Then a gurgled cry emits from the throne. My father falls, tumbling down the steps.
I turn my back to Caspian without a second thought, racing to my father as fast as my injured body will carry me. He lies face down at the base of the stairs, convulsing.
I fall to my knees beside him and look back at Caspian. “I don’t understand why you did what you did, but … Thank you. Can you get us out of here?”
Caspian isn’t looking at me, or even Kel or Rosalina. He’s looking at my father.
“Caspian!” I cry.
“Ezryn,” he says, voice low and gravelly. “You need to step away—”
I shake my head, turning back to my father. His whole body seizes. He needs help. He needs a healer. He needs—
A thorned vine shoots out from Caspian’s hand.
And stabs straight into my father’s heart.
105
Rosalina
Everything is happening too fast: the spray of Keldarion’s ice shield as he barely holds the sword and lance at bay, the thorns carving through the ground, Caspian appearing—Caspian! Caspian! Caspian!—and Ezryn’s cry, something born of both rage and sorrow, as the Prince of Thorns drives a sharpened vine through Thalionor’s heart.
Ezryn clutches his father’s lifeless body, mouth agape. Strangled cries escape him as he shakes the old fae. He places his hand over the gaping wound, spewing heart’s blood, but even I can see Thalionor is already gone.
Across the throne room, I notice Kairyn staggering up.
How could you? I gasp in my mind, eyes on Caspian. He wavers. I’ve never seen him like this. So weak. So sick.
Caspian begins to cough. They’re so strong, his whole body wracks. A trail of sludge ejects from his mouth on to the floor. The purple thorns start to wither and die.
I retreat behind Keldarion, heart pounding. The knights haven’t stopped their relentless attack, and Kel is barely holding them off. Caspian is so weak. He just killed Prince Thalionor. And Ez…
Ez drops his father’s body. Stands. Walks a few steps, back stiff, to where his sword lies. Picks it up. Turns to face Caspian.
“You killed my father,” he says lowly. “Now, your death belongs to me.”
Caspian sighs. “I thought that might be the case.”
Stop! I scream in my mind, but neither of them turn to me.
A great shadow engulfs us, bringing the smell of swamp and mulch. Plants slither from the pillars, the ground, the ceiling, and rally to Kairyn. They wrap around his limbs and chest; he grows five feet, then ten as more and more plants form giant legs, lifting him into the air. Moss and vines cover his arms, creating two long whips.
Kairyn lurches his massive, botanical body back and bellows, a sound like felling trees.
“You will all pay!” he cries, then whips one of his large plant arms forward, knocking away the Sapphire and Bronze Knights. Then he wraps Kel and me in his vines, squeezing us so tight, I lose the grip on my bow. It clatters to the ground. We’re flung upward, far above the throne.
With his other arm, he does the same to Ez and Cas, wrapping them together and lifting them high into the air. The musty aroma of decaying vegetation clouds my nose.
“Each one of you has been nothing but a relentless weed since I first met you,” Kairyn growls. “I pluck you out, and yet you keep coming back.”
The vines wrap tighter around us, and I cry out. Kel struggles to break free, but his hands are pinned.
“Especially you.” Kairyn pulls his arm in, bringing Caspian closer. “Do you truly have no loyalty? Not even to your sister?”
Caspian licks his lips, smearing black all over them. “If anyone appreciates a little chaos, it’s my Birdy.”
Kairyn lets loose another enraged howl. “I will get my vengeance!”
My bones creak as the vines tighten. Kel grits his teeth beside me, blue eyes flashing with pain.
Across from us, Caspian and Ezryn are squeezed tighter and tighter. They cry out, fighting against the hold.
It can’t end like this. I won’t meet my end alongside Keldarion when we’ve barely even had a start. I won’t lose Ezryn when he needs me most to find him. Won’t go before I tell Dayton what he means to me, or let Farron know how I’ve healed because of his love.
I look across at Caspian. And I won’t give up on him.
I close my eyes.
“Rose,” Kel grunts. “I’m so sorry. For everything. For hiding the truth. I thought I was protecting you, but instead I only—”
“Kel,” I say seriously. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this apology. And I still intend to hear the whole thing. With you on your knees, preferably. But for right now, shut up.”