“Farron, what are you saying?” I ask.
“The realms were crafted of the four seasons to keep the Vale in balance, but the world has been anything but balanced lately.” He shrugs. “Maybe her magic found a way back to us.”
“I don’t know.” I rub at the space over my heart. It doesn’t feel like the magic found me.
It feels like I found it.
Kel holds me tighter against him. “If anyone has a chance of restoring harmony to the Vale, it would be you, Rose.”
“That’s a lot of pressure,” I mumble.
Marigold squeezes my hand. “We should let you all get some rest.” She gestures toward Astrid. “We need to get to our own chambers before nightfall.”
She and Eldy leave the room. Astrid gives me a quick hug before turning to follow them.
“Wait, Astrid!” I grab a letter off the nightstand and give it to her. “Can you make sure this gets to Farron’s brothers? I need them to keep my father in Coppershire.” My throat tightens. “I don’t want him brought to Spring until we know what’s going on.”
She kisses my cheek. “You can count on me.” An exhausted sigh fills me as she leaves, and I’m left staring at my hands. I wish I could talk to Papa about everything. Maybe something he discovered on his travels could help explain just exactly who Anya O’Connell was—or is. “I don’t even know what came over me when I changed Eldy.”
Kel tucks a stray piece of hair behind my hair. “I don’t know either, my Rose. But I do know that it was not chance that you fell into the Enchanted Vale. You belong here. Magic lives within you.”
Farron comes up beside me. “You’re just as incredible as the legends we love to read about. I wish we had time to discover all your secrets.”
I offer him a soft smile. “Me too, but right now we have to focus on Ezryn. Has anyone seen him?”
“No,” Keldarion says, a muscle feathering in his jaw. “I spoke with Kairyn. Ezryn is in solitary confinement, awaiting the trial in the morning. Guards are posted outside the chamber, but no one is in there with him. At least there will be no concern about someone encountering his beast.”
“How can we just leave him there? He’s all alone. How can he even be put on trial? He’s the High Prince.” Tears flow down my cheeks.
“Ezryn broke their sacred creed. The law states that power passes to the steward in such cases,” Farron explains.
“I can’t let this happen.”
“But you must,” Keldarion says simply, wiping my tears away. “And you know it, else you’d have already razed this whole keep to the ground. Because you know Ezryn. Know him in a way none other does. That is the truest form of love.”
I swallow, my throat dry. I may not understand or agree with Ezryn's decision to go through with this, but he holds his honor in the highest regard. If I deny him the chance to seek true repentance… “I need to see him.”
“We tried, Rosie,” Farron says gently. “He’s not allowed, and … he doesn’t want to see us.”
Anger rises in my chest. “Doesn’t want to see me? I’m his ma—” I cut myself off, realizing this is the first chance I’ve had to say it out loud. Say it in front of Farron and Keldarion.
“Your mate,” Keldarion finishes, taking one of my hands in his. “I know.”
Farron takes my other hand.
They don’t need words; love flows freely through our bond between all of us.
Keldarion takes Farron’s hand, so we stand in a circle. “You are my mate. Farron is yours, and now Ezryn is as well. I’ve told you both this before, but I will shelter you from this upcoming storm. When Ezryn returns to us, we will not let him go. The four of us belong together.”
Keldarion’s words sound like a vow.
There’s a shuffle behind us, and as we turn, Dayton is awkwardly standing in the doorway.
Awkward isn’t a word I often associate with the Prince of Summer, but that’s how he looks now, hand clutching the back of his neck, cheeks flushed. How long was he waiting there? What words did he hear?
“Day.” I step forward, but he just drops some more scrolls and books on the table before turning back to the door. “Don’t go.”
He shakes his head, donning a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “No room for a beast among princes.”
85
Rosalina
The only light is my dim lantern, the only sound the drip of water down the cavernous walls.
The dungeons of Keep Hammergarden are more cave than castle. We’re deep beneath the mountain now, and I wrap my shawl tighter around my body to fight off the chill.
I know Keldarion told me not to come, that Ezryn didn’t even want to see us.
But I am his mate. As I lay awake in my bed, embraced by both Farron and Kel who slept on either side of me, there was nothing I could do but feel my bond screaming in my chest. I stared up at the ceiling, tears pouring down my cheeks in the dark.
It was Kel who made my mind up for me. One minute I was lying on the bed, the next he was lifting me in his arms, sneaking us toward the door so as not to wake Farron. “Take the stairs all the way down as far as you can go. Then follow your nose—the damp air will lead you to solitary confinement,” he whispered as he set me down. Without my touch, he shifted into the icy white wolf.
Despite all our fights and secrets, Keldarion’s faith in me is the one thing that never wavers.
I followed Kel’s instructions. Now, two guards stand before a wooden door at the end of the cavernous hallway. I raise my chin in the air and refuse to let my voice shake. “I wish to look into the eyes of my mate before he faces his trial.”
They look at each other.
“The High Princess Isidora and Prince Thalionor held a mate bond that was revered throughout Spring,” I say. “I would expect servants of the realm to honor such a union.”
One grunts. “Five minutes. Not a second longer.”
Then he opens the door.
My heart pounds as I rush through the next hallway. Damp rock lies on either side, but at the very end, I see the shine of metal bars. Tears fill my eyes as my mate bond sings. He’s close.
I run to the end of the hall, gripping the cell bars. “Ezryn?” There’s nothing but darkness.
But there is sound: a deep, labored breathing.
I hold up my lantern and try to focus my enhanced sight into the shadows. Something shifts in the gloom.
A great animal raises its head, dark eyes shining yellow in the light of my lantern. White bones tangle in its fur, and crops of fungi grow around its ears and on its paws. In the corner of the cell, I spot his armor neatly piled, the underclothes folded.
“You shouldn’t be here,” the beast rumbles.
“I don’t care what I should or shouldn’t do.” My voice is a snarl. “You are my mate. I’m not leaving you.”
A whine sounds through the wolf’s chest, and he lowers his head to his paws. “It is a great dishonor to be mated to me. I am sorry you must suffer such shame.”