I swallow, my throat dry. I may not understand or agree with Ezryn's decision to go through with this, but he holds his honor in the highest regard. If I deny him the chance to seek true repentance… “I need to see him.”
“We tried, Rosie,” Farron says gently. “He’s not allowed, and … he doesn’t want to see us.”
Anger rises in my chest. “Doesn’t want to see me? I’m his ma—” I cut myself off, realizing this is the first chance I’ve had to say it out loud. Say it in front of Farron and Keldarion.
“Your mate,” Keldarion finishes, taking one of my hands in his. “I know.”
Farron takes my other hand.
They don’t need words; love flows freely through our bond between all of us.
Keldarion takes Farron’s hand, so we stand in a circle. “You are my mate. Farron is yours, and now Ezryn is as well. I’ve told you both this before, but I will shelter you from this upcoming storm. When Ezryn returns to us, we will not let him go. The four of us belong together.”
Keldarion’s words sound like a vow.
There’s a shuffle behind us, and as we turn, Dayton is awkwardly standing in the doorway.
Awkward isn’t a word I often associate with the Prince of Summer, but that’s how he looks now, hand clutching the back of his neck, cheeks flushed. How long was he waiting there? What words did he hear?
“Day.” I step forward, but he just drops some more scrolls and books on the table before turning back to the door. “Don’t go.”
He shakes his head, donning a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “No room for a beast among princes.”
85
Rosalina
The only light is my dim lantern, the only sound the drip of water down the cavernous walls.
The dungeons of Keep Hammergarden are more cave than castle. We’re deep beneath the mountain now, and I wrap my shawl tighter around my body to fight off the chill.
I know Keldarion told me not to come, that Ezryn didn’t even want to see us.
But I am his mate. As I lay awake in my bed, embraced by both Farron and Kel who slept on either side of me, there was nothing I could do but feel my bond screaming in my chest. I stared up at the ceiling, tears pouring down my cheeks in the dark.
It was Kel who made my mind up for me. One minute I was lying on the bed, the next he was lifting me in his arms, sneaking us toward the door so as not to wake Farron. “Take the stairs all the way down as far as you can go. Then follow your nose—the damp air will lead you to solitary confinement,” he whispered as he set me down. Without my touch, he shifted into the icy white wolf.
Despite all our fights and secrets, Keldarion’s faith in me is the one thing that never wavers.
I followed Kel’s instructions. Now, two guards stand before a wooden door at the end of the cavernous hallway. I raise my chin in the air and refuse to let my voice shake. “I wish to look into the eyes of my mate before he faces his trial.”
They look at each other.
“The High Princess Isidora and Prince Thalionor held a mate bond that was revered throughout Spring,” I say. “I would expect servants of the realm to honor such a union.”
One grunts. “Five minutes. Not a second longer.”
Then he opens the door.
My heart pounds as I rush through the next hallway. Damp rock lies on either side, but at the very end, I see the shine of metal bars. Tears fill my eyes as my mate bond sings. He’s close.
I run to the end of the hall, gripping the cell bars. “Ezryn?” There’s nothing but darkness.
But there is sound: a deep, labored breathing.
I hold up my lantern and try to focus my enhanced sight into the shadows. Something shifts in the gloom.
A great animal raises its head, dark eyes shining yellow in the light of my lantern. White bones tangle in its fur, and crops of fungi grow around its ears and on its paws. In the corner of the cell, I spot his armor neatly piled, the underclothes folded.
