Rose in Chains

Gains and Reighven force Briony to bathe in front of them, and Reighven steals Briony’s mother’s brooch. The medics arrive and take Briony to be examined. They determine that she’s a virgin, which increases her value by 5,000 gold, and Gains demands they sterilize her. The younger medic refuses, and Reighven begins to use heartstop on her until the older medic agrees to do it. She cauterizes Briony’s left fallopian tube, but when it comes time to do the right side, she pinches Briony so that Briony flinches but doesn’t cauterize it, leaving Briony still capable of becoming pregnant. Gains takes Briony back to the other women, and Briony cannot speak. Thinking about how the younger Bomardi medic was willing to die to prevent Briony’s forced sterilization, she knows there are still people out there willing to fight for Evermore. Briony takes grapes from the food supply and spells “not alone” on the floor.

The narrative returns to Briony’s school days. She hates the state dinners that her father hosts for the Bomardi state officials. She hates seeing the Bomardi students outside of school and having to wear uncomfortable formal attire. Jacquel, Rory, and Briony stand to greet the Eversun and Bomardi guests. The Bomardi delegation arrives, and consistent with tradition, Jacquel, Rory, and Briony must bow to them. Larissa enjoys watching Briony bow to her and complains loudly about having to spend their second school year in Evermore. Gin Pulvey, the Seat of Bomard, approaches next. Sammy Meers flirts with Briony as she and her family greet him and General Meers, mostly to make Didion jealous. He asks for Briony’s first dance, which is typically reserved for the King and Queen, the Bomardi Seat and their partner, and any courting couples seeking to make a splash in society. Briony reminds him that Didion may not be an option, as she might have to marry a Bomardi heir for a political alliance.

Toven and his family approach, and Toven says she’s right about the possible political marriage. He asks her which Bomardi boy she plans to marry, and Briony sarcastically says she wants him. Toven wonders if Didion will take Briony’s second dance, but Briony doesn’t want to dance at all. Toven tells her that if someone in the Ten—the top ten members of the line of succession for the Seat of Bomard—asks her to dance, she must agree. Before he says more, Orion introduces the Rosewoods to Veronika Mallow, who is rude to Jacquel and barely bows while critiquing Eversun culture. Finn Raquin and his Eversun mother, Ember, greet the Rosewoods, and Briony’s banter with Finn upsets her father.

When Sammy claims Briony’s first dance, Toven cuts in and uses his position on the line to justify it. Briony tries to decline, but Toven touches her face and insists. As Toven and Briony dance, they again joke sardonically about a political match between them. Briony is shocked to see Cordelia dancing with Rory, and Toven says their romance has been obvious. Toven keeps telling Briony that she’s beautiful, and Briony sees Larissa and realizes that Toven and Larissa are fighting: Toven is using Briony to make Larissa jealous. Other Bomardi boys cut in, including Liam Quill and Canning Trow, who suggests a match between himself and Briony before attempting to grope her. She shoves him away and leaves the ballroom, where she finds Veronika Mallow. Mallow questions why all the Bomardi boys want Briony and says that political marriages are sexist and antiquated, used only to prevent conflict. She also suggests that the students change locations each school year to serve as collateral. Three and a half years later, when the Bomardi attack the school and take Eversuns hostage, Briony will remember that it was Mallow’s idea.

Briony struggles to drink water with her mouth forced shut. Phoebe is sterilized and spends most of the night crying as all the women are forced to drink the Gowarnus herb, lest their magic break through the collars as Briony’s did. Briony asks Velicity what happened to the fifth woman who was with them when they tried to escape, but all she knows is that the woman went out the window. Reighven returns and forces Briony to bathe again, and he watches in a predatory way as she strips naked. When she returns, the women begin to plan how to escape, but Briony feels defeated. Cordelia tells her that it’s not over, that Briony could still help them obtain freedom. Sammy and Didion are still alive, as some of the girls saw them.

Canning Trow enters the dungeon and selects two women named Jellica and Coral, as well as Larissa, to test out his new elixir that will help with Sacral Magic. Katrina tells Briony that Sacral Magic is a strengthening of the heartspring bond that occurs when a couple has consensual sex. Consent is key to sacral magic, and Briony is afraid that Canning’s elixir is a workaround for the consent requirement. Jellica and Coral return, but Larissa doesn’t.

Briony wakes the next morning with Larissa beside her. Larissa tells Briony that she’s jealous of her, as Larissa struggled to make a relationship with Toven work, to meet her father’s expectation of locking down a powerful man. She’s jealous even now of Briony, of what Briony’s life will be. Briony is confused before Cordelia pulls her away from Larissa. Gains collects Briony and takes her to be beautified before her appraisal. After having her body hair removed and her hair made shiny, Briony is brought on a stage before the Ten. The appraiser uses a spell to assess her magic, and he labels her a five, the highest of the scale. Because of her rating, her royal blood, and her virginity, Briony is appraised at 30,000 gold.

When Briony is taken back to the dungeon, she sees Didion, who promises to save her. Hours later, the women are dressed for the auction, with those who have not had sex dressed in white, and those who have dressed in black. The Bomardi take the women they have kidnapped through portals, with Briony and Larissa left last. Larissa begs her father not to auction her, but he ignores her. Gains turns Briony’s dress gold to represent her royal heritage before pulling her and Larissa through a portal, his hands over each of their tattoos.

Briony wonders what would happen if Gains let go of her as they pass through the portal. When they arrive below deck at the Bomardi Circus, Briony and Larissa are bound to chairs. Briony looks around and sees Cordelia and Didion, and she begins scanning for exits and potential weapons. Larissa begins speaking to one of the guards, named Parsons, telling him about Briony’s value and the profit that could be made selling her magical virgin blood. As the Bomardi entertainer whose name Briony can’t remember (Mr. Vein) begins the auction with Sammy first, Parsons frees Briony and attempts to kidnap her before Larissa throws her body and chair at him, breaking the chair and using the wood to stab him. She tells Briony to run as the others begin to fight against the guards. Didion almost helps Briony escape before he’s knocked down, and Briony is grabbed by someone whom Gains refers to as Hearst. She wonders whether it’s Toven or Orion. Gains knocks her out.

Briony wakes and listens as Riann Cohle, second in line to the Seat, buys Cordelia for 28,500 gold. Briony has a concussion, and the sound of the auction is deafening as she is brought to the stage. The emcee begins the bidding at 15,000 with Mallow’s permission. As the bids rise, two bidders remain: Reighven and Toven. The bidding war reaches 65,000 gold, and Toven backs off. Briony hears a ringing in her ears as Reighven signs the contract, and the tattoo on her arm takes the shape of his name.