“I believe you.” And it’s true. Because there’s something in that exact space telling me I need to get back to Castletree. Even if no one wants me there.
But as much as I want my dad and I to get the answers we seek, I can’t give myself hope yet. Even if Papa crafts the necklace back together, the princes each wielded their own magic that connected to Castletree. But that magic answered to me too. Castletree showed me the memories hidden within its bark.
I need to try again.
Another few tense moments go by before Papa says quietly, “Okay. Everything’s reattached.”
I hover over his shoulder, staring down at the glittering relic. Though it’s cracked and dripping with glue, it’s still beautiful in a broken way.
“It has to be you, Rosalina,” Papa whispers.
“I know.” My eyes squeeze shut. “I need to give myself as good of a shot as I can.”
With careful, delicate hands, I build an altar of magic: everything I have that once belonged to the Enchanted Vale. First, I lay down Keldarion’s mother’s necklace, remembering who I was when I last donned it. The Lady of Castletree. Then I carefully place the thorn crown, a gift from the Prince of Thorns, the fae man draining Castletree of its magic. But his thorns had answered me: they helped me save Keldarion’s life. I run a gentle finger over the dagger-sharp thorns. The crown had become a dagger when I needed to break the ice but had returned to this shape.
My only remaining items are the ones I wore on my back the day Kel banished me: Ezryn’s old clothing we’d found in his cache when we took shelter for the night. I bring the shirt and pants up to my nose, inhaling deeply. Despite the many months, I can still smell him: the earthy scent of the Briar, deep and woody like a dense forest, tempered by a gentle sweetness.
I look out the window. Dandelions burst under the late morning light. Green grass has fought and won against the frost. I even saw a crocus out back two days ago. Winter is gone, and spring has come.
I do not know how I will face a new season without them.
“Are you ready, Rose?”
I nod, and my father carefully places the rose-shaped locket into my hands. I sit on the floor before my altar and close my eyes.
Carefully, I open the locket. “Castletree,” I whisper, “if your magic can reach me here, please send it. I need your help.” I let my body empty. Everything except that smoldering in my chest. “I need to see them.”
Let my body be your vessel. Let your magic run through me. Let me do this thing, just this once.
With one hand, I hold out the open locket. With the other, I drag my fingers over the smooth jewels of the necklace, the jagged edges of the crown, and the rough fabric. My hands catch on the clothes, and I bring it to my chest. Tears stream down my face, and I inhale deeply. Wet earth and rain and the Briar. I smell the Briar… I smell him.
“Rosalina.” My father’s voice.
I blink my eyes open. A shimmering light appears before me, a soft glow emanating from the very air itself. I scramble forward as the light coalesces into a shape, a pool of liquid silver. The edges of the light take on definition forming…
Forming a window.
And staring back at me, rain ringing off his silver armor, is Ezryn.
6
Rosalina
Is… Is this real?
Is Ezryn, High Prince of Spring, actually in front of me right now? The glowing light shimmers at the edges, but the middle is clear as a window. Looking down, as if peering at me from above, is Ezryn.
“Ez…”
He tilts his head, and though I can’t see his true face behind the silver helm, I feel his confusion. “R-Rose?”
The sound of my name in his raspy voice—tinged with the metallic reverberation of his helmet—is all too familiar. All too right.
I pitch forward. “Ez!” My fingers grasp the shining light—and scrape against the image. An invisible barrier blocks me from the fae realm.
“What’s wrong with it?” I turn to my father. “It’s supposed to be a portal.”
My father only gulps and shakes his head. “I-I don’t know! Could be the moonstone isn’t a strong enough conduit now that it’s cracked. Or the magic isn’t right—”
I fling myself to the window, palms flat on the unseen barricade between us. Home. Home, home, home, it’s through here. And Ezryn is right in front of me, and I can smell him, and I know what it would feel like to have his warm hands caress my skin.
“How is this possible?” Ezryn’s voice grows more frantic, and he looks back and forth, grasping for me. His gloved hand bangs against the barrier. “Where are you? Are you in danger?”
“No,” I cry, eyes welling with tears. “I’m safe. I’m home.”
Ezryn gives a shaky laugh, a sound I’ve never heard from him before. “You’re home? Stars. Okay, wait for me. I’m not far from Castletree. I’ll head straight there. When did you get back? Doesn’t matter. I’m coming—”
“No.” My heart rages within my chest. “I mean, I’m home in Orca Cove.”
His fingers scrape down the barrier and his head falls forward, as if his helm is suddenly too heavy. “Oh.”
Images flash through my mind: his warm hands healing my ragged flesh, him sneaking chocolate muffins underneath the table, his steady presence as he named me Lady of Castletree before Kel’s vizier. For so long, I thought he’d been avoiding me. Or that he hated me. But the night of the ball, I swore… I swore I was so wrong about everything.
“Why are you tormenting me?” he whispers, his voice a broken rasp.
“Tormenting you?” My hands fall from the barrier. Tears stream down my face, but I don’t care. “Why didn’t you come for me? I thought you would keep me safe.”
His whole body shudders. “You left. Keldarion said—”
“Keldarion banished me,” I half-sob, half-snarl. “He wouldn’t even let me say goodbye. He sent me away. I’ve been trying to get back to you and everyone at Castletree, but I can’t figure out how—”
Ezryn goes still. Stiller than I have ever seen him. For a second, I think the image beyond the window has completely frozen, and I’ve lost all connection to the Enchanted Vale. But then a rumble more beast than fae erupts from him. “Keldarion did what?”
“Ezryn.” His name on my lips is the only thing keeping me together. I feel like I’m in the Briar with him, the rain pounding upon my skin. “I want to go home.”
“Rosalina, I—” Ezryn reaches forward, and for a second, I clutch the tip of his leather glove. Then a sputter sounds, and the light bursts into blinding white, before fizzling out altogether.
Mist trails up from the cracked moonstone, and my body suddenly feels weak.
But I look at my hand, wet with rainwater. And I know something deep within that smoldering place inside me.
I will tear apart the veil between our worlds to get back to them.
7
Ezryn
My body is entirely numb, mind void of thought. I have to push everything down, at least for a moment, or else I will shatter.
The pond is dark and empty where only a moment before, her face had rippled in water and light. At first, I’d thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me again. How many nights have passed where I’ve heard her phantom voice calling to me from the dark?
I thought you would keep me safe.
The tears streaming down her face… The broken sound of her voice. She thinks I abandoned her.
I did abandon her.
Kel banished me.
I can do it no longer. I can’t keep the feelings at bay. A guttural howl looses from my chest, and the Briars quiver with fleeing animals. My wolf strains to break free from my flesh, but I keep it contained with pure stubbornness.
I want to see Keldarion’s traitorous face with my own eyes.
Dark clouds swirl overhead, making it appear nightfall in the Briar, though I know the sun is somewhere behind the storm. Rain pelts down upon my armor but I can’t feel the cold or the wet.
There is only rage.
Every reckless decision, every deceitful act, every moment of apathy, I have stood behind Keldarion. Made excuses for him. Protected him. Forgiven him.