I walk toward Keldarion and take the knife in my hands. The chill of it shivers through me and ignites my blood. An absolutely devastating smile crawls across Kel’s face as he looks down at me. “Vengeance is in your hands, my Rose.”
I prowl closer to Lucas and his eyes widen. “Get me out of here. There’s the monster, Rosalina!”
“Shut the fuck up or it’ll be me ripping your guts out this time,” Dayton calls to him, putting his arm around Farron. “But you’re lucky I don’t want to deny my girl the satisfaction.”
Farron hardly seems bothered by Lucas’s words. There are no signs of the wolf. His gaze is fixed on me, and he nods encouragingly.
“Your girl?” Lucas looks delirious. The pain is getting to him. “You some kind of whore, Pumpkin?”
A collective growl emits from the princes, but none of them step in front of me as I slowly walk before Lucas.
“These are the Princes of Castletree, and you will address them with the respect they deserve,” I say, voice dripping with venom. “As for me,” I continue, taking a step closer to Lucas until we’re practically nose to nose. “I am not anyone’s whore or your pumpkin. I am Rosalina O’Connell, the Lady of Castletree, and you will showmethe respectIdeserve.”
Lucas’s delirious expression turns to one of fear as he realizes the gravity of his mistake.
“Rosalina, w-wait,” he says. “I-I saved your life.”
“No, you didn’t. You stole it. The day you pulled me from the ice, you snatched my life, held it hostage, and made me believe the only way I could glimpse it was in the flash of your smile. And yet, I was still drowning, like you never rescued me at all.”
“I-I—” Lucas flounders.
“I’m not afraid of you anymore.” An angry fire blazes in my chest, and my skin feels too hot. “And I don’t owe you anything.”
Every painful moment flashes before me. He left his mark on my body with the hunting knife that night, but that wasn’t the only time. His poisonous words were as sharp as any blade, and his actions, the manipulation, dug just as deep beneath my skin.
I grab his arm, his broken fingers turning purple.
“Thief,” I breathe. “That’s what I’m going to write. For everything you took from me.”
It won’t bring back the years of my life he stole. It’s impossible for me to save the girl he hurt, but still, his screams will sound sweet. I know the blade my mate made for me will be sharp. I raise my knife and drive it down.
Someone jumps between me and Lucas, holding my arm.
“I’m sorry, Princess,” Caspian says, wild black hair falling in his face. “I can’t let you do that.”
29
Rosalina
Myheartcareensinmy chest, fingers trembling on the ice knife. Why is Caspian here? Why does he care about Lucas? His hand is firm on my arm, his eyes a swirling constellation of stars.
A shadow looms over us. “You will not deny my mate her vengeance.”
The stars turn dark, and Caspian shoots a venomous glare at Keldarion. “Carving into a man’s flesh? This is madness.”
“Move,” Keldarion growls. “You well know I slipped off the edge of madness years ago.”
“Oh, Kel, of course I do.” Caspian’s lip curls, but then he looks to me, and there’s a strange softness in his gaze. “But she hasn’t. Don’t let her fall into the darkness as we have.”
Something in his words clears the anger from my mind. The ice knife falls from my grasp, and I stumble away from them. What was I going to do? Carve into Lucas’s flesh as he writhed helpless below me? He doesn’t deserve my mercy, I know that. But taking his own cruelty and returning it to him… That’s not me.
“This man deserves death,” Keldarion says.
Caspian straightens, putting a reassuring hand on the Winter Prince’s chest. “I agree.”
At Caspian’s arrival, the three other princes have closed in around us. Peering out from behind a pillar, Perth Quellos observes us with his bird-like stare.
He cannot be pleased to see the Prince of Thorns here.
