61
Ezryn
The thud of the hard ground reverberates through my armor. Thorns release from around my waist, and I steady myself on all fours, immediately taking in my surroundings. We’re in the entrance hall of Castletree. Farron, Dayton, and Kel are collapsed beside me. My heart begins to blaze as I stagger to my feet and turn in a circle. The ground opens up again, and Rosalina emerges from a bramble bush.
Silence fills the hall, but blood rushes through my head, and my heart hammers.
Stay still. Stay in control. Stay grounded.
But when his eyes meet mine, there is no such thing as peace.
“How could you?” I roar, snagging Kel by his collar and slamming him against a pillar. “The bargain you made with Caspian has condemned us all!”
Kel grabs my wrists. “Do you understand now, brother, why I have chosen this path? Do you see me for the monster I truly am?”
“You are not a monster,” I growl back. “For monsters have no reason, no responsibility. You are far worse. You are a traitor, Keldarion.”
Pain riots through my chest, a wound that has no physical origin. I keep my grip tight on Kel to stop from falling to the ground. Year after year, I watched him throw his life away for Caspian. But for him to have made a bargain like this…
A bargain that now involves Rosalina.
Kel stares down at me with glazed eyes, a defeated half-smile on his face. “I own my betrayal. But let us not dance around it anymore. You betrayed me, too.”
Breath tears from my throat. The thoughts in my head are raw with memories from the past, but they keep coming, assaulting me like arrows through the flesh. “Never. I never—”
“My army, Ez,” Kel says softly. “You took my own army out from under me and marched it upon the Below.”
“That wasn’t a betrayal—” Even I can hear the doubt in my words.
Because wasn’t that exactly what it was? His own good, it was for his own good…
Or was it for mine?
I’d known it from the moment he showed up at Castletree begging for sanctuary: Caspian had evil in his heart. He’d tricked Kel, charmed Dayton and Farron, and had all the realms bespelled by the hope of a single smile.
But I knew it.
Kel never believed me. Never trusted me.
When I discovered Caspian had been a spy for the Below all along, I knew it was up to me to save Keldarion from himself.
Keldarion and I had served as generals, side by side for decades. I was in Winter at the time I learned the truth of Caspian’s plan, and my own army was still in Spring. But Kel’s soldiers were right there. When I told his personal legion of Caspian’s intention, they agreed to aid me.
Kel’s Winter squadron were not only elite soldiers but dedicated to him. As was I. We would do whatever it took to free him from Caspian’s possession.
More images flash before me: infiltrating the Below, goblins dying beneath our blades, breaking into Caspian’s personal chambers, the objects he’d stolen from the realms above crushing beneath my boot.
Kel returned with me and the army. But his loyalty to Caspian didn’t break.
At least not until after Caspian tore a hole in the world and all manner of ilk from the Below leached from the Great Chasm to march upon Frostfang.
“I did that to protect you,” I force out.
Kel shakes his head. “I didn’t need your protection, brother. I needed your trust.”
Anger flares in my chest, and I grab Kel’s wrist, yanking down his sleeve and revealing the bargain bracelet. “Look where your trusting nature has put us. Was your fucking love worth it?”
Kel rips his hand away and sneers.
I need to leave it. I need to stop. But the rage is too hot, cursed memories too fresh. I need someone to hurt like I’m hurting. I gesture behind me to Rosalina. “Look at her and tell me Caspian was worth it!”
Keldarion’s eyes glitter and he opens his mouth. Closes it. Turns away from me. “One day you’ll understand, Ezryn,” he mumbles. “You’ll understand what it means to shatter yourself for love.”
The edges of my vision are black with rage, my breathing ragged. But when Kel turns away, the rest of the world comes back to me.
There’s shouting. So much shouting. Rosalina is right under Farron’s nose, eyes blazing with anger. Farron stands still, brow furrowed, and fists clenched. Dayton paces beside the two of them.
“I don’t understand how you could make a deal with Caspian! Did you learn nothing from me? You know better!” Farron yells.
“That’s exactly it!” Rosalina screams back. “I know. I know, Farron. There is good in him. Trust me!”