“It’s not going to happen,” I say.
“What’s not?”
“You dying.”
Caspian gives a rattling breath. “I’m not scared of dying. The worst part is knowing the pain it will cause you. Your other mates will take care of you.”
I shift so I can look up at him. “I like it when you say those things. Mate. You’re my mate.”
“I meant what I said, Rosalina. There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”
“No, Cas,” I say, laying my hand over the moonstone necklace above his heart. I’d found it in his pocket, laced it through a new chain, and slipped it back over his head so he’d have a part of me, even if he was lost in nightmares. “I’ve been able to heal the other princes. I could pull seaweed off Dayton’s wolf and calm Farron’s beast. I’ve even stopped Kel from changing into a wolf at night.”
“Flower, I’m not cursed. It’s my blood that’s bad.”
“There’s nothing stronger than a bond between mates,” I tell him. “Remember how sick you felt at Castletree? But I convinced you to sleep beside me, and you felt better.”
“What’s your theory?”
I tilt my nose up and brush my lips against his. “Our love is magic.”
His hands weave through my hair, and his mouth meets mine, soft but insistent, as though he’s afraid I might vanish if he lets go. The world melts away—there’s no howling wind, no cold stone walls, no Wolfhelm. Just us.
And then I feel it—a faint flicker deep within him, a fragment not of the Enchanted Vale. It’s slithering and dark, somethingothercarved into his very essence. My breath catches as our bond trembles.
But there’s something inside me too. The blood that made this land, that created the very realms themselves.
Iamthe Enchanted Vale. It’s in my veins, my soul. Its magic pulses through me, aching to protect him.
I let the feeling flow, a golden thread unfurling from my heart and weaving itself through our bond. The warmth rushes through me, spilling into him. He shudders against me, his lips breaking from mine with a sharp inhale. His breath catches, and for a moment, his whole body stills.
Then he blinks. His eyes, so dark and full of shadows moments ago, brighten. “I’m glowing,” he whispers.
I brush a hand along his cheek, my fingers trembling. “This happened with Farron before,” I murmur. “Our bond…it’s special, Caspian. It’s woven in the stars.”
“What did you do?”
“I am a part of the Enchanted Vale. And you are a part of me. You belong here too, Caspian. I can feel it.”
He doesn’t respond—not with words. Instead, he tilts my face to his, his lips finding mine again in a kiss that feels like the first breath of spring after an endless winter.
“Guess I’ll have to keep you close,” he says.
“Yes,” I whisper, “but you need more sleep.”
“Rosie,” he pleads.
It breaks my heart to leave him. “Cas, your job is to rest. And I need to let the healers care for you.”
A resigned sigh is all that lets me know he agrees with me.
There are footsteps outside, then Dayton bursts into the room, blond hair wild. “Consider this your thirty-second warning to impending doom.” He takes a long, deep breath. “I love you, baby, I do. I’d fight a thousand skeletons in the arena for you. But this is a battle you’ll have to face on your own. Even I’m not so brave.”
I sit up, smirking at his playful mood. “Day, what’s going on?”
“Kel’s back.”
Slowly, I untangle myself from Caspian and stand. A strange energy flits through me. It started today when I saw what became of Castletree. “Kel should be scared to faceme.”
