Chapter 4
An hour later, Rose joined the women from the brothel for a walk throughout the market. She stayed at the back with the man Graham tasked to guard her. After the stunt she pulled last night, there would not be a second where she would be alone whenever she stepped out of the brothel.
Rose looked over her shoulder and to no surprise, he was right behind her. He wouldn’t make the mistake the previous guard did as it would cost him his life. Rose didn’t like when someone was harmed because of her but she still wanted to get away.
"Do not think about it."
"I am only looking at what is being sold," Rose replied, going toward a crate with apples.
Henry, Rose’s current guard, did not trust her answer. He had caught her looking around for a way out many times. She was not going to cost him this job and his life. "I will drag you back if you try to run."
"Must you always give me this same lecture each time we leave the brothel?" Rose questioned, putting the apple down after the stall owner gave her a bad look.
"Now you must pay for it. Who will want the apple after the likes of you touched it? Don’t touch anything else," the stall owner told Rose.
Rose always found it odd how she was judged but not the men who visited the brothel. Why weren’t they just as bad? Rose could point out a few she had seen the many times she rushed back to her room when the night was upon the brothel.
Rose took a coin from the purse she carried around and placed it on one side of the crate before taking back up the apple. The apple would be the perfect treat to eat tonight.