I exchange a look with Keldarion before I grab Caspian’s head between my hands. “We’re not leaving you, not ever. I came down here for you.”
Keldarion touches Cas’s shoulder. “We’ll figure this out together. For now, have faith that Sira still believes you’re under the Green Flame and us your prisoners.”
He nods, the thought seeming to calm him. I weave my fingers through his hair.
“Then there’s just one thing I need to know,” he whispers, looking at us. “Do you think you could ever love me again?”
This answer resounds in my very soul. “I never stopped.”
I cup his face, brushing soot from his jaw. He’s really here. Really back.
I press my forehead to his, and a tear slips down my cheek. I kiss him, deep and slow. A kiss to remind him he’s home. That no matter how far he fell, my heart never stopped waiting.
40
Keldarion
They both seem so delicate, so small even, wrapped in my arms.I lie on my side, Caspian’s head on my bicep. Rosalina’s sprawled over his chest, and I curl around them both. Outside Rosalina’s bedchamber, the dusky sky of the Below never changes.
Tomorrow, we can strategize. But tonight? Tonight, I hold them.
I didn’t realize how comforting it could be to just exist here, listening to them breathe.
Sworn Protector of the Realms.
I start with them, these two whom I love more than anything in the world. And with their love as my anchor, I extend that protection across my realm and to the others, to Castletree and beyond.Protect them. I’ll protect them all.
Caspian stirs, blinks up at me, then smiles. I have known the deepest frost and strongest fire, battled hordes and sharp blades, but I have known nothing as ruinous as his smile.
I lean down and kiss him. He sighs into my mouth. I know the horrors of what he did under the control of the Green Flame will haunt him evermore, but hopefully tonight, he realizes how safe he is.
Let Sira try to take him from us again.
Rosalina gives a soft yawn. She stretches on Caspian’s chest, then rolls, falling between us. Caspian chuckles, the sounds lighting something inside me.
“Is it morning?” she asks sleepily.
“Not yet,” I say.
“Good,” she replies, nuzzling into me. “I’m not ready for this to end.”
Caspian gently moves the hair from across her brow, then his gaze shifts to mine. “I don’t want this to ever end. Thank you for coming for me. Thank you forstayingwith me.”
Rosalina presses her lips against his. “I told you. I will love you in any form. Forever.”
I take a deep breath and press on her shoulder so they’re both looking at me. Gently, I trace Rosalina’s jaw, then weave my fingers through Caspian’s hair. “When the stars wove my fate, they made a tapestry of light and fire and winter, one that always ends with me loving you.”
I kiss Rosalina, then him, but when I pull away, my lips are salty and wet.
Caspian sits up, tears flowing down his cheeks. “Those are the words…the ones you said all those years ago, in this very palace.”
“And I still mean them.”
He shakes his head. “The way you touched her face… I’ve seen it before.”
“What are you saying?” Rosalina asks.
“It was the vision,” Caspian says. “The one the Fate showed me. My mother twisted it to make me believe you never loved me…”
