Chapter 19 Farron
Farron
The gallery stretches before me, its vaulted ceiling shimmering with veins of opal that are carved to appear like frost. Polished stone statues line the walls, their features sharp and stern.
I step closer to one—a warrior frozen mid-strike, his blade raised high, the hilt embedded with shards of icy blue gemstones. The air around it feels colder, if that is even possible.
I’ve been wandering the halls of Keep Wolfhelm for hours.
After returning from Autumn, sleep evaded me.
I couldn’t stop picturing the wild look in Thrand’s eyes.
It was oddly similar to the expression on the goblins’ faces as I tore them apart with fang and claw.
Primal, all-consuming fear. As if they were looking into the face of death itself.
I stare down at my hands. A scholar’s hands, not marred with calluses or scars like Dayton, Kel, or Ezryn.
It took me losing my mother to learn this deep truth of the world: Life and death are so closely interwoven, one can easily be mistaken for the other.
For the goblins, for the enemies of my family, I can bring the reckoning of death.
But Thrand was confused. These hands bring life.
Because of the Green Flame.
A woman’s yell echoes into the galley. Rosalina’s voice. “Everyone! Dining room. Right now!”
I tear myself away from the face of the statue. It’s the middle of the night. Something’s wrong.
Taking off a run, I sprint down the halls, my feet sliding over the slick floors. By the time I make it to the dining room, I’m panting, leaning on the doorway for support. “What’s going on?”
Rosalina paces the length of the table, her hair damp and curly. She’s wearing a dressing gown, clutching herself tight.
Dayton sits at the head, shirtless. “Should I make us tea? Milk? Honey anyone? Something soothing for Rosalina.”
“I do not need to be soothed,” she snarls at him, then notices me. “Farron. Thank goodness you’re here. Where is everyone else?” She storms over to the doorway. “I said wake up! Meeting in the dining room right now!”
I wander over to Dayton. “What did you do to piss her off this time?”
He rubs his eyes. “She’s worked up over nothing—”
“It is not nothing,” she says, words filled with anger. “We are getting to the bottom of it right now.”
“What’s going on?” a gruff voice asks, and Ezryn pads into the dining hall in the shape of the Spring wolf.
His black coat is covered in spoiled mushrooms, and tangles of moss and weeds sprout around his shoulders and paws.
Animal bones embedded in his fur clatter together.
Thankfully, the staff of Keep Wolfhelm have their own quarters.
Otherwise, Ez or Kel might give someone an accidental heart attack.
“I need to talk to everyone,” Rosalina breathes. “Where is Kel—”
“Right here,” a muffled voice says. Kel appears in the doorway, a massive entity of white fur and dagger-sharp ice crystals.
Clenched between his teeth is…Caspian. The Prince of Thorns sighs.
Dressed in pajamas given to him when he was admitted to the medical ward, he seems only mildly perturbed to be dangling by his shirt collar from the mouth of a giant white wolf.
A pang of emotion shudders through me at the sight of Caspian. I haven’t spoken to him—really spoken to him—since we destroyed the crystals at Sira’s pool. Since I chose to stop being afraid. Since I chose to fight fire with fire.
I was relieved when I heard of his rescue. In the few hours he’s been here, he looks so much better. His skin is still pale, dark circles under his eyes, but that bright spark in his gaze has returned. It makes me…glad.
Kel sets Caspian down, then nudges his back with his snout. “Sit there and don’t move.”
Caspian sighs again. “Yes, whatever you say, great master of Wolfhelm.”
Kel gives the equivalent of a wolf’s shrug. “I couldn’t leave him unattended. What is the meaning of this?” His bright eyes find Rosie. “Are you alright?”
Her expression softens. “I’m fine.” Then she turns and points a finger at Dayton. “It’s him we need to talk about.”
Dayton looses an exasperated groan and pushes away from the table. “Look, you can all go back to bed. It’s nothing. Rosie thought she saw something, but I’m fine!” He stares at her owlishly, eyes bugged out. “See? I’m me! Can we go to sleep now?”
“I’m not letting you push this to the side, Daytonales,” she snaps. Then she turns and looks me in the eye, then Ez, then Caspian. “What happened after Dayton died?”
A silence yawns between us, tension heavy as a Winter snowfall. A pit opens in my stomach, and I’m frozen to my chair. No one speaks. No one moves. No one—
Dayton barks a laugh, then slams his hand down on the table, making me jump.
He’s laughing so much, he has to wipe a tear away.
“Rosie! I didn’t die! Sure, that shot took me down for a bit, but I’m the High Prince of Summer!
I’m made of tough stuff. Trust me, I know it’s hard to believe, but we Summer folk are truly remarkable—”
“Dayton. You were dead. I felt it. In here!” She slams a palm over her heart.
Dayton’s too-big smile falters. His voice lowers and trembles. “N-no, I wasn’t dead. I didn’t die. There’s nothing wrong with me.”
Everything within me feels ice cold. I did what I had to do. Without me, Dayton would be gone. The blessing would have passed to Delphia. My love, Rosalina’s love, would be lost, just as my mother is lost—
Thrand fills my mind once more, that panicked, horrified expression, his bleat of fear. What if Rosie is like Thrand? What if she doesn’t understand?
I open my mouth, but no sound comes out.
Ezryn steps forward, heavy paws echoing on the floor.
His eyes drift between Rosalina and Dayton.
“Dayton, I held your body in the Autumn Realm the night of Caspian’s revelry day party.
You were pierced by three arrows, but there was still a glimmer of life within you, no matter how faint.
After you were shot by the Bow of Radiance, I did everything I could to feel for that glimmer.
” His voice lowers, softens. “It was gone. There was nothing left.”
“No,” Dayton whispers, then yells, “No! I’m here. I’m…me. How could I be here if I died? That’s impossible—”
Ezryn’s gaze drifts over to me.
He’s going to tell them that I brought Dayton back. In my mind’s eye, Thrand’s eyes shift, changing into Rosalina’s light brown ones. The vision shifts out to her whole body, of her screaming in fear, running from…
From me.
Without you, he’d be dead, a comforting voice whispers in my ear. They should all be thanking you. Down on their knees, heralding you a hero. But that will never happen. They are too simple to understand how great a power you possess. You mustn’t tell them, lest they shun you.
Lest they shun me, I agree.
I look at Ezryn, his wolf’s eyes keen and watching. It’s okay. He couldn’t comprehend what happened. He has no conception of the power of the Green Flame…
“A man does not simply return to the living,” Keldarion growls. “Rosalina, what have you seen?”
Rosalina looks at Dayton, expression a mix of pity, fear, and love. “He wasn’t acting like himself. And his…his eyes, they…”
“They what?” Kel urged.
“They turned green,” she says. “Not just any green. A glowing green, like fire. Like the Green Flame.”
We all look at Caspian.
A chill burns through me. The Son knows the truth. He could see the threads as I wove them back together.
They will fear your power. They will betray you. You must act first. Burn them before they burn you—
Caspian’s gaze flicks to mine. A strange expression crosses his face for only a moment before he masks his features once more.
What was that look? Fear? Pity? Something I cannot name?
“I did it,” Caspian says.
“What?” Rosie breathes.
“I did it.” Caspian pushes away from the table with his fingertips. “I brought him back from the dead.”
Interesting. I tilt my head but stay silent.
Ice crackles beneath Kel’s paw as he steps forward. “That’s impossible. How could you do something like that?”
“Nothing is impossible with the Green Flame,” Cas hisses, then looks me in the eye. “As long as you pay the price.”
His words don’t scare me. There is no sacrifice equal to Dayton’s life, nothing I wouldn’t give up for the power I need to protect my family. If the Baron demands a price from me, I will pay it with a smile upon my face.
Rosie’s whole body shakes. “Y-you used the Green Flame, Cas? But that magic is…is…”
“Is evil,” Dayton finishes for her. He stares straight ahead, body still. Slowly, he raises his hands and stares at them. “Who am I? Do I even truly exist? I shouldn’t be here…”
“Hold on,” I say before I can stop myself. Cas and I exchange a look. Whatever connection we built in the Below, it stands today. I know what he’s doing.
He’s taking the fall for me. They already hate me anyway, I can almost hear him say.
I…I can’t lose their trust. What if they want me to stop using this power? I can’t do that. Not when there’s so much danger on the horizon.
For their sakes, I have to let Cas do this for me.
Everyone’s waiting for me to speak, so quickly, I say, “This power…maybe it’s not evil. Maybe we only think it’s evil because we’ve only witnessed evil people wield it. But Caspian brought Dayton back from the dead! From the dead. How can that be evil?”
“I’m not supposed to be here, Fare,” Dayton whispers. “I’m supposed to be with the ancestors.”
“No.” I rush to his side, falling to my knees, and grab his hand. “You’re supposed to be with me. With us.” I look up at Rosalina. “Right, Rosie?”
“What does this mean, Cas?” she asks.
Caspian smooths down a wrinkle in his white shirt.
“Truthfully, I don’t know. I’ve never brought anyone back from the dead before.
See, the funny thing is, with death, it’s not the person who died that has to pay.
It’s the loved ones they leave behind. But when one is rudely yanked from the calm of death into the living…
” His eyes find mine, and his lip curls.
“Well then, I have a feeling that’s when the dead themselves face the cruelest reckoning of all. ” He shrugs. “But who’s to say?”
A growl erupts in Dayton’s chest, and he storms over to Caspian. In a single swift movement, he grabs Caspian by the shirt and slams him down on the table. “Get it out of me! Whatever you did, undo it! I don’t want this!”
We all shout and lunge forward, but Kel is fastest, knocking Dayton away with his snout.
Slowly, Caspian returns to his feet, straightening his pajamas. “I’m sorry, Dayton. You’re firmly in the land of the living now. Better make the most of it.”
Sickening spouts of adrenaline course through me. He would hate me if he knew the truth.
But like Thrand, like Rosie, he won’t ever understand. It’s up to me to show them the path lined by flames. From now on, they’ll never be able to go where I can’t follow.
Dayton grabs his hair, eyes frantic. “I–I’m…I’m not even real. I’m pieced together by magic. Infected—”
“No!” Rosie rushes over to him, running her hands over his arms, touching his face. “Dayton, you’re still you. You’re here, with me. I don’t know what this means about the Green Flame, but I’ll protect you.” She pulls him to her chest. “I’ll protect you, Day.”
“Well, now that everything is settled, I’d like to get back to bed,” Caspian says.
Kel sighs. “You couldn’t be satisfied until you left a mark on each of us, could you?”
For a fae man, Caspian gives quite the wolfish grin. “Oh, I love the sound of that.”
“Come on, Day.” Rosie grabs his hand. “Let’s get some rest. We’ll feel better in the morning.”
Dayton shakes his head. “How can you sleep beside a monster?”
The words leave my mouth in a breath. “You’re not a monster, Dayton. You’re perfect.” I made you so.
Gaze down, he follows behind Rosalina.
“I’ll return Caspian to the medical ward and take watch. You get some sleep, Kel,” Ezryn says, speaking for the first time in a while. I look at him, and he’s staring hard at me. As if he can see inside me.
Kel sighs, then nods and shambles out of sight.
Rosie leads Dayton to the doorway. “Are you coming, Farron?”
“Stay with us tonight, Fare,” Dayton says, his voice a plea. “I need you.”
I take a step when a growl sounds from the back of Ezryn’s throat, low enough for only me and Caspian to hear. “Uh, I’ll be right there. You two go ahead,” I say.
Rosie nods and, clutching Dayton’s hand, leads him out of the room.
I shift from foot to foot, feeling very much like I’m being burned alive beneath Ezryn’s gaze.
“So do I not get to go to bed?” Caspian sighs.
“Sit down, both of you,” Ezryn growls. “The three of us need to talk.”