What is it about Lucas that makes me so afraid?
And what was it about Castletree that made me so strong?
I can’t look at my reflection any longer. This half person. This shell, with only that visceral thing trapped within my ribs, frenzied and caged.
“It’s okay, Rose.” Papa touches my back and urges me to start walking. “Let’s go home.”
I nod, but I know I can’t go home.Vengeful. Escapist. Coward. Traitor.The princes had been cursed for these sins. But am I any better?
Am I anything more than a terrified beast?
“This is a good tree, isn’t it?” Papa says musingly. He stares at the willow tree, the one he stood before in my favorite picture of him and my mother.
Its branches are starting to fill with green leaves that blow like ribbons in the wind. “Yes, Papa,” I say. “It is.”
It’s true. I know good trees.
3
Rosalina
Howdoyoureturnto somewhere that’s not supposed to exist? How do you find your way to a place that feels more like a dream than reality?
My father and I have gone over it a thousand times now. When Papa crossed into the Enchanted Vale, and Lucas and I followed hours later… Why had we been able to pass through? What was the difference?
Papa had told me he’d tried to return after Keldarion sent him back, but there was no path through the rosebush anymore. But I will find a way, if only to quell this ever-present ache in my chest.
I told Papa about my research in the Enchanted Vale and trying to find the princes’ mates. I even explained how I know, heart and soul, that I am Kel’s mate. And when the only evidence I presented was the burning feeling beside my heart, that invisible tug to him… My father hadn’t scoffed or called me crazy. No, only a deep understanding shone in his blue eyes.
Our cottage is a jumbled mess of papers and books, a testament to Papa’s relentless pursuit for answers. Every surface is covered with his research notes. Shelves overflow with dusty tomes and ancient manuscripts. I used to feel resentment every time I saw them, knowing that his obsession with the fae robbed me of a normal childhood.
But now as I sort through his notes, I feel excitement. Perhaps this is how it had to be all along. Now it’s not just his coffee cups and tins of beans that litter our workspace, but also my Diet Pepsi cans and Pop-Tart wrappers. Papa and I are in this together.
Keldarion closed that portal, but surely there are more portals in the world. That logic was why my father was always traveling, trying to find another way in. The Enchanted Vale is vast, but we don’t have time to search every far corner of the world. If I can’t help my princes before the roses in Castletree wilt, they’ll remain beasts forever.
“What about placing the necklace Kel gave me outside during a full moon?” I ask, looking up from my book. “Perhaps it’ll charge with magical energy.”
“Good idea, Rosie.” Papa adds some rose petals to a concoction he’s brewing over a burner.
The current plan: open our own way to the Vale. That means using all the magic and folklore the human world has available.
A boom echoes through the cottage, and a puff of black smoke envelops my father. He coughs. I leap from my chair, seeing the flash of flame on his scarf.
“Papa!” I grab my glass of water and douse the small flame.
He gives a chuckle, face covered with soot. “Why, thank you. That one got away from me.”
“What were you even trying to do—” My voice trails off as he unwinds his scarf, and something flashes in the light. “Mother’s necklace.”
“Ahh, yes.” Papa takes off the necklace and places it in my hands. “She wore this always.”
An ethereal hum flows through me. It’s a moonstone necklace in the shape of a rose.
I’ve seen this symbol before. On the door of Castletree.
My fingers carefully slide along the edges, and I think of the necklaces worn by the princes’. The glittering shell that brought me to the warmth of the Summer Realm, the golden leaf that helped me escape the rebellion to the safety of Castletree. A small wooden square, a crystallized snowflake. This can’t be and yet…
My nail grazes a hidden seam, and with a small click, it opens. Inside is a mirror.
