“I knew,” he answers slowly.
My breath stutters in my chest. “How?” How could he have known before I did? I don’t think it’s possible to feel someone else’s bond.
“Well, you can’t expect me to give up all my secrets now, can you?”
“We can break this curse anytime. Kel could get his magic back. I don’t understand why you aren’t trying to stop me.”
“Hmm.” Caspian’s gaze looks faraway, on the horizon of the courtyard or lost in a memory. “He doesn’t seem to be in a great hurry, does he? I wonder why that is.”
My fingers tighten in my skirt, and my shoulders shake as I try to hold back tears. Shit, I do not want to cry in front of the Prince of Thorns. Why did we have to start talking about this?
“What?” Caspian raises a surprised brow. “Why in the stars are you crying?”
I quickly wipe my eyes with my palm. “Because I know why.”
“You realize why he won’t break the curse? Do tell.”
I sniff, regaining composure. “Kel’s heart is too broken from when he was in love before.”
Caspian is silent for a beat, then he breaks into a laugh. It’s deep and long, and above all else, cruel.
“Why are you—”
Caspian puts a hand on each of my shoulders, the first time he’s touched me all night. But there’s nothing sensual about this. “Now, who told you that?”
“Dayton said—”
“That mutt is even dumber than I realized.” Caspian’s laugh continues. “Listen carefully when I tell you, Princess, Keldarion has never been in love before.”
“But—”
“And if he ever tricks you into believing you’re the shore his star washed upon, remember he’s nothing but a selfish liar.”
Slowly, I push Caspian’s hands off my shoulders, and they drop like lead to the side. “You really hate him, don’t you?”
“I hate him more than a rain that falls on Midsummer’s Eve, more than an early frost that kills the harvest, more than a plague that tears across the realmlands, more than the fires that ravage the forest.” He pauses, and for a moment, there is a look of unhinged darkness in his features. “There is no end to how much I hate Keldarion.”
I stand quickly looking down at him, breath heavy, and that fiery anger rising. “Then why bring him here? Why come to Castletree? What is this all about?”
“Because,” he snarls, “I will not stop until he has suffered as he made me suffer.”
I grab his arm, shoving up his sleeve to show his bargain tattoo with Keldarion, the twisted ink of thorns and snowflakes. But there’s something else there on his wrist, higher, a golden linked bracelet, a dangling gem in the familiar shape of a rose.
I pause for a heartbeat. Farron had told me bargains could be any circular object.Who else have you made a bargain with, Caspian?
His eyes flick up. He heard me.A gift, not a bargain. But the consequences certainly do resemble that of a curse.
“Why can I hear you in my mind?” I ask.
“Asking questions only the stars know the answers to, Rosalina.” He doesn’t flinch, just leans forward so we’re nose to nose.
“Why can I control the briars like you?”
His smile deepens. “Gift or legacy, the magic is the same, wouldn’t you agree?”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” I take a deep breath in through my nose. He’ll lead me around in circles if I let him. I need to focus on my most important question. “Tell me what your bargain with my mate is. Tell me about your bargain with Keldarion.”
He rips his arm away. “Oh, it won’t be that easy.” He spreads his legs wide. “Come, sit on my lap. It’ll help you figure it out.”
