Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29
Rosalina
“Y ou should really eat something, Rose,” Keldarion says.
“I’m not hungry.” I burrow my face into the crook of his neck.
I’m sitting on his lap in the dining room, a table of food spread before us: steaming potato leek soup, crusty rolls, a crisp salad with tomatoes, olives, cucumber, and passionfruit tarts for dessert. As delicious as it all looks, my stomach is still in knots. This whole time you knew. You knew who I was, knew where my mother was being held.
There’s no response in my mind. Good. I don’t want to talk to Caspian anyway.
“Just a few bites,” Keldarion urges.
Reluctantly, I reach for one of the passionfruit tarts and nibble on the crust.
“I always get chastised when I have dessert before dinner,” Dayton drawls. His words are slurred. With an important meeting on the horizon, the Prince of Summer is drunk. His plate is also empty, though he’s helped himself to more than a few glasses of wine.
“Perhaps when you are as perfect as my daughter, you can get away with it,” my father says. Farron chuckles at that, and even Dayton cracks a half-smile.
Keldarion leans down to my ear. “He’s right. You are perfect.”
I certainly don’t feel perfect, but his words make me blush regardless.
My father sits at the end of the table with Farron. Surrounding their plates are rotten mushrooms, dead animal skulls, strange trinkets, feathers, and scraps of paper, all dug out of the bag Nori instructed me to give her brother. The two of them have been having great fun going through the pieces, muttering about leaching mushrooms and ancient spells.
The table feels empty, and it’s not Caspian I’m missing (good riddance to the liar) or Wrenley (thankfully, Kel agreed that, despite being mates with Dayton, it isn’t necessary for her to be in on all Castletree business). It’s Ezryn.
I can tell through our mate bond that he’s very far away. My heart cries out for his. I need to find him soon.
May I come in? Caspian’s smooth voice caresses my mind. I jolt and Kel rubs a soothing hand up and down my back.
No , I shoot back to Caspian with as much venom as I can muster.
Well, too bad. Your princes and father are idiots, and if you ever want to play happy family, you need me.
Why bother asking if you’re just going to waltz in anyway, you pig? I think vehemently. “Kel, hand me a bread roll.”
“Would you like it buttered?” Kel asks.
“Give me the oldest, hardest one you can find.”
He shakes his head, reaching around me, and then deposits one in my hand, just as the grand doors of the dining hall open. I chuck the bread roll as hard as I can where it bounces off Caspian’s thick skull.
“Nice shot,” Kel says.
But I still glower. You let me hit you.
What can I say? His star-flecked gaze shifts to me. I’m a masochist when it comes to you.
Heat crawls up my neck, and I turn away.
“Close the doors, Caspian,” Keldarion orders. “Sit down and prepare to tell us everything you know.”
“Everything?” Caspian steps closer, his black cloak fluttering behind him like a shadow. “We’ll be here a long time.”
“Everything about my wife, you vile miscreant!” Papa says, voice gruff as he slams his palms down on the table.
Caspian raises a brow, a serpentine smile on his face. “Ah yes, the long-lost Queen of the Enchanted Vale. Aurelia.”
Caspian eyes the chair next to Kel, so I slide off my mate’s lap and onto it, so he doesn’t get any ideas about taking my seat. The Prince of Thorns gives a long sigh and sinks into a chair beside me.
“Her name is Anya,” my father says, but something glazes over his sapphire-blue eyes. “It was, wasn’t it?”
“That’s the name you always told me,” I say.
“So, you’re actually going to help us?” Farron asks.
“For now,” Caspian says, rocking back in his chair.
Papa’s eyes are wide as saucers. He’s been searching my whole life for my mother, and now to speak with someone who’s seen her … I can’t imagine what he must be thinking.
“Here are the facts. Yes, I’ve spoken with Aurelia, but not much. It’s a dangerous trek to her cell, and if I dwell too long, my mother could get suspicious,” Caspian says. “Aurelia doesn’t believe I’d ever act against Sira. Which is fair, figuring it’s my mother who trapped her in the Below.”
A collective ripple of energy pulses through the princes at the confirmation, a deep instinctual fury to protect their Queen. It surges in me too. Sira … I mark the name in my heart.
“Twenty-five years ago, the Queen returned to the Vale and placed her curse upon the princes,” Caspian continues.
A weighty silence settles over the room. “So, it’s true,” Farron whispers. “The Enchantress was the Queen. We theorized this must be the case, but a part of me never truly believed the Queen would curse us.”
“Why not?” Keldarion says. “We inherited her realms, her magic, her people, and returned such grace with negligence. It’s no wonder she would enact retribution against us.”
I look down at my hands. The same magic I used to transform my friends into birds for their rescue had been used to curse them. What else was my mother capable of?
What else am I capable of?
Caspian drums his fingers on the table. “Shortly after cursing you, Sira captured Aurelia and imprisoned her in the Below.”
“How could Sira manage such a thing?” Keldarion growls.
Caspian holds up his wrist, showing the frosted thorn bracelet. “With one of the strongest forms of magic in the Enchanted Vale. That of a bargain.”
“That’s preposterous. Our Queen would know better than to bargain with Sira,” Farron says.
“She never told me the details, though I know it was for love.” His eyes flick to my father.
“She would never,” Farron continues.
It’s my father who says gruffly, “No … she would.”
“What are you saying, Papa?” I ask.
My father’s eyes are a deep well of memory. “I do not know this Sira, but I know my Anya. She was rash and bold, and there was never anyone quite as clever as her. It was that cleverness that often got her in the most trouble. Her confidence would get the best of her, but I was always there to bail her out.”
“Look, it doesn’t matter how she got there, the problem is that’s where she is. Sira’s got her in the deepest part of the Below, caged in a labyrinth filled with traps, in an impenetrable prison,” Caspian says, and then he turns to me, nothing but blazing stars in his lavender gaze. “This is why I never told you, Princess. There’s no way to get her out.”
I stare him down. “Well, Caspian, I’ve read thousands of stories, and in none of them is the damsel ever left in the dungeon. We will rescue my mother.”
A few hours later, the dining room table has transformed into a diorama of the Below, represented by various soups, bread rolls, fruit, and vegetables. Currently, we’re bent over a bowl of potato soup, which represents the Green Flame pool Cas filled us in about. Apparently, now we’ve got undead skeletons milling about the Below, and their creator chomping at the bit to join them.
Across the table, my mother is represented by a passionfruit tart trapped in a prison of celery sticks. The celery sticks are, of course, the green glowing crystals Sira is using to siphon her magic. A line of them crosses the table back to the deadly Green Flame pool.
“I’m telling you,” Caspian says again, “not even a divine weapon could break these crystals. They grow from the ground like trees, yet they’re indestructible.”
“What about the pool? Can we break apart its structure?” Keldarion asks.
“Maybe,” Caspian says. “That’s just rock, but it would take a great deal of magic, and you wouldn’t want to be anywhere around that liquid when it’s spilling out. Even if we destroy the pool, Sira could just drain more and more life from Aurelia and start again.”
“So, we need to get Anya out,” my father says, staring intently at the tart as if it’s really his wife.
“We will, Papa.”
“Well, isn’t this jolly fun?” Dayton says, voice near incomprehensible from wine. “After this, let’s make the Sun Colosseum out of bread rolls and drown a carrot Kairyn in soup. That’ll certainly get him out of my realm.”
“At least we’re trying to figure this out, Dayton,” Farron snaps.
“And how far we’ve come.” Dayton leans across the table to reach for the wine.
His movements are clumsy, and he knocks an empty carafe over. It rolls, toppling the potato soup and celery crystals. They spill across the table, right into Nori’s treasures.
Farron yells, desperately trying to salvage the supplies, as the celery sticks hit the dark mushrooms. They turn black, shriveling up. “Dayton, you’ve made such a mess!” Farron shouts.
I watch the wilted piece of black celery that touched the mushroom. Its darkness spreads from one celery stick to another.
“Wait,” I say. “I think Dayton might be on to something.”
“I am?” Dayton says, blinking doe-eyed at me.
“Yes.” Quickly, I reassemble the celery crystals, making sure the path is connected all the way to my mother’s prison, then, using a napkin, I pick up a mushroom. “Tell me about this, Fare.”
“They’re called the leach mushroom,” he says. “They only grow on a few select islands in the Byzantar Isles. This species thrives by draining energy from nearby plants or animal carcasses.”
“All right.” I place the leach mushroom on one piece of celery. Instantly, it turns black, before sprouting to the next one, then the next, until the rot shoots across the table and devours the sticks surrounding the tart.
“She’s free!” my father gasps.
“Congratulations, you destroyed some vegetables.” Caspian rolls his eyes. “These crystals are formed from the Green Flame’s power and infused with Aurelia’s magic. It’ll take more than a little mushroom to destroy them.”
“Maybe there’s a way we can find out if it will work,” Farron says softly. “Wait here.”
Dayton stills, probably sensing the same seriousness in Farron’s tone as I do. Farron returns shortly and sets a bundle of cloth on the table. Slowly, he pulls back the edges to reveal Perth Quellos’s shattered crown. The one he used to harness the Green Flame’s magic and raise an undead army.
“Why do you have that?” Caspian snarls, voice full of venom.
“I thought it might be useful to understand the enemy’s power,” Farron says.
“You don’t want to know that power,” Caspian says. “Trust me.”
“It’s broken anyways.” Farron lines up the shattered pieces of crystal. “But is this the same kind of stone? Will it work for our experiment?”
Caspian chews his lip, still looking displeased. “Similar enough.”
“Let’s try. Now, this experiment might not show exact results. For example, I could plant the mushrooms and help them respawn with my magic. The crystals would also be buried in the earth. This, at least, will tell us if they’ll have any effect.”
“All right, enough science talk,” Dayton urges. “Try it.”
Farron places one of the mushrooms beside the crystal. We all peer over, and I let out a small gasp, seeing a bit of the crystal turn black, but it doesn’t spread to the others.
“See, it’s not strong enough,” Caspian bites.
“But the mushrooms aren’t planted in the ground,” Papa urges. “A living shroom would be stronger than this dead one, don’t you think? I say we give it a try.”
“Technically, mushrooms aren’t planted . They’re attached to the mycelium—”
“We don’t just try to destroy a gateway to another realm,” Caspian interrupts. “We do or we die. There’s no third option. The Below isn’t a forgiving place for testing experiments.”
Farron knocks the shards away. “Caspian’s right. We can’t expect something of the natural world to triumph over such ancient magic.”
“Fare,” Dayton says intently, and everyone stills. “You know that spell you performed in Autumn to put the dead to rest. What if you did that?”
“Intensify the mushroom’s leaching ability with your own magic,” I add on.
Farron shakes his head. “That spell was for souls.”
“So, rewrite it.” I grab his hands. “Change the story. Change how the magic works.”
His auburn hair falls in his eyes as he shakes his head. “Reworking a spell that powerful … I’m not talented enough for that.”
“Now who’s afraid?” Caspian drawls, grabbing more celery to place around Aurelia.
Farron’s gaze lingers on him, before he whispers, “Fine. I’ll try.”
“It’s settled!” My father beams. “We need two teams. Farron, obviously, will go to the pool.”
“I’ll have to go with you,” Caspian says. “You’ll never get into that chamber without my help.”
Farron sneers but stays quiet.
“The second team,” my father continues, “will be waiting to get Anya when the chain reaction breaks her cage.”
“Oh yes, traversing the deadly labyrinth in the pits of the Below,” Caspian says. “I’m sure you’ll have lots of volunteers for that.”
“I’ll go,” Keldarion says. “The Queen cursed me because I dishonored my role as the Protector of the Realms. I will defend her husband at all costs.”
Warmth swirls within me at the protectiveness in Kel’s voice.
“I’ll go with them,” I say.
Caspian levels me a glare, then slowly uncrosses his boots and stands, looking down on me. “Too bad for you, Princess. You haven’t heard my one condition for offering my help.”
“What is that?”
“If there is to be a foolhardy rescue, you are not going.”
“That’s bullshit.” I wave my arms in the air, looking at the rest of the princes for support. “If my mother is in the Below, I have to go find her.”
Caspian just sits back down, crossing his legs and looking bored. “Then find someone else to help.”
Anger bubbles within me.
“Rose,” Keldarion says, “it will be dangerous. I know you could handle it, but the Queen’s magic lives in you. You’re the Vale’s final hope.”
“I have barely a fraction of the Queen’s magic,” I say, even though I understand his reasoning. “My bow was the most powerful thing I had, and Kairyn stole that.”
Dayton perks up for the first time all evening. “Then take it back.”
“How would I do that?”
His smile is dazzling. “By winning Kairyn’s games. Enter with me in disguise, and we’ll win your bow. Once it’s in your hands, you can use it to take down Kairyn and the Nightingale.”
“Ezryn is in Summer,” Keldarion says. “He’s searching for you. Return to Summer with Dayton and find Ez. The three of you can work on liberating Summer while we rescue the Queen.”
Despite the sense of this plan, I can’t help casting a glare at Caspian simply because I don’t like being told what to do.
Keldarion looks down at Dayton, tone serious. “Take Wrenley with you as well. You know what you need to do to reclaim your realm.”
Dayton’s only answer is a tight nod.
“Good,” Caspian says. “Glad we’ve got that all figured out.”
“If Ezryn were here, he’d tell me this was all a ploy to lure the High Princes to the Below,” Keldarion says softly.
Caspian’s smile darkens. “If Ezryn were here, he’d try and remove my head from my shoulders.”
The thought of Ezryn hating Caspian so much makes my stomach twist into knots. Though to be fair, I’d felt my own fair share of rage against Caspian earlier.
“I can take Farron down with me by thorns,” Caspian says, “but the only way through the labyrinth is to walk. You’ll find your magic will dwindle the closer you get to her enclosure. You can find your way there from a path at the very bottom of the Great Chasm.”
“Good thing I’ve never needed magic on my adventures,” my father says with a twinkle in his eye.
“Let us say the plan works. How do you suggest we escape once we’ve freed the Queen?” Keldarion asks.
“With this.” Caspian pulls a small seed from his breast pocket. “Plant this and it’ll return you to Castletree.”
Keldarion takes the seed carefully, tucking it away. “We’re counting on you.”
“Don’t think this is more than it is. I just don’t want some green tyrant destroying the Vale,” Caspian sneers. “My mother cannot find out I’m helping you.”
“It’s finally happening.” My father dabs his eyes. “Anya, I’m coming.”
Slowly, I reach out and clasp Dayton’s hand. “And we will free Summer.”