Cin d'Rella and the Golden Apple: Circle of the Rose Chronicles, #2

By S. J. West

While Cin tries to help Coltan with the new reality of his life, a host of surprising complications crop up which take them both on a journey of self-discovery. With the help of a mysterious ally, Cin and her friends embark upon a quest to find a magical object known as the golden apple. It's said that whoever possesses the apple is granted one wish. Figuring out where this legendary item is located won't be the hard part. Discovering how to get there and surviving the journey to its resting place may end up costing Cin more than she bargained for.

After tragedy strikes the city of Briardale, a new adversary rises from the ashes and threatens to destroy everything Cin loves. Not only will Cin have to rely on the other Thorns to help her protect the city from this new foe, but she'll also have to trust her new angelic friends to guide her to her destiny. As if all of this wasn't enough, Cin must also learn how to balance both duty to the Thorns and love for a man she can no longer view as her enemy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S. J. West
• Release date: Aug 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201699529

Book preview

True sorrow can shatter your soul. It takes time for the hole in your heart to heal enough so you can make it through each day. When you’re on the outside of such pain and watch someone you care about experience it, helplessness can consume you. There are no magic words you can say to make the person feel better. All you can do is be there for them when they’re ready to start living again, and no amount of wishing can hasten that process up or alleviate their suffering.

When Coltan showed up on my doorstep after his mother’s passing, I held him for as long as he wanted me to, and I let him go when he said he needed some time alone to sort things out on his own. He promised he would get back in touch with me when he was ready to talk, but that was three days ago. I haven’t received a call or even a note from him since, and I’m beginning to wonder if he’s intentionally pushing me away.

Yet, how could he push away someone he professed to love? I still don’t quite understand why he said such a thing on the island when we haven’t been around each other that much, but I can’t deny the connection between us. Can I truthfully say that I’m in love with Coltan Prince? If I’m being honest with myself, the answer would be a firm I don’t know. I need more time with him to figure out how I feel, and I know I need to draw on my reserves of patience while I wait for him to reach out to me again.

He’ll call, Isabel says as she peers at me over the book in her hands. I glance up from my cup of tea and meet her gaze across the kitchen table. He just needs some time, Cin.

I know he does, I say, returning my attention to the steaming cup of tea while stirring the two sugar cubes I placed in it around with a silver spoon until they dissolve. I just wish there was something I could do for him.

Isabel puts the philosophy book she was reading down on the table to give me her undivided attention.

Have you thought about calling him? she asks. Maybe something’s happened and he can’t reach out to you for some reason.

I shake my head. No. He’s all right. I had Maximus contact the spy he has working on the Prince estate. He told him that Coltan has locked himself inside his room since he returned home and refuses to see anyone. Apparently, the servants are leaving him food and drink outside his bedroom door to make sure he eats.

Poor guy, Anwen says sympathetically as she sits on the table between me and Isabel, peeling the skin off a red grape rather daintily. I know precisely how he feels, but at least he has you, Cin.

He could, I say with a frustrated sigh, wondering for the hundredth time since Coltan left me why he hasn’t returned yet. I don’t understand why he’s staying away. He would feel so much better if he were here with me instead of holed up in his room all alone.

People handle grief in different ways, Isabel says. After my mother died, my dad spent most of his days and nights at the Guild. My nanny was more of a parent to me than he was during that time, especially after he was taken to the asylum. In a way, I was relieved when I got the letter from Commander Ford recruiting me for the academy because I knew I would at least be around kids my own age and have people to talk to.

In all the years that I’ve known her, Isabel has only mentioned her father a handful of times, and I’ve never delved too deeply into his mental health issues. Ever since my first day at the academy, Isabel’s one goal in life was to become a Thorn so she could gain access to Briardale Asylum. Even though we’re all Thorns now, her dream of being reunited with her father is still that: a dream.

Right before we graduated, her father became violent with some of the other patients and was sent to the isolation ward of the asylum. We’re waiting for him to be released from it so we can visit him, but according to his doctors, there hasn’t been any change in his condition. I’m still trying to figure out a way to sneak Isabel in to see her dad, but a brilliant scheme hasn’t presented itself as of yet. She’s been a trooper through it all, but even someone as sweet as Isabel has her limits.

Good morning, ladies, Kalder says as he walks into the kitchen dressed in only a pair of distressed black jeans and a congenial smile.

I know you own shirts, Kalder, I say irritably. Why is it that we never see you in any of them?

Isabel snickers, and Anwen sighs in pleasure as she openly gapes at Kalder in all his half-naked glory.

But why would he want to hide all those muscles? Anwen asks as she continues to gawk at him unabashedly.

Kalder leans his muscular forearms on the table and bends at the waist so he and Anwen are eye to eye.

I swear, sometimes I think you’re the only one who really gets me around here, Anwen, he tells our miniature faerie friend.

Anwen blushes and giggles at him coyly.

What’s for breakfast? I ask Kalder brusquely.

Kalder stands back up to his full height and crosses his arms over his broad chest.

How is it that none of you knows how to cook? he asks in bewilderment. Didn’t they at least teach you basic survival skills at the academy?

Which would you rather have: a Thorn who knows how to cook, or one who can throw a dagger from a hundred paces to strike the heart of a mage about to go supernova? I ask.

Point taken, Kalder says as he drops his arms back to his sides. What would you like to eat this morning, oh mighty and magnificent warrior princess?

Anwen giggles at his jest, but all I can do is glare at Kalder. Did you or did you not tell us that you would gladly take over all of the cooking responsibilities for the household? I distinctly remember you promising that.

That was before I knew how much you girls can eat! he protests. Who would have guessed such petite young women could each eat more than me in a day? Quite frankly, it still boggles my mind. Where does all that food go?

You walk around half the city on patrol and see how hungry you get afterward, I say. And to answer your first question, I would like some pancakes for breakfast with a side of bacon.

As you wish, my warrior princess, he says with a flourish of his right arm as he bows at the waist to me. Pancakes coming right up.

I would tell Kalder to stop calling me his current pet name, but if I wait an hour, he’ll change to a new one.

Did I hear someone mention pancakes? Gretel says as she and Scarlet walk into the kitchen dressed for the day ahead of us.

The mistress of this humble abode has spoken and requests them, Kalder tells her. Is that what the rest of you girls want?

After everyone consents to the proposed breakfast, Kalder begins rattling around in the kitchen to prepare it.

Gretel flops down in the chair to my right while Scarlet sits down on my left at the round kitchen table.

So, no word from Prince Perfect yet, I take it? she asks me.

How can you tell? I ask.

Because you look like someone just stole your puppy, she tells me.

Anwen gasps in horror, and I assume it’s because Gretel’s analogy is so awful.

You don’t have a dog lurking somewhere do you, Cin? she asks me, appearing frightened by the prospect.

No, I reassure her. I’ve never had a dog. They didn’t allow us to have pets when we were at the academy.

Anwen breathes out a sigh of relief. Oh, thank goodness. I had an aunt once who got eaten by one.

Then we’re never getting one, I assure her. You’re perfectly safe here.

Anwen smiles at me before proceeding to take a healthy bite out of her peeled grape.

We still haven’t told Commander Ford about our little fae friend. Anwen has already been with us for almost two weeks, and broaching the subject with the commander is something we’ve all been avoiding. Our greatest fear is that Commander Ford will order us to send her away, and I don’t think that’s something any of us can do right now.

For all we know, Anwen might be the last of her kind. At least, she is in Briardale. Darcy made sure of that when she infiltrated the fae village underneath Thorn Hill and murdered them all to harvest their hearts to steal their magic. Only Anwen was left alive because Darcy said our friend was too puny to waste her time on. Ever since we found her, Anwen has put on a brave face during the day, but at night, when she curls up on my pillow and lets her guard down, I hear her cry herself to sleep over the loss of family and friends. Fae can live up to hundreds of years, which makes it likely that Anwen lost her parents in the massacre. I don’t know that for a fact because she hasn’t spoken about it, and I haven’t asked. She’ll talk when she’s ready to, but until that time, I have no intention of pushing the issue. I don’t like discussing my father’s death, and I don’t expect her to talk about the slaughter of her kin by my deranged stepsister.

Not long after Darcy was taken to the Briardale Asylum for assessment by the doctors, she was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and committed there as a patient. We couldn’t tell them the truth about what she did to the fae because that would have exposed the fact that an ordinary person can ingest magic by eating the heart of a magical creature. Such knowledge would have put the fate of all the mages in the city at risk. Fortunately for us, Darcy showed her own brand of crazy all on her own and earned herself a spot in the asylum for the rest of her life. I, for one, feel better knowing she’s locked up and under twenty-four-hour surveillance.

The telephone mounted on the wall near the entrance to the kitchen rings. I hop out of my seat, hoping that it’s finally Coltan calling me, but unfortunately, I’m not the first one to reach the phone. Kalder beats me to it.

When he picks up the black handset and brings it to his ear, he says, Hello, you have reached the residence of Cin, the mighty warrior princess. I am her lowly man slave, Kalder, how may I be of assistance?

As I reach him, I hold out my right hand and growl, Give me the phone, Kalder.

He then has the audacity to hold up one of his index fingers to me as the universal signal to wait a moment while he listens to the person on the other end of the line. Right before I grab his annoying finger and twist it until he begs for mercy, Kalder hands me the handset.

It’s not Prince, he informs me, looking as disappointed as I feel by his words. I assume he was hoping to surprise Coltan by answering the phone in my house. It’s Maximus Kane.

I try to hide my disappointment that it’s my godfather calling when I take the phone from Kalder.

Hello? I say.

Cin, Maximus says on the other end of the line, I have a mission for you and the rest of your squad. Do you feel up to going across the river with me to get Coltan today?

Is he in danger? I instantly ask, since that’s the only reason I can come up with that would warrant a rescue mission.

Not quite, Maximus replies. Today is his mother’s funeral. Apparently, he’s been waiting for it to happen before permanently crossing over to our side. He needs our help moving the books out of his family’s crypt once the funeral is over.

Wait, I say, wondering how Maximus obtained all of this information. When did you speak with him to arrange all of this?

He called me late last night, he informs me. I take it he still hasn’t called you.

No, he hasn’t, I reply, feeling somewhat slighted by Coltan since he didn’t even try to reach out to me first.

Cin, Maximus says as my godfather and not as the head of the Circle of the Rose, don’t take his silence the wrong way.

How else am I supposed to take it? I ask, feeling hurt and upset by Coltan’s blatant disregard for my feelings. A pang of guilt taps my heart reminding me that I’m not the one who just lost a parent. I’m acting slightly selfish, but it’s only because I desperately want to see Coltan again.

I’m sure he contacted me first because he needed to know if he still had a position here at the Guild before he left home. We also discussed some temporary living arrangements while he gets his life in order. I hope you don’t mind, but I told him he can stay in your room here with me until we can find him a place of his own. If I were in his shoes, I would have done exactly what he did by calling me first.

He could have called me too, I say, still feeling the sting of Coltan’s indifference toward me, even though I know his actions aren’t intentionally meant to hurt me.

I don’t think he wants to burden you with his problems while he tries to step out of his family’s shadow, Maximus says. He’s lost his mother, and he’s about to leave the only home he’s ever known, Cin. He needs our support now more than ever. Don’t judge him too harshly for wanting to get his life straight before coming back to you.

Did he request that my squad be the one who helps him today? I ask.

No, Maximus says. That was my decision, and I’ve already discussed it with Commander Ford. You don’t have to call her about changing your schedule because she’s agreed with me that I should use your squad.

What if he doesn’t want me there, Maximus? I ask him in a low voice so the other people in the room can’t hear me.

He does. Trust me, my godfather assures me. As soon as he sees you, he’ll be grateful that you’re there.

All right. I suppose I’ll simply have to take your word on that, I say, having my doubts on whether or not Coltan will see my presence as a good thing or not. Where do you want us to meet you?

Be at the Guild in about an hour, he tells me. Gus will also be going with us. Once all of you arrive, I’ll fill you in on the details.

After I get off the phone with Maximus, I tell everyone what was said on his side of the conversation. By this time, Kalder has the first batch of pancakes made and doesn’t stop making them until all of our bellies are full.

I would offer to come along, Kalder tells us as we set our plates in the sink, but I have a feeling Prince wouldn’t appreciate my help. And since he’s foolishly leaving all of his family’s wealth behind, I suppose that means you’ll have to buy me my new boat, Cin.

But if you get a new boat, Anwen says from her spot on my shoulder, does that mean you’ll leave us, Kalder?

I’ll come back and visit you, he promises her with a wink. Who knows? Maybe Cin will even let you come over and stay with me sometime.

Let her? I ask, finding his wording odd. She isn’t a pet, Kalder. Anwen is her own person. She can do whatever she wants.

Oh, I could never leave my girls, Anwen tells him as she hugs me around the neck. They need me too much.

Anwen’s words make me smile because I feel sure it’s the other way around. I don’t mind that she needs us, and in a way, she’s right; we do need her too. In truth, it’s the fear of losing her that’s keeping us from telling Commander Ford she exists. I know we’ll have to do it eventually, but for now, I like keeping her a secret. She’s safer that way.

Gretel rides in my car while Scarlet travels with Isabel as we all drive over to the Guild.

Cin, I need you to listen to a little tough love and consider what I’m about to say with an open mind, my best friend tells me in her stern voice.

And if I don’t? I ask jokingly.

Then you may regret it for the rest of your life, she tells me in all seriousness. I know you’ve been waiting for Coltan to call you. Heck, we’ve all been sitting on pins and needles waiting for him to do something.

And . . . I say, coaxing Gretel to get to the promise part of her little talk with me.

And we all think you need to cut him some slack, she says. Don’t take this the wrong way, but sometimes when people do things that hurt your feelings, you get mad and stay mad at them for a good long while. We don’t want you to do that in this situation because we all feel like you would end up regretting it.

When you say ‘we,’ are you talking about you, Scarlet, and Isabel? I ask.

And me, Anwen whispers. And Kalder too.

Kalder? I ask in surprise. I’m not sure if I’m more stunned by my wayward tenant’s involvement in such a conversation between my friends or their willingness to let an outsider like him participate in what should be a personal affair.

Kalder’s a pretty decent guy, Cin, if you would just give him a chance to show it to you, Gretel says. But you’ve been so upset over Coltan that you haven’t taken the time to notice everything he’s been doing around the house for us.

You mean the cooking? I ask, since that’s the only thing that comes readily to my mind.

See, Gretel replies as if I made her point for her. You haven’t noticed all the repairs he’s been doing around the house or that he’s been trimming bushes and clearing out the back courtyard.

I did sort of notice the bushes in the front yard look neater, I say in my own defense.

All I’m saying is that you get so wrapped up in your own drama that sometimes you don’t take the time to notice anyone else’s.

I’ve noticed Isabel’s, I point out.

Yes, you have, Gretel agrees. All I ask is that you think about what I said as far as Coltan goes. I don’t want you to use your anger like a shield with him because he hasn’t done anything to deserve it. He’s grieving, Cin. Exactly like you did when your dad died. Maybe he simply wants to get his life straightened out before inviting you into it. Good grief, I can’t believe I’m actually defending a Prince. I’m probably breaking some arbitrary Thorn law by doing that.

I laugh softly at Gretel’s worry.

I’ll never tell, I promise her.

Neither will I, Anwen says as I feel her little body lean up against my neck.

I hate to admit that Gretel is right, but she is, and I know it. I do tend to hide behind my anger when someone hurts me. The first time I did that was when my dad died. Vivian and her daughters gave me a reason to be angry, and I used it to prop me up and prevent myself from breaking down completely. Then Maximus came into my life and gave me a brand-new reason to live and a way to channel my grief in a different way. Instead of allowing myself to wallow in my misery, I used my energy to study and train harder than anyone else in my class. I shouldn’t be surprised that my squad knows me so well. They did have to live with me during that time, and I’m grateful that they care enough to set me straight before I see Coltan again.

Thank you for pointing out my flaws, I tell her but not in a sarcastic way. I truly mean it because I was using my anger to hide how much Coltan’s silence has hurt me.

That’s what friends are for, Gretel tells me with a grin. Now, about Prince Perfect, why do you think he’s choosing to stay with Maximus instead of us? It’s not like we don’t have the space in your house.

From what Maximus said to me, I get the feeling Coltan wants to earn his own way as soon as he can. Maximus is supposed to help him find a more permanent living arrangement.

Good luck finding one, Gretel says rather unenthusiastically. It’s really hard to find an apartment in the city, and if he wants a house, he’ll have to get on a waiting list. Most everything is handed down from generation to generation since there’s so little room left.

What Gretel said is true. I’ve seen multiple generations of one family live in the same apartment because there simply isn’t any more housing available inside the city. It’s not the only problem being caused by overpopulation, and the only way to stop our city from becoming overcrowded is by setting a limit on the number of children a couple can have. Maximus told me we haven’t arrived at that point yet, and I still have hope that we’ll find a way to lift the curse and free our city before that happens.

When we reach the magically locked iron gate at the Guild, the guard on duty, Gordan, opens it and waves us through. As we pull up to the front of the museum Maximus live in, we see him and Gus waiting for us on the sidewalk, standing next to a white van parked on the side of the street.

How many books does Coltan have? I ask Maximus as I eye the van curiously when I step out of my car.

Quite a few from what he told me, my godfather replies while he watches us all walk over to him.

Gus clasps his hands together and holds them over his chest as he beams at us with pride.

All my little Thorns, he gushes as tears spontaneously pour from his eyes like they’re faucets. I can’t believe how grown up you all look in your new jackets.

Now, Gus, we discussed this, Maximus says sympathetically as he pats his personal assistant on the back. The girls are grown women now. They couldn’t stay little forever.

Gus attempts to pull himself together and wipes away his tears.

You’re right, he tells Maximus. Before you know it, we’ll have new babies to play with.

Are you intending to get pregnant? Gretel asks Gus with a raised eyebrow. Because I know you’re not talking about one of us popping out a baby anytime soon.

It doesn’t hurt to dream, Gus tells her, sounding wistful about the idea of having one of our babies running around the Guild. If Marlene and I had been able to conceive, we would have had a houseful of children.

I always felt sad for Gus and his wife, Marlene. They would have been spectacular parents, but it simply wasn’t meant