52. Caspian
Caspian
Of course there’s more. There’s always more to my mother than I anticipate. Layers and layers to her wickedness, and this cesspool is no different. The green water bubbles and pops.
We stand in the secret chamber within the mountain, the one only Sira and I are supposed to know about. She still has no idea it was I who led Farron here months ago, that we were the ones who destroyed her careful system that drained Anya’s magic.
But I should have known nothing will stop her. Below the water, there’s an even deeper chamber where she’ll attempt to take everything from Anya—every drop of power, every ounce of her life. And if it kills Anya?
Then Sira will hunt Rosalina and Wrenley to the very ends of the earth.
“It’s too dangerous to go in this way,” I hiss. “The baron’s magic is the strongest in that pool. He’ll corrupt your mind.”
“I made it through,” Rosalina says, face twisted in determination. “But the water was dark. He wasn’t present.”
“We’re not all as strong as you, sweetheart,” Farron says, brow furrowed.
I search his face. So the Autumn Prince found his way after all.
Perhaps the Baron isn’t as powerful as he wants us all to believe.
And if Farron found a way…
Let me follow.
“It’s just a little water,” Dayton says, stepping up to the lip. He holds his hand above the pool, jaw tightening. A pained sound escapes him.
“Careful, Sunshine,” I say. Every instinct in me screams to stop him, but we’re a team now. I have to trust them.
So I watch. This isn’t water like the Summer Prince is used to. It churns in unnatural pulses, thick and glowing, a sickly green. Hungry. It bubbles as if it’s alive.
Because it is.
Dayton clenches his fingers.
The pool reacts. With Farron’s connection severed, it’s only my father’s presence in the Vale keeping him standing now.
The water quivers, and slowly, it starts to spin. A spiral forms, the green liquid dragging itself into a whirlpool, pulling down, deeper and deeper, until there’s a tunnel carved straight through the middle. A passage.
“Day,” Rosalina chimes, “you’re incredible.”
But Dayton is barely standing. His whole body’s trembling now, and his knees buckle. My blood quickens at the way his jaw clenches, like he’s stifling a scream.
“No time to waste. It’s now or never,” I call.
Kel moves.
The Winter Prince steps up beside Dayton without a word. His hand rises, mirroring Dayton’s, and the magic answers. The swirling edges of the whirlpool hold firm, steadier now.
“You learned how to create snow for me,” Kel says. “I can help you control a little water.”
Dayton sways, but he doesn’t fall. He just leans on Kel.
“Hurry, jump through before it closes.” Rosalina turns to me. “Cas, are you ready?”
Ready to face my mother, knowing she can whisper any command into my mind? To confront my father, risk the Green Flame breaking through when we’re at the source of his power in this world?
No, I’m not ready at all.
But I’m done running. If this is a fight to end it all, then I will be here at the end of it all.
Even if it will be the end of me.
“As I’ll ever be, Princess,” I say and jump.
I land in a catlike crouch, blinking as my eyes adjust to the inky darkness. The others drop down behind me.
A green glow flickers. Then a scream breaks the silence. The light flashes again, and this time, I see it.
Two giant crystal obelisks, pulsing with green. Lightning flickers between them, as if the obelisks are reaching for each other. And strung in the middle hangs the Queen of the Enchanted Vale.
Below her sits my mother, madness flashing in her eyes as she stares up at Anya. Ropes of phantasmic green energy bind the queen’s wrists, keeping her suspended between the crystals.
“Anya!” George yells, but Keldarion holds him back.
Sira’s really doing it, draining all Anya’s power at once. Killing her. All to ensure the Baron can step through to our world…
“This is the moment you’ve been waiting for,” I say softly, stepping forward.
Sira shakes her head as if coming out of a trance. “Of course, my love. When we take the Vale, we shall do it as a family. You, myself, and your father.”
Well, now all the princes know of my cursed lineage. But the Baron isn’t my family.
And neither is this monstrous woman before me.
I raise a set of briars and strike at her.
“You will not harm me,” she sneers without flinching.
The lashes of the bargain snag me, and my thorns drop. Breath heaves in my throat as I stare at my mother. At least she hasn’t figured out she can now give me more than one command.
“It is our shared desire, son, to bring the Green Flame home.” Sira stands, dusting off her skirt.
“I have never once shared a single desire of yours,” I snarl.
No more pretending. She’s gone too far. “And if you think the Baron will be on your side once you let him through, you are sorely mistaken. He wants the realms for himself. You as his equal was never a consideration. You stopped being useful to him after you bore me.”
Sira ignores me, the truth bouncing off her. She takes us in, and not even a flicker of worry crosses her face as she stares at four high princes and the heir to the Vale.
And that worries me.
Rosalina steps forward, hair down and eyes blazing gold. “Enough, Sira. You’re outnumbered. Outwitted. You cannot put another command on Caspian without dooming yourself.”
Sira gives a tinkling laugh, as if being scolded by a child. “Oh, can’t say I’ve missed this version of you, dear. What’s a little flower going to do to me?”
“Caspian might not be able to kill you, but we can,” Keldarion growls, stepping on my other side.
“Let my mother go,” Rosalina hisses. “You are alone.”
“Alone?” Sira licks her lips. “I’m never alone.”
The green crystals flare, and the pool suspended above glows. Anya’s scream pierces the air. Her back bows as spirals of light rip from her chest. A torrent of water shoots to the ground like a falling star. Then it rises, takes shape.
The shape of a man.
No, not a man.
A god.
Seven feet tall, with a sheet of white hair, ears unnaturally long, and armor of obsidian. Half-formed of light, not quite corporeal.
My father has arrived.
“Hello, Caspian,” Malekai Furiondemius purrs, a familiar smile on his face. “Are you ready, my son?”
His words traverse my mind and race along my bones, the perfect cadence to unlock something hidden deep down.
I scream and collapse to my knees, ears ringing, a thousand voices screaming to get in. Burn! The world shall ignite in flame.
That power inside me rises like a caged beast, fighting to be released. I can’t control it anymore. I can’t—
“Get him out of here, Rose!” Keldarion screams.
Golden briars erupt from the floor and close around my legs, my arms.
Pathetic.
I suppose I’ll have to teach my future queen another lesson.