Page 10 of Kingdom of Briars and Roses (Cursed Fae Courts #1)

Chapter Ten

Aurelia

S even years later…

The castle library felt as hollow as my own heart. In my childhood, I’d avoided this room, dreading the boring lessons I’d been forced to take here. The ancient history tomes I’d been made to read and report on to my tutors. I would have much rather been outside in the forest, training with a sword or exploring on my horse. In the last seven years, however, this library had become a retreat from the threats that lurked beyond the walls. And in a twist of irony that I didn’t find the least bit funny, I’d spent countless hours poring over those same history books, searching for answers—with little to none to show for it.

Now, more often than not, I drank whiskey here instead and practiced my furyfire until the alcohol dulled my magic or snuffed it out entirely. Conjuring fire was a reckless thing to do among all these books. But maybe that was what made me do it. All these precious accounts of Menryth’s greatest magic- wielders, and none explained how or why Sevanwinds remained cursed. Or how I possessed the magic of Hel inside me.

Tonight, I wasn’t alone. Though none of us bothered with the haphazard piles of discarded volumes.

That wasn’t why we were here.

The great hearth crackled with fire, but no one spoke as the three of us gathered around it. My fingers dug into the armrest of my chair, knuckles turning white as I stared at the flames I’d conjured to light the kindling. Inside, my magic writhed and wriggled against the leash I’d learned to keep it on. Not from books but from practice—sweaty, tearful, raging practice. And even now, after such careful mastery, it wanted out. To fight. To rage. To curse every obstacle and horror we’d faced in the last few years.

I had too much control to let it.

But today, the temptation alone left me gritting my teeth.

Sonoma sat across from me, her silver hair glinting in the firelight, the same stern expression she always wore fastened in place—guarded but tired. The circles beneath her eyes were dark, suggesting sleepless nights and worrisome days. They were deeper ever since Amanti left.

No, since Amanti hadn’t returned.

Lesha stood by the window, her curvy silhouette framed by the dark sky. Her translucent wings were tucked in tight against her back; a sign of her tension. Outside, the world looked quiet, untouched. But we knew better. The curse was suffocating us, inch by inch. Year by year. Failure after failure. And now… Amanti had been gone for six months with no word.

In the past seven years, she’d made many trips across the continent to search for answers, and while none had yielded a cure, she’d always returned in one piece. This last one had been to follow a lead into the southern territories to a place called Vorinthia. The southernmost part of the continent where the remote and mostly uninhabited lands had once held a powerful tribe of magic-wielders now lost to the eons. According to our research, Vorinthia had been the last kingdom to wield magic as strong as Heliconia’s.

But Amanti hadn’t returned.

Her absence felt like a blow to the hope we’d managed to hang onto these last years. Hope for answers. For a way to end this purgatory.

Lesha’s voice broke the heavy quiet. “I’ve made a decision.”

I tore my gaze from the fire and looked at the dark-haired Aine who was like an aunt to me.

Her expression was pinched as she said, “I’m leaving tomorrow.”

My breath hitched in my chest. I’d known this was coming, had seen it in the determination that had hardened her normally soft features over the last few weeks. But hearing it still sent a wave of dread through me.

“Where do you intend to go?” I asked.

“South.”

To search for Amanti—and whatever kept her away.

“Is that safe?” I asked.

Lesha hadn’t left on her own for quite some time. Amanti had always been the stealthier of the two—and the one most willing and ready to sacrifice herself for us all. I tried not to think about that part. “If anyone finds you, they’ll know we’re here?—”

“No one will find me.”

Neither of us pointed out that someone had likely found Amanti already.

Besides, maybe she was right, and no one would notice her. The realm had bigger problems these days than an Aine no one had seen for seven years, even one presumed dead at the hands of Heliconia’s death curse.

Years ago, Amanti and Lesha had spread rumors to the other kingdoms that the Summer Court had succumbed to a dark enchantment that still hung over the entire city like a poisoned cloud. Fear had kept out all but the bravest—or most reckless—and any who dared try to come anyway were met with impenetrable wards thanks to the Aine’s magic.

After that, word spread that everyone inside these walls had fallen that night at the solstice party. Treasure hunters arrived in droves at first, but none managed to get through. Soldiers and mercenaries sent their recruits to test their strength and bravery against the magic that kept everyone out. Over time, they all stopped trying. It had been a year since a single soul had triggered the security traps Sonoma put in place. The loneliness that came with the solitude of surviving was enough to hollow me out. Some days, I pretended the rest of Menryth had died with us. It was easier than knowing they were out there somewhere.

It was a devastating thing to be thought dead—and then forgotten. But it was our best chance at surviving long enough to end this nightmare.

And we were running out of time.

Seven years later, Menryth was once again living on the brink of invasion.

A collective breath hold. That’s what Amanti had called it. Lesha claimed that was dramatic, but Amanti wasn’t one for subtlety.

For seven years, Heliconia had reigned from her stolen throne in the north. According to Amanti’s sources, the power Heliconia had used on me that night had drained her nearly to death, which meant that, instead of invading the other courts after she’d cursed ours, she’d been forced into hiding to recover .

While the dark queen licked her wounds, her Obsidians had continued threatening the other courts with war unless they bowed to the self-proclaimed queen. But even though no one had officially given in to her demands, she hadn’t called them on it.

Yet.

It was only a matter of time until she was strong enough to come down from her mountain and take her vengeance on them. At least, she hadn’t been able to look too closely at the Summer Court. Amanti claimed Heliconia still thought she’d succeeded in killing us all that night.

I had no idea if that was true—we couldn’t take the risk of infiltrating her northern camps to find out. Instead, we concentrated on searching for others who could help heal our people and break their curse.

The barrier Sonoma constructed had kept us hidden from prying eyes and given the citizens of Rosewood a place to rest. It had taken us weeks to get them all into the castle, and a few more still to organize them so they weren’t lying piled in the halls. But we’d done it.

My people were safe. And alive. Even if they weren’t really living.

If Heliconia found out that we’d deceived her—that we’d found a way to save ourselves—she’d come for us. And she wouldn’t fail a second time. Not even my furyfire, honed and sharpened over these last years, would be enough to take on Heliconia at her full strength.

It was plenty, however, to protect Lesha’s back.

“You don’t have to do this alone,” I said to her now, the words rushing out too quickly to be anything but desperate. “I’ll go with you. We can search together?—”

“No.” Lesha turned from the window, her eyes fierce with determination. “We can’t risk you being discovered, Aurelia. You know that. ”

I sighed, unwilling to rehash old arguments.

“This is for me to do alone,” she added. “Besides, there’s something you can do while I’m gone.”

I sat up straighter, eager to have a mission. “What is it?”

“I have a lead on a healer hiding out in the Broadlands, near the Trolech Forest. She studied under the Verdant, which means she knows about the old magic. She might know something that can help.”

The Broadlands was the only thing that stood between Summer’s borders and the foothills of the Concordian Mountains. It was ruled by no court and filled with deadly things. Out there, lawlessness reigned, and there were worse things that prowled than Heliconia’s Obsidian scouts. But we couldn’t afford to ignore the ancient magic the Verdant had possessed. It was the one lead we’d managed to uncover these last years. The one place where the magic to save us might still exist. It’s why Amanti had gone to Vorinthia, a lost kingdom thought to be deserted for nearly a thousand years now. If someone in the Broadlands knew something, I had to try to find them.

Sonoma was already frowning at me when I caught her eye, but I nodded at Lesha. “I’ll do my best.”

“This is a fool’s errand,” Sonoma said, and it took me a minute to realize she was speaking to Lesha and not me.

Lesha stood her ground. “I have to find her, Sonoma. We need her magic to keep the wards strong. Besides… Vorinthia is the one place where the veil could still be thin enough.”

I looked between them. “Thin enough for what?” I asked.

Sonoma looked away, scowling.

Lesha said softly, “To make contact with the Fates.”

Sonoma and I shared a look of irritation at the reference to the missing goddesses. In this, we agreed.

“They don’t want to help us,” I grumbled .

Lesha’s chin lifted. “If they won’t speak willingly, I’ll make them.”

“Make them?” Sonoma echoed from across the room. “They’ve been silent for seven years. What makes you think they’ll listen to you now?”

“I don’t have a choice.” Lesha stepped closer, the thin lines in her translucent wings reflecting the firelight. “We’re running out of time. You feel it, don’t you? The way the curse is changing—tightening its hold on the land. On us.”

I felt it.

It was in every breath I took, the heaviness settling deeper in my chest as the months and years stretched on. It was in the way the trees in the Emerald Forest, once sentient enough to whisper to me, had grown quieter, the river slower. The kingdom itself was suffocating under Heliconia’s curse, and we were powerless against it. My magic had strengthened since that horrible night seven years ago, but none of my gifts could stop the curse from spreading.

“She’s right,” I said quietly.

Sonoma’s mouth was a thin slash. “We’ll fight it. Like we always have.”

“We’re draining ourselves,” Lesha said, and though her words were gentle, Sonoma flinched.

“We’ve tried everything,” I whispered bleakly, the words barely audible. “All of it—useless. And now Amanti…” Her name cracked in my throat, a wound too fresh even after six months. “She should’ve been back by now.”

Lesha’s lips pressed into a tight line. “That’s why I’m going after her. She might have found something—an answer, a lead. Something we’ve missed.”

My chest tightened with every word. “What if she didn’t? What if?—”

“I have to try,” Lesha snapped, her voice rising before she sighed, dragging a hand through her hair. “And if the Fates won’t come to us, I’ll find a way to get to them. We were faithful to them for years. I won’t allow them to turn their backs.”

“Maybe they can’t help,” Sonoma muttered, her gaze darkening as she leaned forward. “Maybe that’s why they’re silent.”

Lesha’s expression hardened. “You could try him , you know.”

“Absolutely not,” Sonoma hissed.

I studied them, confused. “Him who?”

Lesha opened her mouth, but Sonoma cut her off with a vicious look. “No one.”

Her tone was angry enough that I let it drop.

Seven years ago, I’d gotten the truth out of them. The secret my parents had kept from me since birth: that I was Chosen by the Fates to save the kingdom. Learning about their lie had hurt me deeply; a wound that had taken a long time to mend.

Believing in my own destiny took even longer.

I still had no idea how I could possibly be the one the Fates had chosen. Especially when they’d refused to answer our summons. But where faith failed, training took over. After years of practicing with the most formidable warriors to walk the realm, I’d honed myself into the weapon they’d bred me to be.

In all the ways that counted, I’d gotten my wish and become one of the Aine. We’d become equals, the four of us. Warriors fighting side by side for the same tenuous future. Until Amanti hadn’t returned.

Her absence had broken something in us all.

Lesha shook her head. “Fine, but the Fates know something—they always know something.”

“The temples are empty,” Sonoma said, her voice brittle. She was angry at the goddesses. I didn’t blame her. “Not even the whitestone is enough to summon them. ”

“Then I’ll find another temple,” Lesha insisted stubbornly. “I’ll visit every temple from here to Vorinthia if I have to.”

Sonoma and I exchanged a glance.

Lesha was the last of us who still believed the Fates could be bargained with, that there was still some divine intervention left for us in this cursed world. Her steadfast faith—as na?ve as it was—reminded me of Lilah. My sister’s innocence and sweet belief in the good this world had to offer were two of the things I loved most about her. About both of them. I refused to be the one to tell Lesha all the good in the realm was gone.

“Come home,” I whispered to her instead, my throat tight.

She smiled—a small, brittle thing. “I’ll do my best.”