“Well, well,” Caspian purrs, his voice a dark melody. “Climbing all the way up here just to save me, Rosalina? Or is ithimyou’re here for?”
“Leave, Rose,” Keldarion says, though his attention doesn’t waver from Caspian. “This is what must be done.”
I open my mouth to reply, but a shout cuts through the air. Soldiers surge onto the wall, weapons drawn, their faces steeled with determination.
“Stop him!” one of them cries. “The Prince of Thorns is attacking the wall!”
Caspian doesn’t spare them a look. He raises a hand, and tendrils of green flame spiral out, engulfing the soldiers in an instant. Their screams are cut short as they disintegrate into ash, the wind scattering their remains across the endless snow below.
“Stand down,” Keldarion bellows to his men on the ground. “All soldiers off the wall. Protect the town!”
“No,” I whisper, horror clawing through me as I stare at the aftermath. This isn’t Caspian. This isn’t the man who fought so hard against this darkness.
“You’ve gone quiet, darling,” Caspian murmurs, stepping closer.
“Stop this,” I plead, my voice shaking. “You don’t want this, Cas. You’d hate yourself for?—”
His fingers curl under my chin, tilting my face up to meet his glowing green eyes. “Hate myself? Oh, Rosalina, I’ve burned away all the parts of me that could feel hate—or love.” The warmth of his breath brushes my skin, his voice dropping to a whisper. “You’ll come to understand. Who I am now can give youeverything.”
“Not all of it is gone. Our bond remains. I feel it, Cas.”
He tilts his head. “Why do you think your heart still beats? You shall be my queen. A queen of fire and beauty. The Enchanted Vale will worship you, as you will worship me.”
Movement behind him catches my eye. Keldarion, his expression fierce, is closing in. His blade glints in the daylight, sharp and sure, aimed straight for Caspian’s back.
A tear slips down my cheek. I should let him do it.
But I can’t.
In one swift motion, I grab Caspian and pull him away just as Keldarion’s blade slashes through the empty space where he’d stood.
“What are you doing?!” Keldarion roars.
Caspian’s eyes narrow as he realizes what happened. Fury radiates from him, and before I can react, his hand lashes out, grabbing Keldarion by the shoulder.
The green flames ignite, searing into Kel’s flesh. The scent of burning fabric and skin fills the air as Caspian pulls him close, their faces inches apart.
“You think you can stop me, Kel?” Caspian says, his voice low, almost intimate. “You think you cansaveme? It’s too late.”
Kel’s teeth grit against the pain, but he doesn’t pull back. His icy blade trembles in his hand, the frost steaming as the heat of the flame licks at it.
“You will watch your home burn,” Caspian snarls. “Watch your mate become mine. And then I will bleed you out drop by drop.”
Keldarion’s body stiffens, his hands curling into fists around the hilts of his blades. I see the crack in his resolve, the edge of his control breaking apart.
And then it shatters.
A massive surge of power erupts from him, a storm of jagged ice shards exploding outward in every direction. The force slams into me like a physical blow, ripping the breath from my lungs and sending me flying backward.
I hit the parapet hard, tumbling over it. My hands scrabble for purchase as the world tilts. Catching the slick edge of the wall, I cling desperately, my legs dangling over the sheer drop below.
“Kel!” I scream, but my voice is swallowed by the chaos.
Caspian too is hurled backward by the blast, though he lands in a crouch with catlike grace, the flames around him licking angrily at the ice.
“Very good, Winter Prince,” he hisses, his fury shaking the very air as he slams his hand onto the wall. “Maybe if you’d actually fucked her, you’d be a challenge.”
Green flames burst forth, racing across the ice like living veins, cracking and spreading in a deadly spiderweb pattern. The ice groans beneath me.
