I run through the darkness in my mind, using the light as a guide. The wind and fire and water swirl around me, but I push them away. I’m coming!
Because this thread is familiar; it’s been dormant in my heart, waiting for its moment to bloom. No longer stuck in hibernation, waiting. This part of me has been patiently anticipating its season.
Waiting to be forged into something greater.
The darkness shifts, storm clouds cast away by a breeze. An image wavers in front of me. I blink my eyes, trying to clear my vision.
There’s a face. Someone’s holding me in their arms. A man.
It’s a stranger … I don’t recognize him. But he seems concerned, his dark brow furrowed, mouth trembling.
This stranger is beautiful, in a rugged way. Stubble covers his firm jaw, his upper lip shaded by a mustache. His tawny skin drips with water. His dark hair falls in short waves around his pointed ears.
“Who are you?” I manage to ask, throat raw and raspy.
He flicks his gaze up, eyes meeting mine. They’re the deepest brown.
And familiar.
Eyes I’ve never seen, only felt.
Suddenly, it hits me like an arrow to the heart. This face isn’t unknown to me at all; I’ve seen flashes of it within myself and only now have the clarity to understand.
“Rosalina,” the fae man says. His voice sings within me. I recognize that voice. It’s different without the reverberation of his helm, but it’s still unmistakable.
“I know you,” I whisper, raising my hand to lightly touch his jaw. The feel of this skin beneath mine is like coming home.
A hesitant smile breaks across his face, and it’s more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen. His eyes crinkle as he looks me over, taking in my heaving chest. “I know you,” he whispers.
“Ezryn.” I fling myself upward, wrapping my arms around his neck. He grabs me back, burrowing his face into the crook of my neck. Tears fling from my eyes as I rake my nails across his skin, then tangle my hands in his hair; every bare piece of him feels like magic.
“I thought I lost you,” he murmurs.
Pulling back so I can stare into his eyes again, I say, “I’m not going anywhere without you.”
His expressions are all new, and yet it’s as if I can match them perfectly to the tilts of his helm. Relief and joy bloom in the warmth of his smile, the shake of his head.
Something glints beside us: Ezryn’s helmet. “Ez,” I gasp. “Your helm! You’re showing me your face.”
Now, his expression shifts to one I’ve never seen before. He stares deep into me as if he could see the whole world in my eyes.
And it’s funny, because I swear, I’m seeing the whole world in his.
“Do you know why I didn’t kill you that very first day in Castletree when I thought you were a spy?”
“Because I was an innocent human?”
He shakes his head, a soft laugh bubbling up his throat. “Why I put you up in the Spring Wing instead of letting Kel imprison you?”
“Because Kel should clearly not be allowed to make decisions?”
Now, his smile is so big, it’s caught me too, and I’m laughing with him. “Why,” he continues, “I have sworn to myself a thousand times over that I will do anything and everything to ensure you are safe and living the beautiful life you deserve?”
I sit up on my knees before him and grab his face. I know what he’s going to say. My heart is crying out with it. My chest feels like it’s glowing, invisible beams of light radiating toward him.
“I know, Ez,” I say, tears flying down my face. “I know because I know you.”
“Rosalina O’Connell,” he says, lips trembling, “you are my mate.”
A smile breaks across my face like the first rays of dawn. “And you, Ezryn, High Prince of Spring, are mine.”
77
Rosalina
I remember how I felt months ago when Ezryn and I stood on the balcony over Coppershire and he took my wrist in his hand, fading the scars of the past. My wrist was fiery red, the skin fresh, raw, fragile.
That’s how I feel right now, all over. Like the blooming of my mate bond has been a thunderstorm, washing away all the jagged and broken pieces of me. I am brand-new. Reborn.
And ready to be marked by him.
Ezryn drags a hand through my wet hair and cups my face with his other. His eyes shine with a question.
“Kiss me,” I command. “Kiss me and claim me.”
He does.
I’m on my back, the full weight of his body over me before his lips cover mine. Our tongues tangle, the kiss fierce and hungry. All the months of longing looks blocked by metal are unleashed in this moment. I tug him closer, not wanting to waste a second away from his lips.
Deep inside, I knew that the High Prince of Spring belonged to me. I just couldn’t comprehend how someone like me could have one mate, let alone three. Kel and Farron drift into my mind. Can you feel us together? I can only imagine Kel’s joy when we tell him the news.
Another face flashes in my mind. Dayton. Maybe we were wrong earlier—
Ezryn lightly sinks his teeth into my neck, and I’m torn from my thoughts. Heat explodes in my core, a different type of fire. One that makes the wet clothes sticking to Ezryn’s skin an object of derision.
I push him up and make quick work of the tight black shirt, the kind he always wears under his armor. I begin to wonder where the rest of it is, but I’m distracted by the chiseled lines of muscle along his chest, the thick thatch of hair.
But I’ve seen—and felt—his body before. My eyes drift back to his face. “Ez,” I breathe, “you are so fucking hot.”
He raises a brow and laughs. “Would you have been upset to be mates with me if I were hideous?”
I crawl on to his lap and try to ignore the iron-hard press of his length against my belly so I can be serious for a moment. Tracing my fingers along the rough line of stubble on his jaw, I hold his gaze. “I fell in love with you when I could only ever dream of the color of your eyes. I would have stayed in love with you even if you were clad in metal for the rest of my life. And I love you now because of who you are.” I bite the lobe of his ear and whisper, “You being a total hottie is just a plus.”
I thought that would get another one of those glorious laughs from him, but he shifts so we’re staring at each other again. “You love me?”
“Isn’t it completely obvious? Of course I love you, Ez. You stood by me from the very first day we met. You trust me when I doubt myself. You watch out for your family no matter what. And when there seems to be not enough hope to even stand, you raise us up and keep us going.” I’m crying again, quiet tears dripping over my lips. I’m smiling too. I can see in his face, he can’t believe what I’m saying. “You might not trust it now, but that’s okay. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll spend every day proving it to you if I have to. And you know how stubborn I can be.”
That at least gets a little smile out of him. “You love me,” he whispers.
“I do.” I trace the curve of his nose, the lines of his lips. “Trust what I say. You know me.” I say the words like an offering.
“I know you,” he repeats. Then his eyes lower, taking in my wet dress, hugging tight to my body. “My mate…”