Adam cares for his sickly mother by picking up ivy leaves and lotus flowers to heal her.

But when the merchant who supplies them runs out, he must venture into the woods to find the lotus flower. The only problem is that it's said the woods are cursed. Dozens of men have gone in to visit Castle Aphori and ask the princess for her hand in marriage, but none have come out alive. Including Adam's best friend, Colin.

As Adam picks his way through the twisted trees, he realizes that the woods are even more treacherous than rumors have spread, and twice as deadly-for him and any who dare to come near him and the castle's Beauty.