Under the Roses

Part Three: Beyond the Mountains and Rivers

PART TWO RECAP

The woman who saved Alice, Rapunzel, Vanessa, and Whit turns out to be Vanessa's grandmother, Red, the Crimson Queen, who led the Revolution that destroyed Ailthe. Whit works for her. She wants to reunite the empire. She agrees to help Rapunzel get prince Ivan and tells Vanessa that she can turn into a wolf because of a curse. To break the curse she needs the power of the Five Artifacts, which are scattered throughout the kingdoms. Red leads them to the Ailthean palace, where she and Whit live. In the night, Alice is called to a room and pricks her finger on a strange flower. Whit has a secret plan against Red that Alice agrees to help with.

Alice, Whit, Vanessa, and Red's wolf Wolf go to Virane to find one of the artifacts, the Cloak of Honor. They get separated, and Vanessa and Wolf meet a girl, Rika, who brings them to Princess Jun-Li. Jun-Li gives Vanessa the Cloak after she shifts again. Meanwhile, Whit and Alice put the entire kingdom of Virane to sleep using sleeping dust.

Rapunzel goes back to Eilyste and feeds Snow the apple. She gets locked in her room by Andrina and is rescued by Ivan and one of his guards, Jack. They believe her name is Helena.

Austin goes back to Cerieve, shadowed by Rome. Lory and her friend Charlotte find a book that allows them to communicate with Fritz, King of Korev, who can help them find Alice. Lory goes to Korev alone to seek his help. In Korev, Lory meets Livia and Quinn, old family friends who, along with their new friend Nix, want to leave Korev. They help Lory get to the capital, where they are granted an audience with Fritz. Fritz says the only way for them to get home is through the Otherworld, and the demon Pan shows that Alice is in Ailthe.

Austin and Rome make a contract because Rome has decided not to kill him. They go back to North Auvyn, and Rome shows him to his house in Central Auvyn. Rome meets with his father, the Otherworldly prince Euryn, who tells him that the demon Lilis has been up to some suspicious business. Rome's half-sister Ermengarde comes and offers him a favor in exchange for his participation in the Korevan Duels against the demon Vine. He agrees.

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PART THREE: BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS

"'Among the daughters of the air,' answered one of them. 'A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being. On the power of another hangs her eternal destiny. But the daughters of the air, although they do not possess an immortal soul, can, by their good deeds, procure one for themselves...'"

— from "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen

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This is my least favorite part TT but it's also the shortest besides the last part (the "epilogue").