A smile quirks on my mate’s lips. “Always.”
63
Rosalina
My bed sinks with the weight of Ezryn’s full armor. I slide off Kel and cuddle between them, feeling a strange bubbling happiness at being boxed in.
Ezryn tilts his helm down, running a gloved hand along my cheek to tenderly caress the pointed tip of my ear. He looks at Kel.
No words are spoken between them, but I sense an understanding.
“I was telling Rosalina I am glad she is aware of the bargain now,” Keldarion says slowly. “As I am you.”
Ezryn makes a dismissive noise. “I would have stood by you, Kel. I will always stand by you. And I agree with your decision. You cannot fulfill your mate bond until we figure out a way to break your bargain.”
“Of course you would agree with him,” I say, sneering. But Ezryn pulls me close, and I melt against him, feeling the hard metal planes of his body through the thin layers of my nightdress.
“I’m glad you’re all right,” I whisper. “I was so worried about you, caught in that terrible dream.”
“It wasn’t just a dream,” Ezryn whispers back. “The pollen brought forth my memories. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“So, now you are aware of both of our greatest shames,” Ezryn says. “Only a few know the truth of the day I received Spring’s Blessing, Kel included.”
All this time, they’ve both been hiding so much pain.
“It is no great shame to love someone, to want to prove your devotion.” I run a hand along Kel’s jaw before rolling back to Ezryn. “Ez, you may have been told this before, but let me say it once more. I felt you in that memory. It was not your fault; I don’t understand the magic required during the passing of a Blessing—”
“But if I had—” Ezryn shakes his head.
“There was nothing else you could do. It was an accident. It doesn’t mean you didn’t love your mother. The fragility in which you hold me, the tender care in which you use your magic now, is all proof of that love for her.”
Ezryn shivers beneath me. I cannot imagine what he’s been going through, to carry that burden for so long.
“Ezryn, you have my forgiveness, but you don’t need it. Only you can offer the forgiveness you seek.” Gently, I touch his helm, then place a light kiss where his lips would be. Cold metal prickles my mouth.
Ezryn holds me around the waist. “Petal, I do not know if the day will ever come where I am able to do that.”
The bed moves as Kel slides an arm over me, clasping Ezryn’s forearm. “But we keep trying. Each time we fall, we rise again.”
Ezryn nods. “Tomorrow, I will return to Florendel. I will need to reopen the way between Castletree’s main door and Keep Hammergarden. With the loss of our tokens, we will no longer be able to use the mirror to travel anywhere in the Enchanted Vale.”
I know the loss of the necklaces is a terrible thing, but the idea of opening the ways between Castletree and the realms feels like hope. We’ve already opened the way connecting Castletree to Autumn. Kel opened the one to Winter for his own personal use, and now we’ll open Spring. Only Summer remains closed.
“We will retrieve them,” Keldarion says. “Though, I cannot fathom what the Below wants with the tokens. Only the High Ruler can use their realm’s token to travel to Castletree.”
I could use my moonstone rose as well, but there’s no Blessing inside me.
“We must be wary of that assassin. The Nightingale,” Ezryn says.
My body goes cold thinking of her hands around my throat. “She could summon and control thorns like Caspian.”
“That’s what those other thorns were in the grove,” Ezryn says. “I knew there was something different about them.”
“Kel,” I say, “you told me that only Caspian could control the briars. Well, both her and I can, too.”
Keldarion shakes his head. “Your magic is a mystery. Those of the Below may use it for evil, but I promise we will unravel your secrets together, Rosalina.”
Ezryn turns to us. “Once I’m in Spring, I must ensure my brother and father’s safety and rid Spring of these toxic weeds. Who knows what effect they’ve had on others? My realm has been unattended to for too long.”
I curl closer at the thought of him leaving.
Ezryn looks down at me. “I’ll also send word to Autumn to have your father transported to Spring. We have the best healers in the realm, and I’ll personally take charge of his care.”