“You will not harm me,” she sneers without flinching.
The lashes of the bargain snag me, and my thorns drop. Breath heaves in my throat as I stare at my mother. At least she hasn’t figured out she can now give me more than one command.
“It is our shared desire, son, to bring the Green Flame home.” Sira stands, dusting off her skirt.
“I have never once shared a single desire of yours,” I snarl. No more pretending. She’s gone too far. “And if you think the Baron will be on your side once you let him through, you are sorely mistaken. He wants the realms for himself. You as his equal was never a consideration. You stopped being useful to him after you bore me.”
Sira ignores me, the truth bouncing off her. She takes us in, and not even a flicker of worry crosses her face as she stares at four high princes and the heir to the Vale.
And that worries me.
Rosalina steps forward, hair down and eyes blazing gold. “Enough, Sira. You’re outnumbered. Outwitted. You cannot put another command on Caspian without dooming yourself.”
Sira gives a tinkling laugh, as if being scolded by a child. “Oh, can’t say I’ve missed this version of you, dear. What’s a little flower going to do to me?”
“Caspian might not be able to kill you, but we can,” Keldarion growls, stepping on my other side.
“Let my mother go,” Rosalina hisses. “You are alone.”
“Alone?” Sira licks her lips. “I’m never alone.”
The green crystals flare, and the pool suspended above glows. Anya’s scream pierces the air. Her back bows as spirals of light rip from her chest. A torrent of water shoots to the ground like a falling star. Then it rises, takes shape.
The shape of a man.
No, not a man.
A god.
Seven feet tall, with a sheet of white hair, ears unnaturally long, and armor of obsidian. Half-formed of light, not quite corporeal.
My father has arrived.
“Hello, Caspian,” Malekai Furiondemius purrs, a familiar smile on his face. “Are you ready, my son?”
His words traverse my mind and race along my bones, the perfect cadence to unlock something hidden deep down.
I scream and collapse to my knees, ears ringing, a thousand voices screaming to get in.Burn! The world shall ignite in flame.
That power inside me rises like a caged beast, fighting to be released. I can’t control it anymore. I can’t?—
“Get him out of here, Rose!” Keldarion screams.
Golden briars erupt from the floor and close around my legs, my arms.
Pathetic.
I suppose I’ll have to teach my future queen another lesson.
53
Rosalina
Caspian destroys my briars in a rush of green flame. His eyesare too bright, his expression distant. Wrong. The edges of his body shimmer, his shadow stretching long and curling like smoke. He’s gone. We’re too close to the Baron for him to fight the Green Flame.
And my mother…
The first time I’ve seen my mother with my own eyes in over twenty years, and it’s this? Suspended between the obelisk crystals, once black, now pulsing with green magic, face contorted in excruciating pain. Her head hangs low, brown hair drenched in sweat. I can’t tell if she’s conscious. The light winks off a jeweled ring on her left hand. A wedding band? But on her other hand, she wears another ring, a plain iron band.
