“No one. Only those in this room,” Kel responds.
Now all the eyes shift from the rose to…
“Don’t look at me!” Caspian cries, hands to his heart. “I didn’t know you had it until this very moment.” His face softens to a curious expression, and he drifts over to examine it. “All these years, I thought it was lost forever. Kel, I swore we destroyed it.”
Papa looks from Caspian to Kel. “Some things can never be destroyed.”
Kel grunts and turns back to the body on the table.
My boots click on the floor as I step between Farron and Ezryn to get a better look. “So he wants the rose. Why? Who even is he?”
“The words he spoke at the end…the inflections sounded ancient, almost like he was speaking a language from the Above,” Farron says, stroking his chin. “I don’t know it myself, but perhaps there’s someone who could translate it.”
Dayton does a little jump. “I know someone! George, you got paper in here? Farron can write it down, and I’ll send it to Justus!”
Papa makes a grumbling sound about how we’ve destroyed all his paper and his tools too but finds a piece that only has the tips singed—probably from a rogue Farron fireball.
Farron takes it and begins to write, mumbling the words aloud. “Vemrís thu’ren calas.” He looks up, catching Dayton’s gaze. “You want to send this to Justus, your trainer? I understand you idolize him, Dayton, but I’m unsure if a goat herder will speak the most ancient language of the fae?—”
Dayton snatches the paper. “Justus isn’t just a goat herder. He’s the first High Prince of Summer.”
A collective gasp passes through the room, but I only cross my arms. “Dayton, I think Justus was keeping that a secret.”
“Oh well. Secrets take lower priority when we’ve got murderous horned men trying to kill an O’Connell.” Dayton licks the paper to stick it together, then dangles it in front of Ez. “Do your fancy letter-flying thing.”
Ez rolls his eyes, but a glimmer of magic sings around us. The letter flaps into the air, looking like a little white bird, then soars out the broken window.
“The first High Prince of Summer,” Kel muses. “Justus must have known Aurelia.”
Dayton leans on the table, poking the horned man’s foot. “Oh yeah, he knew her. Went on hundreds of adventures with her! He spokeveryfondly of her.” He raises a brow. “I wonder if they were ever lovers.”
“Hey!” Papa and I say at the same time, and Dayton has the good sense to look abashed.
“He’s nothing special, is he?” Papa murmurs, looking at me.
“Oh no, not at all, Papa. Nothing to worry about,” I respond, choosing to leave out the fact that Justus is a super buff silver fox who can turn into an eagle on demand.
Ezryn clears his throat, drawing our attention back. “This…entity may have spoken a fae language, but he’s certainly not fae. Don’t look only at his expulsions but at his skin. There is mulch and bark growing from his flesh. Rotten plant matter woven through his hair. If anything, he’s like the goblins.”
A shiver trembles down my spine, and my breathing quickens. “Then he was another tool of Sira’s.”
“I can think of nothing else,” Ez says.
Sira’s name stings me like a poison. The thought of her harnessing more weapons, hunting us here in Keldarion’s home…
White-hot rage boils up my body. I slam my hand down on the table, making the boys jump. “That’s it! I’ve had enough! We can’t keep waiting here for Sira to send assassins and armies.Weneed to act.” My breath is ragged, hands shaking with each word. “We need to attack the Below.”
Silence echoes through the workshop as the princes all exchange looks. Kel crosses his arms. “I understand you’re upset, Rosalina, but we can’t be hasty?—”
“This isn’t haste!” I point a condemning finger down at the corpse. “This is justice. Sira isn’t afraid. She attacks our cities, sends her minions to manipulate and break us. Are we going to keep waiting for another one of us to die?”
Dayton makes a pained sound and steps away from the table.
“Rosie,” Farron warns.
“No,” I interrupt. “I won’t be silent about this. I won’t tiptoe around the truth. And I won’t hide in a castle for twenty-five years because I’m afraid!”
All their eyes focus on me, and I find strength. Each of the men in this room ran away at some point. The princes fromtheir realms, Cas from his love, Papa from his family. But they’ve found their way here, and I won’t let them run again.
