20. Light and Life – Rosemary
Light and Life
ROSEMARY
Groggily, I cracked my eyes open to find myself in a small stone room.
A fire blazed along the far wall, casting flickering shadows and warmth.
Smoke curled toward a slight hole in the ceiling, beyond which darkness loomed.
The air was a mix of damp stone, smoke, and fur.
A metallic tang clutched my heart with icy fingers.
I was deep underground, a realization that felt like the world pressed in around me.
How many days until the full moon? The thought struck me like a physical blow. Four days? Five? Time had become a blur of darkness and unconsciousness, but I could feel it slipping away, each lost hour bringing Briar closer to permanent entrapment.
A heavy weight lay across my stomach, and my cheek rested on something soft.
I shifted, my fingers curling around what I thought was a fur blanket.
With a jolt, I sat up, gasping. The fur was not a blanket, and the softness beneath my face was the massive body of a wolf.
As I jerked upright, the weight across my stomach dropped, and I collided with another wolf.
Two wolves. I'd been sleeping with two massive wolves!
Both lifted their heads, watching me with narrowed yellow eyes. I froze, hugging my knees to my chest to make myself as small as possible. My heart raced, the fire crackling the only sound in the chamber.
Footsteps approached. I twisted to see the entrance. The same tall, muscular man with the wolf-paw tattoo from the cave appeared. He stared down at me, his warm brown eyes tinged with a yellow that matched the wolves'.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, dear seelie healer," he said, his voice soft as the fur I'd slept upon and warm like a hug on the coldest of nights. "You've slept for nearly a day. Time is running short."
Staring up at the man, I realized I recognized him… and the wolves. I pressed the heel of my palm against my temple and rubbed against the dull throb there as I tried to recall what had happened. They’d needed my help, and I had agreed. I’d been following them for a time but then…
Nothing.
"What happened?" I asked. My words came out in a cracked hush, as if my throat had been lined with the roughest bark. I didn't dare move, not with the wolves watching me so intently.
"You’re in our den in the heart of wolf territory," Malcolm replied. "For your own safety, and ours, it is imperative that you not know exactly where our den is located. At least, not until you have proven useful, and trustworthy."
The healer within me helped calm the fear of not knowing where I was, or where Elias was. It quieted the anxiety rippling across my skin at the proximity of the wolves. There wasn’t time to waste. "Your son?"
"Cursed by the same dark magic that holds your sister," Malcolm said, his expression grave. "The sleeping curse has been spreading through these lands like wildfire, claiming the children of every magical family. Our healers are powerless against it."
The russet-colored wolf, her face thinner and more delicate than the one at my back, nuzzled my arm with the soft fur along her brow. There was worry held behind her yellow eyes as she looked up at me.
Malcolm's expression softened as he watched the interaction. "That is Freya, my mate and the boy's mother. She has left his side only once since he fell into the cursed sleep three days ago, and that was to retrieve you, her last hope for our son."
Three days. My stomach dropped. "How much time do I have left? Until the full moon?"
“Tonight," Malcolm said grimly. "The full moon rises tonight. After that, the daemonacus flower will not bloom again for another decade. Your sister, our son, all the other children trapped by this curse, they will be lost forever."
The weight of responsibility pressed down on me like a physical thing. It wasn't just Briar anymore. There were others, children I'd never met, families I'd never known, all depending on my ability to break a curse I'd been fighting for over a century.
"But there's more to the prophecy I spoke of," Malcolm continued. "It speaks of a choice the healer must make. To save one life, she must risk losing everything she holds dear. Only through that sacrifice can she gain the power needed to face the darkness"
"What choice?" I whispered, though part of me already knew.
Freya shifted beside me, transforming from wolf to woman in a shimmer of magic. She was once again beautiful, with long red hair and the same warm brown eyes as her mate, though hers were filled with desperate hope.
"To heal our son," she said, her voice breaking, "you’d need to use the moonbell petals."
My breath caught. The moonbell petals were essential for Briar's potion. Without them, even if I found the daemonacus flower, the cure might not work. I'd have to choose between saving their child and completing my own quest. Not to mention, I’d deplete my magical stores once again.
"Where is my companion?" I asked, needing time to process what they were asking of me.
"The unseelie? He's secured but unharmed," Malcolm replied. "He fought viciously to protect you, I'll give him that. But he cannot help you with this choice."
I closed my eyes, feeling the weight of two lives in my hands. Briar, who had waited so long for freedom. And this unknown child, another victim of the same evil that had destroyed my family.
"Take me to your son," I said finally. "Let me see what we're dealing with."
Malcolm nodded, relief evident in his expression.
"This way. But know this, healer, if you can’t save him, you will not leave here.
The curse will spread beyond these woods, beyond these lands, until every child in the realm falls into endless sleep.
" He shared a look with his mate then added, “What care would we have? Our son would be dead.”
As we walked through tunnels carved from living stone, I realized this was bigger than just my personal quest for revenge. The unseelie queen's curse wasn't just targeting my family anymore. She was preparing for something far worse, and somehow, I'd become the only thing standing in her way.
We stopped before a heavy iron door. Malcolm's fingers wrapped around the handle, pulling it effortlessly. It creaked open with a low groan, revealing a chamber that took my breath away.
Unlike the rough stone tunnels, this room was richly appointed.
Wood paneling lined the walls, with vivid tapestries draped at intervals.
A large, cushioned rug covered the floor.
Iron castings held thick white candles that lit the room with a warm glow.
A hearth roared with light along the wall, its smoke snaking into a ceiling hole.
Framed photos, trinkets, colored stones, and a vase of fresh flowers sat on the mantle.
And in the center, a large four-poster bed with dark red velvet canopy, where a young male lay motionless.
My healer's instincts took over as I approached. He was perhaps sixteen or seventeen with unruly dark curls and the strong build of a shifter. But his skin had a sickly gray pallor, and sweat dotted his forehead despite the chill in his skin. His breathing was shallow, labored.
This curse was… different.
I placed my hands on his chest, letting my magic flow into him. The moment I touched him, I knew.
"This isn't just the sleeping curse," I breathed, pulling my hands back in shock. "It's evolving. Growing stronger."
"What do you mean?" Freya asked, her voice tight with fear.
"The curse on my sister was static, unchanging, until recently at least. But this..." I touched the boy's forehead again, feeling the dark magic writhing beneath his skin. "This is learning. Adapting. It feels stronger, more resistant to healing."
Malcolm's expression grew grim. "Then let us hope the prophecy is right about you."
I stared down at the boy, seeing Briar's face in his still features. The choice before me crystallized with painful clarity. I could use the moonbell petals to save him, but that would mean risking my sister's life. Or I could preserve them for Briar and let this child die.
"There has to be another way," I whispered.
"What if there isn't?" Freya asked, tears streaming down her face. "What if you have to choose?"
I closed my eyes, thinking of the prophecy Malcolm had mentioned. The thornless rose, whose power came from sacrifice rather than selfishness. Maybe that was the key. Maybe the choice itself was what would give me the strength I needed.
"If I save your son," I said slowly, "will you help me reach the daemonacus flower? Will you stand with me when I face the queen?"
"We will tell you which way to travel to claim the daemonacus, and when the time comes to stand against the queen, we will fight with you," Malcolm promised immediately. "The prophecy speaks of allies rising to aid the healer. We are those allies."
I looked down at my pack, where the precious moonbell petals lay wrapped in silk. Then I looked at the dying boy, at his parents' desperate faces, at the weight of prophecy and responsibility pressing down on me.
"Bring me some fresh supplies," I said, my voice steady despite the fear in my heart. "And bring the unseelie. If I'm going to save your son and find another way to help my sister, I'll need all the help I can get."
As Freya rushed to gather what I needed, I placed my hands on the boy's chest again, feeling the dark curse fighting against my magic. Whatever choice I made here would change everything. I could only pray it would be enough to save them all.
The door opened, and I heard the shuffle of feet.
When I looked up, my heart clenched at the sight of Elias being led in, his hands bound, a dried wound on his head.
Darkness spidering through the veins of his hands, his arms, and up the curve of his neck.
His fierce gaze immediately locked onto mine.
"Princess," he said softly, and in that one word I heard relief, concern, and something deeper that made my chest tight.
"Are you hurt?" I asked, wanting to go to him but needing to focus on the patient before me.
"I'll live," he said, then looked at the boy on the bed. "The curse?"
"The same one affecting Briar, but stronger. Evolved." I met his gaze. "Elias, I need to ask you something, and I need you to be completely honest with me."
He nodded, though I saw wariness in his expression.
"Do you know anything about this curse? About how it works, how it spreads? Because if we can't stop it here, it's going to keep growing until it affects every magical child in the realm."
Something flickered in his eyes, knowledge he wasn't sure he should share. "What do you need to know?"
"Everything," I said firmly. "Because I'm about to risk everything I have to save this boy, and if there's any chance it won't work, I need to know now."
The weight of the moment settled around us. Hours until the full moon. A dying child before us. A curse that grew stronger with each victim. And choices that would determine my sister’s fate.
I just hoped I was strong enough to make the right ones.