Page 137 of Crowned By Roses

“Then come on. We don’t have much time.” I hold out a hand, and he takes it. I pull him onto the back of the pegasus.

We swoop over to the other side of the tree where Aurelia and Wrenley have fallen away from their tangle of roots and briars. “Aurelia⁠—”

With the Elderblood imprisoned in ice, Aurelia, her two daughters, and Jack are all that are left of the lost realm of the Above. I can only hope it’s enough.

She holds up a hand. “I know what to do.”

“I don’t,” Wrenley snarls. “Rosalina should have shot her while she had the chance.”

Aurelia grabs Wrenley’s hand and pulls her to the earth. “It will take the power of the Vale to heal Castletree. Every blade of grass, every mouse, every falcon.” She seizes her daughter’s gaze. “Every wren.” Then she turns to me. “My heart was not strong enough. But hers is.”

“She nearly died last time,” Caspian says lowly.

“Not today,” I say. “Not if her mates have anything to say about it.”

My pegasus shoots upward into the sky. When I look down, I see the Queen’s Army kneeling on the ground around Aurelia and Wrenley, their hands clasped to the earth. Wherever they touch the earth begins to shimmer, like particles of dust caught in a sunbeam.

Caspian holds tight to my waist as the pegasus cuts through the air, flying over several landed Spring airships. Spring soldiers are gathered around a single point. It’s not Ezryn’s silver armor that I see but a massive black wolf, its fur bursting with wildflowers. Ezryn arches back his head and howls. One by one, soldiers fall to their knees. Just like the Queen’s Army, their hands dig deep into the earth.

“For the Golden Rose,” someone calls. Then another and another until it is a battle cry among the Spring army. At Ezryn’s right-hand side, a massive fae with spiraled horns and black armor kneels. Light shimmers around him. Kairyn…giving his energy to Rosalina. Nearby, I spot Tilla doing the same, her morning star fallen to the side. In matching armor spattered with blood, Marigold and Eldy clutch each other, their other hands extended into the dirt.

Even the enigmatic Jack drifts off one of the airships and goes to kneel beside Kairyn. With the Elderblood’s wills stolen by Sira, he is one of the sole representatives of the Above. A glow haloes his edges.

Spring—and the Above—have awoken.

At the back of the battlefield, where the River Gami surges, kneels the bulk of Summer’s forces. At their head, the golden wolf, his fur shimmering with coral and shells, joins Ezryn’s howl. The sound is like the ringing of bells and the call of trumpets all at once. Gladiators and pirates kneel side by side. Delphia and the other huntresses have landed, and even their pegasuses bow to the earth. It’s all connected. Every fae, every animal. Sirens crest the riverbank. I spot Claudius, one of Dayton’s oldest friends, and Huxton, the lead naval commander. They’re here…fighting for Rosalina. Offering her their energy.

Summer’s squall.

Strong wings carry us over the dirt trampled by Autumn’s wild cavalry. A wolf with fur of flames races alongside elk, bear, deer, foxes, rams, and strange creatures I don’t even have the names for. Farron stops and tilts back his head, his howl joining the chorus. Another howl joins, but this is that of a fae. Padraig, red beard caked in blood, lets loose his own primal call. Beside him, Nori, hands filled with tiny pumpkins, also tilts back her head and howls. Dom, fighting with his twin brother’s falchion, joins his family’s song. Together, they kneel, and the animals and the Autumn fae join them.

Autumn is a glowing bounty.

“Ready?” I ask.

Caspian squeezes me tight. “I truly think I was born ready for this moment.”

I feel him shift, ready to leap off, but then he stills.

“Kel?”

“Yes?” I look over my shoulder. Caspian’s hair is wind-swept, his face flushed, and eyes bright as stars. More than ever before, he looks to me a hero.

“If this doesn’t work,” he says quietly, “thank you for making my life so beautiful.”

I turn, shifting so I can pull him against me. “And we’ll keep living our beautiful lives. In this world or the next. By stardust or shadow, I’ll find whatever piece of you is left and never let you go.”

“Okay.” Slowly, he pulls away, a single tear running down his face. “Find me there then?”

Before I can respond, Caspian grabs the front of my armor and kisses me, tasting like the universe itself. Then he slips off the pegasus and descends to the ground in a tangle of purple briars.

I have to clamp my mouth shut to keep from calling after him. My eyes are blurry, but I see when he lands amid the rebels he gathered in the Below. The outcasts, the shunned, and those who sought peace in the dark…and the ones who, because of Rosalina, remembered what it was like to be happy.

Fae of the Below gather to Caspian. He casts a look up at me, smiles, and kneels. The shimmer around him and his fellow outcasts is as bright and beautiful as moonlight itself.

The Below, a realm carved from darkness and pain, reclaiming itself as part of the Vale.

And now there’s one army left.