Page 109 of When Roses Burn

I’d spent the past few days pondering where she was and what she was doing. I’d vowed never to let her back into my life and was failing miserably at keeping her out.

Running a hand across the black stubble on my head, I studied the tree as I pondered Bertie’s words. Is Briar something more?

She had a gift when it came to potions and plants, but many casters were good with potions and plants. They unleashed those fucking vines on us in the harem, after all.

Bertie must have seen or sensed something different about Briar, and once I found her and calmed down, I’d have to locate Bertie to discover what she knew… if she’d talk to me.

Sighing, I made my way around the tree and down the hall toward the healer’s room. I was almost there when I realized ogre blood still covered me.

I should shower and change before finding Briar but decided against it. Not only had everyone in the castle disobeyed my orders about her, but so had she, and I would make my displeasure about that clear.

My mood didn’t improve as I stalked past rosebushes clearly healthier than before. While some still struggled, they weren’t nearly black anymore.

A stone dropped into the pit of my stomach when I realized they’d probably let Briar into the throne room too, which meant she’d seen the roses on my mother and father’s thrones. No one else would have dared to sit on those thrones, so I knew my parents’ location. They were the only two rosebushes I knew for certain.

I almost reversed and headed for the throne room, but I was nearly to Briar. I’d check on my mother and father afterward.

When I arrived at the healer’s room, I strode through the open door prepared for a fight. Briar wasn’t there.

The cauldron sitting on a cooling rack emanated steam and a sweet scent. Nearby, glass jars were ready to be filled with potion.

“Where is she?” I muttered.

Leaving the room behind, I stalked back through the castle, scenting the air as I tracked her, but her aroma had permeated the residence. I was almost at the tree when I detected a somewhat stronger trail of her and followed it to the windows overlooking the back of the castle.

Once there, I studied the sloping, shaded hills full of earth moss, but Briar wasn’t there. And then I spotted the open door in the wall. My heart leapt into my throat when I realized she’d fled.

Spinning away from the window, I raced through the corridors, down the stairs, and flung open the back door to the mossy hill. While I ran, the beast burst free; it twisted my body and snapped my bones as it forged me into something more powerful.

My boots shredded, and my claws dug into the spongy earth, tearing it up. As I ran through the door and past the walls, I let the beast unleash completely. The creature who’d started to emerge on the day I reached maturity and escaped the harem now fully appeared.

Before the day I stopped aging, the beast wasn’t strong enough to present itself fully, but on that day, the secrets within me came to light. I rarely let the full beast emerge; that was my secret to keep, but I gave it free rein today as I tore through the forest.

The monster Marina had created thundered through the woods, toppling trees and trampling everything in its way as it followed Briar’s scent. And once I found her, she’d pay for running.

CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

Briar

“Oh! Visitors! I so rarely get visitors!” a childlike voice exclaimed in my head.

I froze in the middle of harvesting the willowcap mushrooms from the large clearing in the woods. Some sun filtered through the clouds; flecks of it danced across the ground, but it was still more like dusk in Wildwood than the middle of the day.

I searched for the source of the voice, but the woods remained empty. I set the mushrooms I’d plucked in the basket I’d brought for this task.

I wasn’t supposed to be outside the wall, but Zephyr and Gizzi were keeping watch, and it wasn’t the first time we’d slipped out to gather the mushrooms. When I’d casually mentioned to Zephyr that willowcap mushrooms would make my potion stronger, he’d told me he knew a place, but it was outside the walls.

He said he hadn’t been there in over a year, but the mushrooms should still exist. We’d slipped out yesterday to check the area, plucked a few mushrooms, and scampered back before anyone noticed we’d gone.

Zephyr offered to harvest the mushrooms on his own, but there was safety in numbers, and I’d never forgive myself if he got killed while trying to help me. I wouldn’t forgive myself if something happened to him now, but at least I was here to help protect him.

Today, I brought a basket with me, and when Dromon went to help some sprites with the birth of a calf, we snuck away. This wasn’t my brightest decision, but some of the roses were still struggling, and these willowcaps could really help them.

If caught, I’d lose the freedom I’d gained, but it was worth it to help save the roses not responding as well to the earth moss potion. If we lost them, I was certain that, even if the curse could be broken, those shifters wouldn’t survive to see it.

“Look at how cute that thing is! What is it?”

The excited voice rang in my head again. I glanced over at where Gizzi sat on a branch, his nose twitching and his black eyes focused on the forest.