Thorned Crowns

They say Sleeping Beauty was cursed to sleep for a hundred years. They lied.

Seventeen-year-old Rory Vale knows what it means to be hollowed out-abandoned by her royal mother at age five, shuffled between foster homes, her entire existence defined by absence.

When a strange raccoon attack leaves her with a wound that sprouts thorns instead of scabs, Rory dismisses it as an allergic reaction. Until her half-brother, Prince Leo, falls into a mysterious coma at Briarcliff Palace. Until girls across town begin collapsing, black veins spreading beneath their skin, thorny patterns erupting from their flesh. Until a wax-sealed letter arrives from the mother who discarded her: *Come home. You're immune. You're the only one who can fix this.*

Behind Briarcliff's ancient walls, Rory discovers the palace she never wanted to see again has been transformed-corridors shift without warning, portraits whisper secrets, and plants move with deliberate purpose. Her brother sleepwalks through halls humming forgotten lullabies, while Queen Mab conducts clinical experiments on comatose girls with familiar faces-all descendants of executed queens. With the help of Kai, a groundskeeper whose sister is among the missing, Rory uncovers the truth: she wasn't abandoned out of cruelty, but protection.

Genetically engineered as "The Hollow Princess," Rory was created to serve as the perfect vessel for the Garden's consciousness-an ancient botanical entity that has waited centuries for a suitable host. As the transformation accelerates and her own body betrays her, Rory must choose: surrender to the Garden's promise of power and connection, or fight for her autonomy as the black roots reach for her heart.

Because the true curse of Briarcliff isn't endless sleep-it's consciousness trapped in a body no longer your own. In this dark, feminist retelling of Sleeping Beauty, thorns don't prevent awakening. They ensure you never truly sleep again.