Dayton’s face turns grim. I know the image of the army making camp before the passage to his realm must be fresh in his mind. I squeeze his hand. “We’re faster than any army. We’ll make it to Summer before them and warn your sister. From there, I’ll take a horse and get to Autumn. Our people will not let Summer stand alone.”
He nods. I absently reach up to touch my necklace, but it’s not there, of course. We’re escaping Keep Hammergarden with only the clothes on our back and my small rucksack of items. Luckily, within it is the book Caspian wanted. I have a feeling I’m going to need it before the end to fulfill my promise to the Prince of Thorns. The promise to find a way to make him human.
Dayton puts a hand on Tilla’s shoulder. “We’ll be meeting with Keldarion soon. I’ll tell him to catch you on the road and lead you to Winter.”
Tilla nods. “I appreciate it. Most of us can hold our own, but we have elders, children, and injured. I won’t leave anymore behind.”
“You’ve changed, Tilla,” Dayton says quietly. “Or maybe I was always wrong about you.”
She’s silent for a moment, trying to gauge if the Summer Prince is being serious for once. But I know he is.
“For a long time, I was wrong about myself,” Tilla says. “And I think, Daytonales, you might know what I mean. You’ve changed as well.”
In parting, Tilla hands us a bag of supplies: rations, water skins, and a few daggers. We thank her and quietly pick a path away from the city wall, keeping to the treeline until finally the field of flowers comes into view. Wrenley insisted on coming with us instead of escaping with Tilla and the others.
The sun gleams off the seashells on Day’s neck. For a second, it’s almost like he hasn’t lost his token. “Can’t believe you managed to keep most of your necklace,” I say.
A flush colors his cheeks. “I can’t keep all of you, Fare, but I can keep this.”
My heart stutters. But what if I want to keep all of you?
“Do you think they’ve arrived yet?” Dayton asks, pulling Wrenley up a large boulder.
I reach deep within my bond, searching for Rosalina. She’s in Spring, but it leads backward, not forward. Earlier, I had felt huge flashes of her emotions. Fear. Sadness. Power. Everything in me screams to run to her, but that would only draw more attention to us when we need to escape. I must trust her other mates to return her to me. I shake my head. “Not yet, but Kel and Ezryn are with her. I can feel them.”
At the mention of Ezryn, Wrenley stiffens and quickly scampers forward. Strange.
Dayton hauls me up the last bit of the hill until the field lies before us.
“We made it,” Wrenley sighs, chestnut waves catching in the wind. “And the flowers are welcoming us. Look! It’s good luck to see the Lights of Fate.”
Far from us, floating among the blooms, are the tiny blue orbs of the will-o’-wisps. If one fell on Rosie’s breast now, she’d have three mate bonds: one to me, Kel, and Ezryn. My insides grow tight, and I avoid Dayton’s gaze.
“Come on,” Dayton says. “There’s cover by that cluster of trees over there. We can watch for their arrival.”
I nod and follow him.
A slicing pain cuts across my body, and I fall to my knees, a scream tearing from my throat. It feels like a fire is consuming me with desperation and loss. “Rosalina!”
Dayton is over me in a moment, hand on my back. “Fare? What’s wrong? What’s happening?”
I clutch at my heart as if it could keep it together in my chest. My gaze shoots toward Florendel. “It’s Rosie. She’s in pain. I can’t feel Kel and Ez anymore. She’s alone.”
107
Keldarion
Golden vines and roses flutter around me, and I land with a crash among the familiar briars of Castletree’s entrance hall. Caspian and Ezryn lie in a similar heap beside me, but I know instantly she’s not here.
Roaring, I launch toward Castletree’s door. Pressing in the knob, I switch the dial to that of Spring and pull.
The door doesn’t open.
But of course. The new High Prince has not connected to Castletree’s magic. The way is closed. I curse. Fine, I’ll figure out a different way— My thoughts trail off as a strange sensation prickles along the back of my neck, like shadows leaching over my body.
I whirl. Caspian kneels on the ground, barely able to hold himself up, black sludge dripping down his face. And Ezryn—Ezryn, my best friend, my brother—stands above him, sword poised to strike.