Page 23 of Kings and Monsters

Focus before Rosa strangles you to death. Eirianwen reached for the Seelie power—it was safer—and used her own magic to override it, smothering Rosa's power as quickly as she could. Not having the training to fight back, the vines shrieked and dropped her before exploding into shadows.

Eirianwen groaned and tried to stay upright, her whole body feeling as if it had been used as a pincushion. She stumbled through the damaged chambers that looked as if a giant had rampaged through them and pushed aside broken furniture.

Moments later, she found Rosa crouched on the slate floors of her bedroom, her hands gripping the tiles with broken and bloody nails. There was vomit on the floor, and she was pale and shaking, amidst a panic attack, her eyes staring far away. Rosa's magic was reacting to her emotions, and Eirianwen had to get her to calm before her thorns took over the palace entirely.

"She killed him." Rosa's voice cracked.

"You don't know that for sure, princess. Trust me, the queen has plenty of spells that would cut a blood tie. A quick death is not her style." Eirianwen folded her arms, fighting the urge to hug the poor girl.

"The pain… I've never felt anything…" Rosa beat her fist against her chest, unable to find the words.

With a resigned sigh, Eirianwen crouched down beside her. "I know the feeling. When Bleddyn was captured, I felt it. I was shot with arrows, and I could do nothing to stop her from taking him. All I could do was die in the dirt. You are not dying, so are you just going to lie there helpless or get up and stop her? You won't know if he's dead unless we pull that Court apart to find him."

Rosa looked up at her, the grief in her eyes already edging towards madness. "And if he is dead?"

"Then you get your revenge on that bitch. Anything is better than weeping when you should be fighting. If you stay here, Aeronwen has won. We can't let her win—not after everything she has taken from us." Eirianwen held out her hand.

"I'm so angry, I feel like I can't breathe," Rosa said, taking Eirianwen's hand. "I can't contain the magic or the pain. They…react to each other."

Eirianwen fought the urge to shake her. "You don't need to contain it. You need to control it. Don't end up like me, Rosa Wylt. I should have gone after Bleddyn when he was taken. I should've found a way to gut the queen centuries ago."

"Why didn't you then? You have the biggest grudge against him, and you are the one that never tried to find him." Eirianwen recoiled as if she'd slapped her.

"By the time my wounds were healed, he had already escaped the Autumn Court. I expected him to return here to his people, and he never did. He made his choice, and it wasn't us."

"You never went to the human world to look. Bleddyn thought you were dead, so stop blaming him because you never fought to find him. You let him mourn for you." Rosa's eyes blazed with fury.

Eirianwen gripped Rosa by the front of her robe, clenched her fist so she wouldn't hit her. "Don't you think I know that? It is why I'm here to convince you not to give up because you felt the connection to Balthasar sever. Unless you are holding his lifeless body in your hands, you don't stop, you don't give up." She let Rosa go with a shove and stepped back from her, shaken that she had said so much.

Rosa looked like she was going to hit her and then, unexpectedly, she started to laugh, sad and bitter. "We are bothso fucked, aren't we? I'm going to do whatever I can to see the queen dead, and no one better get in my way."

Eirianwen managed a smile. "I think, at last, we have found some common ground."

"Does this mean you are going to stop upsetting Bleddyn so much? Because I don't like seeing the men in my life pissy and hurt."

Eirianwen pulled a face. "I can't promise that. I can promise I will help him where I can."

"Good enough. Any idea how I can clean this mess up with magic?"

For the next hour, Eirianwen taught Rosa how to undo the damage her rage had created until the apartments were back to normal.

"Thank you for your help," Rosa said once they were finished.

"Thank Bleddyn. He was the one that had enough sense to come and get me."

"Perhaps he knew you would have experience with magical reactions to anger." Rosa's smile faltered. "He really isn't the asshole you think he is…at least not all the time."

"I know. It'll be easier for me when he leaves if I still hate him," Eirianwen admitted without thinking. It was true though. She rubbed absently at her side, the old scars and memories aching. No, she wouldn't allow herself to get close enough to him again.

Rosa looked like she would reply when a knock on the door interrupted them. Arthur's redhead hesitantly poked through the gap.

"Is it safe for me to see you, Rosa?" he asked. "Merlin sent me because you're less likely to hurt me apparently."

"What a chicken shit."

Arthur came in with a glass of wine and a plate of food. "I thought you might be hungry. If you are anything like Merlin, you are a starving, raging beast when you are drained of magic."

Eirianwen smiled at him and his thoughtfulness. "I will leave you to it. Try to sleep, Rosa. We have a war to win." She left her in Arthur's caring and capable hands. She was about to leave the palace when she spotted Bleddyn waiting for her.

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