“What happened—” I start to sit up but stop.
I feel buoyant. Like I’m less tethered to the earth, a part of me mixing with the air.
“Rosalina.” Farron muscles Kel out of the way and takes my hands to help me sit up. I hold on to his gaze to keep my breathing steady. Have I never noticed how many colors swirl in his eyes? Amber and gold and flecks of bronze. “You did something. Awoke something.”
My hand shakes as I bring it to my face. Up my cheek.
To the point of my ear.
“Rosie,” Farron says softly, “you’re fae.”
I clutch my chest. That thing inside of me, the embers I’d kept smothered. It no longer feels like embers now, nor the burning inferno as it did when I unleashed my magic. Has this been lying dormant within me all this time?
I turn to Kel. “Did you know?”
He shakes his head. “No. I knew there was something about you because of your connection to Castletree and ability to use the mirror, but I never imagined…”
“Perhaps there is more to learn about your mother than only her location,” Ezryn says.
I heave in a shaky breath. The princes didn’t know…
But someone did.
Listen carefully, Princess. Trust your own instincts above all else. The world will tell you that you don’t belong. That you are a mere human. That you have no dominion over the sway of destiny. They are wrong.
Caspian’s words from our dance months ago drift over my mind.
My fingers dig into the earth. What else has he kept hidden from me?
Then I’m being lifted by my waist, tugged close to a warm body, and shaken from my thoughts. “Whether you’re human, fae, or goblin for all we care, you’re our Rose. And you just saved our fucking lives.”
I collapse against Dayton’s chest, letting him hold me up. Nearby lies a massive briar patch of golden roses. And speared by a thorn is Lucas Poussin. His crown is cracked, no longer shining with green light.
I meet Farron’s gaze and nod. He murmurs the death incantation, enough magic within him to pass one more. Lucas’s body drifts away like ash in the wind.
Now you’re free too, I think.
I look around the battlefield. Beyond us, a cluster of Autumn soldiers stare concernedly. Others work with the Winter riders to carry injured into the city or marshal with their commanders. There are no more wraiths, no more ice storms.
“Did we win?” I whisper.
Kel pulls me into his chest. “Yes. The frost is gone, and Farron has sent the dead to their final rest.”
Ezryn places a hand on Kel’s arm. “And the High Prince of Winter showed that there are still those in his realm who will fight for him.”
I reach my hand out. They come to me and Kel, and the five of us embrace.
For right now, I hold on to them with everything I can, with every piece of my new fae-born heart.
88
Farron
The courtyard of Keep Oakheart is done up in gold banners, the trees waving with ribbons. A haunting voice sings a hymn as the last pieces of wood are placed upon my mother’s pyre.
I’ve always heard the peaceful dead look like they’re asleep, but not my mother. She lies on her final throne, a sense of purpose on her face even in death. Her eyes are closed, hands positioned over her body. Soon, she will embark on her ultimate voyage, and we will send her to the beyond with our well wishes and thanks.
As is customary at a funeral in the Autumn Realm, everyone is dressed in gold. The late afternoon sun shines into the courtyard, bathing my mother in light.
With the pyre set, small groups approach. Our people tie golden strings onto my mother’s wrists, fingers, and ankles, or weave them through her hair. And with that binding, they offer her a final word to transition into the unknown realm.
Rosalina squeezes my hand as we watch. Silent tears streak down my face, but I keep my breathing steady, my body still. When it’s Dayton’s turn, he takes his time braiding the golden string through my mother’s hair. He whispers words of thanks. His eyes flick to me as he does so.
My twin brothers approach with our sister, Eleanor, who has returned from her wardship in the Summer Realm for the funeral. Her usually grim face is streaked with silent tears. My brothers take turns laying their heads upon Mother’s chest, offering final farewells.
I force myself to watch as my father wraps her wrists in string. His huge body shakes, and though his eyes shine with grief, he manages his words.
There’s no one else. Autumn’s dignitaries have gone, the nobles from visiting realms, each of the High Princes, and all of her family.
It’s time for me to say goodbye.
My mate and I walk hand in hand to the pyre. Rosalina sinks to her knees beside my mother and gently wraps the string around her wrist. “Thank you,” she whispers. “Thank you for raising the kindest man I’ve ever known. Thank you for teaching him how to love with a strong heart and how love can be his strength. You are eternal within him.”
My fingers shake as I try to weave my string through her braid. Rosalina places a hand over mine and helps steady me. I lean down, my forehead touching my mother’s.
“Thank you, Mother. I promise I’ll do right by you. I’ll watch out for Father, Dom, Billy, and Nori. The realm will always remember what you’ve done. What you’ve given.” My voice tremors, but I feel her strength within me. “Your spirit lives on in the changing leaves, the breeze that rustles through the trees. And though I will never be able to hold you again in this world, I know that we shall be reunited someday in a place beyond time and space, where all is as it should be.”
I stand, taking Rosalina’s hand once more. “Farewell, former High Princess Niamh, Mother of Autumn. Until my road meets yours, farewell.”
Rosalina and I place our hands on the wood. I nod, and flames spark from my hands and hers: orange and white, mingling together, accompanying my mother’s spirit beyond this realm.
We retire to the great hall for the lifethread feast, a joyful celebration. I sit at the head of the table, Rosalina, George, my father, and my siblings beside me. My father will take over my mother’s role as steward as I continue my quest to free Castletree of Caspian’s magic-leaching briars. I flex my fingers. So much power returned to me by breaking the curse, but I know it’s not the true depths of my magic. I have to help the other princes break their curses so we can destroy the Prince of Thorns for good.
Though I won’t abandon Autumn the way I have before. I promised my mother I’d take care of our people. It’s a vow I’ll never break.
Dayton and his sister sit farther down the table. Delphia, the steward of the Summer Realm, is giving her older brother a glower for the ages as he cracks a joke. My breath catches slightly. I’m always surprised how young she is, only a child, and yet there’s a sternness on her face that rivals those three times her age.
I look down at the gold and silver thread around my wrist. Another bargain, but one so different from what I’d made with Caspian. Dayton has given me freedom over his magic reserve, and all I had to do was promise to never forget that moment with him. As if I ever could: it will be seared in my memory forever.
Kel and Ez sit together at the end of the table with Eirik Vargsaxa, captain of the Kryodian Riders. With Perth Quellos in jail in the Winter Realm, a new steward is required; Kel will have to appoint one soon. He says he’s not concerned, but I think things are worse in Winter than Kel’s letting on.