“We stand with you, High Prince Ezryn,” Farron says lowly, his eyes flashing as a column of fire singes one of the monster’s front legs. But he can’t burn it fast enough before the creature regenerates.
“I am always with you, Ez,” Kel barks, then gestures at the bow in my hands. “Ready to show me what you learned with that thing, Rose?”
“Right.” I draw my bow and pluck a crafted arrow from my wrist, nocking it. Slowly, I inhale, letting the breath flow through me. Then I shoot. The arrow sails true and embeds into the creature’s left eye. It rears, shaking its paws and hissing.
“Stand together, fall together,” Caspian says, coughing as more black goo trails out of his nose.
But he hasn’t left either.
We surround the rat, keeping it at bay with our magic and weapons. Though this thing seems tireless, with all of us together, I know we can defeat it.
There’s a shriek, and I turn. Kairyn has made his way to the edge of the lake, and he has the Nightingale held up by her throat, her legs kicking wildly.
“You almost killed the High Prince of Spring,” he snarls.
She kicks violently, clawing at him like a wildcat.
“Don’t touch my sister,” Caspian growls, and weak as his magic is, a torrent of thorns sprouts from the ground. They strike Kairyn in the chest, spraying blood and hurtling him back against the bark of the willow tree. The rest of the thorns wrap around the Nightingale and drag her down in a familiar cast of shadows and briars. “Fly away while you can, Birdy.”
“Kairyn!” Ezryn roars and rushes toward them. For a single moment, he pauses by the sword of his mother embedded in the tree.Will he take it?But he tightens his grip on Dayton’s blade and charges.
Charges toward Caspian.
Of all the …! My frustration grows. I throw my bow over my chest and let vines grow from my bracelets and burrow into the ground, feeling each one as an extension of myself.
“Enough!” I yell. The thorns sprout up, creating a barrier between Caspian and Ezryn. “We have enough problems with the giant rat!”
Something sharp grabs me around the waist, and I’m flung into the air. The rat’s tail. I yowl in pain as the serrated edges rip my dress and pierce my skin. Blood blossoms from the wounds. The ground swirls until I’m hovering right above the creature’s gaping maw.
“Rosalina!” five voices yell.
An explosion of magic hurtles toward me. Salt-crested wind knocks the creature back, followed by a whirl of fire, a slash to its gut—and then it’s like we’ve been transported to the Winter Realm. A torrent of hail and ice spreads over the creature’s tail. It shrieks and I fall.
Then a thorn wraps around me, holding me up. Gritting his teeth, Caspian leads the vine down toward him, and instinctively I wrap my arms around his waist, grateful to be on solid ground again.
I feel something beneath the folds of his tunic, the shape of a familiar notebook. “You keep this with you?”
He glances across the battlefield, gaze landing on Farron. “I never know when I need to add something to the ‘Things That Make Me Happy’ page. I was going to add man-eating rat weed, but—”
“Planty Ratty!” Dayton yells, slicing deeply into the creature’s back.
“Well, now I’m reconsidering my stance on Planty Rattys.” He smiles, and even crusted in black goo, it’s a beautiful sight.
His gaze drops to my mouth, then to my wrist, and I realize I still haven’t let him go.
“Now is definitely not the time or place,” I mean to sneer, but it comes out a breathy sigh.
He raises a dark brow. “But battlefield kisses are your speciality. Must be the rot on my lips. Fear it may ruin your complexion?”
The ground shakes, and we fall apart. I half land in the lake. The creature has Caspian now, wrapped in its tail. The second tail that grew after Farron’s flaming attack now has the Autumn Prince tight in its grasp.
Dayton’s chest is smeared with blood. Ez and Kel fight side by side, holding the monster back, trying to rescue Farron and Caspian. And Kairyn has not risen since Caspian struck him.
My heart pounds in my chest, and I clutch my fingers into the soft earth. Where is my power? The power of the golden roses? It saved us against Lucas, it saved Dayton in Castletree, and it can save us now.
It would be great if I knew how to summon it. Every time, it’s felt like exploding from within. The cries of the princes and horrible sounds of the monster fade away as I dig deeper and deeper and deeper. I grit my teeth, ignoring the call to the thorns on my wrist. There is another power within me. One that allows me to make briars of my own. To make the golden roses. If I keep reaching…
Darkness engulfs the grove, then the entire world. A darkness so immense it blocks out the stars and the light of the moon. It spirals inward, condensing into the shape of a woman.
