Page 75 of Healing Elixirs & Wicked Crows

"Stop calling me princess," I said against his chest.

He pulled back, eyebrow raised."But you are a princess.And I think I've earned the right to call you whatever I please."

"Shut up before I throw you back in that fountain," I threatened weakly.

"Please do," he replied, eyes twinkling."Though I should warn you.I've learned to swim."

Briar's soft voice drew my attention."Rosie.May I?"

I nodded, and she closed the distance in three quick steps.Her arms came around me with fierce love, and I collapsed into them, my strength failing me at last.I hadn’t eaten anything untainted in weeks, and the only water I’d had was the slow drip of dust-laced damp from the ceiling.My legs buckled, but Briar held fast.My legs buckled, but Briar held fast.She smelled like the rose soap I still made for her—the one she loved—and like growing things, like the garden we'd left behind.Like home.

"I love you so much," she whispered."I'm so proud of your strength."

"I would do it again," I said without hesitation."Every moment of it if it meant you were safe."

"We need to go," Darius said urgently."The guards will notice soon."

Briar’s hold on me tightened.“She can’t even stand,” she whispered, panic threading through her voice.“We can’t ask her to run like this.”Her eyes darted toward the door as if she could already hear the boots coming.

I felt the weight of my own body, how hollow my limbs were, leaden with exhaustion.Then Elias cursed softly under his breath, as if remembering something long buried.He reached into his pocket and pulled free that squat little bottle, its red liquid catching the low light like garnet in snow.

“Guess it wasn’t such a useless potion after all,” he said, crouching beside me with a crooked grin.

I rolled my eyes, but the edges of my mouth twitched despite myself.With trembling fingers, I took it, lifted it to my lips, and drank.It tasted of rosehips and stubborn hope.Warmth bloomed in my chest almost instantly, like sunlight breaking through storm clouds, chasing the numbness from my limbs.Strength returned, not fully, but enough; enough to move, to run, to survive.I knew it wouldn’t last.The crash would come later, sudden and cruel, like the snapping of a bowstring.But I didn’t have the heart to tell Elias that part.

As we prepared to flee, something fundamental shifted inside me.The despair was still there, but it no longer felt absolute.For the first time in longer than I could remember, hope felt real.And it felt like something tangible.Something I could hold onto.

As we made our way through twisting corridors toward freedom, I marveled at the simple miracle of walking beside my sister, of feeling Elias's hand, warm and steady, in mine.

We emerged into the crisp air of night, and I tilted my face toward the stars above with gratitude so profound it felt like prayer.But even as relief flooded through me, I could feel the queen's presence pressing against the edges of my mind like a storm front moving in.The cottage felt impossibly far away, not just in distance, but in time.I was no longer the woman who had tended herbs in peaceful gardens.The darkness I'd absorbed, the torture I'd endured, had changed me into something harder, sharper.

“The woman who returns to that cottage,” I realized, “won't be the same one who left it.”

Elias squeezed my hand, and through our bond, I felt his understanding.We were all transformed now, shaped by choices we'd been forced to make.The only question was whether we'd learned to wield that transformation as a tool for healing rather than harm.The war wasn't over, but I had my family back.

And that made victory possible.

The Queen's Trap

ELIAS

The unseelie castle loomed before us like a wound in the twilight sky as we exited the courtyard’s hidden passage.What had once been a place of dark beauty now radiated malevolence so thick it made breathing difficult.The very air tasted of copper and despair.

"Something's wrong," I murmured, pulling Rosemary closer as we crouched behind the crumbling wall that marked the castle's outer defenses."It's too quiet.No guards, no movement.After everything we've done, all the chaos we've caused, she should have an army waiting for us."

Darius nodded grimly from where he knelt beside Briar."Mother never leaves anything to chance.If the outer defenses appear abandoned, it means she wants us to reach the throne room."

"A trap," Briar said, her voice steady despite the tension radiating from her small frame."She's herding us exactly where she wants us."

Through the castle's tall windows, an eerie green light pulsed like a diseased heartbeat.I could feel the weight of my mother's attention pressing against my mind, not trying to enter but letting me know she was watching, waiting, savoring the anticipation of our arrival.

"We could wait," Rosemary suggested, though I could hear the doubt in her voice."Find another way in, catch her off guard."

"There is no other way," I replied, hating the truth of it."She's had a century to prepare for this moment.Every path leads to the same destination."I squeezed her hand, drawing strength from her steady warmth."But that doesn't mean we walk into it blind."

She glanced toward the castle, jaw tight.“I know you’ve probably come up with some brilliant plan for how to take her down.But I need you to stay out of my way.”Her voice was quiet but firm, carrying a new edge of resolve.“I have my own plan.One I’ve held onto through every sleepless night, through every drop of moldy water, through every lie she wrapped around me.”

Briar stood, worry knitting her brow.“Rosie… you could barely stand an hour ago.”