22. Rosalina
Rosalina
Asharp stab of pain shoots through me, and I squeeze my eyes shut. The mirror. Green flames…
The Prince of Thorns.
A hand brushes the hair from my brow. The scent of lavender sweeps over me, and I shift over sheets that are so soft, they feel like water flowing over my body. My whole being feels relaxed, as if some primal part of me knows I’m safe.
Blinking open my eyes, I see the Prince of Thorns leaning over my bed, his unnatural green stare fixed on me.
No, I’m not safe. An illusion of a memory.
This isn’t my bed. It’s his. He brought me to his chambers.
Caspian holds my gaze, then slides a hand down my neck. “Your heart’s beating so fast.” He says it like a question. “When did you break out of the spell?”
“I—”
“You can’t lie to me, Rosalina.” He pulls his hand away and stands.
“When I saw Dayton.”
A low rumble sounds in the back of his throat. Jealousy? “I knew that was risky.” He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. Thrall or not, you won’t get far in the Below without your briars.”
I chew my bottom lip. He’s right. Slowly, I sit up, realize I’m now wearing a silken nightdress. I throw my hand across my chest. “Did you…?”
A slow smile curves over his face until he finally says, “No, Heidigog changed you. Couldn’t have you in those tatters.”
“She’s alright then?”
“You would care about the goblin,” he says, though not unkindly.
This is the most he’s spoken to me since I’ve come to the Below. Perhaps having a doting thrall grew tiresome for even the Prince of Thorns.
“But you know,” Caspian continues, tilting his head, long strands of dark hair covering his brow, “it wouldn’t matter if I had been the one to do it. I’ve seen your body. Tasted every inch.”
“Really? The Green Flame didn’t burn those memories away from you too?” I ask, remembering what he said of Caspian’s soft heart.
He kneels on the side of my bed. “No fire in the world could burn away the feeling of being inside you.”
The intensity in his gaze shocks me. I know that stare. But what about your love for me?
“You were afraid today,” I try.
“You’re very breakable,” he replies. “As you’ve pointed out, I lose you, and I lose my ability to rule the Vale. My father’s blood may give me an edge over Sira, but it makes it tricky to live anywhere but here.”
“It’s more than that,” I challenge him.
“You’re my mate, Rosalina. I don’t like people touching what is mine.”
I’m not sure why it comforts me, the thought that our bond holds strong, even when he’s like this. It feels more like possessiveness—and, judging by the way his gaze sears into me, lust—than the love I once knew from him. But if those emotions are there, perhaps the others are buried deep inside.
There were flashes of purple in his eyes. He’s still in there. I just don’t know how to bring him back.
But first, I have to concentrate on what I can control.
My eyes search his room until I land on his cloak discarded in the corner. The cloak in which he’s hidden the rose.
If Sira gets that, we have no hope.
But without my magic, there’s no way for me to escape with it.
Idly, I finger my beautiful wedding ring and think of Kel, Ezryn, Farron, and Day. I hope they’re alright. It feels like there’s a brand crawling over my skin as Caspian’s eyes track my every movement. A plan begins to form in my mind. “I don’t just belong to you,” I say lowly.
He lets out a low breath and crawls closer to me. My body heats at his presence. It’s because I know he’s still in there.
“How come you never touched me?” I ask. “Even when I begged?”
He shrugs but doesn’t answer, instead tucking a curl behind my ear.
“Tell me.”
“I meant it, Rosalina.” He leans in, breath hot over my neck. “You are to be my queen. I would not have you any less of mind.”
I hold out my wrist. “But you would have me less of power?”
He chuckles and touches the cuff where his bargain binds my magic. “Not forever. Just until you accept your place by my side.”
I tear my wrist away. “You know my heart will never fully belong to only you.”
In an instant, he hooks an arm around my waist and flips me to the mattress. Then he prowls over me.
But this is not the Caspian I remember.
This is the Prince of Thorns. Every movement he makes is predatory, calculated. The power Cas kept so locked inside radiates off him in waves. I could get drunk on the feeling of that power if I’m not careful.
He drops his head, trailing his lips a breath away from my skin as he travels lower down my body. He inhales, as if he could get as drunk on the scent of me as I can from him.
“I’m not a fool. I know you hate me,” he says.
I take his face in mine and draw him closer. “You once told me you would know me in any form. Caspian, Prince of Roses, I will love you in any form.”
And maybe it’s the light, maybe it’s my own delusions, but I swear for a moment his eyes flash purple.
So I kiss him.
I breathe him in as he tugs me flush against his body. He makes a desperate male sound in the back of his throat, and I tangle my hands in his hair.
With a strong hand, he grabs my thigh and hoists it up over his leg so I feel his hard length press against me. “Cas,” I sigh against him.
He huffs a breath and pulls away, kneeling on the bed and peering down at me. “Don’t call me that. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that’s who you’re kissing. Look at my eyes, Rosalina.”
They’re green.
His smile widens. “If you choose to stay in this bed, then I am going to fuck you. And it will not be the sweet, tender way Cas did. You are mine. To play with. To torment. To use.”
“What about your bargain?” I breathe. “Are you willing to lose me for one night of pleasure?”
He tilts his head. “I can control myself when I need to. Staying means you accept that. Choose, Princess.”
My chest heaves in my throat. He’s a beautiful nightmare, lust and power radiating off him.
But maybe there’s a way for me to save him and the rose.
Will our love, my touch, be enough to pull him from this haze?
And if not… What if he did lose control? Would I have time to grab the rose before his bargain with Keldarion took over? I could whisk the rose away to safety.
This is possibly the best and worst idea I’ve had yet.
And it only requires sleeping with the Prince of Thorns.
So I take my hand and draw the strap of my nightdress lower, revealing the curve of my breast. “I told you. Any form.”