anything other than exist.\u201d

\u201cThank you for that, then,\u201d Rosie said. \u201cIt means more than I can say, to know I\u2019m not
alone in this.\u201d

Quentin\u2019s smile grew, but he only gave a shallow bow in her direction and said, \u201cHappy
to be of service, your highness.\u201d

He turned and strode back into the ballroom, leaving Rosie on the balcony, overlooking a
kingdom she now knew for certain she would never inherit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the morning of Rosie\u2019s sixteenth birthday, the princess\u2019s lady\u2019s maid came sprinting
out of her chambers, shouting that the princess had vanished.

The castle was scoured, from the depths of the dungeons to the tops of the highest towers,
but Rosie was nowhere to be found. Riders were sent to check every corner of the kingdom, but
they returned empty-handed.

The king and queen mourned the loss of their daughter to her curse. The castle was
draped in yards of black fabric. The queen veiled herself, and the king did not emerge from his
chambers for a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far away from the castle of Shirodor, in a comfortably furnished apartment in the
kingdom of Deamid, Rosie woke from the best slumber of her life. She sat up, stretched, and
walked to her little window, looking out at eye level over the bustle of the village.

It was possible, Rosie thought, that she had saved herself by being her own true love\u2014
but she thought it far more likely that everyone who had ever told her she needed true love to be
saved was an idiot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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