Chapter 79
CHAPTER 79
Caspian
S o, Farron knows Rosalina is my mate. It was always going to be impossible to hide it from him forever. I stand, trying to conceal the stiffness of my movements.
“Does Rosalina know?”
“No,” I snap, whirling. “And you won’t tell her.”
Farron crosses to me, reaching for my arm, which I jerk away. “She deserves to know, Cas. I think a part of her already does. I felt you, I think. Your pain … And you’ve heard my thoughts, haven’t you?”
“Mate of my mate. Yes, it’s all very complicated.” I open my wardrobe and pull out two plain black cloaks. “Put this on. It doesn’t matter. If the Queen gives me what I want, there won’t be a bond to worry about.”
Farron slowly clasps the cloak around his shoulder, then puts his golden elk mask back on. “Caspian, for what it’s worth … I’m not worried. Not anymore.”
I still, concentrating on the feeling of the fabric in my hands so I don’t collapse. “You would be if you’d seen what I did under that hood.”
The Autumn Prince’s earnest face is scrunched up in determination. “That won’t happen. Rosalina won’t allow it. I won’t allow it.”
He’s so stupid.
“Besides, I’m not so sure turning human will break your mate bond,” Farron says. “It’s something I’ve been wondering about lately. The way George talked about Aurelia … they must be mates and George is most certainly human.”
Hope and fear mingle in my stomach. Could I become human and keep Rosalina? A short life with her would be worth a thousand years of living the future my mother has planned. A future of servitude to the Green Flame. A future of power.
A future without Rosalina is no future at all.
I throw my cloak over my shoulders. “We need to get going. We’re already behind.”
“What’s the new plan? The party is over.”
“My mother will assume I’ve already left for Summer. It’s the perfect alibi. We just have to remain unseen.”
We creep outside, following the halls until we get to the upper ring of the courtyard. Most of the party guests have left, though there are a dozen or so lingerers and a few soldiers attempting to round them up. More than half are engaged in sexual acts, too hopped up on the spiked wine to be afraid. Birdy’s potion does its job again.
“Still a little chaos going on,” Farron murmurs.
“This way.” I grab his arm and lead him across the courtyard, head down, avoiding the notice of the guards with more pressing issues. My palace is perched on top of one of the tallest mountains in the Below. My city of Cryptgarden lies beneath it. Being the ever-generous ruler that I am, there are stairs carved into the mountain leading to my not-so-humble abode.
Farron and I take that spiraling path now. Halfway down the mountain, a track leads off to a lookout point lined with torches. I pull us in that direction.
“The pool is in the mountain that your castle is built on top of?” Farron hisses.
“Perhaps Mother thought it would help my magic,” I say back. “All I know is its presence is quite annoying when you’re trying to sleep. There’s a secret notch in the rock wall. Only Mother and I know of it. She can’t know I’m part of destroying the crystals.”
“I know,” Farron says. “Remember, she thinks you’re in Summer.”
“I know,” I snap back, heart racing.
“Hey! What are you two doing here?” a stern voice calls. “Sira told everyone to leave these premises and go back to the main city!”
I freeze, the voice of a guard carrying behind us.
“Get us out of here. Use your thorns,” Farron says.
“I can’t. She’ll see my thorns and know I was here.” My mind races. There has to be something we can do. “He can’t see me. He’ll report my presence to her, and she’ll do horrible things to me. Kel will fail and—”
The guard’s footsteps get closer. The breath rages in my throat so fast I can barely breathe. How did I not realize someone was behind us? I was too distracted. I’m going to let them all down again. Green pulses on the edge of my vision.
Farron slams me against the wall, and all I catch is the glint of his golden elk mask before his lips are over mine. He’s only an inch taller than me—I’ve measured—but there’s a strength in his grip that I’ve never felt before. The power of a High Prince. His lips part as I’m engulfed in a wave of heat that ignites every nerve in my body, searing with the intensity of a thousand suns.
The guard’s footsteps draw near, and the man grumbles. I suddenly realize what Farron’s doing.
Something I really should have thought of. Clever boy . So, I weave my hands in his hair and kiss him back hard. With each brush of his lips, his tongue slips between my teeth, consuming me with a passion as wild and untamed as the Autumn winds.
“All right, break it up,” the guard yells.
Farron licks from my lips to my ear and whispers, “Decent kiss, Cas, now be a good boy and keep playing along.”
He spins us so fast my head whirls. His back is to the wall and my head is tucked into the crook of his neck.
“Oh, sorry, sir,” he says in a slurred, arrogant tone, one far deeper than his own. One similar to a certain Summer Prince. “Looks like we got distracted.”
“I’ve had enough of everyone’s distractions tonight. Get out of here.”
“Of course.” He straightens, still keeping my head tucked in the crook of his neck.
I can only keep moving one foot in front of the other, waiting for the guard to call out my name, waiting for him to recognize me, but nothing comes. We descend the stairs, only stopping once we round the corner.
I fight for breath, then glare at him, slapping his chest. “Decent?”
He laughs, pulling up the mask and raising a brow, unable to stop the blush forming on his cheeks. “Rosie told me to kiss you. I couldn’t let her down.”
“Rosalina is a meddler and causes more trouble than she knows what to do with.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” He sighs then runs up a few steps to peer around the bend. “The guard’s gone back up. I think if we hurry, we can get inside the mountain before he comes back.”
My stomach knots, but I allow Farron to pull me back up the stairs to the lookout point. I press my palm against the hidden notch in the stone wall, feeling my magic bleed into the rock. It opens a crack. Green light washes over us both, and I turn to Farron. “Ready to piss off a cosmic god?”
His smile is dazzling. “As I’ll ever be.”