Under the Roses

Part Two: In a Faraway Land

PART ONE RECAP

Alice Pleasance, daughter of a Cerieven nobleman, follows a mysterious boy, Whit, through a portal and enters the kingdom of Ailthe, which was ravaged by a revolution ten years ago and is no longer inhabitable, except Whit inexplicably lives there.

In the Milenian Woods outside Milen, Eilyste, an adopted girl named Rapunzel has fallen in love with the Crown Prince Ivan, but he loves another girl, Snow White. Rapunzel decides to kill Snow and hires a witch, Nicolai, to wipe Ivan's memories of Snow while Rapunzel goes to Ailthe to find poisonous apples.

In the kingdom of Phire, a girl named Vanessa realizes her grandmother is missing and follows a map through her grandmother's closet to Ailthe. The four of them go through Ailthe and help Rapunzel find her poisonous apples. They stray from the path and find a cannibalistic woman, who turns out to be a princess of Ailthe and Rapunzel's mother. She tries to eat them, but Vanessa turns into a wolf, and they are saved by another wolf and a strange woman.

Back in Cerieve, Alice's older sister, Lory, tries to look for her. Their elder brother, Austin, a student in North Auvyn, kingdom of faeries, learns of her disappearance. One of Queen Amoret of North Auvyn's illegitimate children, Rome, gets an offer to kill Austin. Back in Eilyste, Rapunzel's adoptive mother Andrina, a witch, performs a seance for Inge Andersen and learns of Rapunzel's departure to Ailthe.

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PART TWO: IN A FARAWAY LAND

"Children, especially attractive, well bred young ladies, should never talk to strangers, for if they should do so, they may well provide dinner for a wolf. I say 'wolf,' but there are various kinds of wolves. There are also those who are charming, quiet, polite, unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young women at home and in the streets. And unfortunately, it is these gentle wolves who are the most dangerous ones of all."

— from "Little Red Riding Hood" by Charles Perrault