34. Keldarion
Keldarion
My spine is aching and stiff, but I refuse to move from my curled position in the corner of the cage, arms wrapped around my legs, head buried in my knees. It does not matter what they throw at me, the words they jeer. I will be as uninteresting and immobile as a rock.
The scum of the Below will not get their pleasure at the expense of my pride. For I feel no shame in my ragged appearance or state. I went to the aid of the mate of my mate, and I would do it again, regardless of the outcome.
There is no day or night in the Below, just the ever-shifting purple and gray sky.
I assume it must be what surface realms would call the small hours, for the crowd that had gathered around my cage has wandered off.
Finally, there is silence, punctuated only by the occasional whine of another trapped beast.
I may be near naked, covered in blood and filth, humiliated and shamed, but nothing they can do to me is worse than seeing Caspian like this. He begged me not to let him become the monster he’s spent his life fighting. I failed him.
Is there a part of him left, crying out within? Caged as I am?
I am exhausted, my chest heavy with sorrow, but there is no sleep to be found here.
Moving as little as possible, I lift my head and blink.
I was right. All the onlookers have left.
The menagerie is lit with the soft gemlight that punctuates the Below, captured in iron lampposts and glowing naturally from the ground.
In the nearest cage, I can only make out a mound of icy-blue feathers.
One of Winter’s rare frostbirds that live on glaciers?
Everything about this place feels sick, a macabre imitation of the surface.
It wasn’t always like this, I remember. Decades ago, when I lived here with Caspian, Sira never walked the streets of Cryptgarden.
Caspian kept many friends, some of which were goblins, and though he loved and craved the seasonal realms, he would never have allowed the imprisonment of creatures this way.
His collections were limited to plants, which he tended to like they were his children.
There is beauty here, glimpses of it, caught in the gemlight. But there is no sense of hope like there once was. The people have given in to the darkness.
“Kel?”
I nearly leap from my skin. That voice! “Rosalina?”
I peer through the murk but can’t see her. There’s a shuffle beside a nearby cage, and Rosalina steps forward, shedding the cloak I gave her. Beneath, she’s dressed in black pants and a matching top with billowing sleeves cinched at the wrists, the bodice tied with a loose bow.
“Rose.” I seize the bars, heedless of the ache in my muscles. Immediately, she places her hands over mine and looks up at me with such sorrow, my heart breaks.
“Are you okay? What have they done to you?” she gasps.
“It doesn’t matter.” All I want is to stroke her face, wipe away the tears threatening to fall, but my manacles make it impossible. “What are you doing here? It’s not safe.”
“I’m safer than you are,” she says in typical stubborn Rosalina fashion.
Pride washes over me. My brilliant girl. She said she could break free of the thralldom, and she did it. Even now, dressed in darkness and sorrow, there is a ferocity to her.
I could stay here forever, just staring at her.
But we don’t have forever. “How did you get away from Caspian?” I ask.
Her eyes shine with steely purpose. “The Prince of Thorns is not as infallible as he pretends. I think having you here has put him in a mood. He’s stalked off somewhere alone.
And I’ve learned how to get around this city unseen.
That cloak you’ve given me has come in handy.
” She shakes her head. “Listen, Kel, I don’t know what Caspian’s planning for tomorrow.
Your magic is weakened in the Below, so far from Castletree, but surely you can summon a frost cold enough to break these bars. There are places to hide—”
“No, Rosalina.” I kiss her fingers through the slats. “I’m not leaving. This might be the opportunity we’ve been looking for.”
She gives me an exasperated expression. “What are you talking about? He’s going to torture you!”
“I’ve survived his torture for decades. But being close to him, to you…maybe together, we can remind him who he truly is.”
Rosalina doesn’t say anything, but she stares at me, deep and wondering. Her gaze flicks to her wedding ring. “My husband.”
“My wife,” I whisper back.
A soft smile appears as she leans toward the bars. “My reckless, brave, stubborn husband.”
I meet her, my breath a caress across her mouth. “My reckless, brave, stubborn wife.”
The cold bars press against my face as I kiss her, slow and savoring. My body warms with each pass of her lips over mine. It’s as if she’s giving me strength. Though the light of Castletree simmers like dying ashes, her touch is a breeze, blowing me back to life.
Clattering my manacles against the bars, I stretch my fingers to caress a lock of her hair. Soft and perfumed. I want to say she is too delicate, too perfect for this place, but I know better. My Rose makes a home wherever she goes.
She mumbles my name against my lips, reaching through the bars to grab my neck. I am too filthy, too ruined, for the likes of her, but she doesn’t seem to care, kissing me as if starved. And are we not starved for each other?
A growl sounds deep in my throat, the taste of her driving the primal parts of me to madness. Perhaps I should reconsider her escape idea. I could freeze these bars until they shatter, then snatch her into this cage and fuck her like the beast they’ve made me.
But I resist. Because one day, we’ll be free of this, our trials only memories of all we overcame to be together. And I will stand with my strong, beautiful, lovely wife upon the boughs of Castletree. A queen and her king.
Hoots and hollers sound from the entrance of the menagerie, and torchlight flickers in the distance. Drunkards, stumbling toward us, clattering an iron pipe along all the cages, eliciting angry roars and growls from the poor beasts trying to sleep away their existences.
“We’re here to see the Beast of the Briar!” a goblin’s voice carries.
“Great Prince Keldarion! Where are you?”
I squeeze Rosalina’s hands. “Go, before they see you.”
“Kel—”
I kiss her one more time, hard and fast and filled with what strength I have left. “Go,” I urge again. “Whatever tomorrow holds, we’ll face it. For him.”
She looks at me once more with that fierce expression, then slips into her tundra cloak and disappears into the night. My Rose, with her many thorns.
I return to my position, curled up against the wall, to wait away the hours until Caspian comes for me. I must steel myself, become more unbreakable than the Sword of the Protector.
For no one can hurt you quite like the one you love.