56. Rosalina
56
Rosalina
I make my way up the staircase of briars.
Caspian’s still lounging on his throne and raises a dark brow at my approach. The fae man from the dance floor stands beside him. Thank god he’s tucked his limp dick away.
From this high, I have a view of the whole party, including our willow tree where Kel watches me with an intense gaze. I’m sure he’s not happy about this.
“Princess, how wonderful of you to pay your respects to the guest of honor. Me .”
I don’t let a hint of emotion pass over my face as I stand before him. “Enough with the games. Stop sending Keldarion your rejects—”
“You can’t talk to His Majesty that way, human .” The man beside Caspian glowers.
Caspian releases a long sigh. “Get out of my sight.”
The man with the long ice blond hair flashes a satisfied smirk. But within a heartbeat, Caspian pierces him with a glare. “You. Now.”
The fae man’s mouth opens and closes. Then he tilts his pointy chin in the air. “I see how it is. I suppose the human does look fuckable.” As he walks past me, he slaps me hard on the ass. I whirl, ready to rip his head off.
But I don’t get the chance.
Caspian stands and shoves the man off the raised platform. His face twists in horror, and he doesn’t have time to scream before a sharp thorn rises from the ground and impales him.
Blood and guts splatter as his ruined body slides down the thorn.
The music stops. Kel’s rushing out of the alcove. Ezryn’s halfway up the stairs. Even Dayton and Farron sprint off the dance floor.
But Caspian gently steps in front of me and eyes the crowd. “This is Rosalina O’Connell,” he says, not needing to shout to capture the attention of everyone in the courtyard.
I wave down my princes, not wanting them to get caught up in this. They slow their movements, watching me intently.
“She is a very special guest. If any of you touch her, you’ll join,” Caspian furrows his brow down at the bloody thorn, “whoever that was as a party decoration. And since you have a warning, I won’t let you die quickly. I’ll enjoy your screams alongside the music as you’re slowly ripped apart by my thorns.”
The crowd is still and silent, looking from the Prince of Thorns to the dead man hanging off the briars.
Caspian falls back in his throne as if exasperated, then waves an idle hand. “Carry on.” The music picks up its haunting elegance again, and the guests return to their activities.
I make eye contact with the princes, letting them know I’m okay. Caspian waves a hand and the throne he sits on twists, becoming larger. Large enough for me to sit beside him.
“Take a seat, Princess.” A crafted smile spreads across his lips, “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Gulping, I take a seat.
This is… weird. I’m sitting on a throne of thorns with Caspian at his birthday party. And I’m not afraid. Which doesn’t really make sense considering I just watched him toss a man off his pedestal.
Though, I am nervous. Invisible wrinkles flee beneath my fingers as I smooth down my skirt for the hundredth time.
“It’s prettier here than I thought it would be,” I say.
“And how exactly did you picture the underworld?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “Blood dripping from the ceiling. Skeletons leaning against the walls. The sound of your victims screaming.”
“Sorry to disappoint.” He gives a wry smile. “What can I say? This is where I reside, and I’ve always been a fan of beauty. As for those other things you mentioned, you’ll have to go deeper.”
“I came to you for a reason. It’s about Keldarion,” I tell him. “We need to talk.”
“On my birthday, truly? Princess, you’re a constant thorn in my side, but for some reason,” he leans closer, “I can’t bring myself to pluck you out.”
“You have to stop sending those fae to us after you, uh, sleep with them. It’s cruel to them, and it upsets Keldarion. And me. It upsets me, as well. Why do you bother telling them to throw themselves at Kel? He’s not going to be mated with them. He’s already found me.”
Caspian rolls his eyes. “You’re yelling at me like I have a choice.”
“You do have a choice,” I say. “A choice not to be evil and twisted.”
“Twisted?” He slides closer.
I hold up a hand to halt his advance. “And it makes you smell terrible.”
He tucks his chin, looking down at his chest. As always in the world of the fae, my senses are on high alert. I can smell him, his own scent mixed with that fae female.
Caspian narrows his dark eyes. “Don’t go anywhere.”
Briars twist up around him. In a mixture of shadows and thorns, he disappears, and I’m alone on the throne.
Ezryn looks up at me, not having moved from his post on the staircase. I shrug at him. Where did Caspian go? I adjust the thorn crown on my brow and survey the party. For a single heartbeat, I pretend I’m an evil queen looking for my minions. All I need is a raven and a cool staff.
After a few minutes, thorns rise before the throne and Caspian steps out. His hair is wet, the silver circlet with the blue gem tilted. He’s changed, now wearing a dark tunic and tight breeches.
“You…” My words fall away as he braces his hands on either side of the throne, leaning over me, wet hair dripping.
“Is this more to your satisfaction?”
I can’t help but inhale deeply. He smells like flowers, earth, and something else: sea and sunshine. “You were in Dayton’s hot springs. How?”
He smiles and falls back to the throne. “Your princes have their little mirrors to take them to Castletree. I, however, can travel anywhere my thorns are. There are quite a lot of them in Castletree, as you know.”
I shouldn’t have said anything. He smells nice now… Too nice. The way his damp hair curves along his sculpted jaw sends a shiver through me. “So, do you agree to stop? Because I brought you a birthday present, but I don’t think I’m going to give it to you after what you did.”
A muscle in his cheek tremors, confusion on his face.
“Do you not exchange presents in the fae realms?”
“The fae realms have a tradition like that,” Caspian says, his fingers sliding over his hair, stopping on the silver circlet. “Not… in the Below.”
“Well,” I say, raising my chin, “perhaps you should have been kinder. Though I appreciate you sticking up for me with that creep . But you didn’t need to kill him.”
“Oh, I didn’t do that for you,” Caspian drawls. “I did that for me. Self-preservation. Last thing I need is a frosty ass coming up here to kill me for allowing someone to touch you.”
My gaze shifts to check on my princes. Farron and Dayton are eating at the table, but they keep glancing up. Ezryn is back at the bottom of the stair, an unmoving guardian, and Kel’s got that piercing stare fixed on us from the willow tree.
There are so many things I need to ask Caspian, like how he speaks in my mind. But I can’t make myself voice the question.
“Why aren’t you afraid of me?” I turn to him, the words surprising myself.
“Who says I’m not? I saw what you did to my little present.”
“No, I mean, you saved my life. I know you did, the first day I arrived in the Briar.” My voice trembles, but not with fear. “You killed your own goblins, then brought me to Castletree. Did you know I was Keldarion’s mate?”
He blinks, clearly surprised.
“Don’t lie to me, Caspian.”
“I knew,” he answers slowly.
My breath stutters in my chest. “How?” How could he have known before I did? I don’t think it’s possible to feel someone else’s bond.
“Well, you can’t expect me to give up all my secrets now, can you?”
“We can break this curse anytime. Kel could get his magic back. I don’t understand why you aren’t trying to stop me.”
“Hmm.” Caspian’s gaze looks faraway, on the horizon of the courtyard or lost in a memory. “He doesn’t seem to be in a great hurry, does he? I wonder why that is.”
My fingers tighten in my skirt, and my shoulders shake as I try to hold back tears. Shit, I do not want to cry in front of the Prince of Thorns. Why did we have to start talking about this?
“What?” Caspian raises a surprised brow. “Why in the stars are you crying?”
I quickly wipe my eyes with my palm. “Because I know why.”
“You realize why he won’t break the curse? Do tell.”
I sniff, regaining composure. “Kel’s heart is too broken from when he was in love before.”
Caspian is silent for a beat, then he breaks into a laugh. It’s deep and long, and above all else, cruel.
“Why are you—”
Caspian puts a hand on each of my shoulders, the first time he’s touched me all night. But there’s nothing sensual about this. “Now, who told you that?”
“Dayton said—”
“That mutt is even dumber than I realized.” Caspian’s laugh continues. “Listen carefully when I tell you, Princess, Keldarion has never been in love before.”
“But—”
“And if he ever tricks you into believing you’re the shore his star washed upon, remember he’s nothing but a selfish liar.”
Slowly, I push Caspian’s hands off my shoulders, and they drop like lead to the side. “You really hate him, don’t you?”
“I hate him more than a rain that falls on Midsummer’s Eve, more than an early frost that kills the harvest, more than a plague that tears across the realmlands, more than the fires that ravage the forest.” He pauses, and for a moment, there is a look of unhinged darkness in his features. “There is no end to how much I hate Keldarion.”
I stand quickly looking down at him, breath heavy, and that fiery anger rising. “Then why bring him here? Why come to Castletree? What is this all about?”
“Because,” he snarls, “I will not stop until he has suffered as he made me suffer.”
I grab his arm, shoving up his sleeve to show his bargain tattoo with Keldarion, the twisted ink of thorns and snowflakes. But there’s something else there on his wrist, higher, a golden linked bracelet, a dangling gem in the familiar shape of a rose.
I pause for a heartbeat. Farron had told me bargains could be any circular object. Who else have you made a bargain with, Caspian?
His eyes flick up. He heard me. A gift, not a bargain. But the consequences certainly do resemble that of a curse.
“Why can I hear you in my mind?” I ask.
“Asking questions only the stars know the answers to, Rosalina.” He doesn’t flinch, just leans forward so we’re nose to nose.
“Why can I control the briars like you?”
His smile deepens. “Gift or legacy, the magic is the same, wouldn’t you agree?”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” I take a deep breath in through my nose. He’ll lead me around in circles if I let him. I need to focus on my most important question. “Tell me what your bargain with my mate is. Tell me about your bargain with Keldarion.”
He rips his arm away. “Oh, it won’t be that easy.” He spreads his legs wide. “Come, sit on my lap. It’ll help you figure it out.”
“You’re disgusting,” I spit. “Why would I want to do that? You can’t even make your lovers finish.”
He rolls up his sleeves, the bargain tattoo on full display. “Just because I don’t, doesn’t mean I can’t. Unlace my pants for me. Stars know you don’t have any barriers beneath that skirt.”
I press my legs tight together, hating the burning heat in my body as his gaze rakes over me. He tugs the band of my skirt so I shuffle between his legs.
“Sit, Princess. Let me sheathe myself in you. I promise you’ll see stars you’ve only glimpsed in your dreams.” One hand lazily swishes the black ribbons. “And don’t worry about your precious mate. Even while you’re still trembling from my touch, you’ll find yourself back in his cold arms.”
I move away. “You’re ridiculous. I’m not going to sleep with you to learn the bargain. You probably wouldn’t even tell me, anyway.”
“On the contrary,” Caspian stands, so much taller than me, “I just answered three of your questions.”
“What—”
Caspian steps around me to address the crowd. They gaze up at him reverently. “I think the music has gotten a little dull. How about a taste of the deep? I’ve got a grand show planned. You don’t want to miss this.” He inclines his head to the empty seat next to him as he sits.
But I cannot stand another second in his conniving presence. I scramble down the thorn staircase, fleeing the Prince of Thorns and his riddles in the dark.