82. Rosalina
Rosalina
It’s over.
I’ve failed.
What else can I do?
Castletree will fall. Our home, destroyed.
I wasn’t strong enough to stop Sira.
Beams of wood break around me. Stones skitter over my skin. The air shakes with the sound of creatures roaring and screaming. But I can’t even raise my head off the floor.
We were prepared to protect the realms. All our armies wait at the ready. But there’s no one to protect Castletree. No one except me.
How stupid they all were to put their faith in me.
“We have to get out of here!” Ezryn roars. “The entrance hall’s about to collapse!”
I’m yanked to my feet, Ezryn’s grip bruising. There’s panic in his voice, unlike anything I’ve ever heard.
My father wraps his arms around my shoulder. “Steady now, Rosalina. We’re going to have to move quickly. I’ve got you.”
But who’s got Papa?
What will happen to him if Castletree is nothing but debris? His life is tethered to its magic. Without it…
His hands tremble, and there’s a raspy quality to his breath. I have to save you…
Caspian backs up until he’s standing near us. He looks up at my mother, and it’s as if a silent conversation passes between them. “Fine,” my mother whispers. “We go.”
A crash explodes through the air, and I’m only kept on my feet by Papa.
Slivers of wood and stone shower over us.
I blink through the dust to see a hole in the wall.
Standing in the wreckage is a massive ogre, twelve feet tall and snarling.
His body appears to be made of boulders, skin meshed with rock, eyes red with grit.
In his hands, he’s holding a club. To my horror, it’s one of Castletree’s branches.
He might as well be wielding one of my limbs.
Ezryn makes a low growl and steps in front of us. “My wolf will see to this.”
A moment passes. Nothing happens.
“Ez?” I whisper.
Ezryn staggers backward. “What’s happening?” He holds up his hands, staring as if they’ve betrayed him. “My magic…”
My mother’s face empties of color. “It’s their roses.” She clutches my wrists. “Rosalina, we have to save their roses!”
“Go. We’ll hold them off,” Caspian says, stepping up beside Ezryn.
Ezryn clutches his token. Gleaming armor envelops him, and the hammer appears in his grasp. “My token is unaffected. We can handle this. Hurry! Go!”
There’s nothing to do but run. My father drags me by the wrist, charging out of the entrance hall. The stairs are completely blocked; a huge pile of rubble has collapsed over them.
“We’ll take the staff stairwell. Follow me,” Mom says.
Papa runs at my heels, but his breathing is ragged. Stopping to rest isn’t possible. The roses…if they’re destroyed…
I can’t think of it. Won’t even imagine it. All I can do is run.
We navigate the labyrinth that Castletree has become.
Walls crumble, covering us in debris. We scramble over fallen beams, huge as tree trunks, and find holes between piles of rubble that block our path.
My lungs ache, and I’m drenched with sweat.
I swear I’m one heartbeat from collapsing, but we don’t stop.
Finally, we sprint up the staff stairwell and emerge into the junction between all four wings on the upper balcony of the entrance hall. The door to the High Tower is just ahead. A massive chunk of wooden wall has fallen across our route.
“Together now!” Papa cries.
Mom and I get on either side of him, heaving with all our strength until we push it out of the way.
There! The door—
And before it, a snarling, grotesque creature. I’ve never seen one before, but I’ve heard the princes talk of them. Gargoyles. With leathery skin, translucent wings thick with veins, and a maw like a vampire bat, this monster is something out of my childhood nightmares.
It spots us, black eyes shining. It gives a delighted hiss, revealing row upon row of jagged teeth.
I look around, trying to see if there’s anything we can use for a weapon. How do we fight this? Two humans and one powerless fae.
I hold my breath. The gargoyle snarls, then beats its wings, legs tensing to leap—
A sickening crunch echoes in the hall as an arrowhead erupts through the creature’s skull. It lets loose a moan, wavers, then falls.
And standing behind it, bow drawn and blue eyes flashing, is my sister.
Wrenley.