📖 Rose in Chains: Chapter 12 Deep Dive
📢 Azuki note:
📣 A quick note before we wander in: These chapter deep dives are based on my own reading experience, interpretations, and the questions that came up for me along the way. They may not reflect the author’s intended meaning, but they capture how the story unfolded through my eyes..
⚠️ Spoiler warning: This review contains spoilers for Book 1 and references to the fanfiction Auction.
⚠️ Reader discretion advisory: It also touches on themes of auctioning and human trafficking, so reader discretion is advised.
🧭 Previously on...
Following the hard-fought bidding war at the auction, Briony is set to leave with Lag Reighven. Before the story continues in the present timeline, we are taken back seven years to the second year of the shared education programme at Evermore.
The previous flashbacks laid the foundations of Briony and Toven's relationship. We saw their turbulent first year, where Toven relentlessly tormented Briony with magical drafts before unexpectedly discovering her secret of boosting Rory's academic success. We also witnessed the state dinner, where Toven shocked the Evermore and Bomardi elites alike by asking Briony for both the first and second dances, publicly signalling an interest that neither of them was yet ready to acknowledge.
Now, as they enter their second year together, this chapter explores how their relationship quietly begins to evolve beyond rivalry into something far more personal.
🌹 Core Moments
💚 Toven x Briony 💜
What begins as a chapter about Briony's growing loneliness slowly transforms into one about the person who begins to fill that void.
The willow tree becomes the setting for some of the most important interactions between Toven and Briony in the story so far.
Hidden behind hanging reeds beside the lake, the tree initially serves as Briony's sanctuary. It is somewhere she can study, think, and simply exist without scrutiny. What fascinated me was how possessive she became over it.
"This is my tree, go away"
Objectively, Briony is being unreasonable. Toven is simply sitting there reading. Yet emotionally, her reaction makes perfect sense.
Throughout her life, Briony is expected to share everything: her achievements support Rory, her role belongs to her family, and her identity is shaped by duty. The willow tree may be one of the few things that feels entirely hers.
What I loved most about these scenes is how different Briony becomes around Toven.
She is playful.
Competitive.
Territorial.
Impulsive.
She teases him.
She blocks him from entering with magic and "adores the look on his face".
She races him to the tree.
She laughs at him when he falls.
For perhaps the first time in the story, Briony genuinely feels her age.
The willow tree itself feels symbolic. Associated with privacy, hidden emotions, flexibility, and longing, it becomes a space where Briony can briefly set aside expectations and simply be herself.
What makes that symbolism even stronger is that Toven repeatedly enters that space.
Unlike Didion, whose courtship follows more socially accepted patterns, Toven appears in hidden spaces: beside the lake, beneath the willow tree, during private conversations, and in moments free from witnesses.
The relationship develops outside formal structures, making every interaction feel both intimate and dangerous.
❤️🩹The healing scene
The healing scene beneath the willow tree is one of the chapter's most revealing moments.
As Briony heals Toven's injury, she becomes acutely aware of his physical presence: his hair, his scent, the closeness between them, and the way her breath affects him.
For a brief moment, she simply experiences the interaction.
Then she remembers.
Not because someone catches them.
Not because someone interrupts them.
Because she remembers what people would think.
More specifically, she remembers what her father would think.
One line especially caught my attention. While Briony is internally debating how to make Toven leave the willow tree, she also recognises that he does not see her as a threat. It is in that moment that she reflects: "I wish I could change his mind, but I know what my father would say."
The chapter never tells us what her father would say.
It does not need to.
Briony already knows.
His expectations have become internalised to the point that she regulates herself before anyone else can.
The father is not physically present, but his influence is.
This made me think about the phrase from previous chapters: "Briony, you forget yourself."
In many ways, this chapter feels like Briony repeatedly forgetting herself and then remembering again.
Around Toven, she briefly stops performing the role expected of her.
Then duty reasserts itself.
🐂 Toven vs Didion
The chapter also creates a fascinating contrast between Toven and Didion.
After kissing Didion, Briony repeatedly describes the experience as:
"Alright"
"Nice"
"Fine"
The language is strikingly neutral.
She sounds less like someone experiencing romance and more like someone evaluating whether she is supposed to enjoy something.
Even more tellingly, her actions contradict her words.
After their kiss, she continually avoids Didion afterwards.
She makes excuses.
She withdraws.
She spends time elsewhere.
Throughout the chapter, Briony repeatedly recalls Toven's words from the state dinner when she is with Didion: "Nobody keeps their hands to themselves in second year." The more the phrase resurfaces, the less it feels like desire and the more it reads as Briony's attempt to convince herself that what she's doing is normal.
Rather than asking: Do I want this?
Briony seems to be asking: Isn't this what everyone does?
Didion represents the relationship Briony thinks she should want.
Meanwhile, she cannot stop noticing Toven.
She watches him swim longer than she intends.
She notices his laughter.
She notices his eyes.
She notices his hair when it's wet.
She notices his (mismatched) socks that ‘kept her up all night’.
She notices everything.
Toven increasingly represents the feelings she cannot quite admit to herself.
Another clear example Didion approached her under the willow tree.
Briony becomes disappointed that it was Didion who arrived rather than Toven. Later, as the interaction becomes more intimate, she finds herself imagining grey eyes and silver hair instead.
For me, this is one of the strongest indications yet that Briony's feelings for Toven are growing long before she consciously acknowledges them.
✨ Things I Noticed
🧦 The Odd Socks
I refuse to believe the socks were mentioned this many times by accident.
Briony's fixation on Toven's mismatched socks feels symbolic.
Functionally, the socks still serve the same purpose despite not matching outwardly. In a similar way, Briony and Toven come from different cultures, different backgrounds, and different expectations, yet repeatedly find themselves drawn together.
The fact that Briony cannot stop thinking about something so small may also reveal how tightly controlled her own life is.
Toven's casual disregard for a minor social imperfection unsettles her because it reflects a freedom she does not allow herself.
🌹 The Emotional Cost of Rory & Cordelia's Relationship
With Rory and Cordelia now openly courting, Briony finds herself increasingly alone.
Neither of them deliberately excludes her, but their relationship naturally changes the dynamic between the three of them. The shared suite that once felt comfortable now feels different. Cordelia is no longer simply Briony's closest friend, and Rory is no longer simply her closest companion. Their priorities begin shifting towards one another.
What struck me most was how quietly the chapter portrays Briony's loneliness. She spends more time alone, withdraws to her room, and eventually begins seeking out solitude elsewhere. The willow tree later becomes significant partly because it fills a space that used to be occupied by people.
This chapter also made me wonder whether Briony carries any quiet resentment towards Rory.
Not because she dislikes him, but because Rory represents so many opportunities she has sacrificed. Briony consistently supports him academically, politically, and emotionally. She gives up recognition for work she has done herself, helps maintain his success, and accepts remaining in the background.
Yet while Rory receives public praise, public authority, and a public relationship, Briony continues living within restrictions that do not apply equally to him.
What makes this particularly interesting is that Briony never seems angry at Rory himself. Her frustration appears directed at the systems around them (and sometimes her father) rather than the person benefiting from them. Nevertheless, the imbalance remains impossible to ignore.
This chapter also made me think about Rose in Chains as a title.
Rory is burdened by expectation, duty, and responsibility. He became King while still young and inherited pressures he never asked for. In some ways, he is chained too.
The difference is that Briony consistently supports Rory through those burdens, while many of Briony's burdens exist because of the role Rory occupies. She helps carry his chains, but few people seem to notice her own.
🏰 Evermore vs Bomard
This chapter made me pay closer attention to the contrast between the schools' layout in Evermore and Bomard.
Evermore spreads outward around the lake, creating a sense of openness and connection.
Bomard rises upward amongst the mountains, emphasising hierarchy, elevation, and status.
What I found particularly interesting is the irony that Bomard often presents itself as the more progressive society, yet its architecture visually reinforces rank and hierarchy.
The environmental symbolism mirrors Briony's emotional journey throughout the chapter. Many of her most important moments occur near water, the lake, and the willow tree - spaces associated with openness, reflection, and emotional freedom.
Away from rigid structures, Briony seems able to discover parts of herself that usually remain hidden.
🌙 Still Wandering...
Did Toven know the willow tree was important to Briony before he started appearing there?
Did Toven know the dock near the lake was visible from Briony's dormitory window?
Was he deliberately swimming there because he knew she might see him?
Would Toven really have left the willow tree alone if Briony had surrendered first place in Elixirs?
Did Toven stop racing Briony to the tree after seeing her with Didion?
Did Toven secretly interfere with Didion's attempts to become more intimate with Briony?
Were Didion’s cramps genuine, or was magical interference involved?
Did Toven witness the encounter beneath the willow tree?
Did Didion know more about Briony and Toven's growing connection than either of them realised?
Was Didion's visit to the willow tree coincidence, intuition, or an attempt to compete for Briony's attention?
Where was Katrina throughout this period, and is her absence meaningful?
How aware is Toven of his own feelings at this point?
How much of Briony's hesitation comes from her own uncertainty, and how much comes from expectations she has internalised from her father and society?
🌿 How This Chapter Lands
Flashback chapters continue to be some of my favourites, and this may be one of my favourite Toven and Briony chapters so far.
From a reader's perspective, the chapter clearly shows their relationship progressing. Yet from their perspective within the timeline, the changes feel small and gradual. They are simply spending more time together, teasing one another, racing to a willow tree, and sharing quiet moments.
Yet those moments reveal more intimacy than many overt romantic scenes.
What surprised me most was how much my opinion of Briony deepened during this chapter.
On an initial read, I sometimes found her frustratingly rigid. Looking more closely, however, I found myself increasingly sympathetic towards her. The chapter highlights how much of her behaviour is shaped by expectation, duty, and self-regulation. Even when nobody is actively watching her, she is still anticipating judgement.
At the same time, this chapter gives us glimpses of a freer version of Briony. Around Toven she becomes playful, competitive, territorial, curious, and impulsive. The willow tree feels like one of the few places where she can temporarily stop performing and simply exist as herself.
Reading this chapter immediately after the auction also feels deliberate.
It almost feels like the story is reminding the reader of what might have been.
The chapter is filled with missed opportunities, interrupted moments, growing attraction, and feelings neither character fully acknowledges. Looking back from the present timeline makes those moments feel both sweet and bittersweet.
More than anything, this chapter left me wanting more of their history together.
Every interaction feels like another almost.
Another step.
Another chance.
And another reminder that the feelings between them were growing long before either of them were willing to admit it.
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