“Something you need to find. Maybe it’s a spell, magic, a damned potion made of frog legs for all I care. As long as it does what I want.”
I close the book. There’s still a scar on the leather, but the notebook functions again. Rosalina’s writing is so clear on the cover: Caspian’s name and holly symbol beneath. Why had she made this for him? Was it simple kindness or something more? I hold the notebook out. “And what is it you truly want, Prince of Thorns?”
“To become a human.”
The notebook falls from my grasp and Caspian quickly grabs it, tucking it into his cloak.
“What?” I stammer.
“You heard me. Find a way to change me. Really change me. Not some illusion. And I suspect all my bargains and bonds will fade with my fae self.”
I can only gape in surprise at him. “You’re one of—if not—the most powerful fae in the Enchanted Vale. You would give that all up to be human? Why?”
Shadows and thorns swirl around him as he descends back to the Below. “Because a human can’t become what she wants.”
46
Dayton
“There he is!” I call, half-leaning out of the flower pod. “Farron!”
Farron stands on the edge of the glen, wandering like an idiot.
“I’ll get him,” Ezryn says. He spreads his palms, and the flower pod we’re in shifts off its projected course. The petals unfurl to a staircase right before Farron. I hold out my hand.
Farron beams, and I pull him up. “Hey.”
The flower petal coils again, trapping us in a haze of pinkish light. It’s intimate inside this, like a secret enclosure. There’s a small pool of nectar at the base of the pod. Stamen sprout forth, the anthers giving off a soft light. The interior of the flower curls up like a bulb, but parts of it push out to form a little seated area.
Currently, Ezryn and Rosie occupy that spot. After I finished my dance with Wrenley earlier, I’d seen their pod swing by and took the chance to escape. Rosie couldn’t yell at me for not trying anymore. Something terrible nags in my chest. Maybe the reason I’d been so resistant to dancing with Wrenley was because Rosie is right. There is somethingthere. Saving her in the river, the seashell necklace… And there’s no way to deny how beautiful she is.
So, I did my duty. I danced, even though the whole time I felt every emotion inside me curling inward. The only place I wanted to be was in this pod with Rosie and the metal lug.
And with Fare here, I never want to leave.
“I missed you,” he says, making his way to Rosalina. He pushes her on to her back and crawls on top, sliding her dress up to grip her soft thigh.
“I tried to reach you, but I couldn’t,” she says.
“I’m here now.” Farron’s golden gaze catches mine. Then he stands, grabbing my pants and tugging me closer. His tongue glides up my chest to my neck. “I missed you, too.”
“Fuck,” I growl, feeling my cock harden against the press of his hips. “What’s gotten into you, huh?”
His eyes shine with an expression I can’t place. “Let’s just say I don’t want to take anything for granted. Not you, or Rosie. Or you, Ez,” he calls over his shoulder. Ez tilts his helm in acknowledgement.
I grab Farron’s chin. “Everything okay?”
“It will be.” He kisses me roughly.
Rosie watches us with a hungry gaze. The night Farron and I shared her comes to the forefront of my mind. “Ez, is there a way to stop these flower rooms from, uh, blooming?”
“Yes,” Ezryn says. “Why?”
Farron reaches between my legs and grasps my cock. “I don’t want this to open,” I pant, “while anyone is in a compromising situation.”
“Oh.” Ezryn looks between the three of us. “I should go.”
Rosie’s eyes widen, and she crawls over to Ezryn, putting a palm on his shoulder plate. “You can leave if you like. But I want you to stay.”
