Dayton’s in the tunnel, Rosalina urges, her thoughts interrupting my own.We should give him the signal to attack.
No! I can fix this.I squeeze my eyes shut, then open them, holding Faustrius’s gaze. “Your quarrel is with the high prince. I understand my ancestor wronged you, and for that, let me be punished for his crime. Take me as your prisoner in repentance.”
“Kel! You can’t do that!” Rosalina cries. Her lip curls back in a snarl. “You won’t take him. I won’t let you.”
Faustrius gives a slow shake of his head. “I do not want this, prince, pauper, king. My people have lost thousands of years. There is only one repentance.” He looks up at me. “All of Winter.”
Words surge out of my mouth, but they’re stopped as a man steps out from behind Aquila’s troops. He is dressed in robes of cobalt, and I can only see his smile from beneath the hood. A serpentine grin with lips stained blue.
“As is only fair, Chasm Master,” the blue-lipped man croons.
Without thinking, I snap the rope bonds at my wrists with a single, fury-driven tug. The word tears out of me like a roar: “You.”
The man lowers his hood, revealing the bald head and frosty white skin of Perth Quellos. My entire body fills with icy rage.
Heat rushes up beside me, and I see Rosalina has seared her bindings, balls of white flame around her. The underfae press in tighter, Aquila’s scouts drawing bows pointed straight at Rose, but she pays them no mind. “You are working for the Below,” she snarls. “Liars. Cowards!”
“I do not serve Sira, but that does not mean she is not an ally,” Faustrius says sadly.
“Then you’re the ignorant one. Sira doesn’t have allies. She has pawns, and she’ll toss you aside the moment she’s done with you,” Rosalina says.
“One must be careful with whom one trusts,” Faustrius laments. “Just as I was right to not trust you. You were never here to negotiate, were you, prince, pauper, king? I know you have thirty men stationed in a tunnel right over there.” He gestures to the passage above the trebuchets. “Comrades, be so kind as to collapse the northeastern channel.”
“Dayton!” Rose screams, but it’s too late.
An ear-shattering boom sounds. Smoke, rubble, and fire explode from the tunnel. A great rumble echoes through the camp until the entire entrance to the tunnel above the trebuchets is nothing but fallen rock.
But one sound echoes even louder, exploding in my head with a strength so powerful, I know it’s for all Rosalina’s mates to hear. Her voice delivering a single command:Attack!
33
Dayton
I’m flung backward, the world erupting into shards of rock,whipping wind, and a roar that fills my ears. Rosie’s voice echoes through my mind:Attack!
Everything goes quiet, replaced by a dull ringing.
There’s no time to process any of it—not the pain as my body smashes against stone or even how the ground exploded—before rocks are pummeling down on me. It’s all I can do to curl in a ball and protect the back of my neck. Through the buzzing, I hear screams.
Then silence.
Only moments ago, I’d been at the head of my squadron, a group of elite soldiers made up of Frostfang troopers, Tundrafolk warriors, and a few gladiators who accompanied us on the airship from Summer. Though she looked like a tiny doll from up here, I’d had eyes on Rosie, and I knew things weren’t going according to plan. I could tell it from her body language, even so far away.
As the scouts led us to this lookout point, it became apparent there was more to this camp than we understand. We kept passing tunnels I’d never seen on the maps, new ones withfreshly ground stone. Who was making these passageways so quickly?
Now, I’m encased in rock, pressing against me on all sides. I can’t see or hear anything except that incessant ringing. I take a shaky breath; the oxygen is low. Too low.
I have to get out of herenow.
With a grunt, I try to push up, but it’s no use. How many feet of rubble am I trapped beneath? I need more strength. No wind will lift these rocks, and no water will float me to the top. Gritting my teeth, I close my eyes. Only one thing will help me now.
The guardian of Summer.
I feel his spirit within me, familiar and new all at once. Since I broke my curse, I’ve never called upon him. How could I? Farron has no problem transforming into that flaming pup of his. But this beast… It trapped me. Condemned me. So many nights of my life were lost to that prison. Why would I ever go back to him?
Dayton! Dayton, are you okay? Are you okay?Rosalina’s voice is frantic in my mind, screaming.
I’m out of options. I’m not fucking dying again.
