Woven by Gold

After her life in the Vale, Rosalina finds Orca Cove bleak and colorless. As she and her father discuss his magical theories, she recalls finding him in a state of grief-stricken disarray upon her return. They had both hoped the other three princes would retrieve her, but months have passed with no word. During a walk through town, she coldly dismisses her former boss, Richard, and observes that the abandoned building she once dreamed of turning into a library has been bought by the Poussin family. When her abusive ex-fiancé, Lucas, drives past, she and her father hide. She reflects on how Lucas gaslit her and tried to force their engagement on her after her return, and she is ashamed of how fearful he makes her after she was so brave in the Enchanted Vale.

Rosalina and her father search for a new way into the fae realm. He gives her a moonstone rose locket that belonged to her mother, Anya. Rosalina discovers it is a magical artifact similar to the ones the fae princes use for transport. As she attempts to activate it, Lucas pounds on the door, startling her and causing her to drop it. Her father goes to confront him while Rosalina stays in her room, ashamed of her fear. Recalling the way Lucas carved his name into her arm from elbow to wrist, she resolves to end Lucas’s harassment and goes to the door.

Rosalina tells Lucas to leave, but he grabs her wrist, and the pressure forces her hand open, dropping the locket. When he tries to force her to put on his engagement ring, her father punches Lucas, who retaliates by shoving her father down. As Lucas advances on Rosalina, he intentionally steps on and shatters the moonstone locket. The destruction of her only hope ignites a fierce anger in Rosalina. She forcefully orders Lucas out of her house and her life. Stunned by her sudden power, he backs away. She picks up the ring and throws it at him, telling him never to call her by his demeaning pet name—“Pumpkin”—again.

Rosalina and her father attempt to superglue the shattered locket back together. He reveals that her mother, who disappeared years ago, called the locket her “first treasure.” On Rosalina’s first birthday, her father followed Anya into the forest and watched as she knelt before a single red rose. A being of light appeared and took Anya, leaving only the rose and the locket behind. Once the locket is repaired, Rosalina creates a small altar with her remaining magical items from the Vale. Focusing her intent, she uses the locket to call out to Castletree. A shimmering, window-like portal opens, revealing Ezryn, the High Prince of Spring.

Rosalina speaks to Ezryn through the magical window but cannot pass through the invisible barrier separating them. Believing she has returned to Castletree, Ezryn is overjoyed until she explains she is still in the human world. When he asks why she left, Rosalina tells him Keldarion banished her against her will and that she has been trying to get back. Enraged by the deception, Ezryn listens as she begs to come home. The connection falters, and the portal vanishes just as she briefly touches his glove, leaving her hand damp with fae rainwater.

Ezryn is consumed by rage over Keldarion’s lie. He storms back to Castletree, which is dark and decaying in Rosalina’s absence, just like its High Princes. Ezryn’s shoves past a disheveled Farron and a drunk Dayton to find Keldarion in his beast form—a giant white wolf. In a fury, he throws him through a window into the gardens below. As Keldarion transforms back into a man, Ezryn reaches under the bed to retrieve the discarded Sword of the Protector and throws it out the broken window after him. Facing his brothers, Ezryn reveals the truth: Keldarion sent Rosalina away.

Dayton and Farron process the revelation of Keldarion’s betrayal. While Dayton is furious, Farron is filled with hope and relief that Rosalina never wanted to leave them. In the gardens, Ezryn confronts a weary Keldarion, who claims he did what was necessary. Ezryn declares his intention to retrieve Rosalina and asks his brothers for their support; they agree without hesitation. Enraged, Keldarion warns that he will kill anyone who brings her back and attacks Ezryn. Despite their efforts to intervene, Farron and Dayton are no match for Keldarion, who is a master fighter. He swiftly defeats all three, holding his sword to Ezryn’s neck between the gaps of his armor. Ezryn dares him to kill him, but Keldarion relents, transforms back into his wolf form, and stalks away, warning them to leave Rosalina be. Undeterred, Ezryn tells his brothers they are going to get their girl.

Rosalina and her father perform a public ritual at a willow tree, hoping to open a portal. The townspeople watch and mock them until Lucas arrives, enraged. He harasses Rosalina and incites the crowd against her father. As two of his friends seize George, Lucas grabs Rosalina, threatening to have her father beaten unless she publicly agrees to marry him. As she is about to submit, three men in strange, brightly colored ’90s-era clothing walk through the parting crowd. Despite their bizarre appearance, Rosalina’s heart leaps and she cries out their names: Ezryn, Dayton, and Farron.

Farron is elated to see Rosalina but furious that someone is holding her against her will. As Lucas attempts to drag Rosalina behind an abandoned building, the princes follow, enraged. Dayton rips the door off its hinges. Inside, Lucas holds Rosalina’s left wrist in one hand and a knife in the other, threatening to brand her to prove she’s his. Dayton breaks Lucas’s wrist to free her, and Ezryn disarms him. Overwhelmed with guilt for having believed Keldarion and leaving Rosalina unprotected, Farron’s rage and shame build to an uncontrollable fury. Unable to stay calm, he loses control, and his beast form emerges, lunging at Lucas.