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ROSE WAS SILENT WITH shock as Theo gave the retreat orders behind her. Even in the midst of Magdalina’s castle collapsing, all Rose could do was stare at the scene before her.
Magdalina, her lifelong enemy, was gone.
And she, at last, was free. She was certain of it.
The instant Magdalina died, she had felt it, felt the change inside of her. There was nothing left of the despair and helplessness inside of her. A haze had lifted from across her heart.
She was free, and free at last, and there was a bright future ahead of her for the first time in nearly eleven years. She closed her eyes, even as the castle began to shake, unable to do anything but revel in her freedom.
Rose was grateful, as Theo grabbed her hand and tugged her after him. He pulled her back into the urgent reality that they were going to die if they did nothing to hurry. They fled down the stairs and back to his horse. Theo shoved her up in front of him, hardly giving her any time to grab on before he pushed the horse into a gallop.
There was no time for her to find where hers was, as the ceiling began to break and the rafters, already rotting, began to fall.
Rose, still shocked speechless, watched as the other men around her hurried along with them, heading out of the keep.
“Rose! Theo!” Ethan called from the other side of the bridge. “Hurry! The castle is falling off the cliff!”
Theo’s horse pounded down on the bridge, and Rose gasped as several of the wooden planks splintered.
“We’ll make it,” Theo promised. “Come on, Charlie, jump!”
Just as the castle pulled back from the rocky terrain, Rose and Theo arrived safely on the remains of Magdalina’s castle grounds.
“Whoa,” Rose breathed. She glanced around at what remained. Rose noticed that, with Magdalina gone, the other fairies who had followed her were either quickly running away, or they were celebrating themselves. She would worry about the politics of Magdalina’s death later, she decided, as she turned back to Theo.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
In response, Rose reached up and brought his lips down onto hers, in full view of Derick’s men and the rest of their friends.
When she pulled back, she nearly laughed. “I’m more than alright,” Rose told him. “I’m free. I felt it. I am free, Theo! I’m finally free to love you.”
She kissed him once more, and she could hear the men calling out their cheers, several clapping in the background. Out of the corner of her eye, Rose could see the shocked smile on Ethan’s face; it was heartwarming, and she had a feeling that they would get along much better from now on, now that she was no longer afraid of being in love with Theo.
“You were always free to love me,” Theo pointed out, as he drew back from her.
“But now, I can do it without hurting you,” Rose said. “And that’s all I want.”
He gave her a smile. “Well, who I am to argue with you, Rosary?”
Hearing him call her Rosary again brought tears to her eyes. She was truly free, and she had someone to love her.
She was overwhelmed all over again, she thought, as a rush of joy poured through her. “Exactly,” she said, before she kissed Theo again, before laughing once more. She could not contain her joy. “Maybe I should sing.”
“Let’s wait until we’re back at Havilah,” Theo said. “Now that you’re free, I don’t want anyone else to have you, and your singing might convince some of them I could be defeated.”
Rose giggled. “Fair enough,” she agreed. “Maybe I should wait to sing on my birthday, and make it a solid eleven years between songs.”
“You sang to me before,” Theo reminded her.
“Oh, that’s true.” Rose pressed against him, embracing him tightly as the horse beneath them began to shift uncomfortably. “I guess I forgot. Well, you can’t blame me. Now I will be able to enjoy my own birthday! I’ll be able to see Isra’s wedding in Einish, and I’ll be able to rule one day. Oh, this is so wonderful. I’ll be able to do all the things I never thought I would get to do.”
“What about getting married?” Theo asked.
She stilled against him for the briefest second. “Is that your way of asking me to marry you?”
“I guess I can try to do it more grandly,” Theo replied, blushing a bit. “I didn’t mean to make it sound so clumsy.”
Before he could say anything, Rose knew what her answer was. “Either way, or any way, I would say yes,” Rose told him, breathless with overwhelming pleasure. “So let’s not worry about it now.”
“You’re not just saying that so you don’t have to sit through a parade of proposals from others, right?”
Rose grinned. “You know me so well.”
Theo reached down and pulled out the Rose Ruby. “Either way, or any way,” he said, “let me worry about giving you something grand to go along with the proposal.”
“Oh, Theo,” she said. “You should keep it.”
“No,” he said. “There is no power that will remove all magic from my life, Rose, so long as I have you to love.”
Rose flushed. “Thank you.”
“And now that you don’t need the dragon’s blood,” he said, “you’ll be able to carry the ruby around without worrying about it.”
“It’s beautiful,” Rose said, holding the small gem carefully, as she wrapped him up in another hug. She felt the power inside of it, and she immediately put it in her pocket. As much as she loved the thoughtfulness of the gift, Rose could not imagine a scenario when she would need it.
Ethan came up behind them. “Alright, you two, I think you’re making the rest of us uncomfortable.”
Rose had a hard time taking him completely serious, as he had a wide smile on his young face. She laughed. “Alright,” she said. “I think we should try to get an idea of what we need to do before we head back home, anyway.”
“I can’t agree more,” Bachas said. “I want to get home to Elva and tell her about all of my heroic feats.”
Rose jumped down from the horse and hugged him. “Yes,” she said. “We are indebted to you for our victory today.”
“Augh, watch it,” he snapped. “You’re still holding the ruby, Princess. I can’t be too close to it. You should put it away.”
“Oh, right. My apologies, Bachas.”
He sniffed, but said nothing else as Roderick came up to talk with Rose.
Rose took hold of Theo’s hand, keeping him close to her as they began to work through burying the men who had died, healing the ones who were injured, and finding aid for the fairies who were left behind. There was a lot of work to do, but Rose was determined to keep Theo beside her. She had felt too far from him in the past, and now that there was nothing standing between them, she was eager to enjoy it as much as she could.
As they headed away from Darkwood Forest, Rose could not help feeling like the shadow hanging over her whole life was suddenly gone, and nothing that would ever go wrong again.
In fact, Rose thought, things could only get better. “You know what, Theo?” she said. “We should get married on my birthday.”
He gaped at her. “This birthday?” he asked.
“What?” she asked. “Nervous?”
“No,” he replied, still stunned. “Just surprised. I know you dreaded your birthday before.”
“Not anymore,” Rose promised.
He looked at her for a long moment, and then he smiled. “I think it would be a great idea,” he said. “In many ways, it would be a way to redeem the day. But only if you’re sure. I know you didn’t want Isra pressured into marriage. I can wait for you, Rose, as long as you need.”
“Well, you’re a better person than I am,” Rose told him as she snuggled down next to him, ready to go to sleep for the night. “Because I can’t wait for you, and I can’t wait to start our new life together.”
“You know I will do what you ask,” Theo said, planting a quick kiss on her forehead. “Willingly.”
There were a few moments of comfortable silence between them before Rose said, “I just hope Isra doesn’t mind me upstaging her wedding with my own.”
“I think we can get away with a smaller one,” Theo said.
“You’re hoping for that, aren’t you?” Rose asked.
“Yes,” Theo admitted. “I’m going to be the most envied man in the entire kingdom. You shouldn’t blame me for not wanting the extra attention.”