Chapter 78
CHAPTER 78
Dayton
I want a drink.
I really fucking want a drink. But to do this drunk wouldn’t be fair to Wrenley or to me. I’m doing this to be better. To do right by my realm. To become the High Prince needed to save Summer.
Here stands the fool, who escapes within the flesh for fear of his fate. Who languishes his time and talent. Here stands a beast who will let his realm go to rot as long as his mind is muddled enough not to comprehend.
“Is this what you fucking wanted from me?” I snarl, thinking of the Enchantress. The Queen. “Did you want me to break your daughter’s heart? Did you want to break me? ”
Perhaps that is what she wanted. To reduce me to ash, to be remade.
Because by the damned gods, I know there won’t be anything left of me after this.
I pace back and forth in my room before placing my hand on the wall that Rosie is behind.
Except she’s not there. She’s returned to Castletree.
Gritting my teeth, I slam my fist against the wall, causing a spiderweb of cracks. Rosalina didn’t tell me not to go through with this. She didn’t tell me no.
A soft knock sounds on my door. Nausea roils through me. “Come in.”
Wrenley enters, wearing her white acolyte robes. Her gaze flits wildly back and forth. Her hair and clothes look rumpled, and her breathing is quick.
“Was there trouble getting away from Kairyn?” I ask.
Her gaze darts to me, wild and untethered. “Kairyn. What about him?”
“Is he going to notice you’re missing?”
She stalks past me and grabs the wine I’ve been ignoring. “What do I care about that arrogant asshole? He thinks he can control my entire life, like he knows my entire life. He doesn’t know a thing about me. Not really.”
Something’s upset her. Slowly, I hover a hand above her back before stepping away. “It’s all right, Wren. We can figure out a safe space for you to stay.”
“Oh yes, you would say that, noble prince.” She falls to the bed in a flurry, wine goblet in hand.
Running my hand through my hair, I try to soften my expression, my words. “Tell me something about yourself. Something you’ve never told anyone.”
Wrenley stills, an animal in a hunter’s trap. She closes her eyes and breathes in a long breath. Then she opens her eyes and studies me, looking a lot more like the girl I’m used to. “I never knew I had magic, like real magic, until you showed me at the water fountain in Florendel. Now, I can feel it everywhere. ”
“The world is full of magic.” I sit down next to her and take her small hand in my own. “Anything else?”
“I always dreamed of living in the Summer Realm,” she says softy. “Growing up, it felt like a place where no one could ever trap you. Like the sea could carry you far, far away from your problems.”
“I know what you mean.” But right now, trapped in these clay walls, the sea feels very far away.
“Now you tell me something,” she says.
“Me? I don’t have any secrets.” I smirk. None that I think she would understand. “I once borrowed Kel’s jacket and ripped it on one of the castle’s thorns.”
“Prickly little things,” she says and downs the wine in the goblet. “I have one more. I’ve never … never done this with anyone before.”
I swallow. “We don’t have to—”
“No.” She turns to me, and in a flash, all her shyness seems to have disappeared. She tosses the empty goblet to the floor. “You’re my mate. I’ve been dreaming of this moment my entire life. We belong together. Do you feel the same way about me?”
“O-of course I do,” I say. The words taste like ash in my mouth.
Before I can think any more, her lips are covering mine.
“I’m sure we can figure this out,” she murmurs, tugging at the laces of my shirt.
Dozens of responses filter through my mind, from the humorous to the downright raunchy, but all I can gasp out is, “If this is what you want.”
“Of course it is. Who else would I want? You’re my mate.”
I’m not sure if I’m imagining it, but it almost seems like she’s trying to convince herself as much as me. I kiss her again, this time running my lips from her jaw to her ear. I glide one hand through her hair, gripping her waist with the other.
“You’re beautiful,” she says, pulling away from me to look at my face. “Everyone in the palace goes on and on about it. Strong and handsome and tall. Though not as tall as Kairyn. He’s—”
“A whiny giant, I know. Can we avoid talking about him right now?”
“Of course.” She flushes and touches my hair. “Such a bright golden color.”
“You’re beautiful too, you know,” I tell her. It might be the first truth I’ve said today. Her face, such a similar shape to Rosie’s, that if I squint, I could almost pretend—
But I can’t do that. It’s not fair to her, and not fair to me.
Or Rosalina.
I roll Wrenley to her back, wondering how much longer we can delay this. I’ve done this with so many fae, so many times. Why can’t I push my feelings away like I did with Fare for so many years?
Rosie brought those feelings to light, made me feel what it was like to love both of them. Anger courses through me. She shouldn’t have done that. She had no right. Rosalina knew she had a mate, and yet she tried to get me to love her too.
And stupidly, she succeeded at it.
It feels like I’m going through the motions on where to place my hands, my mouth. Will this be enough to break the curse?
Wrenley moves to undo the laces of her robes, fingers trembling.
“Let me,” I say, covering my hand with hers. “I have gotten you out of those robes before.”
“When you rescued me.” Wrenley gives me a half-lidded gaze. “You really are a good person, Daytonales.”
“Haven’t been told that too many times in my life.”
She shakes her head. “It’s going to be your downfall.”
“Well,” I say, removing her robes, revealing the silk chemise below. “You’re about to learn just how good I can be.”
Her breath hitches, and I kiss her again, trying to summon the time I rescued her to the forefront of my mind, picturing the shell she gave me, the light that bound us together in the field. Trying to feel anything.
I break away, gasping. I have to do this. I have to kiss her and …
The air feels suffocating, thick with the scent of perfume and dust. I swallow hard, trying to suppress the rising tide of panic. Anguish, shame, and a bitter sense of betrayal swirl together in a tumultuous whirlpool, threatening to drag me under.
Rosie’s words echo in my mind: I cannot keep away from you any more than the tides can resist the pull of the moon .
I force myself to take a deep breath, willing my trembling limbs to obey as I run a hand over her collarbone.
Farron’s voice invades my soul . When we make love, it’s different than anything I’ve experienced before. It’s magic. It’s enchanted. It’s golden.
I shake my head, ridding myself of auburn hair and the scent of crisp leaves and apples. The feel of his body entangled with mine. Get out of my mind, Fare.
I have no choice in this. Wrenley’s hand touches my chest, no doubt feeling the hammer of my heartbeat. My body is not my own; it is merely a pawn in a cruel game of gaining power.
My heart must be locked away. If this is what it takes to be High Prince, then so be it. I lean down to Wrenley, steeling myself. Once this is done, a part of me will be lost forever.
The part that belonged to them.
“Ready, Wren?” I whisper.
She nods, hands gripping the ends of my shirt and pulling it over my head, causing my hair to fall wildly around my face. I slide my hand along her body to the hem of her dress and begin to drag it up.
Leaning down to capture her lips, it feels like cracks are forming all over my body.
And I …
“I can’t do this,” we both say at the same moment.
Her hands push hard against my chest.
Immediately, I stand, backing across the room. She sits up, drawing the blanket around her. “Wait, you can’t do this?” she gasps.
“Wrenley, you said—”
She shakes her head, and the sad, desperate girl changes into one of anger. “Because you’re in love with Rosalina, is that it? How can I be with you when you won’t let her go?”
I throw my head back, hands in my hair. “I was trying.”
She stands in a flurry, throwing on her robes. “You need to forget her, Dayton. She already has mates, and they’re not you.”
“I know.”
Wrenley opens the door but pauses. “I really wanted to help you, Dayton.”
The door slams shut, and I’m left alone.
Rosie is gone.
What if she doesn’t return by tomorrow? What’s even the point of fighting without my curse broken? I won’t be able to win. I won’t be able to protect her. We’ll never get the bow.
The Bronze Knight is going to kill me.
I should run.
But instead, I stand and grab the jug of wine. Maybe I’ll get drunk instead. What else would my realm expect of the drunken Prince of Summer?