Page 9 of Kingdom of Briars and Roses (Cursed Fae Courts #1)

Chapter Nine

Aurelia

I jolted upright, the sheets tangled around my legs, my breath coming in shallow bursts. My heart pounded, a frantic rhythm against my ribs, and I blinked at the sight of my bedroom.

Sunlight streamed in through the windows, curtains fluttering in the breeze. It looked like any other morning. But somehow, I knew it wasn’t.

Then I remembered: the party. Heliconia. Her killing blow.

What came after was harder to recall.

I tried to piece together how I’d gotten here. How I was alive at all. I looked down. A nightgown clung to my skin, itchy against the layer of sweat that slicked my back. My face felt hot and flushed like I’d been fighting a fever. I pressed a trembling palm to my chest, trying to calm the wild panic bubbling inside me.

Was it a dream?

Heliconia’s dark magic. My people falling, their bodies crumpling to the ground. I had fallen too—hadn’t I? That horrible darkness had swallowed me whole, and I was sure… I was sure I’d died.

But here I was. Alive. In my bed. Dressed in a nightgown.

The faint scent of roses drifted through the window, the same scent that always lingered in the halls of Sunspire. Birds called outside, their song happy and bright.

It all felt so… normal. As if nothing had happened.

I swallowed hard, pushing the covers aside. My legs were weak as I stood, but I forced myself to move, padding barefoot across the cool floor. There was no breakfast waiting on the side table. No dress hanging on the armoire signaling what I should wear for the day. No evidence anyone had been in this room but me.

Except I couldn’t remember putting this nightgown on. Or climbing into this bed. Or peeling myself off that rooftop.

I opened the door to my room and stepped into the corridor, the familiar sight of the arched windows and soft rug comforting me. But something was off. The usual bustle—the life that always hummed through the castle—was gone.

Everything was quiet. Too quiet.

“Hello?” I called softly.

No answer.

The hallway stretched ahead of me, empty, the light through the curtains casting long, eerie shadows across the floor.

“Hello?” I tried again. “Anyone there?” My voice echoed in the silence, bouncing off the high walls, but still, no one answered.

I walked faster, the soft sound of my bare footsteps unnerving in the stillness. The emptiness followed me, pressing in on all sides.

The castle felt like a tomb.

I passed through the main hall, my eyes darting around for any sign of life, but there was nothing .

Only me.

Fear coiled tighter in my chest as I changed course and climbed the stairs to the royal wing, my hand trailing along the banister. The smooth wood felt cold beneath my fingers, lifeless. The deeper I went, the more the stillness sank into me, heavy and oppressive.

Finally, I reached my parents’ chambers. The door was slightly ajar. My heart lurched.

“Mother?” I whispered as I stepped inside.

Shadows greeted me. I tensed, remembering Heliconia’s shadows and the darkness within them, but this was only thick curtains pulled tightly closed across the windows, obscuring most of the light.

It took my eyes a couple of blinks to adjust and then?—

I halted.

Lying together in their grand, canopied bed, the covers pulled up to their chests, my parents slept. Their faces were peaceful, serene even. But everything about it felt wrong.

I stepped closer, my breath catching in my throat.

“Mother?” I reached out, my fingers trembling as I touched her hand. Her skin was warm. Too warm to be?—

“They’re not dead,” a familiar voice said softly from the shadows.

I spun around, heart racing.

Sonoma stood against the wall, her silver hair and sheer wings glowing faintly in the dim light. She looked exhausted, her shoulders heavy. I replayed her words just to be sure I’d heard them right because I saw only grief reflected at me.

“What’s wrong with them?” I asked.

“They’re asleep,” she said. “Everyone is.”

“What do you mean everyone?”

“I mean the entire kingdom of Sevanwinds is under its effect.”

“The effect of what?” My voice cracked, panic rising again. “Sonoma, what happened?”

“The curse,” she said, stepping forward, her face tight with tension. “It didn’t kill them like she’d apparently intended, thank the Fates. But no one has woken, nor will they until we can figure out how to break this wretched curse.”

My knees gave out, and I sank onto the edge of the bed. The room swayed, the weight of her words crashing down on me like a wave.

“They’re… cursed to sleep without waking—forever?” I breathed. “All of them?”

Sonoma nodded grimly. “Every Summer Court citizen inside Rosewood—and most of the outlying farms,” she said grimly.

I shot to my feet, horrified. “Lilah!”

I was already running, tearing down the hall to her room. My pulse pounded in my ears, my bare feet slapping against the cold stone floor. I reached Lilah’s door, throwing it open.

She was there.

My sweet, bright-eyed sister, curled up in her bed, her flaxen hair spread across the pillow, her small hands tucked beneath her cheek. She looked so peaceful. So utterly oblivious to the horror that had trapped her. I stumbled toward her, my heart breaking at the sight.

“Lilah,” I whispered, dropping to my knees beside the bed. I shook her gently, my voice thick with desperation. “Lilah, please, wake up.”

Nothing. She didn’t stir. Her chest rose and fell with steady, even breaths, but there was no response. No flicker of recognition. Just deep, unending slumber.

A sob caught in my throat, and I pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Footsteps sounded behind me. I turned to see Lesha and Amanti standing in the doorway, their faces pale and drawn. Their wings, usually stretched tall and gossamer, bore scratches and small tears in the webbed linings. They looked as weary as Sonoma, who lurked behind them like a ghost. At the sight of them all here, tears spilled over, running down my cheeks.

“Aurelia.” Lesha held open her arms, and I went to her, letting her pull me into a hug. I stepped away, too desperate for answers to accept comfort.

Amanti pressed her forehead to mine before quickly straightening. Relief flashed in her dark eyes, and then she was back to business. “How are you feeling?” she asked me.

“I’m fine,” I assured her. “Why?”

She and Lesha exchanged a look.

“What is it?” I asked, but they remained silent.

“Just tell her,” Sonoma said, resigned.

Lesha swallowed hard. “Come and see.” She tugged my hand, leading me to the mirror beside Lilah’s armoire. When she nudged me and I caught sight of my reflection, I gasped.

A symbol was inked into the side of my neck just below my ear. I pulled my hair out of the way, leaning in to see it better. A tiny black moon with three stars etched above it, painted in black ink so dark it seemed to suck the light from the space around it.

“How did I get it?” I asked, leaning in to get a better look.

I traced a finger over the symbol. At my touch, magic, strong enough to steal my breath, rippled inside me. I opened my hand, letting some of my power slip through my control. The sparks I’d managed to conjure before shot to life in my palm, along with a black flame that felt ready to ignite everything in this room at my command.

All three Aine gasped.

I glanced up to see them staring at the flame I’d made, shock on all their faces. Sonoma was the first to recover. She blinked at me, something like awe shining in her eyes. It felt as if she were seeing me for the first time.

“Furyfire,” Lesha whispered.

Fury. Like the Furiosities of Hel and the demons they ruled. Like my death magic.

“Is it…bad?” I managed.

“It’s powerful,” Lesha said firmly.

“Powerful like demons of Hel or like a new kind of summer gift?” I asked with what I already knew was a na?ve amount of hope for the latter.

Lesha started to answer, but Amanti nudged her. Hard. Lesha pressed her lips together and looked away.

“It’s rare,” Amanti told me.

I looked at Sonoma. “You said my magic comes from Hel,” I said, my voice wavering on the last word. I glanced at the stone-faced Aine, but she refused to meet my eyes. “Is that true?”

Again, it was Amanti who spoke. “Furyfire is a gift only the Furiosities have ever possessed, yes. But you’re not evil,” she added firmly.

Her certainty was the only thing that kept me from losing it.

“How is it possible that I would have it?” I asked.

Amanti cleared her throat. “The Fates imbue certain … gifts to all the fae.”

“But how would the Fates be able to offer something that wasn’t theirs to begin with?” I pressed.

Sonoma was frustratingly silent.

Amanti shook her head. “We’re not sure why you were given these gifts.”

Lesha stepped forward, breaking her silence. “But they don’t change who you are, Aurelia. Only you get to do that. ”

The others nodded.

I let the flame wink out and glanced again at my reflection, trying to understand what it all meant. How the strange tattoo had gotten there. Why my magic was suddenly so much more accessible? What had made me immune to this curse?

“I remember so much pain when her magic struck me,” I said, running my hand over my chest absently.

Amanti spoke up. “After you fell, the wards keeping us out finally broke. I suspect Heliconia had exhausted her magic, casting that wretched spell to kill you.” I flinched at that. “Heliconia vanished before we could get to her. By then, the mark had already appeared on your skin.”

I had no idea why I’d been spared, but the fate of the kingdom was far more pressing than a strange tattoo and the power of furyfire. Or that’s what I told myself. Maybe it was just a distraction so I didn’t have to face what I’d woken inside me.

I turned from the mirror, unwilling to look at myself any longer.

“What happened to Callan?” I asked, bracing myself for the worst. “He went down before me. He tried to get away, and she— He wasn’t moving.”

“The Autumn prince and his people are fine,” Sonoma said in a clipped voice.

I tried to gauge whether her sharpness was directed at me, but Lesha’s soft rebuke came before I could ask.

“It’s not their fault Heliconia’s spell excluded them,” Lesha told her friend.

“Lesha’s right,” Amanti said wryly. “You can’t be angry at the guy for not being cursed.”

“I’m not angry about his being unharmed,” Sonoma said. “I’m angry that he fled like a coward.” At her words, I stiffened, remembering how Callan had tried to run.

He’d deserted me when I’d needed him most .

“Where is Callan now?” I asked, looking back and forth between them.

Amanti sighed. “We … removed him and his people.”

“Define removed,” I said warily.

Amanti huffed. “They are unharmed and remember nothing. Lesha wiped their memories of the attack. They’ll go home, thinking the marriage contract was rescinded. The only harm done will be to his precious ego.”

Sonoma snorted, but unease coiled inside me. Something told me a cut to Callan’s ego was not a wound to be made lightly.

“Callan can help us,” I protested. “We should’ve asked him to bring his best healers here to?—”

“Absolutely not,” Sonoma snapped.

I glared at her.

But Amanti cut in. “Sonoma is right. We have no sitting queen or king. No one ruling this land. Our people are asleep in their beds—exposed to any threat that walks through their door. Heliconia will figure it out soon enough, but if Autumn knew it, they’d likely seize their opportunity to claim this kingdom for themselves.”

“You don’t know that,” I argued.

“And you do?” Sonoma challenged. “You spent one evening with the male. Will you vouch for him? Would you swear it on Lilah’s life?”

I didn’t answer.

“Lesha’s magic will hold well enough,” Amanti told her. “They won’t remember anything beyond what she planted in their minds.”

“We’ll see that it does,” Sonoma agreed, a glint in her eye.

“We have to break the curse,” I said, urgency lacing my veins as powerful as any magic.

Sonoma’s expression softened with sorrow. “We’ll find a way. But it’ll take time. Heliconia’s magic isn’t entirely from this realm, and it’s not something we fully understand. We don’t even know where to start.”

Lesha voiced her question reluctantly. “What if the only one who can undo it is Heliconia herself?”

“Actually,” Sonoma said slowly, “there is one other whom the Fates gifted with the power to undo Heliconia’s damage.”

My heart hammered in my chest as she looked at me.

The comments Heliconia had made in the forest, the accusations she’d aimed at me during the party, the way my mother had insisted I hear the truth from Sonoma…

“It’s me,” I said bleakly. “Isn’t it? I’m some sort of chosen one meant to save the realm.”

Sonoma’s expression was pained. “Yes.”

“I knew it. Mother refused to answer my questions last night. Said we should wait for you and Father to be there.” I glared at her. “All this time, you’ve kept this from me.”

“I was going to tell you,” she said quietly. “We all were.”

“When?” I demanded, the word whipping out like a blade.

Lesha flinched, but Amanti and Sonoma stood their ground. I studied their faces, noting that Amanti and Lesha didn’t look surprised. Everyone knew but me. And keeping it from me had very nearly gotten us all killed.

“Let me guess? You were waiting for the right time,” I snapped.

“Something like that,” Sonoma said quietly.

I snorted. “And look at where we ended up while you waited for the perfect moment.” I shook my head, wishing for boots and a sword rather than this stupid, flimsy nightgown.

“I hope you’re proud of your lies,” I snapped, hot betrayal rising and roiling inside me.

All three of them, powerful warriors stronger than any the realm had ever seen, hung their heads.

None of them answered .

The truth of it—known too late—only fanned the flames of my temper.

“Is this why you trained me as one of the Aine?” I nearly yelled. “So I’d have a fighting chance when my time came to challenge her?”

My hands curled into fists at my sides. When Sonoma wanted to train me, I’d thought it was a compliment to my skills. Some special talent she saw inside me. But no. It was a duty borne of knowing my destiny before I did. Just like with the stupid wedding, I was no more than a tool, a weapon. One they hadn’t even bothered to consult before sharpening me into points.

My mother’s words of encouragement. About believing in me. That I was a warrior. It was all based on this hidden destiny. This secret. That somehow, without any memory of it on my part, the Fates had looked upon me and decided I would be the one to deliver us from Heliconia.

How in the seven Hels I would do that, especially when I had no idea they’d chosen me in the first place, was beyond me. But the Fates were goddesses from a realm beyond our own. Strangers to me. Ethereal ideas of beings. The warriors who stood before me were my family. And that hurt worst of all. Standing among the women I most respected and admired in the entire realm, I’d never felt more alone.

Hot tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them back, refusing to give in to them.

“You are done keeping things from me, all of you,” I said, my voice trembling with rage. “And no one gets to make decisions for me ever again. From this moment forward, I’m in charge of my own life. Do you understand?”

They exchanged a look then Lesha and Amanti lowered their heads as if to defer to Sonoma.

“All right,” Sonoma said, and the others nodded with her.

I looked back at the three of them, heart aching with the knowledge that, if we were going to survive whatever came next, I’d have to find a way to forgive them eventually. But not today.

Today was for mourning.

I took a deep breath that felt as if it might break me into a million pieces if I let it. “Never lie to me again.”