As Caspian descends, Ezryn shields Rosalina while Dayton and Farron physically restrain a furious Keldarion on his throne. Caspian announces that he came to dance with the ball’s organizer, staring directly at Rosalina. When Keldarion orders him to leave, Caspian ignores him and exchanges barbs with Ezryn, calling him Keldarion’s obedient servant.

Caspian then systematically attacks each prince. He mocks Dayton for abandoning his realm to his sister and for letting his brothers fight alone. He taunts Farron for hiding behind research. Most cruelly, he accuses Ezryn of being the Black Beast of the Briar who tortures goblins to drown out the screams of those he failed, including his mother. All three princes are visibly devastated, and Keldarion remains frozen in anguish.

Enraged, Rosalina shoves Caspian and accuses him of jealousy. She defends the princes’ courage and accepts his challenge to dance. Keldarion gives pained approval, and Caspian sweeps her into a waltz. While dancing, he cryptically warns that the princes are hiding something in the forbidden High Tower and tells her to trust only herself. As the dance ends, he licks a path from her breasts to her lips. Keldarion breaks free and tackles him.

As Keldarion tackles Caspian, he knocks Rosalina to the floor. She sees in her reflection that a crown of thorns has appeared on her head. Caspian taunts Keldarion about his jealousy while brushing his thumb over Keldarion’s wrist, where Rosalina notices a dark shape. Keldarion hurls him across the ballroom and attacks with ice magic. Caspian counters with massive purple briars that tear through the room, destroying decorations and Keldarion’s throne before disappearing.

The panicked nobles turn on Keldarion, accusing him of allying with the Below. Rosalina spots Perth Quellos watching without intervening. The crowd riots, throwing debris and arming themselves. Ezryn and Dayton use defensive magic while Farron saves Rosalina from an attacking noblewoman.

Farron pulls her through the chaos to the garden, where he opens a portal home with his locket. He explains the riot stems from a past betrayal involving Caspian and refuses to let Rosalina stay to help. As armed nobles emerge, he urges her through the portal. Reflecting that Castletree has become her true home, Rosalina leaps through the light.

Back at Castletree, Rosalina anxiously waits as sunset approaches. The princes and servants have not returned, and nightfall will expose their secret. Haunted by Caspian’s words about the High Tower, she asks the castle to reveal the way. The briar-covered cherry tree in her room opens, exposing a staircase.

She ascends into the High Tower, a chamber overgrown with briars and lit by stained-glass windows. In the center lies a crescent of four wilting roses in different colors. A petal crumbles to ash, revealing that time is running out. Light from the windows coalesces into moving images.

The vision shows the Enchantress confronting the four princes. Her voice accuses each of failing their destiny: Ezryn the vigilante, who seeks blood over redemption, Dayton the fool who escapes into flesh, Farron the coward who hides behind books, and Keldarion the traitor who betrayed his people for love. She transforms them into wolves and declares they will remain beasts each night until winning their fated mate’s true love. When the roses wilt completely, the curse becomes permanent. The memory ends, leaving Rosalina alone in darkness.

Realizing time is running out, Rosalina scrambles to the roses. Brambles creep up her arms as she channels energy into them, a violet glow flaring beneath her skin. As she thinks of each prince, his corresponding rose revives slightly.

Keldarion bursts in and furiously yanks her away, accusing her of not understanding what she was doing. He rips the brambles from her arms, causing her to scream. The other princes arrive as she confronts them for lying about the Enchantress and their pasts.

Consumed by rage, Keldarion tears briars from the walls and ground. The castle shudders, and a branch crashes through a window. The princes realize the structure is collapsing. Ezryn, Dayton, and Farron rush to channel magic into the roses to stabilize Castletree. Keldarion, wild with fury, locks eyes with Rosalina and orders her to leave. Terrified, she flees the crumbling tower.

Rosalina flees into the snowy Briar, intending to reach the rosebush portal home. Goblins ambush her. A mysterious voice screams in her head to run, claiming it cannot reach her. She shoves an armored goblin onto a thorn, impaling it. The surrounding briars move, enclosing the corpse.

She emerges onto a hill overlooking a frozen river, the portal visible across it. Caspian’s voice enters her mind, urging her to stay in the briars, but she ignores him. Hundreds of goblins pour from the moving thorns and chase her down the hill.

On the frozen river, the goblins surround and wound her with thorn swords, mocking her and threatening to take her below. As one prepares a killing blow, Keldarion arrives in his massive white wolf form and attacks.

Fueled by rage at Rosalina’s injuries, Keldarion slaughters goblins. He orders Rosalina toward the forest while he holds them off. Midway across the river, the ice cracks under his weight. He tells her to continue to safety while he fights, intending for her to escape through the portal. He reflects that she is worth sacrificing everything for.

The goblins begin overwhelming and binding him. Rosalina taunts them, drawing them onto the thinnest ice to save him. Realizing her intention to sacrifice herself, Keldarion resolves to perform one final act. He smashes his full weight onto the ice, shattering it and plunging himself and the goblins into the freezing river. The last thing he hears is Rosalina’s desperate screams.

Devastated, Rosalina runs downstream searching for Keldarion. At a briar dam where goblin bodies pile beneath the ice, she cannot find him. A powerful feeling tugs in her chest, guiding her to a specific spot where she finds white fur pressed against the ice.

Her thorn crown transforms into a purple sword, which she uses to break the ice. Unable to lift the massive, waterlogged wolf alone, she notices a golden rose blooming on a nearby briar. Remembering how the briars helped her before, she touches it and feels her consciousness connect to the entire briar network. She wills them to move.

The briars obey, lifting Keldarion from the water and placing him on the bank. He shudders and coughs, alive. Exhausted, Rosalina collapses and embraces him.

Keldarion, in wolf form, carries Rosalina to a cave containing one of Ezryn’s supply caches before collapsing. She finds medical supplies and treats his wounds, then her own. Following his instructions, she builds a fire and wraps herself in a blanket to dry. Keldarion curls around her for warmth and apologizes, explaining that the others are using magic to stabilize Castletree.

She tells him about the time Lucas saved her from drowning beneath the ice as a teenager—the incident that ushered in a codependent relationship where she became his shadow to avoid loneliness. Keldarion states that saving a person’s life does not mean one owes them anything.

She tells him he will fall in love again, thinking privately that she has fallen for him. As she drifts to sleep, she dreams of Keldarion’s memories: moments with his mother and young Ezryn, intimate encounters, and the Enchantress’s curse. She awakens with a gasp to find Keldarion in his fae form, even though it’s still night, holding her against him.

Rosalina realizes she and Keldarion are both naked, their bodies pressed together. Her movement awakens him. Shocked, he repositions himself above her, and they share a powerful moment of connection. She notices the other bargain bracelet on his wrist, made of frosted purple thorns.

He explains he is in fae form because of the magic in her eyes. They share an intensely sensual moment, touching and pressing against each other. Keldarion expresses his torment, saying he cannot save both his people and her, and that she will hate him. Rosalina insists he has saved her and begs him to give in to the connection between them.

As they reach the brink of consummation, he pulls away in agony and forcibly transforms back into his wolf form, magic crackling violently. He orders her to sleep and goes to patrol, leaving her alone in the cave.

At dawn, Rosalina wakes to find Keldarion has made breakfast. As they pack in awkward silence, she tells him the briars helped her save him because they responded to her commands. Keldarion becomes furious, insisting only Caspian controls the thorns—it’s part of his cruel manipulation. She realizes that if only Caspian controls the thorns, then it means he saved both their lives.

Rosalina confronts Keldarion about his past with Caspian. When he becomes defensive, she pulls up his sleeve and demands to know about the frosted briar bracelet. He confesses that the bargain he made with Caspian has doomed the entire Enchanted Vale. Panicked, he insists he must send her home to protect her from the Prince of Thorns, who he believes is following her. He declares her free, and she realizes he intends to take her to the portal, not back to Castletree.

Keldarion leads Rosalina to the rosebush portal and gives her a sack containing his mother’s necklace to sell for financial security. She refuses to leave, insisting her bargain is unfulfilled. He declares it complete, and the magical bracelet on her wrist shatters.

She insists Castletree is her home and begs to say goodbye to the others. She confesses that when he was under the ice, a light bloomed in her chest and guided her to him. She can still feel it connecting them. She asks if she is his mate.

Keldarion kisses her passionately. She returns it with equal intensity. He whispers that the way to the Vale is closed to her and pushes her through the portal. As she falls, she sees him freeze the rosebush with his magic. The portal crystallizes and disappears, stranding her in Orca Cove.

A month later, Caspian enters Keldarion’s destroyed room to find him in wolf form despite it being day. He taunts Keldarion about his pathetic state, the impending rebellion in a failing castle, and Rosalina’s month-long absence, mocking his choice to endanger the Vale instead of breaking the curse.

Keldarion lunges and pins Caspian down. Caspian reminds him of his past betrayal and summons thorns, which Keldarion easily shakes off. Keldarion transforms back to his fae form, grabs Caspian’s wrist, and begs him to break their bargain. Caspian refuses and uses his thorns to escape to the Below.

Alone, Caspian strokes the frosted thorn bracelet binding him to Keldarion. He anticipates the day Keldarion gives in to his feelings for Rosalina, which will, by the terms of their bargain, deliver Rosalina directly to Caspian.