Chapter 27

R osamund was trapped within the land of shadows and darkness. When Queen Elara left her, she had no other visitors. Madness was beginning to set in as she paced.

She was grateful the queen told her how to break the curse. However, that didn’t seem to help her much since she was stuck within the small confines of her inner prison. The queen told her she was resourceful, but she had yet to figure out how to break free of her mental jail and contact Phillip.

Thinking of him made her pause her pacing. She clutched her elbows, remembering the way his warm hands cupped her face. The way his breath shuddered out between his lips that sweet moment before he intended to kiss her. He’s honey colored eyes were half-lidded. It was the last thing she remembered before closing hers, because she had decided to memorize everything about that moment.

That was before everything went wrong. Before Rowena arrived. Before she blew her dragon’s breath on each of them to control them and force them to do her bidding.

“Oh, Phillip. How can I reach you?”

Her voice came out a whisper as she spoke to no one. There was no one to hear her plea. No one to help her claw her way out of her forced confinement.

“I must find a way,” she told herself.

But how?

She thought of Phillip again. His strong jaw. The way he smiled when he looked at her and made her insides warm. The way her stomach fluttered when he took her by the hand. She was happy to be with him, to ride alongside him. Their grand adventure turned out to be nothing more than a ridiculous sham, but it was still a grand adventure.

Every moment they spent together was another moment she cherished. She had never wanted it to end. When he asked her if it was terribly awful to marry him, she immediately knew her answer. No, it would not be terribly awful to marry him. Suddenly, she found she wanted to marry him and would happily do so when they returned.

“Oh, dear me,” she said on a breath. She pressed her cold, shaking fingers to her lips as she stared into the nothingness before her. “I’m in love with Phillip.”

The realization slammed into her so hard, her heart ached. There was an immediate throbbing at the base of her skull. As the breath whooshed out of her, she collapsed to the ground, drawing up her knees and encircling them with her arms.

“Phillip, I love you,” she whispered to no one. “All you have to do is kiss me and the curse will be broken.”

Would it? Must he love her in return for it to work? She didn’t know. She didn’t know if he loved her in return. She didn’t know if his kiss would break the curse.

She had to find a way. She just had to!

She rested her chin on her knees. Her eyes were heavy with fatigue as she sat there rocking back and forth trying to remain awake. To think. She had to think of a way to get to Phillip, to wake up so she could then tell her father the Fae were not interested in Stonebridge.

The queen’s words came back to her. You are a resourceful girl. You’ll find a way.

She focused on one thing—Phillip.

Her mind drifted. Then she thought for sure she saw him. She shot to her feet as she peered at him, slumped in a chair. He was sleeping with his head leaned against the back of the cushion. Something startled him and he awoke. Those honey-colored eyes of his met hers. Her heart leapt as she gasped.

“Rose?”

“I’m here!”

She wanted to rush to him, but the gloom was between them. Try as she might, she could not push it aside and go to him.

“Where is here?” Confusion was written all over his handsome face.

“I’m stuck in this place of darkness and shadows.”

He rose to his full height and tried to take a step toward her, but he was unable. That same murkiness kept him from coming closer. “How is this possible? I was in the castle and fell asleep and now I’m here with you.”

She understood then. The realization hit her like a bolt of lightning. She was in his dream. Perhaps thinking of him had placed her there while he was relaxed.

“You’re dreaming,” she said. “I’m in your dream!”

“How do I find you?”

She ignored his question and rushed on. “It’s the sleeping curse. You have to break it.”

He spread his hands as if in surrender. “I don’t know how.”

“I do. You must find me, Phillip.”

“Your father…he said he was taking you to your bedchamber.”

He was starting to fade from her. Somewhere in the distance, she heard another voice. A man. It sounded as though it were Jeffrey. He must be trying to wake Phillip. Panic swept through her.

“Go there! Go to my bedchamber at once.”

A dense dark fog rolled in between them. She was only able to make out a silhouette of him and nothing more. His face faded from her sight.

“No, not yet,” she said, her voice a roughened whispered. “Not yet.”

“Then what? Rose! Where are you? I can’t see you anymore.”

More shadows as the gloom pressed in between them, blotting him out. She blurted out the only words that came to mind.

“True love’s kiss!”

And then he was gone. Her shoulders slumped as she collapsed to the ground. Hot tears stung her eyes. She had no idea if her message got through to him. She hoped it had.

Phillip awoke with a start to see Jeffrey standing over him, a worried look on his face.

“Are you all right, mate? You were thrashing in your sleep.”

“Jeffrey? How did you get here?”

“Your mother brought me and Charles here,” he said.

But he really didn’t hear his answer as the dream crashed into him with a fury. He shoved Jeffrey out his way as he shot to his feet. He raked his hand through his hair, his heart beating at a rapid pace.

She’d told him to go to her bedchamber at once. The last thing he recalled before the dream faded was her voice shouting true love’s kiss .

Had he heard that right? She wanted him to kiss her to break the curse? There was only one way to find out.

“I need to find Rose.”

“I don’t think her father will allow you to see her,” Jeffrey said.

He spied Charles lounging in the chair opposite him, his ankle propped on his knee as he munched on a lemon cake.

“The king was fairly unhappy with you,” Charles pointed out.

“I don’t care about that,” Phillip snapped, impatience lancing through him. He turned to Jeffrey, grasped him by the upper arms and squeezed. “I know how to break the curse.”

His friend blinked surprise as his face went devoid of all emotion. “You do?”

“Yes! I have to get to her. I have to find her.”

He shoved him away and darted for the door.

“Wait, Phillip.” Jeffrey hurried after him and grabbed his arm to pull him to a stop. “You can just go charging through the castle.”

He focused on his friend, his mind still racing with thoughts of Rose. His Rose. “Why not?”

“Because the king has posted guards outside your door,” he said. “That’s why.”

“That does pose a problem,” Charles said from his chair.

Before Phillip was able to reply, his mother burst through the door of their chambers. Her face was flushed as though she’d made a mad dash through the hallways. Before she closed the door behind her, he got a glimpse of the two guards standing on either side of the door. Jeffrey was right.

“Phillip!” She said his name on a breath.

“Where have you been, Mother?”

“I’ve just come from speaking with the queen. I told her what you told me about—”

“Mother!” he admonished.

But she pressed on without pausing. “She does not want to call off the wedding. But we must find a way for you to break the curse—”

“I know how, Mother.”

She clamped her mouth closed and drew up straight, blinking surprise. “You do?”

“Yes, and I need to get to Rose now .”

Calm passed over her features. Then she gave one quick nod and held her hand out to him.

“Come with me, dear. I’ll take you to her.”