But it has a new resident now, one who is sitting at the far end of the lab, bent over a workbench. My father doesn’t look up, intent on whatever he’s crafting. His fingers, always so steady, move with precision over crystalline pieces. He mutters something under his breath, too low to catch. The scene sends a feeling of warmth through me. This was once a familiar sight, back in Orca Cove.
“You’re supposed to be resting in the medical ward,” I say, crossing my arms and smirking.
Papa looks up, startled. Then his face erupts into an enormous grin. “Rosalina!”
I rush into his arms, squeezing him so tight. I might hate Kel right now, but he kept his promise. He protected my father in the Below.
“I missed you, Papa!”
“I missed you too.” He pulls back and stares at me with a peaceful smile.
“Are you feeling okay?” I place a hand on his forehead. “Have you been woozy? Weak? Do you need water?” The lady-in-waiting informed me he’d been admitted to the medical ward and only woken up recently.
He takes my hand in his. “I’m alright, Rose. I’m not quite myself, but I’m alright. Awake at least! Keldarion, fine lad he is, has been a lot of help.”
I narrow my eyes. “Kel has been a lot of help?”
“His magic. It stops me from…getting lost.”
“Getting lost?”
He taps a finger on his temple. “In here. Being back in the Vale is awakening countless memories long kept buried. I have a temptation to go wandering about them.”
“Papa,” I whisper, “what aren’t you telling me?”
Despite the gray in his hair, the lines on his face, there’s a youthfulness to his features. “Your mother was a determined woman. It seems Castletree and I are…connected.”
Breath rushes out of me. “The sicker Castletree gets…”
“The more I seem to, ah, have trouble existing! But it’s not a thing to worry yourself over. Keldarion looks after me.”
My voice shakes. “The weaker Mom gets, the worse off Castletree is.”
“I’m sorry we couldn’t get her out, Rose.” He steadies himself on a chair. “It’s so much more complicated than we thought.”
“What happened down there? Why couldn’t you free her?”
Pain flickers across his features. “She made a bargain,” he rasps. “With Sira.”
“No. How could she?Whywould she?”
“To tie my life to Castletree. So I wouldn’t die a mortal’s death. It’s impossible to break the bargain.”
“There’salwaysa way to break a bargain,” I say, the words coming out as a snarl. “What was it? The bargain?”
My father looks up at the sky, as if praying for strength to say the words. “If ever she were to love anyone more than me, that person would belong to Sira completely: mind, body, and soul.” He squeezes his eyes shut. “She traded her freedom for yours, Rosie.”
My legs feel weak, and I swear the lab is spinning. No, no, I won’t let anything break me. Not anymore.
I see now my mother is as naive as I was. She let compassion rule her, and look what became of her. Of the Vale.
“I’ll think of something” is all I can manage. “We won’t stop, Papa. Not until she’s free and Sira’s paid for what she’s done to our family.”
Papa tucks a curl behind my ear. “As brave as your mother.”
I feel like I might break down, but I’ve cried so many tears, there can’t be any left. I shake my head, gaze catching on the red crystalline shards on Papa’s workbench. “So what is this?”
Papa must be tired from all the sadness too, because he takes my bait, pulling his chair up to the workbench and motioning for me to look. “This is a rose from the Gardens of Ithilias.” His words are full of breathy wonder. “Grown in heaven itself.”
