Page 50 of Crowned By Roses

Looking down, I see the glowing portal back to the Celestial Landing is closing in. I need to get us to the isle before that happens.

Grow, grow, grow.

I will magic into the stalk. The connection grows, but my magic feels sluggish, weak. Because attempting to save Castletree took so much? The state of the Vale? Or because it sat untouched for so long in the human world, like a forgotten artifact, getting dusty at the back of a museum?

I grit my teeth, make sure my grip is tight on my family, and raise us up. Peering through the clouds, I hope for any glimpse of the isle we saw earlier. How far did we fall?

“You’ve got this, Rosie,” Farron urges.

My heart nearly beats in my throat, and a cold sweat runs down my spine. For a moment, my vision pitches to black. No, no, no. This is what happened when I tried to give my magic to Castletree. I can’t fail again.

There’s a hiss and a burning smell. The gateway is closing in on the briar stalk, beginning to cut into the flesh of the plant. The stalk wavers.

I scream, reaching for my magic, but it’s like trying to make an ember into a bonfire—I’m too weak. The sizzling increases, the portal closes in, and the briar shakes.

“No,” Caspian curses. “What a time to no longer be the Prince of Thorns.”

Something lights inside me. It was never just the two of us who could summon the thorns. There’s one other person here who can control briars.

“Wrenley!” I scream. “We need your help.”

Her eyes widen, pupils to slits. “I can’t. My briars gave out, remember? My magic’s gone, same as yours.”

“I found it again, and so can you!” I say. “The isle is close, I know it. We need to get higher. Like Jack and the beanstalk!”

Wrenley’s eyes dart back and forth.

A sharp pain winces through me as the portal closes in, cutting deeper into my stalk. “Wrenley!”

“Okay!” she gasps. “I need you to toss me into the air. As high as you can.”

“The connection to the earth is below,” Dayton says, gesturing wildly.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to catch you again,” I say.

“If this fails, all of us are going to fall anyway.” Wrenley looks me in the eye. “Trust me, Rosalina.”

I concentrate on the briar holding her, then with a cry, I whip it high in the air. As I release her, she disappears into the clouds.

“Well, at least one of us might make it,” Dayton grits out.

“She’ll come back for us,” Caspian says, then turns to me. “Rosalina!”

Blackness presses in, and I feel air rush by me…

Suddenly, I’m yanked up. Kel grabs me around the waist while hanging on to the briar with one arm. My vision blurs, and I see the other princes clinging to their golden briars as well. I reach for my connection, but it feels so weak.

A sharp stab of pain shudders through me as down below, the Celestial Landing closes, cutting my briar off. For one brief moment, we’re suspended. Then⁠—

Then something cuts through the clouds.

An iridescent briar, huge and glimmering in the sun. It wraps around the top of my golden thorn, becoming one, catching us.

Wrenley did it.

Slowly, we rise above the cloud cover where a floating isle appears, one of white rock and green grass. Sitting on the edge is my sister, gleaming. She didn’t need to connect to the earth. She connected to the Above itself.

And brought us to Airaleth.