Welcome to the Summer Realm
We are so pleased to share that today is the release day of BROKEN BY DAYLIGHT! This is the fourth book in the BEASTS OF THE BRIAR series.
BROKEN whisks us away into a realm of sunshine, pirates, mermaids, and gladiators. Rosie must fight for the realm and the heart of the fae prince she loves, despite the fact he’s fated to another. It is truly such a joy to share Rosalina’s fourth adventure with you!
Thank you for being on this incredible journey with us. We have the best readers in the world!
XO, Elizabeth and Helen
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First Chapter of Broken by Daylight
1 - Dayton
Damocles would never have let this happen.
When my brother was High Prince of Summer, the streets of Hadria were filled with laughter. Stalls were packed with fresh fruit, clothes, and pottery, and sand would settle between the cracks of the cobblestone streets from fae returning after a day of swimming in the turquoise ocean.
Dried blood is the only thing that stains the stone now. Probably from someone who was beaten last night for disobeying the Emperor’s mandatory curfew.
Throwing up my hood, I dart out of the alley and onto the main strip. There’s a flow of fae heading toward the Sun Colosseum. Those without necessary jobs are required to attend the games.
Kairyn’s games.
The thought makes me sick.
The air feels thick as soup and sweat drips down my brow. Between the cramped rows of people, it’s nearly suffocating.
“Keep moving,” calls one of the armed guards lining the streets.
Kairyn doesn’t have his toxic plants here to control the people of Summer. He’s probably too far away from his realm for that magic to work. But a few thousand Spring soldiers, former Queen’s Army, a fleet of airships, and an entire horde of fucking goblins will do the job just the same.
“Clear the streets,” one of the goblins calls. “Emperor Kairyn is coming. Clear the streets!”
Fae scurry away from them in fear. Goblins, creatures of the Below, now dictate orders to my people.
Gritting my teeth, I follow the crowd and make my way to the Sun Colosseum. Its tall columns rise before me like a mountain. I duck behind one of the huge marble pillars. I know I should get back to my lodgings, but it’s so different now without Farron. With just her—
“Prince Daytonales,” a voice hisses. I turn to another cloaked figure and pull them deeper into the shadows.
“Not so loud, Claudius.”
“Apologies, m’lord,” Claudius says. He’s a young fae with dark hair and a cunning smile. He runs one of the fish stalls on the wharf, which are still allowed to operate, though it’sn a cover for his other activities. One of my few contacts in the city, Claudius is a dealer of secrets and he has become invaluable to me these last few months. “Another update on your sister. A sailor reports that he saw her ship around Veritas Bay, not two days past.”
My relief at Delphia being sighted alive mixes with the worry of her being so close to the capital. Don’t come back, Delphie. There’s nothing you can do. Stars, there’s nothing I can do.
We learned that Delphia had escaped with Farron’s sister, Eleanor, when Kairyn first attacked the city. Reports said they initially tried to fight back, but between his fleet of airships and three armies, Summer hadn’t stood a chance.
Not to mention, Summer doesn’t have a High Prince on the throne.
My throat tightens as I ask the next question. “Any news on the Golden Rose?”
Claudius tilts his head, giving me a sad smile. “Nothing besides the whispers of hope. There have been no sightings and the guards won’t talk. If she’s in Summer, it’s a place even I don’t know about.”
My heart constricts. When we first left Spring months ago, Farron had been able to follow the tug of his mate bond in the direction of Summer, but then the pull had suddenly vanished.
He doesn’t think she’s dead. We know Kairyn and his crony, the Nightingale, have used suppressant magic like this before but the scary thing is, he hasn’t felt a flicker, not for the three months we’ve been here.
My hands curl into fists. I’ll find you, Rosie. I promise.
“If I may, m’lord,” Claudius steps closer, lowering his voice, “there are people in the city who will fight. Who want to fight against the Green Rule. A resistance is brewing.”
The Green Rule—that’s what Kairyn’s calling his occupation of Summer, sanctioned by the Below. I look around. Most of the soldiers are occupied with ushering people into the arena. Inside, Kairyn has imprisoned half the legionnaires of Summer, forcing them to fight in his twisted games. The rest of our army is imprisoned in Soltide Keep, the prominent fortress in Hadria and my childhood home. Whatever resistance Claudius is speaking of would be comprised only of the common folk of Summer. I can’t risk my people like that. “No one hates this more than me, but it’s not the right time. It would only get more people killed.”
Claudius nods but can’t hide the disappointment on his face as he slinks back into the crowd. He doesn’t understand. I can’t lead anyone. I don’t even have my magic.
There’s a faint crackle, like an echo beneath my skin, but I can’t summon anything. It’s been too long since I’ve returned to Castletree. The damned Prince of Thorns stole my token and even being in my own realm isn’t enough to restore the Blessing.
Another roar echoes from the crowd, and I peer through the pillars, catching a glimpse of the sacred sands of the arena. The stands rise around them in an oval shape. The Emperor’s Box sits at the very top, an elevated seating area with the best view of the fights. Within the box floats a glowing, brilliant object. The Bow of Radiance. Kairyn has it.
The way he’s treating this sacred space, this sacred object . . . It’s perverse. My people, my legionnaires, are forced to fight in his games and if one gladiator or a team wins three matches, they are allowed the privilege to try and wield the Queen’s own bow.
Everyone’s burned up on contact with it.
The only way to wield the bow is to wear the Queen’s token, and that was lost five hundred years ago when she left the Enchanted Vale.
Leaving the arena, I turn a corner and come face to face with someone who could save the city.
A mural of my family painted onto the wall of the Sun Colosseum. Or my family how it once was before the War of Thorns. There were seven of us, and we were so close. My mother married twice, a custom common among fae in Summer. They weren’t mates, but there was so much love between all three of them. My two fathers treated each other like brothers, and both adored my mother, Sabine. In the mural, Delphie is a newborn, and Mother cradles her tightly. My mother has her blond hair curled in loose knots around her face. Even in the painting, her gaze is still intense, eyes like chips of turquoise. Gauzy pink fabric twists down her tan arms.
Delphie’s birth father, Ovidius, stands over them. He may not have been my blood, but he was still my father. The mural depicts him just as I remember, tall and broad-shouldered, with dark brown skin and full lips in a stern line. His long, black hair is pulled into tight braids that fall over his chest. Ovidius taught me to fight and to know when patience is warranted.
On his other side is Decimus, his other biological child. A smile brightens on my face looking at him. I can hear his voice offering advice, teasing me, or giving commentary on fights in the arena. The dimple in Decimus’s cheek is straight from our mother Sabine’s face, while his brown skin, black hair, and shining eyes all came from Ovidius. I see so much of him in Delphie now.
My fingers trail over the mural, to the other side of my mother, to Cenarius, my birth father. His long blond hair is depicted in thick curls. He was always in the ocean, always finding some way to make us laugh. I learned all of my best jokes from him.
My hand drops before I let it touch Damocles. It would feel like a betrayal to even do so after what I let happen to his city.
What I let happen to him.
Damocles, the eldest-born son of Cenarius and Sabine. Damocles the hero. Damocles the wise. Damocles the perfect.
He stands there with the seashell token of the Queen around his neck and a stern line to his mouth. I don’t think I ever heard him laugh. There isn’t time for jokes when you’ve got a realm to run.
“It’s the royal family!” a light voice says, and a young girl runs up to the mural. Quickly, I back away behind an archway, but for some reason I can’t help but watch.
The girl places her hand over the image and whispers, “When is Damocles coming back to save us?”
A woman walks up and places a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Damocles is dead, you know this. Daytonales is the High Prince now.”
The young girl tilts her head at the mural. “I don’t know who that is.”
“Summer has not seen him in a long time.”
“Maybe Princess Delphia will come back and save us.”
My heart near shatters in my chest.
A shadow falls over the girl and her mother, and it’s suddenly so quiet. The kind of quiet that only fear brings.
The crowd parts as Kairyn struts forward, tall and broad, adorned by his metal helm and a swishing black cape. Fuck, the bastard must be sweating buckets—just more proof of his insufferable pride. Maybe if I’m lucky he’ll boil away in that walking chamber pot.
Dozens of Spring soldiers flank him. Even if they didn’t, there isn’t a single person in this city that could fight him and win.
Not while he wields Spring’s Blessing.
I pull my hood lower over my brow, resisting every urge to rush into the street and confront him. To demand to know where Rosalina is. Order him to let her go.
But I’ll be no use to Rosie dead.
“There is already a savior here, child. I will keep you safe the way your loathsome Prince of Summer never could. I have restored Spring to its former glory, and Summer is next.” Kairyn tilts his owl helm at the child. “All you need to do is kneel.”
He says the words as if he knows I’m here. I stagger farther back into the crowd.
Magic crackles through the air. The kind of magic only a High Ruler can wield. It’s the Blessing of Spring. Kairyn only has access to such power because he manipulated Ezryn into passing the Blessing to him.
Dark vines writhe from beneath his hand, breaking into the wall, tearing apart the mural. Broken pieces of my family turn to dust upon the street.
One by one, the crowd drops to their knees, heads bent in submission. I should kneel, I should submit. But I can’t.
I can’t fight either, not yet. So, I slink into the shadows.
But Kairyn isn’t the only High Prince not hindered by a curse.
Farron.
Farron will find a way to save us. He always does.
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***SUBJECT HEADING CORRECTION*** Broken by Daylight is the fourth book in the series, not the fifth :)
I stumbled upon this series and I cannot wait for book 5! I read the first 4 in the last week. Congratulations 🎊