Her sweet scent mixed with salty water and …
Lavender.
A growl roils up my chest. “Rosalina, why do I smellhimon you?”
“Who?”
“The murderer.Caspian.”
She pulls away and blinks up at me. “Ez, he’s—”
Primal jealousy surges through my veins, a wild dog unleashed. His scent is on her, on what ismineby bond. “He killed my father!”
She grabs the side of my face, eyes searching for some sanity in my own. “Ezryn, listen to me. Your father was dying. He was poisoned by Perth Quellos. If Caspian hadn’t ended his life, he’d have turned into something like that plant monster that nearly killed us by the lake. He spared your father a horrible fate.”
“The lies of a snake!” I roar, tearing away from her. “He’s a murderer.”
“That’s what Wrenley called you,” Rosalina snaps. “I know better.”
I pace back and forth across the room. “This is Kel’s fault. He’s trapped you with his own lust for Caspian.”
“My feelings are my own,” she asserts.
The words make a growl surge up in my throat. Desperately, I fight against the urge to claim her right now. To mark her so completely that Caspian would never dare to touch what is mine again.
“He’s risking his life to save us,” Rosalina continues. “We’re all trusting him. Not just Kel and I, but Farron and Dayton, too. I would never do anything to hurt you, Ez. I truly believe Caspian wants to do right by us. By you.”
Her words are meaningless to me compared to the anguish on Kel’s face when he found out Caspian was storming Frostfang. Compared to the green scar that cut across the Anelkrol Badlands, creating a rift in the world where all manner of Below scum can freely ascend. Compared to the sound of my father choking on his own blood as Caspian’s thorns cut through his chest. “He’s a traitor, Rose.”
She approaches me and grabs my hands, kissing the knuckles. I almost pull away, but she holds me still with her gaze. “I know you, Ez. Know the deepest parts. There is darkness in you, but there is also light. I will have you as you are, and I will have Caspian as he is.” Her voice lowers to a husky plea. “Will you have me?”
I breathe in a ragged breath. Within the depths of my soul, I know there are no lengths I would not go to in order to keep her safe. Caspian has her in his clutches, as he has Kel.
I will have to kill him. There is no other way.
For now, my mate stands before me, claimed by another man’s scent. Primal need sends the blood raging through my veins. I will have to rectify this immediately. She has become the very definition of my existence, her mere presence turning me into both predator and protector.
“I will have you,” I say lowly.
She steps back from me and undoes the laces of her corset. She slips out of the sleeves of her dress and lets it whisper to the ground. “Then prove it.”
CHAPTER 40
Rosalina
Ezryn stares at me like a man undone.
That’s how I feel. Unravelled, the edges of me frayed and spooled on the floor.
There’s so much pain within me, I don’t know what to do with it. I can’t take another goodbye when we’ve only just said hello. Yet, I know he has to do this. There’s still something jagged in his gaze, something I only ever felt but never understood before his helm came off.
If he faces Kairyn as he is, Ezryn will fall.
So, it has to be this way. We’ll fight for Summer from across the realm, with our mate bond to lead us back together.
The pain threatens to consume me, so I turn my attention elsewhere. There are so many other emotions fighting within me. Anger is much easier to deal with.
Iamangry at Ezryn. Angry that he let his vengeance rule him; angry that he can’t open his mind to Caspian. Angry that he’s leaving me again, even though I know that’s what he needs to do.
