When has Rosalina O’Connell ever followed protocol? My mate’s too much like me.
She rushes through the courtyard like a bird in flight. Her dress is woven from silken, blue threads, layered with gossamer that drifts around her like mist on a frozen lake. A cloak of whitefur, soft and thick, adorns her shoulders, and her hair spills loose, dark against the pale colors of her gown and cloak.
“Rosie.” I sigh.
The gangplank is too crowded with soldiers and Ezryn arguing and Farron waving some papers. So I do what any sane person would do. I grab one of the mast ropes and leap off the ship.
The wind rushes past, and magic prickles beneath my skin as I ask it to guide me toward her. I skid along the icy ground, trying to catch my footing, but damn, this courtyard is—of course—covered in a layer of ice.
“Day.” Rosalina skitters to a stop before me.
I let go of the rope as Rosalina throws her arms around me. I give up the idea of staying on my feet, and we both tumble to the ground, her on top.
“Rosie, Rosie,” I murmur into the wild waves of her hair.
She looks down at me, her face streaked with tears. My heart feels near ready to burst out of my chest at being so close to my mate. I lean up and kiss each of her cheeks, tasting the salt.
But the gesture makes her cry harder, and she throws her face into the crook of my neck. “You were dead. You were dead, Day. You were dead.”
Her words hit me like an arrow driven deep into my chest. My body stiffens, muscles locking. My pulse roars in my ears, so loud it almost drowns out her voice, her constant murmuring: “You were dead. You were dead.”
My heartbeat pounds against my ribs, frantic, like a beast trapped in a cage. I don’t want to hear it.Dead.The word claws its way through my mind, a dark, oily thing, staining every thought.
It’s as though a cold and venomous snake is slithering through my veins. I squeeze my eyes shut, fighting the memory, but I can still feel its pull, that unnatural fire licking the hollowsof my bones, whispering that I don’t belong here, that I’m something twisted and wrong. My vision flashes with green. It flickers along the edges of my vision, closer, closer.
I grip her shoulders, harder than I mean to, my fingers shaking as I cling to her warmth, her heartbeat, her scent.
“Rosie, no,” I murmur. “I’m here. I’d never let anything part me from you.”
Her chest still heaves with massive sobs.
I take her face in my hands. “I’m here, baby, see? I’m here.”
“You’re here.”
I let my forehead rest against hers, closing my eyes for a heartbeat, just breathing her in. The world fades, the cold, the fear—there’s only her. I kiss her deeply, not just because I’ve been craving it every moment since we’ve parted but also to stop her from saying those words again.
You were dead.
You are dead.
Her mouth is warm, a contrast to the biting chill around us, and I sink into it. Her lips part slightly, and I deepen the kiss, savoring the sweetness, the salt still lingering faintly from her tears. Her hands grip the back of my neck, fingers tangling in my hair as she pulls me closer, as if she too needs to feel we’re both truly here.
It’s desperate and tender all at once, like we’re trying to erase every second we were apart, trying to fill the hollow spaces with each kiss, each touch. I taste her, lose myself in her, and for the first time since I woke up, the darkness in me grows quiet.
Until a cold shadow passes over us, followed by a grunt. I tear myself away from Rosalina’s mouth to see towering above us, like a figure carved from ice itself, is Keldarion. The Winter Prince’s expression is unreadable. His eyes—ice-blue and unyielding—lock on me with an intensity that makes me straighten and stand up.
It’s not jealousy but a challenge.Are you enough for my mate? Are you enough forourmate?
I meet his gaze, unyielding. A display of power, the unbridled blessing of Summer blazing within my chest. My magic was enough to call a city-swallowing wave. Instinctually, I feel his own blessing answer back. The force of that power nearly knocks me flat.
Fuck. The bastard hasn’t even broken his curse yet. If he ever un-ices his balls and unlocks his full power… He could freeze the whole fucking Vale. I’m glad he’s on our side.
“What are you two doing?” Rosalina says, and there’s a third shock of power, like the warmth of the sun itself. “Seriously.”
She stands and says nothing more to Kel as she makes her way to the airship.
“Welcome to the Winter Realm, High Prince of Summer,” Keldarion grumbles. “But perhaps there are more appropriate places to reunite with our mate.”
