“You will all pay!” he cries, then whips one of his large plant arms forward, knocking away the Sapphire and Bronze Knights. Then he wraps Kel and me in his vines, squeezing us so tight, I lose the grip on my bow. It clatters to the ground. We’re flung upward, far above the throne.
With his other arm, he does the same to Ez and Cas, wrapping them together and lifting them high into the air. The musty aroma of decaying vegetation clouds my nose.
“Each one of you has been nothing but a relentless weed since I first met you,” Kairyn growls. “I pluck you out, and yet you keep coming back.”
The vines wrap tighter around us, and I cry out. Kel struggles to break free, but his hands are pinned.
“Especiallyyou.” Kairyn pulls his arm in, bringing Caspian closer. “Do you truly have no loyalty? Not even to your sister?”
Caspian licks his lips, smearing black all over them. “If anyone appreciates a little chaos, it’s my Birdy.”
Kairyn lets loose another enraged howl. “I will get my vengeance!”
My bones creak as the vines tighten. Kel grits his teeth beside me, blue eyes flashing with pain.
Across from us, Caspian and Ezryn are squeezed tighter and tighter. They cry out, fighting against the hold.
It can’t end like this. I won’t meet my end alongside Keldarion when we’ve barely even had a start. I won’t lose Ezryn when he needs me most to find him. Won’t go before I tell Dayton what he means to me, or let Farron know how I’ve healed because of his love.
I look across at Caspian. And I won’t give up on him.
I close my eyes.
“Rose,” Kel grunts. “I’m so sorry. For everything. For hiding the truth. I thought I was protecting you, but instead I only—”
“Kel,” I say seriously. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this apology. And I still intend to hear the whole thing. With you on your knees, preferably. But for right now,shut up.”
Because what I’m looking for isn’t outside, with my mates or my bow.
It’s inside.
It’s who I am, who I’ve always been. The blood that runs through my veins. An eternal love I’ve carried since my birth.
My mother’s magic may have made Castletree, and our home may be fading. But her magic also flows through me.
This time it’s not an eruption of fire. No force or power surging through me. It is a release.
I bloom.
Human daughter of George and Anya O’Connell. Fae daughter of Queen Aurelia—the Enchantress who cursed the High Princes.
I don’t need Caspian’s briars or the Nightingale’s.
It lives in me.
I am the Golden Rose.
My magic blossoms out of me like a wind through a field of flowers. Golden briars crack through the stone, spreading across the throne room. Roses bloom along them, glittering with hope. My thorns shoot toward Kairyn, tearing at his limbs of mulch and moss.
“What is this? Get off of me!” he cries. His control slackens on the vines surrounding us.
My thorns are like an extension of me; they respond to my intentions and do my direct bidding. Thrusting my hand upward, a briar shoots skyward, tearing through the vines that ensnare us. Kel and I tumble to the ground, but he wraps me in his arms, absorbing the brunt of the fall.
He sits up with a shake of his head. “You’re right. My apology can wait.”
I stand and run, my thorns weaving beside me like sea monsters dipping in and out of the waves. With an upward thrust of my hand, my vines rip open the constraints around Ez and Caspian.
But before they tumble to the floor, I ensnare them with my own golden thorns.
