title: The Heart of Winter: An Anthology
author:  Maggie Shayne 
description: RITA Award winning, <em>New York Times</em> bestselling author Maggie Shayne has publishedover 50 novels, including mini-series<em><strong>Wings in the Night </strong></em>(vampires), <em><strong>Secrets of Shadow Falls </strong></em>(suspense)and <em><strong>The Portal </strong></em>(witchcraft). A Wiccan High Priestess, tarot reader, advice columnist and former soap opera writer, Maggie lives in Cortland County, NY, with soulmate Lanceand theirfurry family.
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  THE WINTER ROSE
  
    
  
  BY ALEXANDRA BENEDICT
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  COPYRIGHT
  
    
  
  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are
  products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any
  resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
  coincidental.
  
    
  
  SMASHWORDS EDITION
  
    
  
  THE WINTER ROSE
  
  Copyright © April 2018 Alexandra Benedikt
  
    
  
  Cover Photo Copyright © shmeljov/Bigstock.com
  
    
  
  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
  distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
  photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without
  the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief
  quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses
  permitted by copyright law.
  
    
  
  [www.AlexandraBenedict.ca](http://www.AlexandraBenedict.ca/)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  THE WINTER ROSE
  
    
  
  Scotland, 1793
  
    
  
  The furious wind slashed a