A soft, surprised sound comes from the back of his throat, and desire floods me. Now that she’s home, my cock aches for him. Aches for her, too. But I try to temper that desire. She’s Kel’s mate. Something I always suspected, but now we know for sure.
When I saw Rosalina in the library, I could tell she was troubled. I gently run a hand up her soft leg. She flushes but doesn’t push me away. “Is everything okay?”
She bites her lip, as if deciding what to say to us. “Oh, yes. I mean, if okay means having your fated mate tell you that he’d rather fuck every single person in the Enchanted Vale over you, and that even the prospect of breaking the curse, of freeing his magic and realm, isn’t enough to debase himself for one night to try.”
I take a breath to let her words sink in, then anger boils in me so hot, I swear the water temperature rises. “What the fuck? Kel said that?”
“He wants nothing to do with me.” She shrugs her shoulders. Her voice holds steady, but I can only imagine the hurt she’s hiding inside.
“Kel…” Farron puts his hands behind his head. “He cares about you. I know he does. But sending you away, rejecting the mate bond… It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Typical,” I say. “Keldarion’s always been like this. Secretive bastard. He doesn’t trust any of us. Not even Ezryn. Not even his mate.”
A curl has fallen loose from the bundle on Rosie’s head. There are flowers pinned in her hair. Damn, if she isn’t the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. So, what if she’s human? That can’t be why Kel doesn’t want her. If she was my mate, I’d—
I stop myself. I won’t permit myself to think like that. That’s too dangerous a game. All I know is when or if I find my mate, they won’t be able to compare to the two people sitting above me.
“And I have a secret of my own,” Rosalina says. “One you must keep.”
Farron and I exchange a look before I slide my fingers down her calf to her foot. “Prince’s honor.”
Her light brown eyes flick to the entrance of the hot springs, back to us. “Ezryn… Ezryn kissed me!” She slaps her hands over her mouth, as if she can’t believe she just admitted it.
“What?” Farron and I exclaim at the same time.
“Did you see his face?”
She shakes her head. “No, he was super dramatic. Like punched out a light then kissed me.” Her voice quavers. “Then he just left.”
“That’s not like Ez at all,” I muse, still in awe of her words. “How was it?”
“Magical.” A dreamy expression crosses over her face before her eyes go wide. “You’re not going to chop off his hands or anything, right?”
I chuckle. “No, Blossom. I only did that because you told the bastard no. If you’d wanted him, I would have endured it. Hated it but endured it.”
She studies me carefully. “What about Ezryn kissing me? Do you… do you hate that?”
I fall back into the water’s warm embrace, searching myself for any hint of jealousy. When Rosie had sat with those fae in the Summer Realm, I’d been seething. I don’t feel any of that emotion when I think of Ezryn kissing her.
Even the thought of Kel being her mate doesn’t make me jealous. Envious of what they have, sure. Mad that he’s not taking care of her the way a mate should, most definitely. But jealous? “Nope,” I say finally. “In fact, it turns me on a little, thinking of that big metal lug finally getting some. I mean,somethinghas got to fill his dark soul with joy, right?”
Farron’s face flushes a soft pink. “Maybe it’s because we’ve all been cursed here for so long. There’s a special bond between the four of us. But with others, it’s different. Dayton, when I saw you with that girl you brought back to Castletree—”
“Her name was…” I interrupt him, then pause. “What was her name?”
“Doesn’t matter. I fucking hated it,” Farron says, a sharp edge to his voice. “But when I saw you with Rosie, it was…” His breath becomes heavy, and he shifts. “It was beautiful.”
Rosalina turns to Farron, eyes sparkling. “What do you think about Ezryn kissing me?”
“Honestly,” he says, “if you liked it, then it makes me happy.”
She seems pleased with our response and twirls a curl of hair around her finger. “Well, I don’t think it’s going to happen again. He stormed out of there pretty fast. Maybe I’m a bad kisser.”
I grip her thigh. “Trust me, Blossom, you arenota bad kisser.”
“Really?” Her smile turns devious. “You’ll have to take me back to the Summer Realm again so I can practice with all those handsome fae.”
“No,” Farron and I say at the same time. I rise out of the water, pressing both hands firmly on her exposed legs, my body dripping with warm water.
