His lips curl into a cruel smile as he meets my gaze, voice mocking. “Was that blade meant for me, Keldarion? You missed.”
My guards charge him, frost-tipped spears gleaming.
“No!” I scream. “Stand down!”
But it’s too late.
The first guard lunges, his spear aimed for Caspian’s heart. But before the weapon can connect, a swirl of green flame bursts to life, coiling like a serpent around the guard’s body. He screams, his armor melting and fusing to his flesh in an instant, before he crumbles to the ground in a pile of dust.
The others falter for only a heartbeat, but it’s all the time Caspian needs. He moves like liquid fire. The flames lash out, hungry and unrelenting, devouring one guard after another.
In mere moments, the hall is silent again, save for the crackle of flame and the sound of ash settling to the floor. My guards are gone.
Caspian stands in the center of the destruction, untouched by the carnage. This isn’t the Caspian I know. And yet even in this horrifying moment, he is achingly beautiful, a vision of fire and ruin.
I swallow hard, my throat dry. “We’re too late. He’s gone.”
Sira steps forward. “Bring Keep Wolfhelm down,” she commands, her smile widening in satisfaction. “And?—”
Her words falter as Caspian shifts, dropping off his briars to stand before her. He levels her with a menacing glare. She hesitates, as though even she feels the shift within him.
“Winter belongs to the Green Flame now,” he declares.
“Very well, my love,” she says, shadows spiraling around her. “I’ll await you in the Below.”
She extends her hand to Faustrius.
His gaze lingers on Kairyn. “You are one of us,” Faustrius says. “Come home.”
Kairyn looks at Wrenley, then to Ezryn. “No. This is my place.”
“I have had enough of your insolence,” Sira snarls. “Stay and burn with the rest of them!”
Shadows lash out, wrapping around Kairyn, then Wrenley.
“Let him go!” Faustrius calls, but it’s no use. Sira doesn’t obey anyone. The shadows whip Kairyn and Wrenley through the air before throwing them across the dais. Wrenley lets out a high-pitched scream before she smashes into the ground and her voice silences. Kairyn follows after her, hitting the wall, his body’s force enough to send rocks skittering from the ceiling.
Sira’s laughter and Faustrius’s cry drift away as shadows devour them, and we are left alone.
I rise to my feet, bringing Rosalina up beside me. Ezryn’s already up, sprinting toward his brother. He touches Kairyn’s neck, then Wrenley’s. “They’re both unconscious, but their pulses are steady.”
“To my side,” I say lowly. Ezryn casts one more look at his brother, then obeys my command just as Caspian places his hands in his pockets and saunters toward us.
My heart feels as if it’s shattering with each beat.
My family knows what must be done. Dayton and Farron both call forth their divine weapons, and Ezryn clutches his hammer, looking to Rosalina. “What’s your order, my queen?”
Rosalina trembles, her gaze drifting from Wrenley to fix on Caspian. “Th-that was his plan? Todie? To leave me?”
I step in front of her, ice blade held tight. “You will not take Winter, Prince of Thorns.”
Caspian arches a brow, gaze raking over us, then sighs. “So many against little old me,” he says with a pout. “Let’s even the odds, shall we?”
He raises his palms. Dayton and Farron both gasp, bodies stiffening, then slowly, they turn to us, eyes completely green.
No…no…
“Kill the metal one,” Caspian says. “The Winter Prince is mine.”
