I don’t acknowledge him. Instead, I spread my arms out as if welcoming Keldarion to a beautiful home.
This is what I wanted all those decades ago. For Keldarion to be at home with me.
He never could.
So I’ll take away his option. He’ll stay here, behind bars, trapped with me forever.
I notice the zookeeper has not taken the liberty of cleaning out the cage from its last inhabitant. The obsidian floor is covered in blood and filth.
Good. Let Keldarion know what happens to the beautiful and wild things when they fall.
The procession spreads out, forming a ring around the cage as Keldarion is dragged forward. His wrists are bound by steel manacles, held on a lead by a troll. The ugly creature gives a tug, and Keldarion falls to his knees, eliciting a chorus of laughter from the surrounding creatures.
But I’m not disappointed. Kel’s shoulders shift, the muscles tensing in his legs and bare feet. He bursts up, tearing his lead out of the troll’s hands. The chain clatters to the ground. Keldarion turns to run?—
My briar pins the chain in place.
“Naughty, naughty. I see we chose appropriately.” I gesture to the enclosure. “A cage for a wild animal.”
Keldarion seems intent on proving me right, letting loose a beastly roar as it takes a trio of trolls to wrestle him into the cage. The zookeeper locks the door with a satisfiedclick.
Without waiting a moment, Kel spins, grabbing the bars with his bound hands. His eyes find mine. My first instinct is to look away, but I hold his gaze. Why not?
I have nothing to fear from Keldarion, High Prince of Winter. He is mine now.
“Listen to me, Cas,” he says, voice raw, hurried. “This isn’t you. This is the Green Flame. The baron’s using you like he used Farron! Fight it!”
I can’t stop the laugh that bubbles out of me. “You are a fool. You dare equate me with that pathetic princeling? You are as stupid as you are trapped.”
How could I expect Kel to understand? My father will offer anyone anything if it means getting what he wants. If Farron thinks he is of any importance to Malekai, it is because he has been deceived. Just as my mother has.
She has no idea that when her usefulness is up and my father steps into our world fully, completely, she will be his first casualty.
Though I suppose maybe Kel should understand this. Betrayal.
He was so good at doing it to me.
“Caspian!”
A voice rings out from behind me. I turn to see Rosalina gliding through the circle. All eyes of the procession follow her, not even attempting to hide their lustful gazes. But they know, just like the beast in the cage, she ismine.
“What’s going on?” she asks calmly. I can tell she’s doing her best to seem composed, to play the part of lovely little thrall for the onlookers, but her cheeks are bright red, her voice a near pant. She’s been running. Sprinting, even.
With a sweet smile, she takes my arm, feigning that look of love as she gazes up at me. So tricksy, my future queen.
“A new prisoner?” she asks and looks to the cage.
And this is where her acting can only get her so far.
For in that moment, when she and Kel catch eyes, every truth in her shines through. Horror. Grief. Fear.
Love.
Love so deep and endless, it threatens to drown me.
A chill whistles between my ribs. She will never truly belong to me as long as he lives.
I look to Keldarion, gazing upon her as if she were every star in the sky. I could do it, and no one would question me. Kill him right now. Destroy the High Prince of Winter with a single blow.
