Woven by Gold

Caspian leads the group into a debaucherous party in Cryptgarden’s main courtyard. He provides them with a private, secluded alcove behind a jeweled willow tree. Inside, Ezryn promises an uncomfortable Keldarion that he will remain sober to protect Rosalina. When Farron helps Rosalina remove her cloak, her revealing, thorn-themed dress stuns everyone. Caspian becomes furious, declaring she will be “eaten alive,” but Keldarion angrily defends his mate’s right to dress as she wishes and threatens anyone who might harm her. Later, Keldarion reveals to Rosalina via their mental link that their bond is strengthening, allowing him to hear her thoughts. This new intimacy leads Rosalina to a startling realization: Keldarion is not the only person whose thoughts she can hear.

While Dayton and Farron dance, Rosalina stays in the private alcove with an increasingly drunk Keldarion and a watchful Ezryn. She observes Caspian on a throne of briars, where he engages in a public sexual encounter with a fae woman. Rosalina is overwhelmed by a confusing mix of lust and anger that she feels through her bond with Keldarion, whose fury causes his drink to freeze solid. Mentally, Rosalina wishes for the spectacle to end. A voice in her mind, which she recognizes as Caspian’s, replies, “As you wish” (403), and he immediately stops. Caspian’s shadowy briars swirl around them, and the fae woman appears next to Keldarion.

The fae woman Caspian sent propositions Keldarion. Overcome with jealous rage, Rosalina instinctively summons thorns from the ground that pull the woman away. Rosalina threatens the woman to stay away from her mate, and Ezryn escorts her out. Aroused by Rosalina’s ferocity, Keldarion initiates a heated moment, but he resists kissing her and pulls away, admitting he will lose control if he stays. To give Keldarion space, Ezryn offers to take Rosalina for a walk. Furious with Keldarion’s rejection, Rosalina breaks free and marches toward Caspian’s throne to confront him directly.

Rosalina confronts Caspian on his throne. When a nearby fae man insults and touches her, Caspian impales and kills him on a thorn. He publicly warns the entire party that anyone who harms Rosalina will be tortured and killed. He invites her to sit with him, and she questions his motives, including why he brought her to Castletree if he knew she was Keldarion’s mate. Caspian confirms he knew but offers only cryptic answers about her ability to control briars and hear his thoughts. He cruelly dismisses the idea that Keldarion is suffering from past heartbreak, saying, “Listen carefully when I tell you, Princess, Keldarion has never been in love before […] And if he ever tricks you into believing you’re the shore his star washed up on, remember he’s nothing but a selfish liar” (416). When Rosalina demands to know the details of their bargain, he mockingly suggests she sleep with him to find out, hinting at the nature of the bargain revealed in the epilogue of the previous book: If Keldarion gives in to his mate bond and has sex with Rosalina, she’ll be delivered to Caspian in the Below, just as the woman Caspian had sex with on his throne ended up in Keldarion’s arms. When Rosalina refuses to trade sex for information, Caspian insists that he’s already answered her questions.

Fleeing her confrontation with Caspian, Rosalina is swept into a dense crowd gathering for the new show: a beautiful siren singing in a large aquarium. Ezryn finds her and, after forcing a fae off a bench, pulls Rosalina onto his lap for a better view. As the siren sings a tragic love song, Ezryn translates the lyrics for Rosalina. The intimacy of the moment, combined with Ezryn’s touch on her bare skin beneath her ribboned skirt, arouses Rosalina. Suddenly mortified, Rosalina leaps from Ezryn’s lap and runs away in embarrassment.

Ezryn, who is also aroused by their encounter, follows Rosalina’s scent to a quiet corridor and pins her against a wall. After a tense, flirtatious exchange, he leads her to a secret, locked arboretum filled with wilting magical plants from the four realms. After Rosalina picks the lock, Ezryn magically seals the door behind them. In a rare moment of vulnerability, he removes his helmet, uses it to covers Rosalina’s eyes so she cannot see his face, and performs oral sex. Afterward, they are stunned to see that the dying plants in the garden are now blooming vibrantly, revitalized by the magic of their shared pleasure.

A drunken Keldarion meets Ezryn and Rosalina as they return from the arboretum. Ezryn leaves Rosalina to watch over Keldarion while he finds the other princes. Left alone, Rosalina climbs onto Keldarion’s lap, and they share a heated moment before Caspian interrupts them. He playfully binds Rosalina with thorns, which only arouses her. Rosalina gives Caspian his birthday present: a handmade journal where she has prompted him to list things that make him happy. Caspian is unexpectedly moved by the gesture. As they touch a thorn vine together, it sprouts a bud, and black roses bloom on Rosalina’s thorn crown. A mysterious masked woman arrives and argues with Caspian before storming off. Just then, Dayton and Ezryn return, and the group prepares to leave, realizing Farron is still missing.

Farron sips a final drink when Caspian corners him. Caspian claims they are similar, both “monsters within our family,” (453) and reveals he knows about Farron’s internal struggle with his beast, referencing the bargain collar and the way it intervened during his intimate moment with Rosalina. Farron furiously rejects the comparison, telling Caspian he is a vile outcast who was never part of their family. In his rage, Farron snatches the journal Rosalina gave Caspian and rips it in two. Devastated, Caspian declares that if they insist on casting him as a villain, he will play the part perfectly. The thorn collar around Farron’s neck tightens, and his world goes black.

Back in the alcove, Dayton and Ezryn have a tense, teasing confrontation about satisfying Rosalina. The group’s lighthearted mood quickly evaporates when they realize Farron has been gone too long. They search the castle but cannot find him, and Rosalina feels a certainty that he is no longer in the Below. They rush back to the secret door leading to their portal, but the crystal sequence no longer works. They find themselves surrounded by soldiers in jewel-toned armor, the Dreadknights. Their commander, the Nightingale—the same masked woman who argued with Caspian earlier—announces she is taking them to the Queen of the Below. As the princes prepare to fight, Rosalina kneels and presses her hand to the floor. Remembering Caspian can travel through his thorns, she summons a vine from the ground and realizes she possesses the same power.