“She’ll keep sending assassin after assassin, army after army, unless we show her we’re a united force. Castletree is the heart of the Vale, and we are the heart of Castletree. We won’t be quelled.”
Kel sighs. “It’s not so simple, Rose. We can’t just attack the Below. There are limited access points, ways to move soldiers?—”
“We can figure it out,” I urge but stop when I notice Farron rummaging through the assassin’s robes, finding a bundle of parchment.
“Ah!” He pulls a pair of glasses out of his vest pocket. One lens is cracked from the battle; an adorable pout falls over his face as he notices, but he puts them on anyway. “Our friend may have left us some information after all.”
He unfolds the parchment, and we all crowd in to get a look. Somehow, I’m pushed to the back. In my Orca Cove life, at five eleven, I always felt like a mountain of a woman wherever I went. But around these guys, I’m getting used to feeling short. I stand on my tiptoes, trying to spy over my father’s shoulder. The papers are filled with diagrams of landscapes and tunnel systems.
“Look, Kel,” Ez says. “This can only be one thing.”
“It’s a mapping of Mount Rhuvenmark,” Kel responds.
I turn and glance out the window. I can’t spot it from here, but I know from my room if I looked in this direction, I could see over the wall and the city of Frostfang to the horizon beyond, where the jagged, clawlike mountain lies. Mount Rhuvenmark, the dormant volcano.
“Why would they need a map of that?” I ask.
“Or this,” Caspian muses and nicks the paper from Farron. He wanders away, staring wide-eyed at the paper.
Kel walks over to him, brow furrowed. “What is it, Cas?”
Cas leans against his shoulder, trailing an elegant finger along the diagram as he explains. “This is a map of the Great Chasm. I recognize these tunnels. They’ve even mapped the elevator system your uncle put into play. But this here…do you see? This web of tunnels?” He stares at Kel, concern across his features. “I’ve never seen those tunnels before. And I know every damn footpath in the Below.”
“See?” I cry, running between them. “This is all the proof we need that somehow, this is Sira’s doing. We must act now!”
Kel pinches the bridge of his nose. “How, Rose?”
“The access point. It’s right in front of us.” I grab the map from Caspian and thrust it at Kel’s face. “We attack from Voidseal Bridge.”
“That was created for defense, not as an offensive point,” he says.
I step back, straightening my spine and holding my head high. All of them turn to face me. “I will not wait around to be picked off city by city, mate by mate. I promised Sira I would get revenge for what she did. Ialwayskeep my promises.” With all the command I can muster, I look to each set of eyes: Papa’s sapphire stare, Ez’s dark as a forest, Dayton’s like a piece of turquoise, Farron’s amber gaze, and finally Kel, with those ice-fire eyes that first entranced me out in front of the prison cells in Castletree.
“The queen of the Vale is imprisoned, and as her heir, that means I rule in her stead. Will you follow me? Will you obey the Lady of Castletree?”
A weighty stillness echoes between us. My father straightens his back too and stands by my side. “My life would have been a whole lot easier if I listened to you, Rosalina. You’re wise and brave, and I’m proud to call you my daughter and my leader.” He bows his head before me.
My throat tightens, and a well of tears springs to my eyes, and all I want to do is hug my father. But I fight to keep it contained, instead turning back to the princes.
A brilliant smile breaks across Dayton’s face. “Aye, aye, Captain. To the edge of the sea and over, I’d follow you anywhere.” He walks up to me, falls to a knee, grabs my hand, and kisses it.
Again, I have to fight not to snatch him in my arms, so all I do is nod. He goes and stands beside my father.
Farron steps forward, gaze smoldering. “You don’t have to ask, Rosie. Tell me to burn, and I’ll create an inferno so bright, it will blind the sun.”
Like Dayton, he falls to a knee to kiss my hand. My heart heats at the touch of his lips across my fingertips.
Ezryn advances, shaking dark tendrils of hair out of his eyes. His tawny skin gleams with sweat from the battle. “You are my queen, in body, spirit, and heart. I will follow you until my legs give way or my lungs cease to draw breath, and even then, I will follow you in death.”
My chest heaves with the force of keeping my tears back as Ezryn kneels before me, as regal as any knight, even without his armor.
Finally, I look between Cas and Kel before my eyes settle on Caspian.I won’t ask you to go to battle against your family, your home, I say in his mind.
Birdy’s gone, he replies, and there’s so much grief in his words, I can’t stop a tear from leaking down my face.She ran away, Rose. I don’t have any family left in the Below anymore. None I would claim as my own anyway. Besides, you’re my home now.
Then he steps forward and laughs boisterously, avoiding my gaze. “Did you think I’d say no to this, Princess of Castletree?You should know me by now. I always love to do the unexpected. Of course I’ll join you, Flower. I adore a little shit disturbing.”
He sweeps low in the most dramatic bow I’ve ever seen before grabbing my hand for a kiss. His eyes flick up to mine, shadowed by dark lashes.I’ll follow you, Princess, now and forever. I followed you before I ever knew you and you were just a whisper on the wind. Let me be your darkness evermore.
