“Hey, you okay in there?” Dayton calls.
Breath comes ragged from my throat, but I steady myself and lean back over the sink.
Warmth floods my body, rushing down my arms and into my hands. Green flames erupt atop each of my palms.
“I’m fine,” I call back. “In fact, I’ve never been better.”
CHAPTER 107
Rosalina
Despite the warm air of Summer drifting in through the ship’s window, despite being enveloped in Dayton and Farron’s arms, despite it all, my dreams are cold.
Snow flurries melt on my heated cheeks, and a stiff wind tugs at my white nightdress. I stand and look around. I appear to be in a canyon, barricaded in on either side by tall, icy walls. My bare feet trudge through the snow. The flickering light of a fire cuts through the darkness.
My heart is drawn to it.
Keldarion’s broad shape is hunched over the fire as he warms his hands above the flames. He glances my way as I approach, orange light tangling between the thick waves of his white hair.
“My Rose. You’ve come.” He opens his cloak, and I quickly fall into his arms. He tugs me onto his lap, enveloping me in the warm fabric.
“Where’s my father?” I whisper.
“He’s resting.” Keldarion gestures to the other side of the fire where a figure lies covered in blankets.
My voice cracks. “My mother?”
Keldarion is silent for a long moment. Finally, he sighs. “Rose, I’m so sorry. We couldn’t get her out.”
I close my eyes, each breath a painful rattle in my chest. “Oh,” is all I manage to say.
“We failed, Rose. There is more keeping your mother in the Below than a cage. Something not so easily broken.” Kel absentmindedly touches his bargain bracelet. “I’ll explain everything when we are together again, I promise.”
I nod, fighting back tears.She’s alive.That’s all I need to know. Seeing her, even for just one moment, has strengthened my resolve to free her. As much as I want to push Kel for all the details of her imprisonment, I know this dream will not keep me with him for long. If things go wrong tomorrow, I want this last moment with Kel.
“Thank you for trying,” I say. “For keeping my father safe. I understand so much more than I did before. Through our connection, I even had the chance to speak with her.”
“You did?” He pulls back to get a better view of my face. “What did she tell you?”
“I have a sister.”
Kel nods. “Ah, she told you. She shared that with George, as well. Wrenley.”
“Yes, Wrenley. But she’s also the Nightingale,” I say, desperation creeping into my voice. “My mother asked me to save her. After everything she’s done to us, I would be crazy to try and help her, wouldn’t I?”
“Wrenley and the Nightingale one in the same.” Kel’s eyes flash. “Dayton’s mate?”
“Not Dayton’s mate,” I say.
Kel gives me a knowing look. A part of me suspects he’s already felt the awakening of the bond between Dayton and me, but he’ll wait for me to explain. “Doyouwant to save her, Rosalina?”
I look down at my hands, thinking. In the moments I’ve spent with Wrenley, there have always been cracks of light shining through her anger, small glimpses of someone who laughs and loves and grieves. There’s a deep, overwhelming sadness within her.
When I was young, I fell through the ice and almost drowned.
A part of me thinks Wrenley has been drowning her entire life.
“Yes,” I say to Kel. “I want to save her.”
