I slow, my fingers reaching toward the glass.
I lift the lid.
My hand brushes the stem. Inky and cold…the feeling is…familiar.
The rose flickers, then dissolves into a pool of shadows.
Just like the food Sira tried to serve me in the tower. Like how Caspian changed Heidi’s form.
“Shadows,” I breathe. “An illusion.”
Kel steps up beside me. “If we have the fake…”
“That means Sira—” Ezryn starts.
A voice whispers through the hall, slipping into my ears like poison laced with honey.
We all spin, running for the entrance.
The great doors to Castletree groan open, just a few inches, and shadows pour in, coiling about my limbs, dragging warmth from my skin.
“Rosalina, step back!” Caspian screams.
But it’s too late.
She’s here.
Sira.
She emerges from the shadows, cloak billowing, a wicked smile on her lips. Her arms snake around me, and the cold kiss of a blade presses against my neck.
“Oh,” she purrs, voice mocking, “is something wrong with your little rose?”
75
Caspian
And just like that, my mother has immobilized all the mostpowerful fae in the Vale with a single move.
I pride myself on being ten steps ahead of everyone else, but my mother always has one more on me.
But not this time. Rose or not, bargain or not, she will answer today.
“Don’t move or I’ll kill her,” Sira purrs.
She stills us all with a look, then sweeps her gaze from me to Anya.
“How sad,” she continues. “My two little pets have flown the coop. You do realize you still belong to me.”
Anya’s face turns into a vicious snarl. “Even rotting in the white bark of the Evergrove would be too good a punishment for you, Sira.”
“You’ll never take my wife again.” George steps protectively in front of Anya, who puts a hand on his shoulder.
Sira gives a dark chuckle. “Bold words, human, figuring you are the cause of her imprisonment. You and that unnaturally long life. But alas, all things must end.”
“Don’t threaten my family,” Rosalina snarls, twitching against Sira’s grip. “The Green Flame’s reign is over. You have no god or army to help you.”
She leans down, her voice a soft whisper. “But I do have an army. One your own father helped me gain.”
