Broken by Daylight

This is the fourth book in the Beasts of the Briar fantasy romance series. The story is set in the Enchanted Vale, a magical world of four seasonal realms created centuries ago by Queen Aurelia. Twenty-five years ago, shortly after cursing the four high princes, the rulers of each seasonal realm, to transform into beasts each night, Aurelia was captured by Sira, the Queen of the Below, a dark underground realm. Rosalina O'Connell, Aurelia's half-human, half-fae daughter raised in the human world, is the fated mate, or magically destined soulmate, of three princes: Keldarion of Winter, Ezryn of Spring, and Farron of Autumn. At the end of the previous book, Kairyn, Ezryn's younger brother, usurped Spring's throne and allied with Sira, while Rosalina was captured by the Nightingale, Sira's masked assassin.

A prologue set in 1904 Egypt shows Rosalina's father, George O'Connell, meeting Anya, a mysterious woman who reads hieroglyphs. Their instant connection foreshadows a love spanning centuries, and a luminescent rose necklace at Anya's throat hints at her true identity as Queen Aurelia.

Three months after Rosalina's capture, her allies are scattered. Dayton, the cursed High Prince of Summer, hides in Hadria, Summer's occupied capital, where Kairyn rules with Spring soldiers, deserters from the Queen's Army (the military once loyal to Aurelia), and goblins. Farron fights goblin incursions in Autumn, troubled by the prospect of losing Dayton to Wrenley, an acolyte identified as Dayton's fated mate. Keldarion works secretly with Caspian, the Prince of Thorns and Sira's son, to locate Rosalina. Ezryn, banished by Kairyn, hunts Kairyn's soldiers across Summer under the feared moniker "the Prince of Blood."

Rosalina endures daily interrogations in a glass-walled cell beneath the ocean, her magic suppressed. Delphia, Dayton's teenage sister, orchestrates a daring underwater rescue. When the glass shatters, seawater displaces the magic-suppressing air and Rosalina's powers return. She creates gills, retrieves Summer's hidden token, a magical emblem tied to princely power, and escapes. Dayton destroys Kairyn's pursuing ship and reunites with Rosalina, but Wrenley announces she is Dayton's fated mate.

The group sails to Corsa Tuga, a pirate haven, and Rosalina uses her golden briars, magical thorns, to transport them back to Castletree, the queen's enchanted castle. There, learning about Dayton's mate triggers an uncontrolled magical storm that collapses Castletree's Summer wing. Caspian arrives with Keldarion and reveals he has been using his thorns to hold the castle together, not draining it as everyone believed.

George O'Connell arrives unexpectedly and reveals he saw visions of Caspian speaking with a woman trapped in green crystals. Rosalina furiously confronts Caspian, who admits Aurelia is alive in the Below, where Sira siphons her magic through crystals to power a gateway for the Baron of the Green Flame, Caspian's godlike father from another world. Farron persuades Caspian to help by arguing that a freed Aurelia could transform Caspian into a human, severing him from the Green Flame and his mother's control.

The group devises a two-pronged rescue plan. Farron and Caspian will descend to the Below to destroy the crystals. Keldarion and George will navigate a deadly labyrinth to reach Aurelia's prison. Caspian agrees only if Rosalina stays out of the Below; instead, she and Dayton travel to Summer with Wrenley to enter Kairyn's gladiatorial games and reclaim the Bow of Radiance, a divine weapon. Rosalina adopts a siren disguise and the alias "Madison" while Dayton enters under his own name.

When Kairyn's airship attacks Corsa Tuga, Ezryn saves Rosalina and together they crash it. Dayton asks Ezryn to protect Delphia and Farron's youngest sister, Nori, on a journey to find the Huntresses of Aura, legendary warrior women who ride pegasi. During a storm, Rosalina is swept overboard and Dayton dives after her. They wash up on a deserted island, where they meet Aeneas, the first High Prince of Summer, disguised as Dayton's childhood trainer. Dayton unlocks the Trident of Honor, a divine weapon within Summer's token. Sirens guide them back to Hadria after Rosalina transforms herself and Dayton for the underwater journey.

In the Below, Keldarion and George encounter three Fates. One shows Keldarion a vision of Rosalina as Caspian's thrall, a magically controlled puppet amid green fire. Another reveals George's life is tied to Castletree. They reach Aurelia's prison, where she explains she bargained with Sira to extend George's life by binding it to Castletree, agreeing that if she ever loved someone more, that person would belong to Sira. When Rosalina was born, Sira came to claim the baby; Aurelia offered herself instead. She reveals she was pregnant again when captured, and Sira took the second daughter, Wrenley, as her own.

Farron and Caspian destroy the crystals, but the Baron of the Green Flame manifests partially through the pool, tempting both with power. Caspian refuses. Farron appears to succumb before Caspian intervenes.

In Hadria, Dayton and Rosalina win two arena matches. Rosalina discovers a friar's lantern, a deceiver's flower, hidden in a nautilus shell from Wrenley, proving the mate bond was faked. Wrenley reveals herself as the Nightingale, captures Rosalina, and plans to manipulate Dayton into passing Summer's blessing to her. Dayton enters the final match despairing. Rosalina purges the Nightingale's suppressive potion, retrieves the Orb of Ancestors, a relic that channels warrior spirits, and sends the voices of Dayton's dead brothers to encourage him. Dayton defeats the Bronze Knight, Kairyn's armored champion wielding the stolen Lance of Valor, and rallies the gladiators.

Rosalina smashes the friar's lantern shell, and a will-o'-wisp, a spirit light that reveals true fated bonds, shows a golden line connecting her heart to Dayton's. They share their first kiss as confirmed mates and consummate their bond that night, breaking Dayton's curse.

Sira arrives above Hadria with an army of Green Flame skeletons. Dayton summons a massive tsunami to flood the city while Rosalina transforms every citizen into a siren; the sirens of Aerantheis, an underwater people, guide them to safety. Ezryn arrives with captured airships and soldiers he won over after defeating Kairyn without drawing his sword, alongside the Huntresses of Aura.

Wrenley obtains the Bow of Radiance and, under Sira's magical compulsion, shoots Dayton through the stomach. He dies. Rosalina is dragged to the Below by Wrenley's thorns. Farron arrives, eyes glowing green, and uses power from the Baron's pool to reweave Dayton's life threads. Dayton revives, but his eyes glow an eerie green.

In the Below, Caspian finds Rosalina imprisoned and confesses he is her mate. They consummate their bond, which triggers a bargain between Caspian and Keldarion: Because Caspian has lain with another, Rosalina is magically sent to Keldarion. Sira discovers them, and the Nightingale impales Caspian with a prismatic thorn as the magic pulls Rosalina away. In the flooding arena, Rosalina finds a dying Kairyn, who voluntarily passes the blessing of Spring to her before she heals him and rescues both Kairyn and Wrenley.

The book ends on multiple cliffhangers. Rosalina arrives at Keldarion's keep in Winter as Caspian's thrall, eyes milky, declaring she belongs to Keldarion. Dayton lives but is altered by the Green Flame. Farron shows signs of corruption, producing green flames from his palms. Caspian is imprisoned by Sira in a cage of fire above Cryptgarden, Sira's stronghold in the Below. In an epilogue, Wrenley descends to Aurelia's prison to learn fire magic so she can free Caspian; Aurelia agrees, sending a message that Anya O'Connell has a gift Caspian will need to defeat his father.