29. Rosalina
29
Rosalina
M y heart careens in my chest, fingers trembling on the ice knife. Why is Caspian here? Why does he care about Lucas? His hand is firm on my arm, his eyes a swirling constellation of stars.
A shadow looms over us. “You will not deny my mate her vengeance.”
The stars turn dark, and Caspian shoots a venomous glare at Keldarion. “Carving into a man’s flesh? This is madness.”
“Move,” Keldarion growls. “You well know I slipped off the edge of madness years ago.”
“Oh, Kel, of course I do.” Caspian’s lip curls, but then he looks to me, and there’s a strange softness in his gaze. “But she hasn’t. Don’t let her fall into the darkness as we have.”
Something in his words clears the anger from my mind. The ice knife falls from my grasp, and I stumble away from them. What was I going to do? Carve into Lucas’s flesh as he writhed helpless below me? He doesn’t deserve my mercy, I know that. But taking his own cruelty and returning it to him… That’s not me.
“This man deserves death,” Keldarion says.
Caspian straightens, putting a reassuring hand on the Winter Prince’s chest. “I agree.”
At Caspian’s arrival, the three other princes have closed in around us. Peering out from behind a pillar, Perth Quellos observes us with his bird-like stare.
He cannot be pleased to see the Prince of Thorns here.
Caspian drags his fingers down Kel’s chest before turning to me. “Let me take this monster down to the Below,” he says. “I will give you the vengeance you deserve, Rosalina. There are ways to break a soul in those chasms with nightmares you cannot possibly imagine. I will make sure he suffers every single one of them before I release him to oblivion.”
My heart thumps in my breast, the only sound besides Lucas’s whimpering. Even the other princes aren’t speaking, instead watching Caspian watch me. “Trust me.” Caspian grabs my hands, and something in me relaxes at his touch. The angry fire quiets, not dimming but settling to a comforting glow. “Princess, you need not tarnish your soul to know justice has been served. Lay that burden upon my shoulders. Let me be your darkness.”
This isn’t a bargain or a deal. I’m not sure why, but there’s something about the fierceness in his expression that makes me think, at least in this, I can trust the Prince of Thorns. “Caspian—”
“Trust you?” A soft voice slinks between us as Perth Quellos steps forward. “Wasn’t that what brought Winter to its knees all those years ago?”
“Ah, Perth,” Caspian says smoothly. “Trust me, it takes a lot of determination and just the right amount of begging to bring Winter to his knees.”
“Enough,” Keldarion snaps, snatching the arm of his advisor. “You will leave while we settle this matter.”
“What matter could bring the Prince of Thorns into your company again, High Prince of Winter?” Perth’s voice is slick as an icicle. “After I worked so hard to quell those rebellions that arose from your little Solstice Ball?”
“I invited the Prince of Thorns,” I say. “I wanted to attempt a diplomatic approach to our thorny problem.”
“Ahh yes, the human.” Perth takes a step toward me, but Ezryn moves quicker, blocking his path. Perth hesitates, no doubt remembering the treatment Ezryn gave him last time we were together. “Did I hear that right, sire? Your mate, is she?”
Keldarion heaves in a breath. “That is correct.”
“Most interesting,” he says. “Any more secrets I should know of here in Castletree?”
Yeah, one giant slobbery wolf problem. Or rather, four giant slobbery wolf problems.
“Look, it’s great we’re catching up,” Dayton says, “but this guy’s moans are really getting on my nerves. Can we just let Cas take him already?”
“Gladly,” Caspian says, shadows curling around his boots.
“I may have an alternative to murder,” Perth says, steepling his fingers. “There is an entrance to the human world in the Winter Realm. Allow me to fix his hands and I’ll send him on his way.”
“He deserves—” Keldarion roars.
“Death,” Perth says. “Yes, so you’ve said. But is this not your mate’s decision?”
Kel grits his teeth, then turns to me. “That it is.”
I look to my princes; I know their choice. Give Lucas to Caspian and let him face every nightmare of the Below. Or I could simply ask them to end him quickly. Maybe we could throw Lucas through the mirror to Castletree, but I’m not sure Perth knows about it. Perhaps it’s another of Castletree’s secrets.
The decision lays heavy on me, but I’m done giving Lucas everything I have. If he’s to die, his death won’t be from my hands. And though Perth may be a cruel man, Kel trusts him. After the vizier takes Lucas away, I’ll never have to think about him ever again.
“Take him away,” I tell Perth Quellos, trying to emulate some command in my voice.
“Rosalina, no—” Caspian snarls. “You can’t let him live.”
“My decision is final,” I say, stepping away from the princes. But when I look at Lucas, there’s no gratitude in his expression, only a vacant stare.
Keldarion’s lip curls into a snarl, and he thrusts his hand forward in a sweeping gesture. A surge of power ripples through the air. The ice binding Lucas to the pillar shatters like brittle glass. With a gasp, Lucas tumbles to the ground, his limbs shaking as he struggles to sit up. Keldarion towers over him, eyes blazing with an icy fire. “If I ever see you again, I will not show you the mercy my mate has granted.”
Perth kneels beside Lucas, tsking. He waves a gnarled hand, his jeweled crown emitting a strange greenish glow, and slowly Lucas’s fingers snap back into place. “Very well. Come with me, human.”
“Learned some new tricks since I last saw you, Quellos?” Kel mutters.
“We can’t all wield a Blessing. Some of us must study our way to higher power,” Perth retorts, walking to the door.
Dayton stomps over and switches the handle to the emblem of the snowflake. It opens with a creak, and a gust of bitter wind flits in.
Lucas stumbles unsteadily to his feet and hobbles after Perth. He pauses beside me.
“Goodbye, Lucas,” I say, lifting my chin defiantly.
He gives a half-laugh, half- sigh. “You know, I had this dream once. I’d fallen asleep after gutting a deer. I dreamt I was fucking you. While you were screaming, I took my knife and sliced your skin. And I removed each of your organs until I got to your heart and squeezed it.”
A frigid terror grips my body as a twisted smile creeps over Lucas’s face. “I thought of it many times after that, when you were beneath me.” Sickening glee fills his voice. “I don’t think I’ll survive this. Not really. But at least I’ll take you with me.”
With a swift motion, Lucas raises his arm, revealing the ice knife glittering in his hand. He must have picked it up. He brings it down toward my chest.
Time seems to still. All the princes lurch toward me. Thorns explode around Caspian. Ezryn grips my waist and pulls me back, but he’s too slow. The blade nicks my arm, and my blood sprays over the ground.
Each drop falls onto the icy floor, loud as a sonic boom.
I look up to see the wild frost blue eyes of Keldarion before he changes. His skin shifts, fur and claws breaking free as a giant white wolf emerges. It lunges toward us, tackling Lucas.
Lucas doesn’t have time to scream before Kel’s claws slice down his middle. Blood gushes up, staining Kel’s white fur. Massive jaws clamp down on Lucas’s head, teeth piercing the skull with a crunch. Sinew is ripped from bone, Lucas’s head barely clinging to his shoulder. With his jaws fastened around the torso, Kel shakes the limp, lifeless body and throws it through the door into the Winter Realm.
Ezryn holds me against his metallic frame, tight as a vice grip. Dayton’s sheltering Farron, who is curled into a ball, shivering. “She’s safe,” Dayton says over and over to him. “He’s dead. Kel killed him. We don’t need your wolf now. She’s safe. She’s safe. Kel protected us.”
Perth has collapsed by the door, shaking. Keldarion walks over to him, maw dripping with blood.
“Now you know, Vizier, that not only is Castletree dying,” Keldarion growls, “we princes are cursed. Return to the Winter Realm and throw that scum’s remains in the deepest pits of the Frosted Wastes. Do not disappoint me in your duties.”