Right before princess Dawn Mantrisa becomes officially engaged to the unruly prince Geoff, a not-so-natural event throws her kingdom into darkness. With the help of her friends and Dusk, the arcane fairy who holds her heart, she adventures for a magical lantern to relight her land. Finding it, though, means working with Dusk’s friend, Diya. The temperamental lux fairy has a painful link to the lantern, and mysterious intentions for Dawn and Dusk. But this is only the beginning, as secrets test convictions, an old enemy comes to light, and strange yet terrifying connections are found between the prince’s bestial nature and the unimaginable Night Rise.
Right before princess Dawn Mantrisa becomes officially engaged to the unruly prince Geoff, a not-so-natural event throws her kingdom into darkness. With the help of her friends and Dusk, the arcane fairy who holds her heart, she adventures for a magical lantern to relight her land. Finding it, though, means working with Dusk’s friend, Diya. The temperamental lux fairy has a painful link to the lantern, and mysterious intentions for Dawn and Dusk. But this is only the beginning, as secrets test convictions, an old enemy comes to light, and strange yet terrifying connections are found between the prince’s bestial nature and the unimaginable Night Rise.
Dawn squealed when she arrived at breakfast and saw which fairy was sitting at the miniature table next to her plate.
“Dusk!”
“Morning to you too,” he replied. His shaggy dark hair fell into his eyes, and he shook his head so he could watch her bounce around the human table to sit next to him. She wiggled in her seat for a few moments, then beamed at him in his tiny chair.
“Guess what! I’m meeting the prince today!”
“Yes, I’m aware,” Dusk said as he sliced his raspberry, carefully separating the individual drupelets.
“I’m kind of nervous,” she whispered loudly, her big blue eyes shining with childish worry. “What if he doesn’t like me?”
“I don’t know how he couldn’t,” Dusk replied, half smiling as he ate a drupelet.
Dawn kicked her feet while a servant filled her plate with jam-covered toast, then happily shoved some into her mouth.
“He’s also meeting the Court, so you’ll meet him too, right?” she asked as she swallowed, her cheeks now speckled with bread crumbs.
Dusk started to speak, then frowned and looked in his waistcoat pocket. Light leaked out and he sighed, closing the pocket again.
“Unfortunately, I need to return home immediately,” he said, getting to his feet.
“Oh,” she said and chomped her bread, thinking. “When will you be back? Will it be before he leaves?”
“It shouldn’t be too long if everything goes well,” he said, fluttering his wings and floating into the air. “Though it won’t be before Geoff is gone.”
Dawn wiped at the crumbs on her face with a napkin, mostly succeeding in spreading the sticky jam more. “Then I’ll tell you about it when you come back.”
He half-smiled as he turned away, and she focused her attention on her food. It was always boring when Dusk left suddenly, but at least this time she’d have something else to keep her busy. Maybe the prince would be even more fun than the fairy.
“So, how was it?” Dusk asked a few weeks later as they sat down at the table together.
“He was weird,” Dawn said, bouncing while they waited for dinner to arrive. “He just wanted to watch the Court the whole time.”
“That’s not strange for someone used to being involved in politics,” Dusk said. “Or for someone unused to fairies, for that matter.”
“I guess it was that he’s so much older,” she mused. “He’s older than Alex.”
“Age isn’t anything really, especially once you’re old enough to marry him,” Dusk said.
“I hope so,” she replied. “Guess I have twelve years to figure it out.”
Dusk smiled at her as servants carefully placed plates of food in front of them. “You know, I have my best friend beat by a good two or three millennia. I think you can manage half a decade.”
Dawn stared at him for a moment, her eyebrows furrowed as she thought hard on what he said. “I don’t think Alex liked him much, and they’re a lot closer in age.”
“He’s your brother. He has a different job than you,” Dusk said.
“I guess.” Dawn sighed as she poked at her plate. “But I don’t want this job. I’d much rather stay here and play with fairies.”
“Don’t want to be without us then?” he asked, half-smiling.
“Who would?” she replied, grinning at him. “You’re too fun.”
~~~
The late morning sun beamed through crisp middle-winter air, reflecting on the thickly piled snow that covered the world. Fluffy flakes were caked in every crease and crevice, smoothing the stone walls that encompassed the castle and painting the roofs of the buildings white. Footprints ran all over the grounds, approximating where paths were. Voices were heard calling out, conversing, and even laughing as people went about their day.
Childish squeals rang out from the main yard, making several heads turn as they walked past. Usually, the yard was full of shouting and metal clanging as knights and squires trained, but today it was occupied by Dawn and her friends playing in the snow.
The young princess was usually with one or both of her companions, when her favorite fairy wasn’t around, of course. Robert, or Rah as Dawn referred to him, and Sarah were a prospecting squire and handmaid, respectively. Sarah had only moved to the castle with her father two years ago, while Rob had been born and raised within the walls.
Dawn was working on a snow sculpture while her friends threw snowballs at each other. Rob hit Sarah and she shrieked with glee and pranced past Dawn, bumping the snow pile.
“Oh, sorry!” she exclaimed as the pile fell over.
“It was almost done,” Dawn pouted, then sighed and smiled. “But it could have been better. I’ll just make it again.”
Rob tossed some snow at them and Sarah chased him away, leaving Dawn to restart. She worked diligently on her new pile until it was a couple of feet tall and very lumpy, almost resembling something human-shaped.
“And what are you making?” someone asked, making her jump and turn around.
“Dusk!” Her smile was brighter than the snow around them. “Don’t look. It’s not ready yet.”
“Ahh,” he said, turning around. “Tell me when.”
She piled and shaped until she was satisfied. “All right, you can look.”
He turned and saw a very basic human-shaped lump, with four bumps on its “back”.
“It’s a snow-fairy!” she declared, beaming proudly.
“It’s wonderful,” Dusk said, floating closer to look it over.
“Not as good as a real one,” she said. “But the wings won’t go any longer.”
“I could make them cooperate,” Dusk said, eyes glinting impishly. “If you’d like to see.”
“Oh! Yes, please!” She wiggled with excitement, rocking on her heels.
Dusk chuckled and gathered snow for his own sculpture. The snow moved and stuck to itself easily, guided by magic, and in no time he had a perfect scale likeness of a fairy.
“Well?”
It was a male fairy, with a birdlike physique and youthful yet mature features that seemed so otherworldly. His narrow wings were transparent and stretched as far as he was tall. The top edge of each was almost perfectly straight, and the bottom gently curved towards the rounded ends. Dusk had positioned them mid-flap, the upper pair sticking up almost vertically, and the lower pair out to either side. All four pivoted against each other for a thrust that would keep the fairy stationary.
“It’s beautiful,” Dawn said softly, unable to look away. “I’ve never seen him, though. Who is he?”
“This is Diya,” Dusk answered. He was the only fairy Dusk knew well enough to make entirely from memory, and the only one Dusk would want to emulate.
“You should show it to him—I bet he’d like it!”
Dusk smiled wryly. “He’s seen others like it I’ve made in the Realm.”
“But he needs to come here and see this one,” she said, stomping her foot and crossing her arms. “Then we can play together. You said he likes playing.”
“You have your own friends to play with,” Dusk replied as Sarah and Rob passed nearby, still chasing each other and throwing snow. “And I have work to get to.”
“Oh, all right,” Dawn said, drooping as Dusk flew up and away. Once he was out of view, she knelt by the Diya sculpture.
“Don’t worry,” she whispered. “We’ll meet someday, and we’ll have lots of fun.”
~~~
Dawn sat with Geoff under the willows, listening to the river and watching the sunlight dancing on the grass. Once they’d been sent off to spend time alone together, he’d asked to leave the castle walls, and she’d brought him to her second favorite place.
The prince’s last two visits had been dull for her, and she was glad he wanted to do something besides hang around her parents and the Fairy Court this time. In four years he would have to choose between her and the other princess, Isabella, and she needed to really impress him if she wanted to secure the marriage. The princess he chose would ultimately become queen of the rich Kirkjufell kingdom, and could thus ensure her own kingdom’s prosperity.
Geoff was quiet while he worked on something, completely focused on his fingers as they wove grass and tied knots. Dawn liked this chance to study him. Until now, she hadn’t been that interested in the prince when he’d visited, but this time she noticed his chocolate curls and deep brown eyes. She’d recently started to take an interest in boys, and it was strange to be around the one she was intending to marry one day—in a sweaty palms and nervous fidgeting kind of way.
“Here,” he said and placed a finished goat on the grass in front of her.
She picked it up and carefully turned it in her hand. “It’s adorable.”
“Keeps me busy, anyway,” he said, then touched the goat with his fingertip. “Watch this.”
They were still for a moment as he channeled magic into it, then he pulled his hand away and the goat lowered its head and nudged Dawn’s palm as though it were grazing.
“That’s amazing,” she said, smiling. “Do you do other animals?”
“I can,” he replied, putting his hands behind his head and lying back on the grass.
“What about a bird? Could you make it fly?” she asked. Would it float above the ground and flutter into the tree branches? Less graceful than a fairy, but no less magical.
He stared up at the sky through the willow branches stirring in the light breeze, choosing for the moment to be quiet. Eventually, he took a deep breath and sighed. “I like this.”
“The willows?”
“Just...being here,” he said, shifting his eyes to look at her. The goat continued moving, lowering and raising its head at intervals. “I don’t get to leave the palace much, except to go hunting. Nice to just be, you know?”
“I do,” Dawn replied, keeping her eyes on the goat. “I only get to leave the castle when we visit Riverglade, and even then I have to have someone watch me.”
“Fun life for us royals,” he said, then closed his eyes. “Wake me up when it’s time to eat, all right?”
That evening, they arrived late to dinner, and Dawn brightened even more when she noticed who was at the high table.
“Dusk is here,” she told Geoff quietly as they crossed the room.
“That’s the one I haven’t met, isn’t it?” Geoff asked. He spotted Dusk and studied him.
“He is,” Dawn answered.
They reached their places next to the fairy, and dinner was presented once they were sitting. Geoff kept her attention as they ate, nudging her and whispering in her ear, and she almost missed Dusk as he finished and flicked his wings to go.
“Dusk,” she called before he got far.
He paused and looked at her. “Dawn.”
“You’re leaving?” she asked sadly, and he shrugged.
“Well, I’m done.”
Geoff watched them speak with interest, and smirked as Dusk turned to leave. “Bit of an odd name, isn’t it? For a lux fairy,” he remarked. “And shouldn’t you be blond?”
“Excuse me,” Dusk replied crisply and landed on the table in front of Geoff, glaring up at the prince. “That might be true, were I only a lux fairy, but I happen to be arcane.”
“Arcane,” Geoff repeated, rolling the word around. “So you have all the fairy abilities?”
“Exactly,” Dusk said as he floated back into the air. “Good night, Dawn.”
She watched him fly away before returning her attention to the prince.
“So what did you think of him?” Dawn asked at dinner a few days later, when Geoff had gone home.
“You seemed to like him,” Dusk replied, not looking up from his plate.
“Meaning you didn’t,” Dawn said, setting her fork down to look at him. “Why not?”
“I didn’t dislike him,” Dusk argued, meeting her eyes. There was an odd glint to them Dawn had never seen before. “But it does no good for me to get on with him, does it?”
“I suppose not, since I’ll leave and we won’t see each other again,” Dawn said, sighing as she picked her fork back up. The visit had gone well, and everyone was optimistic Geoff would choose her. “But at least I’ll have a prince charming.”
Dusk stared blankly at his plate. His fork was suspended above it while he thought. “We still might see each other for special occasions.”
“If you happen to be here, when I come visit,” Dawn speculated. “Father could always let you know when I do.”
Dusk shook his head and smiled. “Then I’ll make sure I’m here, whenever you come.”
~~~
“Come on!” Rob whispered.
Dawn laughed as she followed him into the rain, and they ran through the night. “Shh! They’ll find us!”
Behind them, lights bounced around the castle, and they could hear their names being called.
“They won’t think to look out here,” Rob replied. They reached the north gate and he quietly opened it.
A glowing fairy was floating on the other side, waiting for them. No raindrops touched him; instead, they changed direction as they fell around him.
“Dusk!” Dawn said, pleasantly surprised to be caught by him. “What are you doing here?”
Dusk sighed and rolled his eyes. “Finding you. What did you get up to this time?”
“Nothing,” Rob answered, glancing nervously between Dawn and the fairy. “None of it was her idea. It was all me.”
“I thought it was Sean’s idea,” Dawn said.
“Well, he thought of it, but I did it,” Rob replied.
“Whoever is at fault, it doesn’t explain why you felt it necessary to run away with Dawn to avoid a ruined dinner,” Dusk said, his eyes sharp as he glared at Rob.
“I wanted to leave,” Dawn replied. “I thought we might get away unnoticed with all the excitement.”
“Well, now you’re going back in to get dry,” Dusk said, and Dawn drooped. “And tomorrow I’ll bring you out for an hour or two to do whatever you feel like.”
“Not without me,” Rob said as Dusk led them back.
“If you are able, you may join us,” Dusk replied without looking back. “Though I doubt you’ll be free of punishment for this evening’s antics.” Rob grimaced and was silent.
“Can we leave the castle?” Dawn asked.
Dusk slowed slightly and glanced at her, his face alight. “If that’s what you want, then it’s what we’ll do.”
“So, where too?” Dusk asked when he met Dawn outside the keep the next afternoon.
“Well, I’d say the Fae Realm, if you didn’t always tell me no,” Dawn said, grinning while she adjusted the satchel strap on her shoulder. “So I guess the meadow will have to do.”
“I’ve explained to you plenty of times why I won’t take you there,” Dusk replied, flying towards the west wall.
“I know,” Dawn said, only rolling her eyes a little. “It isn’t for you alone to decide. No humans have set foot there in over a century. It’s just not done...”
Dusk paused by the wooden gate, letting Dawn pull the latch and swing it inward before flicking through to the other side.
“And I take it you plan on writing?” He nodded at the leather satchel as Dawn closed the gate behind them.
“After we wander a little,” she replied, glancing over the meadow that stretched in front of them. The castle wall sat right on the edge of the fragrant, flower-filled expanse.
“Working on another fairy poem?” Dusk half-smiled at her as he followed her deep into the overgrown grass. “Or have you finally found something else to write about?”
“I was hoping I’d find some inspiration here,” she answered, blushing with the exercise. There were rocks to trip over and thorny plants to catch her skirt if she wasn’t watching.
After a few minutes of aimlessly wandering together, Dusk froze. “Dawn,” he said softly, “I need you to stop here for a moment. I’ll be right back.”
“What are you doing?” she asked as he flicked away.
She followed his path with her eyes and found his destination a few paces away. A large sheep with heavy curled horns stood facing them, nostrils flared as it breathed heavily. It was also orange. Dawn made an “o” with her mouth and slowly, so as not to draw the sheep’s attention, knelt in the grass to watch.
Dusk approached the sheep with his hands out, softly calling to it. The sheep bleated and jerked its head around, stepping back. Its bright orange wool darkened to red. Some movement behind the sheep caught Dawn’s eye, and she focused on the dots that were floating around. One buzzed toward her, landing on a nearby flower, and she noted the yellow and black stripes.
“Dusk,” she whispered.
He glanced at her, and she pointed at the bumblebee. Dusk grinned, then zipped around the sheep to the swarm. After a moment of nothing seeming to happen, the swarm moved, drifting away from the sheep. Dusk slowly moved back in front of the sheep, cooing softly to it. The wool went back to orange, and Dusk carefully placed his palm on the sheep’s nose. Its wool turned yellow, then green. Once the sheep was blue, and no longer breathing heavily, it set to grazing and Dusk flew back to Dawn.
“Mood-sheep,” he said, shaking his head. “Good catch on the bees, or I might not have calmed it down.”
“You’re welcome,” Dawn replied, smiling as they returned to their wandering. “And it seems I found some inspiration.”
“The sheep?” Dusk asked, cocking an eyebrow at her, and she shook her head.
“The bees,” she said, watching the one she’d noticed float around lazily before finding the rest of its swarm.
~~~
“This way,” Dawn said as she led Geoff through the rose gardens, her favorite place, and they stopped in front of a bush that was in full bloom. “This is my second favorite rose.”
Geoff stared at the large white and yellow roses and shrugged. “Doesn’t look any different than the bush you sent us.”
A cut from the Morning Blossom had gone to Kirkjufell last year in order for Geoff to send messages to Dawn. Her father’s mirror had been set up with the additional signature specifically so she could correspond with the prince.
“Well, I'd still like to send you one,” Dawn said. She’d started sending him pressed roses about a year ago. Roses she liked or that he didn’t have in Kirkjufell. Her favorite roses, though, she was saving until he saw them with her. That way they could be special to him, too, and tied to a memory they shared.
“Oh good,” he replied flippantly. “Still reminds you of your friend, right? That squire boy.”
“Rah,” she answered, nodding. “Although he has been knighted since you were last here.”
“Has he,” Geoff said, still studying the roses. “And Sarah? She do any magic yet?”
“Oh, no,” Dawn said, lowering her gaze briefly. “But she will someday, I’m sure.”
His eyes flicked to her face for a moment, and he almost smiled. “You’re lucky, you know, to have friends and family who care about you.”
“My friends care,” she said. “But I think all my parents care about is that I marry you.”
“They have a kingdom to run. Of course they’re interested in that,” he replied. “But at least they’re nice to you, treat you well.”
“Isn’t Henry a kind father?” she asked.
Geoff turned away from her to watch a fairy flit around down the path, tending roses. “They break, you know. The birds.”
“The birds?” she repeated.
“When I try to make them fly,” he said, turning back to her. “The effort is too much for grass and they break themselves. So I don’t make birds.”
“That’s too bad,” she said. She would have loved to see a little grass bird flying around the garden, playing with the fairies.
“What about the other rose, then?” Geoff asked. “The dusk thing.”
“Oh, the Heart of Dusk,” Dawn said, returning to the present. “It won’t be blooming for a couple more weeks. After you’ve gone home.” And after her sixteenth birthday, the reason he was visiting.
“Show me anyway,” he said, and she nodded. He held her hand while she led him to the secluded clearing, and they stopped in the corner. She indicated a small, scraggly bush.
“Dinky little thing,” he mused. “Not a very big flower, either. You sure you like it?”
“I sent you a drawing once, didn’t I?” she asked. “The colors are beautiful, more than I could convey.”
“Like a sunset,” he said. “Or a sunrise.”
“I suppose so,” she said, hiding her blushing cheeks behind a curtain of strawberry blonde waves.
“But why’s it dusk and not dawn?” he asked.
She pushed her hair out of her face and stared up at him. “What do you mean?”
“The rose,” he answered, and she felt something in her chest move. “Why isn’t it Heart of Dawn?”
“I’m not sure,” she replied. “That’s just what it’s called.”
“Didn’t you tell me the fairies make a lot of the roses? Especially the magic ones.”
“Yes,” she said slowly, wondering what he was thinking. “Why?”
“Did that arcane one make this, you think? Named it after himself.”
Her chest thumped again. “He could have.”
“You really like him, don’t you?” Geoff asked, catching something in her face that he didn’t like. Something Dawn wouldn’t have been able to explain if she knew it was there.
“He’s my friend.”
“Is he. Think you’ll miss him?”
“I’ll miss all the fairies.”
“But you’ll have me.”
“I will, and that’s enough,” she said, though she wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince. Geoff smirked and wrapped his arms around her.
“Do you like me?” he breathed in her ear.
“I do,” she whispered back. She felt her heart thumping against him, but she heard his beating to a different rhythm where her ear was pressed against his chest.
“Good girl,” he said, putting his mouth on hers, and she melted against him. When they finally stopped, she breathed deeply to slow her pounding heart and blinked until her vision returned.
“Next time I see you, you’ll be coming to me and we’ll do more,” he rumbled in her ear.
“Oh,” she remarked. Was he saying what she thought he was? “Does that mean you’re choosing me?”
“I’ve always intended to choose you,” he said. “I like you being around. How you’re happy to just be with me. You get it.”
Get what, exactly? Whatever it was must be good, if he was choosing her because of it.
“Oh,” she repeated, and he laughed.
“First kiss, was it? That’s good. Good, you saved it for me. Just make sure you don’t forget to save anything else, all right?”
“I promise,” she said with her lips almost touching his neck. It wasn’t like there was anyone else she would do something with. Of her two male friends, one was like a brother to her, and the other was no larger than a hummingbird.
“Good girl,” he said and squeezed her tightly. “Better give you more then. Make sure you really remember.”
She gasped and pressed herself against him as his lips found hers again, and he laughed in his throat.
Three weeks later Dawn went to the rose garden alone and found Dusk tending a bush. She wandered over to him and watched him for a few minutes until he paused.
“Need something?” he asked as he looked at her.
“I was wondering about the Heart of Dusk,” she said. “Is it yours?”
“Of course it’s mine,” he said and grinned. “Thank you for noticing.”
She took a deep breath, not knowing why she was nervous. “Is it all right with you if I send it to Geoff?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” The smile left his face.
“Well, I remember you didn’t like him, so I wanted to know how you felt about him having one,” she answered, running her fingers through her hair.
“It’s fine. You can send him one.” The bright gleam of joy in his green eyes was gone, replaced with a shadow of sorrow.
“No, it isn’t,” she said and stopped playing with her hair. “You don’t want him to have one. I won’t send it.”
“If he’s expecting it, you should send it,” Dusk argued. “Really, you don’t have to worry about me.”
“No,” Dawn said. “You’re my friend, and even if I’ll only be here two more years, that’s two years we have together, and I want to be the best friend I can. I won’t send him one.”
Dusk stared at her intensely for a moment, then flew away quickly.
“Where are you going?” she called, but he was gone from her sight and didn’t answer. A few minutes later, he returned with a rose in his hands.
“Send him this one,” he said, holding out the Heart of Dusk.
Dawn looked at the perfect flower and the fairy offering it, and wondered why her chest was thumping again.
“If you’re sure,” she said as she carefully accepted the stem, heart desperately trying to escape its cage.
“Yes,” Dusk said. “However I feel about him, you’ll have this to look forward to when you go to Kirkjufell. It’ll remind you of me.”
“Then I’d better get in to press it,” she said, wondering how he couldn’t hear her heart still beating like crazy. He smiled a sad smile as she left him, and she glanced down at the rose. A bittersweet gift it was—something to remind her of her favorite person. Something that would always carry the memory of his mysterious sorrow.
“Did he like it?” Dusk asked at dinner.
Dawn stared at him in confusion, her mouth open to take a bite of food. “Did who like what?”
He half-smiled. “Did Geoff like the rose? It should have reached him by now.”
“Oh, well, I didn’t send it,” she replied sheepishly, lowering her fork. It was currently sitting in her room, on her desk where she’d enjoyed seeing it every day for the last few months.
“Did it not turn out nicely?” Dusk remarked. “You do so beautifully usually, but perhaps this particular rose doesn’t press well.”
“No, it’s perfect,” Dawn said, shaking her head. And it was hers—her rose, her memory. “That’s why I didn’t send it because I wanted to keep it myself.”
“Do you need another bloom?”
“No, I only ever want to press that one,” Dawn said. “Geoff will just have to see it when I bring it with me.”
“If that’s what you want,” Dusk replied, and smiled a happy smile.
“It is,” she said, smiling back at him. And with that, the lingering sadness she felt whenever she saw the rose was turned into joy.
~~~
Dawn was in the library trying not to doze when Sarah poked her head around the shelves.
“Message for you, Dawn,” her friend said. “From Geoff.”
Dawn looked to her mother, who nodded her consent, then smiled as she followed Sarah. She was just reaching the point in her economics lesson where her mind would start to wander, and it wouldn’t be long before her mother lost her patience. A quick break from studying would do them both well.
The Mantrisa keep was built almost exclusively of stone, with cobbled walls, stairs, and floors, held together with mortar and magic. Brilliantly colored tapestries lined the walls, separated by windows and nooks for flowers.
Sarah led Dawn to her parents’ rooms—past tapestries of flying dragons and wildflower arrangements—and she let herself into her father’s study where Geoff’s message was waiting on the mirror. They had been writing to each other more regularly since her sixteenth birthday when he’d told her he meant to pick her, and only more so after Isabella had gone to see him. Dawn had sent him the Heart of Dusk she’d pressed right when Isabella arrived with the intention of ensuring he’d think of her while the other princess was there. He wrote back that day to tell her he got the rose and was all the more set on her because of it.
Just after Isabella finished her visit though, he’d gotten sick. No one knew what was wrong, and it was a tense couple of weeks until Henry wrote that Geoff had been seen by a skilled physician and was healing. Dawn continued sending him messages while he was sick, and once he was recovering, he wrote back. It was a relief when she started getting his messages again, but sometimes they were odd and unlike him. A few were nearly illegible, as if he’d forgotten how to write, and others would ramble about things that made no sense. But, always, he would remind her that he wanted her.
Today’s message was no exception. She settled at the desk and glanced over the mirror while she readied her quill to copy it. There was rose petal dust on the glassy surface from two roses, the Scarlet Rain to send the message to her father’s mirror, and the Morning Blossom to show it was for her. She blew the dust off to reveal the message, then sighed with relief when she saw the words were clear and concise, as Geoff’s hand should be.
Dawn,
I showed the girls some of the roses you’ve sent me, so they can be used to your scent before you arrive. They weren’t very fond of Isabella, but I think you’ll get on well with them if their response to the roses is any indication. I didn’t show them the last one though, the Heart of Dusk. That one is only for me. I worried when it didn’t come, that you’d forgotten, but then it did and I knew you waited for the perfect moment, smart girl. One more month and you’ll be here, and I’ll have all my girls together finally. The anticipation is thrilling, like the moment before you catch your prey and end its life. I like it. You be a good girl, don’t forget.
Geoff
“More sweet nothings?” Sarah asked when Dawn returned from the study with her message copied, and they headed down the hallway to the northeast tower. The floor runners were a rich amber color with scrolling green vines, and were so thick the girls left faint footprints.
“Yes,” Dawn said, skimming the message. “Though it’s still a bit strange for him.” The most recent messages were no longer troubling, as they had been when he was sick, but the tone had never quite returned from something darker. Thankfully, her parents never read the messages, or she’d have some explaining to do.
“They are still better, aren’t they?” Sarah reasoned as they started up the stairs. She was the only person Dawn had confided in, and she would take the secret to her grave. “He’s just not fully over the sickness, that’s all.”
“Yes, that’s all it is, I’m sure,” Dawn agreed. She reread his older messages constantly, trying to remind herself who he had been when she’d seen him last and how well they’d gotten along. Maybe her care and presence would help? Could she brighten his mood?
“He mentioned the rose again,” she said. They reached her room at the top of the tower and entered.
“That’s good,” Sarah said. “It means he’s thinking of you.”
“If it were ever any other rose, I’d agree,” Dawn replied. She opened a box on her desk and placed the message inside, nestling it carefully among the others. “But it’s only the Heart of Dusk.”
“So, what, you’re worried he’s thinking about the fairy?” Sarah teased, making Dawn laugh.
“I guess not,” she said. “I must just be overthinking. That was where we had our first kiss, after all.” Surely that was the only reason he was so interested in the rose, never mind that he was the one to point out Dusk had made it.
Of course, while Dawn had kept the rose, it had only reminded her of her friend. Her friend, who was right that she would look forward to seeing his rose when she left. Her friend whose smile she thought about daily, even without the rose to remind her. Her friend who she wouldn’t see again before she was gone for good.
Princess Dawn has been promised to Prince Geoff since she was a child. Although she tried to make herself believe that it's what she wants, she's conflicted. Marrying Geoff means leaving her home, and leaving the arcane fairy, Dusk, who has been her best friend her whole life. On the eve of her official betrothal, everything changes when a bizarre event turns her whole world dark. Literally.
Although Night Rise is charming, with a cast of characters who are complicated and well rounded, I struggled with it, initially. The prologue spanned around a decade of time, and being honest, was far too long. So much information was in the prologue that it was a kind of info dump. The main players of the novel were introduced in detail, possibly too much detail. I much prefer a prologue to be shortish, with a slight insight into something that will happen later in the book - or maybe from an unexpected character's viewpoint. In Night Rise, the prologue seemed to be more of an opening chapter.
I loved the overall story arc of the book, that Dawn, Dusk and co had to try to save the world from the encroaching darkness. There's a reason why a female saving the world is such a popular trope in Young Adult fantasy. When I was a kid, all I ever wanted to be was a character in a fantasy story, saving the world from enemies and evil. I'd wish I belonged in another world, or that I would be whisked off like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. And it wasn't just me. Females saving a fantasy world is a strong message in our real world; it shows how strong we really are by creating a place for ourselves elsewhere. Anyway, I digress.
Once you can get past the prologue and the first couple of chapters; when Dawn stops mooning over the rather bizarre Prince Geoff, Night Rise picks up the pace and becomes a fantastic adventure through a dangerous, beautiful world.
S. A.