Keldarion
Athinlineoflight glitters along the horizon. Dawn will be here soon. I feel the man within me aching to be free of this cage of flesh and fur.
Rosalina is safe now. I’d felt her fear like a drum beside my heart. I had no choice but to follow her to the dungeon. She should have known better than to provoke the beast. Then again, she should have known better than to return.
Though my chamber looks carved of ice itself, I can’t feel the cold. Every part of me is numb, and for that I am grateful.
Every time my mind wanders to the feel of her arms around my body, I force myself inward. To the cold. To the numbness.
Claws scrape against ice, and I feel his presence like a looming shadow. “So, I’m not the only one who can’t sleep,” I say without turning.
His silence is deafening.
I knew my decision to send Rosalina away would break me.
I didn’t realize how much it would break them, too.
“Have you come to ambush me in my chambers again?” I ask when he still says nothing. “Or perhaps to explain that other human scent I smell?”
“An accident occurred during our visit. The human will be gone as soon as he’s healed,” Ezryn says flatly.
I let out an annoyed huff. I recognized Rosalina and her father’s scent as soon as they stood on the castle grounds. This other wayward human is of no concern to me.
Finally, Ezryn sighs and strides in. There are bones tangled throughout his dark fur, little bird skulls cracked by fungi and covered in moss. Yet, his dark brown eyes shine brightly, flashing nearly yellow in the light.
Are they the same as the man’s?I wonder. Long have I yearned to look upon the face of my closest friend. Perhaps this is one small blessing from the curse. I get to see his eyes.
“You lied to us, Kel,” Ezryn says, the wolf’s voice deep and rumbling. “You knew she was your mate, and you hid it.”
I turn away from him. “I did what I had to. For all of us.”
“You don’t get to make those calls. We should have had a say—”
“I am the master of Castletree,” I roar, baring my fangs.
He rushes up to me, his incisors exposed and dripping. “And we are a family!”
“You don’t understand, Ezryn.” My body shakes. “Every decision I have made and continue to make is for her best interest.”
Ezryn gives a growl of frustration and knocks his snout against my shoulder. “She is yourmate, Kel. You do not get to hide from this like you have your throne or your people. You have a duty to her.”
“Do not speak to me of duty.”
Ezryn digs his paws into the ice and his hackles rise. “My father and mother were mates. I saw their bond with my own eyes. Theyneededeach other. When my mother d-d… Without my mother, Father is—”
“Rosalina isn’t dead,” I say. “She will find a way to live with joy and contentment. I will sleep peacefully knowing that.”
Ezryn lunges at my neck, wrestling me to the ground. “The bond cannot be broken. You are her mate. You gave upeverythingfor him and yet you will give nothing to her?”
Fury ignites within me, and I shove Ezryn off, now tackling him to the ground. “I am giving everything up!”
“Traitor. Always a traitor. You could save your realm right now. Free yourself from this curse. And yet, you betray your people again. Betray Rosalina. Betray yourself!”
Ez wants to speak to me about being a traitor?
My teeth sink deep into his flesh, and he roars in pain. “I’m finally doing what is right, Ez,” I say against his skin. “Trust me.”
He jerks up, throwing me off balance. “You have become the very thing that nearly destroyed you.”
