Chapter 122
CHAPTER 122
Caspian
M other doesn’t intend to lose her little Rose again. She’s crafted a cell deep in the Below for the daughter of the Queen. Long rows of metal bars seal her away in a cavern made of crystals that shine blue, pink, and purple.
Sira hasn’t infected these ones with the Baron’s magic yet, though I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. Regardless, they do a good enough job of leeching magic. I barely feel a whisper of my shadows this deep, never mind trying to summon a thorn here.
My heart races. I don’t have much time. When Sira next visits the Baron, will he reveal what Farron and I have done? Does she already suspect?
Rosalina sits with her head in her hands, long brown hair spread before her. She wears only a short white shift, feet bare.
Hands in my pockets, I stand before the entrance to her cage. “Hello, Princess.”
Rosalina lifts her head, and her gaze softens as she looks at me. She scrambles to the bars and wraps her hands around them. “Cas, you came. Tell me, please. I feel Dayton again. How is it possible? Am I going mad?”
Nausea roils in my stomach. “Farron saved him.”
Though saved isn’t the word I would use for that.
Relief paints Rosalina’s face, and she rests her head against the bars. “Oh, thank god.”
“Anyway,” I say, placing my stolen key in the lock of her cell, “I’m here to rescue you.”
Rosalina steps back as I enter. She raises a curved brow. “Forgive me, Cas, but wouldn’t a rescue attempt have us leaving this cell?”
I close the door behind me. “Sira has a thousand guards stationed between here and where we’d first start to feel a semblance of magic.”
“Then how are we going to escape?” Rosalina says, breath wispy.
Lightly, I touch the frosted thorn bracelet at my wrist. “They say a bargain is one of the most powerful forms of magic in the world, and the stronger the love, the stronger the bargain. Rosalina, I did love Kel. I loved him like the night sky must love the moon, to have been denied forever the promise of sunlight, yet still get to gaze on something so bright. Even now, every part of me aches for him, even though our love has always been a constellation of unattainable dreams. I love him because of it and despite it.”
Her lips part, and she takes a step toward me, lightly touching the bargain bracelet. “You believe that love is strong enough to reach even down here? Strong enough to send me to Winter?”
“Yes.” I drop my forehead to hers. “We can do it however you like. I don’t think we’d even have to take off our clothes and—”
She grips my face, hands cold and soft. Then she places her lips to mine. I inhale her scent, taking her in my arms.
“Tell me, Caspian,” she whispers.
“Tell you what?”
Her smile spreads against my cheek. “What we both already know.”
My heart thunders in my chest, and a ringing sounds in my ear. “Rosalina.”
“I am tired of your secrets.” She pulls back, hair a dark frame around her face. “If we are to do this, I will have all of you. I will have all of my mate.”