Ezryn has released him and we’re toppling. “How can I let you go?”
“Don’t.” Caspian’s lips meet mine as we fall. I breathe him in, lavender and darkness. It sweeps over me. He’s here. He’s here.
A firm hand catches me, and another arm snakes around to grab Cas.
“Ezryn.” I turn to face him. “One good reason?”
His dark eyes burrow into me. “You’re always my reason.”
“Thank you.”
I take Caspian on one side, and Ezryn supports him on the other. Caspian leans into me, breathing shallow.What happened to him down there?
“Where’s Keldarion?” Ezryn asks. “He’s not going to be happy about this.”
“I thought you would know.”
Ezryn shakes his head. “He was asleep as his wolf when I left.”
A pit settles in my stomach. Through our bond, he still feels far away. “Well, this should make getting the Prince of Thorns into the keep a little easier.”
Dayton leans against a stone wall as we approach. He gives an almost sad smirk. “Great job on the rescue, Ez. Very heroic. But even if we heal the thorny boy up, isn’t he going to start puking black goo all over Kel’s sparkly keep?”
My stomach drops, and I clutch Caspian tighter. He can’t survive on the surface; that’s what he told me.
Caspian raises his chin and looks straight ahead. “I’d rather die up here than live down there.”
17
Rosalina
The scents of pine and cranberry cling to the air as I perch onthe edge of the worn stone stool beside Caspian’s bed. Faint light filters into the healing ward through frost-covered windows, casting long shadows along the floor. The silence in the room is only broken by the soft crackle of the fire and the wind howling outside, rattling the shutters.
Caspian lies beneath a woolen blanket, his hair tousled against the pillow. His face, pale and still as marble, looks like something out of a forgotten legend—angular jawline, sharp cheekbones, and lashes so dark they cast shadows on his skin. He could almost be mistaken for dead, if not for the shallow rise and fall of his chest and the faint crease of pain that lingers at the corner of his lips. He collapsed as soon as we got inside the keep.
It unnerves me, seeing him like this. Caspian is usually so confident, so powerful. Right now, he looks fragile.
I pull my knees up, wrapping my arms around them to stop myself from reaching out to touch his face. What’s even more unnerving are Ezryn’s words after he checked Cas over. Physically, he’s fine, but it’s as if there are a thousand wounds within his mind.
Ezryn. My stomach flutters at the thought of him. After all this time, all the animosity between them, he saved Caspian. Perhaps there is hope that old wounds can mend. As soon as Cas was settled, I’d gone to find Ez, but he’d retired for the night. Knowing Ez, heneeds some space right now to make sense of his own actions. Idon’t know if I’ll ever find the right words to express how—grateful? Proud? Loved?—I feel, thanks to him and his gentle heart.
A low sound rumbles in Caspian’s throat, and he blinks up at me. “Flower.”
I reach for a cup of water beside the table and let him sip from it. He takes it, movements slow and cautious.
“Caspian,” I whisper, my voice barely audible.
He tilts his head. “Miss me, Princess?”
“I didn’t want to leave you.” Tears spill down my cheeks. “I didn’t want to leave you.”
He sits up, the woolen blanket falling to his waist, and pats the spot beside him. “Come here.”
I crawl in next to him, and he circles his arms around me. “Is this alright? Is there anywhere I shouldn’t touch, where you hurt?”
Caspian pulls me tighter. “Your touch could never hurt me.”
I let my head fall to his chest, resting my hand over the soft linen shirt he’s wearing.
