Rosalina lets out a gasp and drops to her knees. “Remove their heads,” she says. “They’re under similar magic as Perth’s soldiers. They’ll come back to life if we don’t do that.”
She doesn’t have to tell me twice. Quickly, I grab my blades and relieve the goblins of their heads. They turn to ash as I do. When the last one fades away, Rosalina drops to all fours, the briars crashing to the ground with her.
I kneel before her. “You saved me, Blossom.”
The briars remain, and golden roses bloom among the leaves. Just like the ones that destroyed Lucas on the Autumn battlefield. She hasn’t been able to summon that magic since, but here it is today. Here to protect me.
“One of the goblins mentioned they were looking for something,” she pants. “Do you have any idea what it might be?”
“Could they know about the High Tower? Our roses? Maybe they’re trying to destroy them.”
“No, High Tower hasn’t been breached. And they didn’t want anything in the library.” Rosie’s fingers curl into the sand on my floor. Then her eyes widen. “They’re in the Winter Wing. Earlier, you mentioned Kel’s sword was blessed by the Queen herself. Could they be after that?”
“Only one way to find out.” I help her up, and we take off to the main corridor. There, running from the Spring Wing, are Marigold and several other staff.
“The castle is secure,” Marigold says. “The last pack of goblins ran from the Winter Wing and out the front door.”
I exchange a glance with Rosie. “Can you run?”
She nods, seeming to have caught her breath.
“Then let’s go.”
Swords firm in my hand, we sprint out of the castle, immediately hit with a sharp torrent of rain. I blink through the water, finding a cluster of goblins streaking green flames just about to cross the bridge.
“If they make it to the Briar, we’ll lose them for good!” I yell. Our feet splash in the puddles. Shit, we’ll never catch them.
“Keep running!” Rosalina yells. But she stops and draws her strange thorned bow.
Her gift from the Prince of Thorns.
But I obey, hitting the edge of the bridge as the goblins reach the other side. And there, glinting in one of their hands, is something wrapped in old cloth. If I fucking lose Kel’s sword while he’s gone, he’s going to kill me. I pick up my pace.
A thorn arrow sails through the air, but lands wide of the goblins. I glance over my shoulder. “You missed.”
“No, I didn’t,” Rosalina says. Then she swipes her hand overhead. The thorn arrow expands, exploding into a patchwork of briars, blocking off the exit of the bridge.
The goblins careen to a stop, chittering in agitation, trapped.
Trapped with me.
Perfect.
I draw my blades and take the moment of surprise to dispatch two of them. The others panic, slipping on the slick stone. They may be covered in green flame, but they’re not so fucking scary when I’m armed. Going for the head, the last four are goners before Rosalina even catches up with me.
She slows to a stop, wind and rain tousling her hair and soaking her clothes, so they cling to her full curves. Her eyes widen, shifting back to dark brown. She stares at the piles of ash and black goblin blood at my feet.
“We make a pretty good team,” I say.
“That we do.” She smiles, then retrieves the hastily wrapped package from a pile of ash. Carefully, she unfolds the old cloth, revealing the sheath with an icy hilt sticking out.
“Careful,” I say. “Don’t touch that without the sheath.”
“Wouldn’t want to get fingerprints on this prized possession,” she says sarcastically. “Kel might stick me in the dungeon again.”
A lot worse would happen to her than that if she tried to wield the Sword of the Protector. But my mind is still stuck on why the goblins would attempt to steal it. “They really were after Kel’s sword. I wonder what use they could have for it.”
“One of them mentioned a gift for Sister, whatever that means.” She carefully sets the sword down, then walks over to me, running a delicate hand over my bare chest until she reaches my back. “They hurt you.”
