I slam against the frozen wall, landing in a heap. My head rings. Distantly, I register that he didn’t freeze me, not like the princes. Not because he can’t, but because he doesn’t want to. I can’t squirm in terror if I’m frozen.
Groaning, I try to push myself up, my hands slipping in blood. Where did that come from? I don’t get a chance to think before his boot connects with my ribs, and I roll on the ground, crying out in agony.
“I don’t mind breaking you,” Lucas says. “I’ve done it before.”
I force myself up, crying through the pain, using the frozen body of one of my princes to help me. Farron. Tears stream down my face. I’m just as trapped as them.
Lucas lunges, and I desperately throw out a briar to stop his advance. But it won’t hold him for long. Red coats the icy wall as I run my palm along it, trying to steady myself. Distorted silhouettes waver outside the ice cave—soldiers trying to break in?
Lucas’s footsteps echo behind me, and I turn, struck by my reflection in the ice. Broken, frightened, helpless. Human.
“There you are,” Lucas says.
I try to dodge out of his way, but he grabs me, placing a large hand around both my wrists and freezing. I scream. The ice crawls up my arms, over the briar bracelets I bargained for. The only way to defend myself… Gone.
“No!” I screech, a long terrible wail. Lucas stops the ice as it reaches my elbows, then lifts me by my frozen arms. I kick my feet, and they bang uselessly against him.
“I think your friends are trying to get in.”
Still holding me with one hand, Lucas waves his other. The ice around us dissipates, showing the surrounding Autumn soldiers. They let out a collective cheer of victory and race toward us.
A terrible understanding courses through me. Perth was right. We’ve lost.
Lucas waves his free hand, and that green crystal glows brighter. The crown… It’s funneling magic from that cursed cave I saw. And without Perth and his dead army, Lucas is taking it all. He roars, sending another vicious hailstorm into the soldiers.
“No!” I scream, feeling as if I take each blow to my own heart. Distantly, I see Billy, Dom, and Padraig racing toward me, their eyes wide as they take in the scene, spotting the frozen princes. The only people who could save us.
Now, you know that’s not true, a voice, barely audible, scratches at my mind.
Lucas lowers me closer to his frosted face. “Forget this place.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. Forget this place… How could I?
It’s so much more than a place. I have found more in this land than I could ever imagine. I’ve found a family. My loves. A purpose.
You were made for this world, Caspian had told me. It wasn’t just a jest.
To forget this place would be to forget myself.
And I won’t give up on her.
I lift my chin and heave in a breath. “I’m not your captive anymore.”
“I beg to differ.” Lucas curls his lip over his teeth, and the ice crawls further up my arms. “Look around, Pumpkin. Your princes are frozen. Your army is dead. You’re trapped, no magic, no crown. You’re nothing. Gaze upon what I have become, so much more than a mere human.”
The air seems to crackle, and my skin heats. Words spark in my mind, and I realize, I do have the answers.
They come to me, crashing down like shooting stars.
Caspian’s words.
You are no mere human.
Trapped in that human skin.
“You might not be human anymore,” I growl at Lucas, “but neither am I.”
My mother wasn’t stolen by the fae. She was fae.
Something kindles in my chest: a flash of heat next to my heart. The embers I’ve smothered to keep from igniting. My own beast within me, slumbering in the dark place I’ve been too afraid to look.
Lucas stole my trust in myself. Made me believe there was nothing inside of me worthy of the light.
But he’s wrong.
I found it when I saw the goodness hiding behind a wolf’s smile. When I forgave my father. When I peered into the dark spaces between the briars.
For a moment, it is silent. The Enchanted Vale taking a breath.
Then I look inside of myself and let the fire within rage.
Like a spark cresting atop dry leaves, I ignite. And whatever’s catching flame within me is more than my courage. It’s something beyond, something deep and ancient and powerful.
I let loose a scream. Images flash before my face: finding the rosebush, Castletree obeying my command, the briars helping me save the roses. A woman’s face, eyes filled with glittering starlight, as she smiles down at me.
I was made for this world. I am part of it. It is part of me.
I will become flame itself to protect the ones I love who call it home.
White fire explodes from my body. Lucas screams, shielding his face, but there’s no hiding from this. No hiding from me.
Roaring fills my ears: the rush of water, of wind, of earth and fire. It’s as if for a single moment, I glimpse the fabric of the universe and the threads that bind it together. The stone beneath me is like a second skin. The wind is the rush of blood through my veins
And I feel my briars. Not the ones on my wrist. The ones that have not yet been made.
My consciousness reaches into the earth, weaving them into existence the way I had in the Below. The green mist evaporates in sparks of white. One of my briars cracks like lightning, shattering Lucas’s crown.
Huge, white-gold thorns erupt from the earth, shattering the icy ground. The tangle of briars slams into Lucas, pinning him down to the dirt. Golden roses bloom along my thorns, beautiful and lethal.
A crack sounds, and ice breaks. I blink, somehow registering their faces amongst my fire and roses.
Kel. Ezryn. Dayton. Farron.
My flames shattered the ice—
I freed them—
Lucas’s body lays before me, eyes blank, chest run through by a thick thorn.
I freed myself.
87
Rosalina
The woman in front of me is very beautiful.
And familiar, too.
She’s got dark eyes like mine, though hers are framed by joyful lines. Long, brown hair flows in gentle waves down her back, with a few white strands. Her skin radiates like a thousand diamonds.
Her ears… They’re pointed.
Who are you? I ask.
She only smiles and looks down into her hands. A golden rose blooms from her palm. Slowly, she tucks it behind my ear. Seek below the surface, Rosalina, and may the hidden beauty of the world be yours. Love is your greatest strength.
Then I’m surrounded by darkness.
I need to open my eyes. There’s a battle… And the princes. Did they get out of the ice? Are they alright?
But I can’t wake up. Not yet. Something is different about the world.
Or maybe the world is the same and there’s something different about me.
“Rosie? Rosie, come back to us!”
Farron’s voice soaks into me like a balm, and his soft hands run over my face. My chest hums at his touch, and my skin seems to bloom beneath his fingertips. Perhaps this new world is not too bad.
“Rosalina!” Rougher hands grab me, shake me.
“Stop it! You’ll hurt her!”
I’m pressed to a cold chest, and a strange, keening wail sounds. Keldarion. I inhale a deep breath, and the air feels alive within me, cleansing and cool.
“I can’t find any wounds.” Another worried voice: Ezryn’s. His hand is on my forehead. I have no idea how I can differentiate between each of their touches, yet it’s like my skin quivers and heats all at once. I smile inwardly, a strange sense of peace fluttering in my chest.
“Then why isn’t she waking up?” Dayton for once sounds serious. “Can you hear me? Open your eyes, Blossom. Come on.”
I don’t want them to be worried. Though I’m not sure I’m ready for this changed world.
But they’re with me. My princes.
I blink, gaze met with the beaming Autumn sun. It’s so bright, each ray sparkling like starfall.
Oh. The world is beautiful. The clear sky, the rustle of the cool breeze through the grass, the rich smell of the earth.
And most beautiful of all are the four faces peering at me.
“Hi,” I whisper, voice raspy.
Farron breaks out in the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. Ezryn shakes his helmet in disbelief. Dayton stares down at me with a fervent gaze. And Keldarion…
Keldarion is crying.