Did he really go to the Below for Cas?
“House me in your dungeon?” Caspian slumps back against the headboard, rubbing his throat but still grinning like a fox who’s baited a wolf. “Did you want to recreate the time on your birthday, when we slipped away?—”
I turn to Cas. “Is having sex in dungeons kind of your thing?”
Caspian mockingly pouts. “Sad you weren’t my first, darling?”
At the mention of me being with Caspian, I feel Kel’s emotions roil within him. But they’re not all bad.
“He’s dangerous,” Kel says, but there’s a resignation in his voice.
I step closer to my mate. “Do you think I don’t know that? You think I haven’t seen his shadows and flame? But I also seehim, Kel. If you went to the Below, then you see it too. I know you do.”
With a frustrated snarl, Kel steps back, his blizzard finally calming. “He can stay, but someone must watch him constantly.”
“I agree,” I say smugly. “And thank you for volunteering for the first shift guarding our mostdangerousguest.”
Kel opens his mouth to argue, but I don’t let him get a word in.
“I was just leaving, but I think your wolf will be the perfect nighttime guardian for him.”
Keldarion moves past Caspian to the window, gaze fixed on the swirling snow outside. It’s almost dusk. Soon, he’ll be hisbeast. “You’re a fool to trust him. If he so much as gives me a reason, Rosalina… I won’t hesitate.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’ll never have one,” I reply.
Kel’s eyes meet mine for a final, searing moment before he sinks to the bed opposite Caspian.
I let out a breath and head to the door. “Good night, Cas.”
“Good night, Princess,” Caspian says. “I think I like you when you’re angry.”
I glance back at him, the corner of my mouth twitching into the smallest of smiles. “Good. Because I’m not done fighting for you yet.”
18
Dayton
The moon is high tonight, bright and unrelenting, a silvercoin cast into a sea of stars. Its light spills through the windows of my room in Keep Wolfhelm, painting the stone walls in a cold, pale glow. I stare at it, unblinking, daring it to stir something primal within me. But the beast no longer controls me. My curse is gone.
I’ll never tire of staring at the night sky as a man. For years, the moon was my tormentor, my manacles. But now, it is nothing more than a beautiful, indifferent thing. I flex my hands. No claws, no fury, no pain.
All because of her.
The thought of Rosalina sends warmth curling through my chest. She saved me. No, she believed in me so that I could save myself. Now I am free.
The sound of soft footsteps pulls me from my thoughts.
Rosalina stands in the doorway. Her hair falls in dark waves over her shoulders. She’s still wearing the heavy woolen dress we took to Castletree. This day has felt endless.
“You’re staring,” she says, her lips quirking into a smile.
“How could I not? You’re…breathtaking.”
Her cheeks flush, but she doesn’t look away. Instead, she crosses the room and comes to stand before me, so close I can see the way her lashes catch the moonlight.
“Come on, Day. I’m a mess.”
“Then you’re my mess.” I cup her face with hands that tremble, not from fear but from the overwhelming realization of just how much this woman means to me. “Rosie.”
