“We aren’t so lucky,” Birdy growls.
So, Rosalina’s gone missing. That’s better than her being in Birdy’s clutches. I can only assume Rosalina and Dayton have a plan.
Whatever it is, I won’t say it’s going to be brilliant, but it’s probably going to be spectacular.
Kairyn walks over to the vanity and stands above my sister. Slowly, almost delicately, he lifts a strand of dark hair and tucks it behind her ear. “We’ll find her.”
Birdy leans her head against his hand. I sit up and blink. Birdy doesnotlike to be touched.
“And the High Prince of Summer, too,” she whispers. “It’s coming together, Kai. His Blessing will be mine.”
Kairyn stiffens. “Let me kill him for you. I could do it. With Ezryn’s Blessing—”
She stands suddenly and faces him. “It’s not Ezryn’s Blessing—it’s yours. We’ve talked about this. If you kill Dayton, it will go to his damned sister, and you lost her, too.”
“Dayton.” Kairyn says his name like a curse. “Now you’re calling him by that ridiculous nickname.”
“It’s really not that ridiculous,” I chime in, examining a thread on my cuff. “Sea Puppy would be a ridiculous nickname. Or Fred, because what does that have to do with it all? But Dayton is actually quite a normal—”
“Why are you even here?” Kairyn growls, stomping toward me. “You’re a layabout. A distraction. A good-for-nothing—”
“Careful.” I smile. “You’re starting to sound like my mother.”
“No, Caspian, you be careful,” Kairyn says darkly. “If you don’t remember whose side you’re on, you’re going to get your sister killed.”
My movements are quick, graceful. Deadly. Before Kairyn even has a chance to step away, I’m holding a sharp dagger made of pure shadow to the sliver of neck that shows between his helm and his chest plate. I smile up at him, though I know my eyes are radiating darkness. “I don’t care what they call you. High Prince. Emperor. God. I will keep my sister safe above all else. Suggest otherwise again, and I’ll protect her against the man capable of mutilating his own brother.”
Silence echoes in the room. Kairyn’s chest heaves up and down. “I did what I must.”
“Is that what you tell yourself in the dead of night when you remember what you did to him?” I breathe.
Then there’s a hand on my wrist, yanking it away. “Caspian,stop it.” Birdy gives me a glare that could dim a will-o’-wisp. “I don’t need you showing up and keeping an eye on me. I’ve got everything under control. Soon, I will sit on the throne of Keep Soltide with Summer’s Blessing. I’ll oversee all the realm—”
“Ah, so your metal dog will run Spring and rule over a bunch of thralls, and you’ll sit in your seaside palace, leader to a group of subjected fae who hate you.”
“Hate me. Fear me. Love me. I care little for it,” she spits. “But I’ll be out of that wretched squalor in the ground, and you’ll rule the dirt and darkness, Cas. Like it or not, Mother willsee we are ascended. Better I have some say over my fate, lest she chooses for me as she chose for you.”
I take a shaky breath in through my nose. “All the pieces must be in place. Sira’s not ready for such moves yet.”
“The time will come soon enough.” Kairyn walks over to the window and looks out. “The celestial lands await. Sira will see herself once again in the Above.”
“Right, right, Mother does love to look down on us all.” I choose my words carefully. “Little problem with the weapons though, isn’t there? You’ve got four under your control, even if you can’t wield the bow yet, but that sneaky little Summer trident’s gone missing, hasn’t it?”
“Sheknows where it is,” Birdy rasps. “I should have interrogated her myself.” She looks up at Kairyn. “You’re too soft.”
“What would you have me do? Torture her? She’s my brother’s mate,” he says.
“My brother! My brother! My brother!” Birdy spins in a circle. “Will I never cease hearing of Ezryn? He’s as good as dead. You have his Blessing! Forget him!”
Kairyn leans over the windowsill, the breeze blowing back his black cape. “He’s alive. He hunted my soldiers through the sands. He came to me in the prison. I hear his voice sometimes, screaming out my name—”
“Green Flame, rid me of this incessant chatter of fucking Ezryn,” Birdy cries, covering her ears with her hands.
My teeth grind together. These two are nearly as dysfunctional at making a plan as those four princes. “Back to the Above … Any luck with finding someone to wield the Bow of Radiance? Word is it’s the grand prize in your twisted little games.”
Birdy paces across the room. “It’s ridiculous. This idiot’s willing to let every peasant and pauper good enough with a sword put their hands on it. They’ve all burned up, of course. But I could do it. I can wield it—”
“No!” Kairyn yells. He turns away from the window and storms over to her. His hulking body basically enshrouds her. “It is too much to risk. We’ll find someone strong enough to withstand it.”
