Bonded by Thorns

Bonded by Thorns Plot Summary

Introduction

# Thorns of Enchantment: A Tale of Cursed Hearts and Fated Sacrifice The bookstore in Orca Cove had always been Rosalina's prison, but tonight the real cage waited beyond the thorns. When her father's bloodied jacket arrived without the man himself, she knew George O'Connell had finally found what he'd spent twenty-five years searching for—the realm of the fae. Following his trail through brambles that drew blood and past goblins with yellow eyes, she discovered a castle built into an ancient tree where four cursed princes ruled over a dying realm. By day they appeared as beautiful fae lords, but each sunset transformed them into monstrous beasts. When Rosalina traded her freedom for her father's life, she became prisoner to their dark secret and the only hope of breaking a curse that had bound them for a quarter-century. The purple thorns strangling the castle pulsed with malevolent life, counting down to some terrible end, while the Prince of Thorns watched from the shadows with eyes that promised both salvation and damnation.

Chapter 1: Through the Rose Portal: A Daughter's Desperate Bargain

The thorns drew first blood as Rosalina crawled through the brambles, following torn fabric and her father's fading scent. Behind her, Lucas's rifle cracked against the night, but the goblins kept coming—twisted creatures that chittered about beasts and someone called Keldarion. When Lucas abandoned her to save himself, falling into the thorny gully should have meant death. Instead, strong arms lifted her from the briars. Through her dizziness, she glimpsed a face of shadow and starlight before consciousness fled. She woke before a castle that defied reality—stone and bark intertwined, towers reaching into a massive canopy, all of it strangled by purple thorns that pulsed like a dying heart. In the dungeon tower, she found her father chained and shivering. But it was the other prisoner that made her breath catch—a young fae man with golden eyes and pointed ears, beautiful even in captivity. Before she could free either of them, winter itself entered the room. Keldarion stood seven feet tall with ice-blue eyes and white hair that caught the dying light. His voice carried the crack of glaciers as he condemned her father as a thief who had stolen a rose from the castle's heart. When Rosalina offered to serve the sentence in her father's place, something flickered in those cold eyes—surprise, perhaps recognition. The bargain struck with ancient words and binding magic. Her father vanished back to the human world while she took his place behind iron bars, watching the last light fade through barred windows. As darkness fell, the first howl echoed through the castle walls, and she understood that her real imprisonment was just beginning.

Chapter 2: Beasts at Twilight: Discovering the Princes' Cursed Nature

The white-haired servant girl brought breakfast with trembling hands and spoke of curses in whispers. Astrid explained the castle's terrible secret—by day, the residents were fae, but each night they transformed into beasts. The four princes who ruled this place became monstrous wolves, while the servants took the forms of smaller creatures. Rosalina's comfortable prison in the Spring Wing couldn't contain her curiosity. When she discovered the golden-eyed prisoner was Prince Farron of the Autumn Realm, her need to help overcame caution. She picked her door's lock with a thorn that grew conveniently sharp, then crept through moonlit halls to the dungeon tower. Farron's chains were sized for something much larger than his human form. When she removed the iron collar and opened his cell door, his horror was immediate. The sun had set, and her act of kindness became a death sentence. The transformation was agony made visible—skin rippling, bones cracking, fur sprouting as Farron doubled in size. The creature that emerged bore little resemblance to the gentle prince. This wolf-beast had branches and rotting leaves protruding from its fur, golden eyes empty of recognition, and claws that opened her leg to the bone. She fled through thorny corridors as the monster gave chase, her blood marking a trail across ancient stones. In the great hall, cornered and bleeding, she faced death with strange acceptance. Then winter exploded into the room as three more massive wolves arrived—one white as fresh snow, one black as midnight, one golden like summer seas. The white wolf was largest of all, and when it opened its jaws to reveal ice-blue eyes, she understood. Keldarion had come to save her from his own cursed brother, and the real nightmare was just beginning.

Chapter 3: Four Realms, Four Hearts: Bonds Forged in Magic and Pain

Prince Ezryn wore armor that never came off, a helmet that hid his face behind dark glass. When he found her climbing down castle walls on a rope of thorns, his metal gauntlets closed around her throat with casual violence. But those same hands later healed her wounds with spring magic, chewed leaves becoming medicine under his hidden mouth. In the hot springs of the Summer Wing, she met Dayton—golden-haired and shameless, rising from steaming water like some pagan god. His blue eyes held storm promises and his smile suggested sins she'd never imagined. He spoke of pleasure and power with equal ease, making her blush with words alone while she clutched a towel to her chest. The dining hall became a battlefield of wills. Keldarion commanded her presence each evening, his ice-chip stare tracking her every movement. When she threw food at him in defiance, he caught each projectile with infuriating calm. Their arguments crackled with tension that had nothing to do with imprisonment and everything to do with the way he held her when she fell. Farron was different in daylight—scholarly and kind, with wire-rimmed glasses and gentle hands that trembled when he touched old books. In the vast library with its autumn trees and falling leaves, he taught her about mate bonds and fae magic while purple thorns crept through every crack. She tried not to think about the beast that lived inside him, the creature that had called her name in its moment of savage release. Each sunset brought the change, turning princes into monsters and servants into animals. Only on the full moon did they remain themselves, one night of freedom in thirty. But Keldarion never left the castle, and in his self-imposed exile, Rosalina began to see the depth of his torment and the weight of secrets he carried.

Chapter 4: The Mate Hunt: Grand Balls and Growing Desires

The research consumed her days. In leather-bound tomes and ancient scrolls, she and Farron searched for the curse's weakness. The Enchantress had been specific—only by finding their destined mates and winning true love could the princes break their bonds. But twenty-five years had passed without success, hope dwindling like the castle's failing magic. Rosalina's proposal was audacious in its simplicity. If the princes wouldn't leave to find their mates, she would bring potential mates to them. Grand balls in each of the four realms, celebrations that would draw eligible fae from across the Enchanted Vale. The Winter Solstice would be their first attempt. Dayton embraced the idea with characteristic enthusiasm, already planning wines and musicians. Ezryn saw tactical merit, though he worried about maintaining their secret. Farron supported anything that might break their curse, his golden eyes bright with desperate hope. But Keldarion refused with arctic finality. The Winter Prince would not attend, would not seek any mate, would not participate in what he saw as futile hope. His rejection stung worse than it should have, and Rosalina found herself hurling breakfast pastries at his unmoved face. The bargain they struck hummed with fae magic. Blue and red light spiraled around their clasped hands as ancient words bound them together. If she could break the curse, she would earn her freedom. The tattoo that appeared on both their wrists—intertwined snowflakes and roses—pulsed with binding power. The Winter Ball was magnificent and terrible. Rosalina orchestrated every detail while watching the princes dance with potential partners, searching for that spark of recognition. But when Keldarion finally took the floor, it was her hand he claimed, spinning her through a waltz that felt like destiny itself. His whispered confession cut through her heart—he would rather die than have the curse broken, would rather spend his remaining time as a man with her than seek salvation with another.

Chapter 5: Shadows and Thorns: The Prince of Darkness Arrives

Caspian arrived like shadow given form, the Prince of Thorns whose very presence sent the Winter Realm into chaos. Beautiful and terrible, he commanded the purple briars that slowly strangled Castletree, his power a constant reminder of some ancient betrayal. The thorns that had always responded to Rosalina's touch writhed with new purpose when he appeared. Their dance was a battle of wills disguised as courtly grace. Caspian moved like liquid darkness, his words weaving hints of secrets the princes kept hidden. He spoke of appreciation and beauty, of how the Below knew to value what others caged. When his thorn drew blood from her finger, he tasted her essence with predatory satisfaction. The Winter Realm's nobles, already restless under years of absent rule, saw Caspian's appearance as proof of Keldarion's continued treachery. Riots erupted in the ballroom as accusations flew like winter wind. The Prince of Thorns had come for more than just a dance—he had come to shatter the careful lies that held their world together. Keldarion's arrival brought ice and fury. The confrontation between him and Caspian crackled with history, with wounds that had never healed and betrayals that cut deeper than any curse. They had been something to each other once, the way Caspian spoke of concern, the desperate edge in Keldarion's warnings about never trusting the Prince of Thorns. When Caspian vanished into his briars, he left behind only chaos and a crown of thorns upon Rosalina's brow. His parting words carried the weight of prophecy and the promise of revelations yet to come. The ball was ruined, hope seemed lost, and the princes found themselves questioning everything they thought they knew about their curse and their captive.

Chapter 6: Ancient Sins Revealed: The Truth Behind the Enchantress's Curse

The truth waited in the High Tower, forbidden and terrible. Following Caspian's cryptic guidance, Rosalina discovered the chamber where four enchanted roses slowly withered—the physical anchors of the curse, each one tied to a prince's life force. The magical vision that unfolded showed her the Enchantress's judgment twenty-five years past. The princes had not been innocent victims. Ezryn's bloodthirsty vengeance had left villages burning. Dayton's cowardly abandonment had cost lives in his desperate flight from responsibility. Farron's willful blindness had allowed atrocities to flourish under his scholarly nose. And Keldarion—Keldarion had betrayed the entire Vale for love, choosing Caspian over his sworn duties as Protector. They had been justly cursed, transformed into beasts until they could prove themselves worthy through the love of their fated mates. But the curse was more complex than simple punishment. It was opportunity disguised as torment, a chance for growth that could only be seized through genuine transformation. The roses were dying, petals falling like tears. When Rosalina tried to save them with her own life force, channeling power through the thorns that had always responded to her call, the magic recognized something in her blood. She was connected to this place, to these men, in ways that transcended simple fate. But her sacrifice came with a price. Each pulse of power that flowed into the dying roses drained something vital from her own essence. The thorns that crowned her head drew blood that sparkled with starlight, and she understood that saving them might cost her everything. Yet as she watched the roses bloom with renewed life, she knew the choice had already been made. The princes burst into the chamber as her strength failed, their horror at her sacrifice warring with desperate hope. For the first time in twenty-five years, the curse showed signs of breaking. But would her love be enough to save them all, or would her death simply add another tragedy to their collection of sins?

Chapter 7: The Ultimate Sacrifice: Love's Price and Separation's Sting

Keldarion's rage shattered the moment like winter wind through glass. He could not bear to see her risk herself for their redemption, could not accept that she might be the key to their salvation. The roses bloomed brighter with each drop of her blood, the curse weakening as her life force flowed into their salvation, but the Winter Prince saw only her pain. In his desperation to protect her, he made the cruelest choice of all. Ice exploded from his hands, sealing the chamber and severing the magical connection that bound her to the roses. The thorns that had crowned her head withered and fell as he gathered her bleeding form against his chest, his own tears freezing on his cheeks. The other princes fought against his decision with desperate fury. They had felt the curse loosening, had glimpsed freedom for the first time in decades. But Keldarion's will was absolute, his power as Protector of the Vale still strong enough to override their protests. He would not purchase their freedom with her life, would not allow love to become another weapon of destruction. The portal home opened like a wound in reality, roses blooming around its edges in mockery of hope. Keldarion's final words were both blessing and curse—he loved her too much to let her die for them, loved her enough to send her away forever. The magic that had brought her to the Vale reversed itself, pulling her back through thorns and time to the mundane safety of her human world. Rosalina found herself in the bookstore where it all began, her heart shattered and her true home lost forever. The princes remained trapped in their curse with no hope of escape, their one chance at salvation sacrificed on the altar of Keldarion's protective love. The thorns that had once responded to her touch were gone, leaving only the memory of magic and the taste of winter on her lips. Yet in the space between worlds, something stirred. The roses she had saved with her blood continued to bloom in the High Tower, their petals holding the promise of a love strong enough to transcend any curse. The story was not over—it was simply waiting for its next chapter to begin.

Summary

In the end, love proved both salvation and damnation for the cursed princes of the Enchanted Vale. Keldarion's final act of sacrifice, sending away the woman who might have been their redemption, revealed the depth of his transformation from selfish betrayer to selfless protector. Yet in losing her, he and his brothers faced a future darker than any curse—an eternity as beasts, watching their realms crumble while the Prince of Thorns claimed victory through their very nobility. The thorns that had once seemed like instruments of torment now appeared as something more complex—a bridge between worlds that responded to genuine love and sacrifice. Rosalina's connection to them, her ability to command their power and revive the dying roses, suggested that the Enchantress's curse was not merely punishment but transformation. In the space between human and fae, between curse and blessing, between sacrifice and salvation, the true magic of the Enchanted Vale waited to bloom again. Some loves, it seemed, were strong enough to transcend death itself, growing like roses among the thorns of fate.

About Author

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Elizabeth Helen

Elizabeth Helen charts enchanting journeys through the realm of fantasy romance, crafting stories where magic and love intertwine. Known for their "Beasts of the Briar" series, this Canadian sister duo has captivated readers with their imaginative retellings of classic tales, such as their "Bonded by Thorns", a unique take on the Beauty and the Beast narrative. Their storytelling is characterized by rich fantasy settings and intricate character dynamics, often exploring the theme of "why choose" romance that allows for multiple romantic connections within a single storyline. This innovative approach not only broadens the emotional depth of their narratives but also challenges traditional romantic tropes.\n\nThe authors employ a meticulous writing process that involves collaborative drafting, scene division, and rigorous editing, allowing each sister to contribute uniquely to their shared vision. This method ensures that their books are both cohesive and richly detailed, reflecting a shared dedication to their craft. Heavy outlining serves as a cornerstone of their writing technique, enabling them to construct complex plots with clarity and precision. Beyond their engaging narratives, Elizabeth and Helen actively engage with their audience through social media platforms like TikTok, leveraging market insights to refine their storytelling and connect with readers on a personal level.\n\nReaders of Elizabeth Helen's works find themselves drawn into a world where romance is as much about choice and self-discovery as it is about enchantment and adventure. Their transition from young adult fiction to adult romance has expanded their readership, offering something for both new and returning fans. With a strong presence on Goodreads, where their books have garnered numerous ratings and reviews, their success is a testament to their ability to resonate with audiences seeking both escapism and emotional depth in fantasy romance. Represented by JABberwocky Literary Agency, their continued exploration of love and fantasy promises to enchant readers for years to come.

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