“Sorry to disappoint.” He gives a wry smile. “What can I say? This is where I reside, and I’ve always been a fan of beauty. As for those other things you mentioned, you’ll have to go deeper.”
“I came to you for a reason. It’s about Keldarion,” I tell him. “We need to talk.”
“On my birthday, truly? Princess, you’re a constant thorn in my side, but for some reason,” he leans closer, “I can’t bring myself to pluck you out.”
“You have to stop sending those fae to us after you, uh, sleep with them. It’s cruel to them, and it upsets Keldarion. And me. It upsets me, as well. Why do you bother telling them to throw themselves at Kel? He’s not going to be mated with them. He’s already found me.”
Caspian rolls his eyes. “You’re yelling at me like I have a choice.”
“You do have a choice,” I say. “A choice not to be evil and twisted.”
“Twisted?” He slides closer.
I hold up a hand to halt his advance. “And it makes you smell terrible.”
He tucks his chin, looking down at his chest. As always in the world of the fae, my senses are on high alert. I can smell him, his own scent mixed with that fae female.
Caspian narrows his dark eyes. “Don’t go anywhere.”
Briars twist up around him. In a mixture of shadows and thorns, he disappears, and I’m alone on the throne.
Ezryn looks up at me, not having moved from his post on the staircase. I shrug at him. Where did Caspian go? I adjust the thorn crown on my brow and survey the party. For a single heartbeat, I pretend I’m an evil queen looking for my minions. All I need is a raven and a cool staff.
After a few minutes, thorns rise before the throne and Caspian steps out. His hair is wet, the silver circlet with the blue gem tilted. He’s changed, now wearing a dark tunic and tight breeches.
“You…” My words fall away as he braces his hands on either side of the throne, leaning over me, wet hair dripping.
“Is this more to your satisfaction?”
I can’t help but inhale deeply. He smells like flowers, earth, and something else: sea and sunshine. “You were in Dayton’s hot springs. How?”
He smiles and falls back to the throne. “Your princes have their little mirrors to take them to Castletree. I, however, can travel anywhere my thorns are. There are quite a lot of them in Castletree, as you know.”
I shouldn’t have said anything. He smells nice now… Too nice. The way his damp hair curves along his sculpted jaw sends a shiver through me. “So, do you agree to stop? Because I brought you a birthday present, but I don’t think I’m going to give it to you after what you did.”
A muscle in his cheek tremors, confusion on his face.
“Do you not exchange presents in the fae realms?”
“The fae realms have a tradition like that,” Caspian says, his fingers sliding over his hair, stopping on the silver circlet. “Not… in the Below.”
“Well,” I say, raising my chin, “perhaps you should have been kinder. Though I appreciate you sticking up for me with that creep.But you didn’t need to kill him.”
“Oh, I didn’t do that for you,” Caspian drawls. “I did that for me. Self-preservation. Last thing I need is a frosty ass coming up here to kill me for allowing someone to touch you.”
My gaze shifts to check on my princes. Farron and Dayton are eating at the table, but they keep glancing up. Ezryn is back at the bottom of the stair, an unmoving guardian, and Kel’s got that piercing stare fixed on us from the willow tree.
There are so many things I need to ask Caspian, like how he speaks in my mind. But I can’t make myself voice the question.
“Why aren’t you afraid of me?” I turn to him, the words surprising myself.
“Who says I’m not? I saw what you did to my little present.”
“No, I mean, you saved my life. I know you did, the first day I arrived in the Briar.” My voice trembles, but not with fear. “You killed your own goblins, then brought me to Castletree. Did you know I was Keldarion’s mate?”
He blinks, clearly surprised.
“Don’t lie to me, Caspian.”
