29. Rosalina
29
Rosalina
I ’m halfway through my lemon tart when I spot a naked girl outside my window.
“Girl!” I give a panicked cry of alarm, lemon filling splattering against the floor as I drop my breakfast. “There’s a naked girl outside!”
Astrid and Marigold both flutter up beside me. I’ve been hiding away in my room, taking my sweet-ass time with breakfast, trying to decide whether it was too awkward to head down to the library today to research.
On one hand, I finally have a real lead I want to investigate. On the other, I don’t know how I can face Farron after how much of him I saw yesterday. What if he thinks I’m a creep?
At least my decision is delayed by this interruption.
“Oh dear.” Marigold sighs, pressing her nose to the glass. “Not again.”
“It’s been so long,” Astrid says. “I hoped he’d stopped for good.”
“Wait, what?” I turn to them. “Having a naked girl at the front door is a regular occurrence?”
“Yes, well, no.” Astrid’s bottom lip trembles. “It used to happen a lot more when the curse first started.”
“No use fretting about it any longer,” Marigold says. “Astrid, inform the master.”
Astrid visibly trembles. “No way. You know how he is when one of these girls shows up.”
“I’ll tell him,” I say. “Keldarion doesn’t scare me.”
Marigold and Astrid look at me like I’m well and truly insane, and maybe I am. But it’s the truth. I’m not afraid of the master of Castletree. At least, not for the same reasons they are.
“Better you stay in your room. These disturbances always put him in a right fuss. The princes will sort it out,” Marigold says. “I’m sure he’ll notice she’s here eventually; he always knows when someone’s in the castle.”
From the angle of my room, I have a perfect view of the bridge that leads from the front door. Something is bundled in the girl’s arms and she’s calling out, but I can’t make out the words.
“I’m not going to let her stand out there naked!” I grab an extra cloak from my wardrobe and take off down the stairs to the castle entrance. Marigold and Astrid chase behind me.
Sprinting outside, I skid to a stop in front of the fae woman.
“You look cold.” I hold the cloak out in front of me.
She doesn’t take the cloak or seem the slightest bit concerned about her nakedness. She quirks her head and says, “Where’s Keldarion? I need to see him.”
My hackles raise and my fingers tighten on the cloak. Why does this naked fae need to see Kel? Up close, I can see she is beautiful. Shorter and slighter than me, with long curly brown hair and light brown eyes. Her breasts are quite large and firm-looking, barely hidden behind the bundle of clothes in her arms.
This is so weird.
“Do you want to put those on?” I suggest.
She looks down at the clothes in her hands and shrugs, shaking out the slinky black dress and pulling it on. Tentatively, I place the cloak around her shoulders.
She blinks, then steps closer. “Wow, you’re really pretty.” She runs her hand along the side of my face and stops at my ears. “And a human too.”
“Uh, thanks?” I flush. “I’m… Rosalina.”
“I’m Ciara. Sorry, Rosalina,” she says, voice low and sultry. “I’m needy. He sent me here before I even finished, you know.”
“Who sent you here?”
“The Prince of Thorns,” Ciara, Astrid, and Marigold all say at the same time.
I gape at them. “Wait, what? You were mid-bang with Caspian then he used his weird horny-thorny magic to send you here? And this isn’t the first time he’s done it?”
Ciara runs her hands through her hair. “Why are the most beautiful men the most fucked? Anyway, where is Keldarion?”
Heat flashes across my body. Why does she need to see Kel?
“Rosalina!” I turn to see Farron rushing down the steps, buttons on his vest askew. Ezryn trails behind him.
They both stop and stare at Ciara. “Shit. Not again,” Farron swears.
“Could we not have waited until noon for such a loud commotion?” Dayton staggers out. He puts a hand to his head to shield his eyes and wavers with each step. I suppose turning into a wolf overnight did not rid him of his hangover.
But he’s only wearing loose sweatpants—or the fae equivalent of sweatpants. They’re low enough on his hips I can see the delicious V-shaped muscles. Fuck.
My eyes dart between him and Farron. I can’t stop it, my face burning with the image of them together.
Dayton probably wouldn’t notice if a meteor landed in front of us, but Farron does. His face flushes and he bites his lip, looking so awkward and cute my stomach flutters.
Ezryn marches up to Ciara, and she clutches my arm.
But Ezryn decides she’s not in need of choking—despite actually admitting she came right from Caspian. He looks down at her and says, “Follow me. We’re getting you home.”
She gives me an anxious look before we all trail back toward the castle after Ezryn. I fall behind Farron.
“Everyone keeps saying not again. Does Caspian often send naked people to the castle?”
“It’s a strange pattern.” Farron gives a long sigh and runs a hand through his wayward hair. “It happened a lot the first few years of the curse. Half-dressed or naked fae would appear at our doorstep, all explaining they’d just engaged in sexual relations with the Prince of Thorns.”
“That’s messed up.” I stop walking and watch the others enter the castle. “Why?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Farron shrugs. “Probably to torment Kel. If his mating bond awoke to one of these fae, Caspian could forever hold over him that he had Kel’s mate first. Or maybe Caspian hates commitment and thinks the front door of the castle is as good a place as any to dump his… exploits.”
“What a creep.” I take another look at Farron. “Also, Farron—”
“I’m sorry,” he blurts out at the same time as I do.
I let out a sigh of relief and a little laugh as he does. “I didn’t mean to be a creeper—”
“Rosie, no.” He reaches forward and clasps my hands. “I told you to meet me in the Summer Wing. I wasn’t thinking. I should have known that—”
“Dayton is stupidly charming.” I smile at him. His hands are so warm in the frosty morning air.
He shakes his head. “That’s one way to put it.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, are you two together? How does that work with finding a mate?”
Color floods his cheeks. “I’ve known Dayton forever. I spent some time in the Summer Realm and it kind of happened. Then after we were both coronated as High Princes and moved to Castletree, we continued. It’s just fun.”
Just fun sounds more like Dayton’s words than Farron’s.
“Looked more than fun,” I say before I can stop myself. “I mean—”
I try to pull away, but Farron tugs me closer. “How long were you watching for, Rosie?”
Heat swirls in my core. He’d said my name. Had it been out of surprise or something else? “Not too long.”
“Maybe it’s a little more than fun for me,” Farron says softly, eyes flicking to the front door where the rest of them disappeared. “I’m always looking at tomorrow, the future, a cure. But when I’m with Day, it feels like the only time I’m actually living.”
“We all need someone that makes us feel alive.”
“We certainly do.” His thumb massages my palm. “We’re not just with each other. Dayton seeks his pleasures often and sometimes drags me along.”
“Like, you get together with someone else?” I can’t stop the curiosity from blooming in my voice.
He lets out a heady breath, and I realize I’ve moved so my whole chest is almost pressed against his, our hands tucked between us.
“Sometimes,” he murmurs huskily and his eyes close. Is he imagining something that had once happened… or do his thoughts mirror my own?
Something that could happen.
“Rosie, if—”
Loud voices echo from inside the castle, and I give a sympathetic look up at Farron. “We should probably go help.”
We run up the stairs and into the entrance hall. Ezryn, Dayton, Astrid, and Marigold all stand around the mirror.
Ciara has her hands on her hips and glares at them all. “I’m not going until I see Keldarion!”
“My magic isn’t working on the mirror,” Ezryn grumbles. “Dayton’s isn’t either. It’s the same as the last ones. I doubt your magic will work, Farron.”
Farron gives a deep sigh. “I suspect Caspian puts some sort of enchantment on them to keep them here. Another way to torment us. Only Kel’s magic is still strong enough to break it.”
Ezryn turns and heads to the stairs. “I’ll get him. But I might require assistance.”
Farron gives a pained look before dragging Dayton up the stairs after Ezryn.
I awkwardly go stand beside Marigold, Astrid, and Ciara, who’s now as trapped here as me.
“Well, how was it?” Marigold waggles her dark brows. “Sleeping with the dark prince himself?”
“Marigold! You can’t ask her that!” Astrid says.
But Ciara has no qualms explaining. “They all say don’t go down Below, but honestly, all of my best fucks have been from one of Sira’s parties. When I caught Caspian’s eye last night, I knew I had to go for it. He’s dreamy sure, but it’s more than that. We’re all curious.” She looks Astrid up and down. “You’re from Winter, right? Me too. I needed to know: was Caspian’s dick really worth the Realm?”
Astrid gives a little quiver and her face scrunches in anger. “The Realm isn’t lost—”
“And?” Marigold is practically drooling. “Was it worth it?”
“No.” Ciara rolls her eyes. “He was charming until we arrived at his bedroom. He didn’t even fully undress. I used all my best moves, but he looked bored the whole time. Crazy, right? I mean, have you seen me?”
She is beautiful from top to bottom, but not only that, she has an allure of confidence I envy.
“After a couple minutes, he rolled off and didn’t even come inside me! Sputtered it onto the sheets, shoved my clothes into my hands, and said, ‘Tell Kel I say hi’. Such a jerk. I didn’t go down there so he could send me to his—”
A frigid blast of air shudders over us and we turn to see Keldarion at the top of the stairs, flanked by the other three princes.
Ciara’s eyes grow wide. She moves toward him. When he arrives at the bottom of the stairs, she reaches for him.
My fists clench at my sides. Why is she so intent on—
But Keldarion just grips her wrists and drags her toward the mirror without so much as a second glance. “You are not wanted here.”
Ciara lets out a strangled gasp, then looks back and forth. Something clears in her eyes. “I—”
Keldarion stops in front of the mirror and places a palm on it. The glass ripples beneath his touch. “Think of your home. Do not return Below.”
Ciara nods. She steps toward the mirror, before turning back. “I almost forgot. This is for you.” She reaches into her pocket before pulling out a rolled parchment and handing it to me.
I take it and feel the wisp of magic as she disappears into the mirror.
Kel’s breath is heavy above me as he looks down at the paper in my hands. It’s a small scroll, closed with a wax seal in the shape of a rose.
“I guess I’ll see what it says,” I breathe, heart quickening as I unroll the paper. The princes, Marigold, and Astrid all crowd around me.
On it is a single inked line in swirling script.
I was thinking of you the entire time, princess.
-C
“That fae did look like you.” Dayton breaks the silence with a laugh. “Well, you’re truly part of the family now, blossom, to gain the torment of the Prince of Thorns.”