Page 26 of Kingdom of Briars and Roses

“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 underits 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.

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