Page 14 of Crowned By Roses

She rolls over, staring at the wall, but as I get to the door, she speaks again. “Is everyone still here?”

It’s one of the only questions she consistently asks.

“Yes,” I say. “All of us princes are in Orca Cove. Your mother and Wrenley are here. We’re all safe.”

“Okay.”

“I love you.”

She doesn’t reply, and I click the door shut.

The grocery store, Orcanic Goods, has worked a miracle on Dayton. He’s fascinated by all the bright labels and wants to purchase everything, which throws my budget out the window. He also opens a box of chewy chocolate chip cookies in the aisle, which earns us some dirty looks from the staff, but I assure them we’ll pay for it.

As we’re standing in line for the checkout, a display catches my gaze: Gardening season is here. Get your spring seeds now.

Rosalina’s words ring in my ear. Everything I’ve ever grown has died.

After only a little fuss from Dayton, we put back two boxes of sugary cereal, a bag of rice, and a chocolate bar, filling the cart instead with a tiny trowel, a garden fork, and carrot seeds.

When we return to the cabin, dusk has fallen. I find Rosalina sitting at the table, a bowl of soup in front of her. Keldarion has returned and is encouraging her to eat with little success. Dayton puts away the groceries and gives a genuine smile to Farron, who is at the sink, washing a haul of mushrooms. Wrenley, unsurprisingly, is nowhere to be seen, and I wonder if Anya even stepped foot out of her room today.

Carefully, I pull out the gardening supplies and place them on the table beside Rosalina. “I got you a present at the store. Saw there were some plots in the backyard. Did you used to have a little garden here?”

Rosalina flicks her beautiful brown gaze to the tools, then to Kel. “I’m going to go to bed.”

Kel flashes me a sympathetic look before he wraps an arm around Rosalina and helps her to her room.

With a sigh, I flop down into the kitchen chair. A shadow looms over me, and a large hand picks up the carrot seed bag. “You used the last of our money on gardening supplies?”

I gaze up at Ezryn’s hulking form. “I thought you decided to trust me, Ez?”

“I don’t believe I ever said such a thing.”

Soft murmurs sound from Rosalina’s room, and Keldarion closes the door and walks back into the kitchen.

I look between all of them, then push back my chair and stand. “Rosalina saved us.”

Keldarion crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe. “Of course she did. We all know that.”

I spin, making sure all their gazes are on me. “She almost killed herself trying to save Castletree, and it wasn’t enough. Anya has just gone from being the most powerful fae in the Enchanted Vale to a human who’s lost her husband. And I get it. We’ve all lost. Our families, our magic, our home. But we have experience with such things.”

The princes stare at me, unspeaking. But as long as they’re listening, it’s enough.

“We’ve been through it. Rosalina brought us through it. Now it’s our time to be there for her. We might not have the strength to reclaim the Vale or to wield magic like we used to, but perhaps we can make this a place she can be happy in again.” I sink into the chair with a sigh. “And we’ve got to figure out a way to get some money, because Sea Puppy has developed a taste for Nutella, and that stuff is expensive.”

Dayton takes a dripping spoon from his mouth, the container in his hand. “It’s hazelnutty and delicious.”

Footsteps sound from the front door, then Wrenley walks into the kitchen. “Money isn’t going to be a problem. While all of you were lazing around here, I went out and got a job.” She drops a T-shirt on the table, embroidered with the words The Seagull’s Gullet Book Emporium.

2

Ezryn

Ihate it. I hate it when that skinny, lavender-eyed, cunning spawn of the Below is right.

Which, unfortunately, he presently is.

We princes have lived in our sorrow for too long. We’ve had over two and a half decades to wallow. Look at how quick we are to fall back into that pattern.