Rose in Chains
by Julie Soto
Contents
Chapter 41
Overview
Serena’s ambush of the sterilization exam explodes into a multi-front fight. Briony frees a captive nurse, gaining vital intel: Cordelia is at the Seat’s Castle and Mallow hunts a hidden heir. Outside, Cohle nearly escapes with damning knowledge, forcing Briony to kill him with a heart-crush spell to protect everyone.
Summary
Chaos erupts as Serena Hearst duels Cohle while Toven shields Briony and tries to contain the nurses; Reighven is knocked out. When the female nurse bolts, Toven pursues, leaving Briony to stall the male nurse with basic spells. Serena’s albatross harasses Cohle, buying moments amid shattering glass and overturned furniture.
Briony intercepts the male nurse in a corridor and restores his voice. He reveals he is a captive medic whose sister Maggie is held at Biltmore. Briony bargains for his silence and sends him to find the rebels Sammy Meers and Velicity Punt, promising to fake his death. He discloses two critical facts: Cordelia Hardstark is at the Seat’s Castle as Mallow’s favorite, and Mallow believes a hidden boy heir exists after forcing Phoebe Rosewood’s abortion. He warns that if Mallow learns Briony can conceive, everyone at Hearst Hall will die.
Briony races back to find Serena subduing Reighven and the female nurse, then sprints outside after Cohle and Toven. She discovers Vesper broken but alive, then finds Cohle torturing Toven beyond the trees. Briony cloaks herself, strikes Cohle back, but accidentally drives him near the boundary where he could portal away.
Cohle wounds Briony with searing magic and moves for escape. Realizing the catastrophic risk if Mallow learns she is fertile, Briony completes the heart-crush spell she once failed in the Trow dungeon. She seizes Cohle’s heart from afar and kills him as he steps over the property line, saving Hearst Hall but feeling a consuming darkness as the act drains her.
Who Appears
- Briony RosewoodProtagonist; stalls a nurse, frees him to contact rebels, learns crucial intel, and kills Cohle with a heart-crush spell to prevent his escape.
- CohleExaminer turned adversary; duels Serena, tortures Toven and Briony, tries to flee to portal, is killed by Briony at the boundary.
- Serena HearstLeads the ambush; duels Cohle, commands an albatross familiar, subdues Reighven and the fleeing female nurse.
- Toven HearstShields Briony, chases the female nurse, fights Cohle, is overpowered and tortured until Briony intervenes.
- Unnamed male nurse (Eversun medic)Captive who tries to flee; Briony frees him to contact rebels. Reveals Cordelia’s location and Mallow’s search for a boy heir.
- ReighvenExaminer knocked out, later reengages; Serena keeps him down during the aftermath.
- Female nurseFlees the exam room; Toven brings her back; left subdued under Serena’s control.
- VesperToven’s fox familiar; critically injured with a broken back while defending them.
- Serena’s albatrossFamiliar that attacks and distracts Cohle during Serena’s duel.