Rose in Chains
by Julie Soto
Contents
Chapter 6
Overview
Briony awakens collared among dozens of captured Evermore women, including Cordelia, Phoebe, and Larissa Gains, and learns they face auction as heartsprings. During forced “exams,” Briony unexpectedly channels heart-magic and leads a desperate escape attempt. Reighven kills Eden and corners them; to spare Katrina, Briony surrenders. Gains orders stronger suppression to contain her.
Summary
Briony wakes in a moving, crowded dungeon cell, collared and chained among about fifty women from Evermore’s court, including Cordelia and Phoebe. The collar dampens magic, and a tattoo marks Hap Gains as her captor. Larissa Gains, also imprisoned, reveals they are bound for a heartspring auction. Memories surface of Bomardi students once boasting about such auctions.
Cordelia and Phoebe report the guards’ routines and that arrivals have slowed. Velicity Punt and others volunteer to fight. Gains and Lag Reighven arrive to take groups for showers and medical examinations, confirming the auction plan. Tensions spike when Larissa refuses to help and taunts Cordelia about her murdered father.
When Briony’s group is led out, they spot a window. Velicity strikes Gains, the black-haired woman attacks Reighven, and Eden rushes to open the window. In the melee, Briony discovers her heart-magic works despite the collar, slicing Gains’s chest and pinning Reighven to the ceiling. Gains injures Velicity and recovers; Reighven seizes Eden and performs Heartstop, killing her.
Briony flees up a floor, still casting from her heart. Cornered, she tries to kill Reighven with Heartstop but cannot complete it. Katrina tackles Reighven to buy time, but he captures her and threatens to crush her heart next. With guards approaching and allies incapacitated, Briony kneels and yields to save Katrina’s life.
Gains subdues Briony and orders Reighven to fetch a Gowarnus elixir to fully suppress her. He drags Briony back, while the women below remain imprisoned, their failed breakout leaving one dead and several wounded.
Who Appears
- Briony RosewoodAwakens collared among captives; learns of an auction; unexpectedly channels heart-magic, battles Gains and Reighven, and surrenders to spare Katrina.
- Lag ReighvenBlack-market heartspring trafficker; oversees captives; kills Eden with Heartstop and helps recapture Briony.
- Hap GainsBomardi noble and captor; tattoos Briony, leads exams; wounded by her magic; orders Gowarnus elixir and drags her away.
- CordeliaBriony’s ally; explains collars and routines; supports organizing resistance after returning from examinations.
- Phoebe RosewoodCousin; coordinates and maps corridors from memory; urges using surprise and prioritizing Briony’s escape.
- Larissa GainsGains’s daughter; imprisoned too; confirms dungeon is likely the Trow estate; uncooperative but provides key layout details.
- Velicity PuntMilitia veteran; pledges herself to Briony; initiates the attack on Gains; injured when Gains dislocates her knee.
- KatrinaCourt woman; comforts Eden; fights Gains; later seized by Reighven; spared when Briony surrenders.
- Eeden (Eden)Sixteen-year-old captive; fast runner; opens the window; killed by Reighven’s Heartstop.
- Unnamed black-haired womanFights alongside Briony’s group; chokes Reighven with chains; injured during the struggle.