3. Rosalina
3
Rosalina
H ow do you return to somewhere that’s not supposed to exist? How do you find your way to a place that feels more like a dream than reality?
My father and I have gone over it a thousand times now. When Papa crossed into the Enchanted Vale, and Lucas and I followed hours later… Why had we been able to pass through? What was the difference?
Papa had told me he’d tried to return after Keldarion sent him back, but there was no path through the rosebush anymore. But I will find a way, if only to quell this ever-present ache in my chest.
I told Papa about my research in the Enchanted Vale and trying to find the princes’ mates. I even explained how I know, heart and soul, that I am Kel’s mate. And when the only evidence I presented was the burning feeling beside my heart, that invisible tug to him… My father hadn’t scoffed or called me crazy. No, only a deep understanding shone in his blue eyes.
Our cottage is a jumbled mess of papers and books, a testament to Papa’s relentless pursuit for answers. Every surface is covered with his research notes. Shelves overflow with dusty tomes and ancient manuscripts. I used to feel resentment every time I saw them, knowing that his obsession with the fae robbed me of a normal childhood.
But now as I sort through his notes, I feel excitement. Perhaps this is how it had to be all along. Now it’s not just his coffee cups and tins of beans that litter our workspace, but also my Diet Pepsi cans and Pop-Tart wrappers. Papa and I are in this together.
Keldarion closed that portal, but surely there are more portals in the world. That logic was why my father was always traveling, trying to find another way in. The Enchanted Vale is vast, but we don’t have time to search every far corner of the world. If I can’t help my princes before the roses in Castletree wilt, they’ll remain beasts forever.
“What about placing the necklace Kel gave me outside during a full moon?” I ask, looking up from my book. “Perhaps it’ll charge with magical energy.”
“Good idea, Rosie.” Papa adds some rose petals to a concoction he’s brewing over a burner.
The current plan: open our own way to the Vale. That means using all the magic and folklore the human world has available.
A boom echoes through the cottage, and a puff of black smoke envelops my father. He coughs. I leap from my chair, seeing the flash of flame on his scarf.
“Papa!” I grab my glass of water and douse the small flame.
He gives a chuckle, face covered with soot. “Why, thank you. That one got away from me.”
“What were you even trying to do—” My voice trails off as he unwinds his scarf, and something flashes in the light. “Mother’s necklace.”
“Ahh, yes.” Papa takes off the necklace and places it in my hands. “She wore this always.”
An ethereal hum flows through me. It’s a moonstone necklace in the shape of a rose.
I’ve seen this symbol before. On the door of Castletree.
My fingers carefully slide along the edges, and I think of the necklaces worn by the princes’. The glittering shell that brought me to the warmth of the Summer Realm, the golden leaf that helped me escape the rebellion to the safety of Castletree. A small wooden square, a crystallized snowflake. This can’t be and yet…
My nail grazes a hidden seam, and with a small click, it opens. Inside is a mirror.
A wave of hope and joy washes over me like a burst of sunshine in my chest. The weight that’s been smothering me lifts.
“A locket,” my father says. “I never knew it opened.”
“This could be it, Papa.” And though I try to not let it, hope quivers its way into my voice. “All the princes had necklaces like this that returned them to Castletree.”
“Can you make it work?”
I pull back my brown hair into a messy ponytail. My heart races, and everything sharpens to a new clarity. When I was in Castletree, the magic responded to me. The memory of a dangerous voice flickers inside my mind: Trust your own instincts above all else. Maybe the Prince of Thorns had some wisdom in his twisted words from the ball after all.
Carefully, I hold out the locket the way I’d seen Farron and Dayton do. Papa’s gaze widens with my every move.
A loud knock sounds at the door, shaking the whole cottage. I cry out and flinch, and the locket flies from my hands.
“No!” Quickly, I throw myself to the ground. I snag the necklace and hold it protectively against my chest. “It’s alright. It’s alright.”
The walls shake with another resounding knock. “Rosalina! I know you’re home. Open up.”
Lucas.
Papa pulls me up. “Don’t fret.” He leads me into my room. “I’ll get him to leave.”
More knocks rattle the cottage. I clutch my elbows, trying to stop myself from shaking. “I’m so stupid . ” Did I really think the locket would work for me? The High Princes are the most powerful fae in the Enchanted Vale. I’m a human. “I can’t do anything. ”
“Don’t say that.” My father casts another anxious look at the door.
“I don’t understand. This isn’t me.” Tears flow down my face. “I was never afraid to speak my mind to the princes. When I thought I was trapped, I never stopped fighting.”
Papa places a reassuring hand on my back.
“These fae are so powerful, but when they made me angry, I would tell them. I stood my ground out there—” I pause, gasping in air. “I don’t understand why I can’t do the same thing now. Why can’t I tell him to leave? Why can’t I tell him I don’t want to marry him?”
My father gives me a soft expression, even as the knocking grows to a frantic pace. “Because you are afraid.”
“But Lucas is only a man, and they were beasts.”
“Perhaps your heart knows what to fear and what is safe. And it’s hard to see a monster when he’s proclaimed a hero.”
My father’s words settle deep within me, and I wipe my eyes. “I just wish I wasn’t so scared.”
“Your flame may simmer now, coals in a hearth. But it is there, of that I have no doubt. Do not be afraid of the fire within.”
“I can’t let you go out there for me.”
“Nonsense. That’s what fathers are for.” He puffs out his chest. “I haven’t always done right by you, but this I can do.”
He closes the bedroom door behind him, and I let him face the battle I can’t. I reach into my pocket, touching the ring. Even the thought of it near me feels so wrong.
I can’t help but pull up my sleeve. There, carved into my arm: the scarred letters that go from forearm to wrist. The name Lucas.
I yank down the fabric, hiding the shameful secret. One I’ve kept from everyone in my life.
Only Lucas knows, and he’ll never let me forget it.
But I’m not that girl he branded. Not anymore. The locket feels heavy in my hands. Maybe it won’t work for me, but I have to try. Something led me to Castletree in the first place. Something inside me responded to the magic in the Enchanted Vale. And this locket is my best chance. Even if it doesn’t work, I’ll never stop trying.
But I can’t have him here.
Papa and Lucas’s argument drifts through the door. I know how it’ll go… They’ll fight for a few more minutes, then Lucas will storm out. Then in a few days the whole thing will repeat, like watching a play I hate, but I’m strapped to my seat. I can’t leave when the curtain goes down.
Unless somebody ends it.
Unless I end it.
I clutch the moonstone locket in my hand and leave my room.