Caspian blinks. “No. Keldarion said—”
“Keldarionlied,” I growl. “I would have gladly admitted the truth, but Kel refused to let me say anything. He was worried you would kill me. But here we are, all the same. I knew you were plotting with Sira. I knew you’d strike Keldarion down at the first convenient moment. I had to strike first. If only Kel had told you the truth, we could have had this battle out in the open a long time ago.”
My sword cracks through the briar, but Caspian leaps back. He bows his head, hair shading his eyes.
The air around us grows cold, and my shadow seeps out from in front of me to form a sword in Caspian’s hand. A blade of pure darkness.
Caspian looks up at me, eyes glinting. “Then this has been a long time coming.”
CHAPTER 112
Keldarion
Ashiver runs through my bones, and I wrap my coat tighter around myself. If I can feel it, I know it’s cold. The sun blares down, heatless and intense, shining off the huge icy walls that pin us in on either side. Dark purple briars are frozen within the ice, terrifying visages of war.
Why did you send us here, Aurelia?Her briars could have taken us anywhere. She might have sent us back to Castletree. Or even somewhere in Frostfang. But no, the Queen of the Vale sent us to the coldest, most desolate place in all the Enchanted Vale. A place I once waged war. The Anelkrol Badlands.
Rosalina was able to find us here. Though I was only able to hold her for a few moments, her touch has given me the strength to continue, to find a way out of this barren wasteland. She will face her own battle today; the very least I can do is see her father to safety.
I know where in the Badlands we are because we’re walking through a giant rift in the earth, the ground frozen beneath us, canyon walls made of ice so crystal clear I can see my reflection. Briars poke up here and there but are mostly frozen within the walls or under our feet. The canyon breaks off in different directions. Another damned labyrinth. I can’t even use the seed Caspian gave us because the ground is so frozen, there’s nowhere to plant it.
I hate this place. It’s where Caspian and I did battle, just us two, when both our hearts were so ripped open, we needed the earth to reflect it.
George is far behind me, stumbling and shivering. His faceis ghastly pale, eyes dull. I don’t know if it’s from Castletree’s sickness or his own grief. I stop and wait for him to catch up.
“How are you holding up, George?”
No response.
“Would you prefer to ride on my back? I can shift.”
Again, he wanders on like a lifeless corpse.
I jog back up beside him. “Once we’re out of this canyon and onto the flatlands, I can navigate our way back to Voidseal Bridge. We’ll rest there, then make the journey to Frostfang. It’ll be a long road. How about a story? I think you only got halfway through your tale of the—what was it? The conservation of the ruins in Pompey? Pompeii? Yes, that was it.”
George’s chest heaves but he doesn’t stop walking.
I sigh and follow behind him. “I’m sorry, George. I can only imagine how hard it was to leave Anya there. But there was no other choice.”
George stops and turns to me. A spark finally appears in his eyes. “You,” he growls. “You made me leave. I should be down there with her!”
I storm over to him. “You heard your wife. You have two daughters to look after now. Do you remember the prophecy given by the Fate? ‘You are destined to find Rosalina shattered.’ We can’t let that happen. She needs us both.”
George sneers and turns away. “It wasn’t ‘Rosalina shattered.’ It was ‘your rose shattered’ and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect my daughter. My … daughters.”
Your rose shattered.What else could it mean?Go back to the place where all was lost.
My rose … all was lost.
I start to run.
I know this crack. It’s where I sent a blast of air so powerful, it cut into the earth. Caspian’s flames turned the ice brittle, and it collapsed a wall here. Yes, yes and then our magic met together creating a pit around this corner. It’s still here, gaping down into the earth.
George yells my name, chasing after me, but I can’t stop. I keep running, following the scars of our heartbreak across the landscape. I’d created a massive rift that turned into a fork. I take the right passage. Caspian had grown thorns so giant they formed a bridge over a crack in the ground. I run across them,feet slipping on the icy surface. George’s voice follows behind me.
And here … here was where the calamity of our magic met. A crater forged within the canyon, the place where Caspian and I unleashed all the rage and grief and love from our time together.
The place where we destroyed the rose stolen from the Gardens of Ithilias.
