“I’ll be all right, the bow healed me,” I whisper. Before he can pull away, I cup his face in my hands. His ears are raw and red, the points jagged flesh. But there’s nothing to be done about that now. “You are my mate, and I love you. We have bonded again. But your curse didn’t break.”
He’s silent for a moment. It had almost broken at Sylvanita Lake. The rush of magic, the unfettered power of the High Prince of Spring … It had been too close to the memory of when he received his Blessing. My heart aches, imagining the pain and grief he must have felt.
But now that he’s passed on his Blessing, he shouldn’t have to worry about that supercharging of power.
Yet, his curse did not break.
Ezryn turns away. “I do not deserve to have my curse broken.”
Perhaps it’s not just the Enchantress’s magic that must be satisfied.
My mother’s magic, I think.
A chill wraps around me like a cloak as I turn to the Bow of Radiance lying on the ground. Papa had always painted my mother as compassionate. So why would she curse the princes and put the Enchanted Vale at risk? And the biggest question of all: Where are you now? Why didn’t she return to me and Papa?
I sling the bow on my back. Ezryn stands beside the body of the Turquoise Knight, the token of the Summer Prince in his hand. He walks to me and places it around my neck. “For safekeeping until we return it to Dayton.”
I press my hand over the shell, nodding. My eyes glisten, thinking of the other princes. “Can you feel them, too? Kel and Farron?” I ask.
“I can. They’re alive.”
The thought comforts me. I turn to the trident on the ground. “We can’t leave this here.”
“No. We cannot permit the enemy to possess these weapons.”
“Going to be heavy for me to carry around,” I say. But as my fingers graze the trident, it changes to a beam of light and streaks into the necklace.
Ezryn kneels beside me. “The tokens and the weapons are intertwined. During wartimes, this ensured the Queen’s chosen always had a way to protect themselves.”
“But Kel always kept the Sword of the Protector under his bed.” A pretty stupid hiding spot, figuring my drunk ass and a bunch of goblins were able to find it.
Ezryn takes a deep breath. “The sword represented a lot of things to Kel. Things he wasn’t ready to carry with him at all times.”
I nod and rise to my feet. “We need to find the others.”
We make our way to the elevator. It rattles and begins its descent. “Keep your eyes on the mountains.”
I swallow in a dry throat, keeping my eyes fixed on the mountain range beyond. But even with my back turned, it does not block out the smell. Prince of Blood. That’s what the Nightingale had called him. Just how many died so he could save me?
I would do the same to save him. To save any of them.
And as the elevator clangs to a stop at the bottom of the monastery, I know I may have to.
99
Dayton
“Dayton! Day, please wake up.”
An image swirls before me, and I’m not at all surprised by it. Loose brown hair, that heart-shaped face. “Rosie?”
“Please, we don’t have a lot of time,” Rosie says. And her eyes blaze like blue flames. “Take a deep breath.”
I do as she says, mind clearing. Rosie’s eyes aren’t blue.
There’s a hand on my face, a rough one.
“There you are,” she says. Not Rosalina, but Wrenley. A cloak of blue covers her white and gold acolyte robes.
“W-what?”
She places a finger to her lips. Slowly, I take in my surroundings. In a cage of steel, looking out at the Hall of Vernalion, the throne room of Keep Hammergarden. It’s eerily silent besides the deep breaths of Prince Thalionor, who is slumped in a chair next to the throne. The steward is looking rough, body shaking.
Kel stands in a cage beside us, completely still, eyes vacant.
Stars, had I just been like that?
“It’s the red flowers,” Wrenley speaks lowly. “They help others see the High Prince’s reasoning.”
“Turns them into mindless husks, you mean,” I snarl under my breath. “How did you escape it?”
She touches her pointed ear where a white flower sits, and I mimic the movement, realizing she’s placed one behind my ear.
“Kairyn told us all to wear these when we left the monastery,” she says. “We thought it was a symbol, but I realized the pollen of the red flowers does not affect us. And if you chew a petal, it will restore your magic.”
I do as she says, though no magic returns to me. I’m still on empty until I get home to Castletree. She shakily pulls a key ring off her belt. “Got these off a sleeping guard.”
The lock clicks open and she grabs my hand, leading me behind one of the stone pillars. “Some of the acolytes are fleeing the monastery, fleeing Florendel. But I couldn’t leave without you.”
A hollowness tightens in my chest. “You’re trembling.”
Her hands squeeze into my shirt, and tears pool over her blue eyes. “It’s just … I was at the monastery and … and he came.”
She falls against me, and I instinctually wrap my arms around her. “Who came? Kairyn?”
“No.” Her voice is soft, near empty. “Ezryn.”
“Why would he…” Then I remember, that’s where the Nightingale said she was taking Rosie.
“I don’t know. Rage from his banishment, from losing his magic?” Her lip quivers. “He killed them all—every last one in his path. It was a slaughter. Everyone, even the women and the children. I barely escaped.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Ezryn wouldn’t do that. He…” My voice trails off. There’s always been a darkness in the Prince of Spring, one I’ve glimpsed in the feral rage of his beast. But losing his creed, his magic. What if something happened to Rosalina? “He wouldn’t.” But my voice has lost its conviction.
Fear is still plain on her face, and there’s dried blood on her cheek. “We have to go. Quickly, before they return.”
“I’m not leaving without Kel.”
She keeps a firm grasp on my arm. “I don’t have another flower. He could become dangerous if we move him.”
I stare at the cage, the blank-faced Winter Prince inside.
“Kairyn won’t kill him,” Wrenley pleads. “He’s too important.”
“No.” I yank my arm away. “I’m not being parted from any more of my family.”
Taking the flower from behind my ear, I rip it down the middle. I place it under his nose, then stuff a petal between his lips. “Come on, big guy, wake up.”
Wrenley grips the back of my shirt in earnest. “There’s movement down the hall. We have to go. Leave him!”
I hear it too, the clatter of armor, that deep, commanding voice. The new High Prince of Spring returns.
“Breathe, Kel,” I growl, practically shoving the flower under his nose. “Start the lock.”
With shaking hands, she does. I don’t want to put the girl in more danger, especially after she’s been through so much, but I’ll be damned if I lose someone else today.
The voices grow louder. Kel blinks, gasping, and the milky film fades from his eyes. Wrenley opens the door, and I grab Kel as he topples forward.
“There’s no time to explain. Come on.” I hoist his arm over my shoulder, and we stumble from the cage.