Plot Summary
War, Bargain, and a Queen
In 1471, amid the War of the Roses, a mysterious, immortal woman—Queen Moryen of the Others—appears on a blood-soaked battlefield. She strikes a bargain with King Edward IV, ensuring his victory and her own rise to power. But her bargains are always double-edged: Edward's reign is brief, and Moryen claims the throne, ending the war and beginning a centuries-long rule. Her magic is absolute, her bargains binding, and her presence reshapes England into a land where faerie deals are law, and the price of magic is always steep. The world is forever changed, and the seeds of future rebellion are sown.
Sisters and Vanishing Acts
In 1848 London, Ivy Benton's world is upended when her beloved older sister Lydia vanishes without a trace. Ivy, desperate and determined, braves the city's dangers to search for her, clinging to childhood stories of faerie doors and bargains. The city is cold, society is cruel, and Ivy's family is on the brink of ruin. When Lydia finally returns, she is changed—haunted, secretive, and unable to remember what happened. Ivy's love for her sister is tangled with anger and confusion, and the mystery of Lydia's disappearance becomes the driving force of Ivy's quest.
Pact Parade and Blood Oaths
As the annual Pact Parade approaches, Ivy is thrust into the world of bargains and debutantes. The queen's bargains are a rite of passage, and Ivy, wearing her sister's altered gown, must choose what to ask for. But the queen's announcement changes everything: Prince Bram will choose a bride from among the debutantes, and those who compete must swear never to marry if they lose. Ivy, desperate to save her family's reputation and future, signs the contract in her own blood, setting herself on a path of danger, rivalry, and impossible choices.
The Prince's Deadly Game
The queen's son, Prince Bram, is to choose a wife, but the contest is brutal. Twenty-four girls, including Ivy, must compete in a maypole dance—an ordeal of endurance and humiliation. Only six will remain. Ivy, outcast and underestimated, survives through grit and luck, earning the May Queen crown and a place among the final contenders. The competition is not just for love, but for survival, status, and the future of their families. The queen's games are merciless, and the girls are forced to confront the true cost of ambition.
Maypole, Mud, and Mayhem
The maypole competition exposes the girls' vulnerabilities and rivalries. Ivy's old friendships are tested, especially with Greer, who is both ally and adversary. The girls endure physical pain, public shame, and the ever-present threat of failure. Ivy's victory is bittersweet, as she realizes that winning means stepping further into the queen's web. The six remaining girls—each with their own secrets and bargains—move into the palace, where the real contest for Bram's heart and the queen's favor begins.
Bargains, Losses, and Lies
Each girl's bargain with the queen is revealed to have a hidden price: beauty for pain, talent for taste, memory for love. Ivy, refusing to make a selfish bargain, asks only to undo her sister's mysterious deal, but the queen denies her. The girls' relationships grow tense as they realize they are both friends and rivals, and the queen's lessons become increasingly cruel. Ivy's family teeters on the edge of financial ruin, and her love for Lydia is tested by secrets and betrayals.
Six Girls, One Crown
As the girls vie for Bram's attention, alliances shift and old wounds reopen. Ivy's awkwardness and honesty set her apart, drawing Bram's interest but also the queen's scrutiny. Emmett, Bram's enigmatic brother, becomes both a confidant and a source of temptation for Ivy. The girls are subjected to a series of brutal lessons and trials, designed to break their spirits and expose their weaknesses. The stakes grow higher, and the line between love and survival blurs.
Lessons in Survival
The girls are drugged and thrown into a magical hedge maze, forced to solve riddles and endure pain to survive. Ivy's resourcefulness and courage help her through, but the experience leaves scars—physical and emotional. The queen's lessons are revealed to be not just tests, but acts of cruelty meant to entertain her and weed out the weak. The girls are ranked, and the threat of ruin or death hangs over them all. Ivy's determination to protect her family and friends hardens into resolve.
Secrets, Scandals, and Seduction
Ivy's growing connection with Emmett complicates her feelings for Bram and her place in the competition. Emmett reveals a secret rebellion: he and his father seek to break the queen's original bargain and end her rule. Ivy is drawn into their plot, torn between her duty to her family, her feelings for Emmett, and the possibility of real change. The girls' secrets—affairs, forbidden loves, and broken promises—come to light, threatening to destroy them from within.
The Queen's Cruel Trials
The queen's next lesson is a tea party where the girls' families are enchanted to speak only the truth, exposing hidden resentments and traumas. Greer's secret love is revealed, leading to her public shaming and apparent suicide. The girls are devastated, and the queen's power seems absolute. Ivy's guilt and grief drive her to desperate measures, and the rebellion gains urgency. The cost of perfection, obedience, and survival becomes unbearable.
Love, Betrayal, and Rebellion
As the competition nears its end, Ivy and Emmett's forbidden love reaches its breaking point. Ivy is forced to choose between her heart and her duty, between love and the chance to end the queen's tyranny. The queen manipulates the outcome, and Ivy is crowned the winner—but at the cost of her memories of Emmett. The rebellion's plan is set in motion, but the price is Ivy's happiness and the hope of a future with the man she truly loves.
The Maze of Truths
The queen's original bargain is finally unraveled: her rule depends on being the only "twice-crowned" sovereign. Ivy's May Queen victory and marriage to Bram threaten to break the spell. But Bram's true nature is revealed—he is not the gentle prince he seemed, but the immortal king of the Otherworld, with his own dark agenda. The door between worlds is opened, and chaos erupts. Ivy's memories return, and the true cost of every bargain is laid bare.
The Price of Perfection
Ivy's sacrifice—her love for Emmett, her memories, her very self—becomes the linchpin of the rebellion. The queen is overthrown, but the victory is hollow. Ivy is left with a crown, a kingdom in chaos, and a heart full of loss. The girls who survived are forever changed, their innocence and dreams shattered by the queen's games. The price of perfection, of survival, is revealed to be unbearably high.
The Coup and the Crown
With the queen imprisoned and Bram crowned, the true nature of power is revealed. Bram is not the savior the girls hoped for, but a cunning, ancient ruler with his own plans. The bargains are undone, but the world is not saved. Ivy is trapped in a marriage to a man she cannot love, haunted by memories of Emmett and the knowledge that she was a pawn in a much larger game. The rebellion's victory is bittersweet, and the future is uncertain.
The Otherworld's Door Opens
Bram opens the door between worlds, unleashing the Others upon England. The palace is overrun with fae courtiers, and the world Ivy knew is lost. The girls must navigate a new reality, where magic and cruelty reign, and the rules have changed. Ivy's sister Lydia is revealed to have been a bride in the Otherworld, her memories and freedom stolen. The cost of every bargain, every ambition, is finally understood.
The Queen's Downfall
Queen Mor is imprisoned, her power broken, but her legacy endures. The girls confront her in the Tower, demanding answers and apologies. The truth of Bram's plan, the nature of faerie bargains, and the futility of rebellion are laid bare. The girls are left to pick up the pieces, their friendships and futures forever altered. Ivy's love for Emmett, her loyalty to her sister, and her own sense of self are all that remain.
The King Revealed
Bram's mask drops, revealing his centuries-old ambition and ruthlessness. He manipulates Ivy, imprisons Emmett, and claims Lydia as his own. The girls' hopes for a better world are dashed, and the reality of faerie rule is more terrifying than ever. Ivy must find the strength to fight for her sister, her friends, and herself, even as the odds grow insurmountable.
Sisters, Lovers, and Loss
In the aftermath, Ivy and the surviving girls cling to each other, their bonds forged in suffering and loss. Emmett's fate is uncertain, Lydia is trapped in the Otherworld, and Ivy is left to rule beside a king she cannot trust. The story ends with hope and heartbreak entwined, as the sisters' love and the memory of what was lost become the only light in a world forever changed by bargains, ambition, and the hunger for power.
Characters
Ivy Benton
Ivy is the second daughter of a once-prominent family, defined by her love for her older sister Lydia and her determination to save her family from ruin. She is clever, stubborn, and deeply empathetic, but also haunted by self-doubt and the weight of responsibility. Ivy's journey is one of transformation: from overlooked "spare" to May Queen, from pawn in the queen's games to the linchpin of a rebellion. Her love for Emmett is passionate and forbidden, and her willingness to sacrifice her own happiness for others is both her strength and her tragedy. Ivy's psychological arc is one of growing agency, but also of loss—of innocence, of love, and of self.
Lydia Benton
Lydia is Ivy's beautiful, charismatic older sister, whose mysterious disappearance and return set the story in motion. She is both victim and agent: her bargain with the queen leaves her with missing memories and a hunger she cannot name. Lydia's time in the Otherworld, as Bram's bride, is erased from her mind, but its trauma lingers. She is a mirror for Ivy—what happens when perfection is demanded, when love is conditional, and when agency is stolen. Lydia's arc is one of loss, survival, and the enduring bond of sisterhood.
Prince Emmett De Vere
Emmett is the human son of the queen's consort, forever caught between worlds. He is charming, wounded, and deeply lonely, shaped by abandonment and the impossibility of true belonging. Emmett's intelligence and wit mask a desperate hunger for love and meaning. His alliance with Ivy is both strategic and deeply emotional, and his willingness to risk everything for her—and for the hope of a better world—drives the rebellion. Emmett's arc is one of longing, sacrifice, and heartbreak, as he loses both his father and the woman he loves.
Prince Bram
Bram is the queen's immortal son, beloved by all for his beauty and kindness. But beneath the surface, he is ancient, cunning, and ruthless—a king of the Otherworld with his own agenda. Bram's ability to play the perfect prince masks his true nature as a predator and conqueror. His relationship with Ivy is a performance, and his love for Lydia is possessive and destructive. Bram's arc is a revelation of power's corrupting influence and the danger of underestimating those who seem most innocent.
Queen Moryen (Mor)
Mor is both villain and victim: a faerie queen who rules through bargains, cruelty, and boredom, but also a mother who loves and is betrayed by her son. Her bargains are always double-edged, and her lessons are designed to break spirits and entertain herself. Mor's psychological complexity lies in her loneliness, her inability to connect, and her ultimate downfall at the hands of those she underestimated. Her arc is a meditation on power, immortality, and the emptiness of endless games.
Greer Trummer
Greer is Ivy's childhood friend, shaped by her mother's ambition and her own longing for love. Her secret affair with a stable boy and her public shaming at the queen's tea party lead to her apparent suicide—a devastating loss that galvanizes the other girls. Greer's arc is a tragedy of perfectionism, repression, and the cost of living in a world where love is forbidden and bargains are deadly.
Faith Fairchild
Faith is a sharp, guarded girl whose bargain with the queen forces her to always tell the truth. Her relationship with Emmett is complicated by past intimacy and present rivalry. Faith's arc is one of self-discovery, vulnerability, and the struggle to find connection in a world built on lies. Her honesty is both her weapon and her wound.
Marion Thorne
Marion is the daughter of a self-made duke, burdened by expectations and her own longing for a life beyond marriage. Her bargain with the queen grants her writing talent at the cost of her happiest memory. Marion's arc is one of self-assertion, the pursuit of art, and the courage to love another woman (Faith) in a world that forbids it.
Olive Lisonbee
Olive is the youngest and most naive of the girls, longing for love and acceptance. Her bargain for a perfect smile costs her her fingernails, and her optimism is both endearing and dangerous. Olive's arc is a lesson in the loss of innocence and the necessity of resilience.
Emmy Ito
Emmy is practical, witty, and skeptical of the entire system. Her bargain for painting talent costs her the ability to taste sweets. Emmy's arc is one of reluctant engagement, loyalty to her friends, and the realization that survival sometimes means playing the game, even when you hate it.
Plot Devices
Faerie Bargains and Their Costs
The central device is the faerie bargain: a magical contract that grants a wish at a hidden, often devastating price. These bargains shape every character's fate, from the queen's original deal with Edward IV to the girls' desperate attempts to secure beauty, talent, or love. The bargains are both literal and metaphorical, representing the costs of ambition, conformity, and survival in a world ruled by capricious power. The narrative structure is built around the escalation of these bargains, their consequences, and the ultimate attempt to break the system.
The Marriage Competition
The competition for Prince Bram's hand is a plot device that combines elements of The Bachelor, Hunger Games, and faerie folklore. It serves as a crucible for character development, exposing rivalries, alliances, and the true nature of power. The competition's rules—blood oaths, public trials, and the threat of ruin—create escalating tension and force the characters to confront their own desires and limits.
Foreshadowing and Reversal
The narrative is laced with foreshadowing: the queen's boredom, Bram's hidden nature, the true cost of bargains, and the possibility of rebellion. The story repeatedly subverts expectations—turning apparent victories into defeats, and apparent villains into victims. The final reversal, where Bram is revealed as the true antagonist and the queen as a tragic figure, recontextualizes the entire narrative.
Memory, Identity, and Sacrifice
Memory is both a weapon and a wound: Lydia's missing memories, Ivy's sacrifice of her love for Emmett, and the erasure and restoration of identity are central to the plot. The device of memory loss and recovery is used to explore the cost of survival, the pain of love, and the possibility of change. Sacrifice—of love, ambition, and even selfhood—is the price demanded by both faerie bargains and rebellion.
The Door Between Worlds
The hidden door between worlds is both a literal and symbolic device. It represents the allure and danger of magic, the possibility of escape, and the threat of invasion. The opening of the door in the climax unleashes chaos and reveals the true stakes of the story: not just personal survival, but the fate of two worlds.
Analysis
The Rose Bargain is a lush, brutal reimagining of the faerie bargain myth, set in an alternate England where magic is law and every wish has a price. At its heart, the novel is about the struggle for agency in a world designed to break and consume young women. Ivy's journey—from overlooked sister to May Queen, from pawn to rebel, from lover to sacrificial lamb—mirrors the experience of anyone forced to navigate systems rigged against them. The story interrogates the allure of perfection, the dangers of ambition, and the impossibility of winning a game whose rules are always changing. The queen is both monster and mother, her bargains a metaphor for the compromises demanded by patriarchy, tradition, and power. Bram's ultimate betrayal is a warning about the seduction of charm and the hidden costs of trusting those in power. The novel's lesson is both hopeful and harrowing: love endures, but only at great cost; survival is possible, but never without loss; and the only true magic is the courage to choose, even when every choice is a bargain with the devil.
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