Thornwood by Leah Cypess

Author:Leah Cypess [Cypess, Leah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2021-04-06T00:00:00+00:00

The spinning wheel was still turning slightly when Rosalin and Varian walked back into the room.

They weren’t arm in arm anymore. Varian’s face was drawn, and Rosalin’s was pinched. My stomach flipped when she looked at me.

“He’s not a prince,” she said in a hard voice. “And he’s not a hero. He didn’t fight his way through the Thornwood to save us. My fairy godmother invited him in.” Rosalin kicked at a small stool near the wall, as if it was in her way. It fell over with a crash. “Apparently, he didn’t think it was important to mention that small detail before risking our lives by taking us into the Thornwood.”

“I know this is a shock,” Varian said a bit desperately. “Even to you, Briony. I could tell you suspected me of something, but I’m sure it was nothing like this.”

I blinked at him, and he gave me a small, firm nod. It was a moment before I understood.

He hadn’t told her. He hadn’t told Rosalin that I already knew, that I had lied to her. He was keeping my secret, just like I had kept his.

“I’m sorry I lied. To both of you,” Varian went on. “I didn’t know you. I only knew your story, or at least the version of it they told where I’m from. I thought I had to fit myself into that story in order to gain your trust.”

“Um,” I said. There was no way to thank him, not with Rosalin there. “That’s all right. I understand.”

He turned to Rosalin. “Does it really matter to you that I don’t have royal blood?”

“That’s not what’s important,” Rosalin said. “What matters is that you lied to me.”

It was such an obvious answer. She almost had to say it.

But I knew it wasn’t true.

Don’t be convinced to marry below your station, Rosalin had told me once. We had been hiding from our language tutor, who was making us read a long, unlikely story about a princess who married a frog. (Or something. Since it was in Gnomish, it was a little hard to follow.) We both knew the story had been chosen to convince Rosalin to accept a marriage proposal from the duke’s sixth son. Don’t let them think so little of you. This whole idea is insulting. I may be cursed, but I am still a princess!

Varian’s birth did matter to Rosalin. It would matter to anyone in this castle.

But Varian, who had come to us from a time when different things mattered, couldn’t see what would be so clear to anyone else here. And so he believed her. He looked stricken. “I wanted to tell you.”

Rosalin looked haughtily away, and Varian’s face crumpled.

I drew in a breath. My sister’s romantic complications were not enough to distract me from what I had just learned. The fairy godmother’s words ricocheted back and forth in my mind.

Dying in it. Dying in it. Dying in it.

No, I thought.

“Briony?” Rosalin said suddenly and sharply. “What do you think you’re doing? Get away from that spinning wheel!”

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

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