Rose in Chains

Briony is chained to the wall in a cell alone. She thinks about the auction, nearly unable to believe that the Bomardi will really auction them like animals. She remembers a fight Liam Quill and Didion got into back at school, how Liam said he’d buy Didion as a heartspring and make him watch as he raped Briony. Toven intervened, pushing Didion away before choking Liam. Briony isn’t sure what to make of Toven’s behavior.

Reighven enters the cell and threatens to sexually assault Briony before he’s interrupted by Orion Hearst, who delivers a Gowarnus elixir to stop Briony’s magic. Orion insults Briony and the Eversuns, so she spits in his face as she once spat in Toven’s. He wipes his face before Mallow enters the cell. She tells Briony that she’s being kept alive at the request of Reighven and the other Bomardi that seek to bid on her, and she insists that Briony be forcibly sterilized. Briony doesn’t want this, as she dreams of having a family and restoring the Rosewood line. Mallow tells her that the war is over and Rory is dead, his body burnt. Briony bites Mallow’s face, making her bleed. Mallow uses a spell to force Briony’s mouth shut and tells her that she’ll kill all the other women if Briony rebels again.