I squeeze his shoulder before slipping back to Rosalina’s side. “We can’t send him all alone,” she whispers.
“I’ll look after him!” a squeaky voice says. The goblin, Heidigog, tugs on Rosalina’s pants. “I used to work in the crèche, helping hatch the wee squeakers, keeping them all warm and wriggly. Besides, I always wanted a peek at Castletree.”
“You’ll like the bloomies there,” Rose says.
The goblin snorts a laugh. “You and your bloomies.”
And I thought Caspian would be the strangest alliance I would ever make. But Rosalina’s trust is good enough for me. I squat down, holding the goblin’s giant yellow stare. Or at least attempting to. Her pupils go in two different directions, but I think she’s looking at me.
“When you arrive, you’ll meet a woman named Marigold. Tell her Ezryn sent you. She needs to put the rose in the vaultand prepare Billy for his journey home. And to look after Dom, please.”
“Message received, shiny pants!”
Farron embraces Dom one more time, then kisses Billy on the forehead. In a sweep of golden briars, Heidigog and the twins of Autumn are swept away to the world we hope to save.
George, Kel, Caspian, Farron, and Dayton drift toward the exit of the menagerie, staring up at the mountain upon which Caspian’s palace is built. Somewhere within, Aurelia is being prepared for the ultimate theft of power.
I move to join them when Rosalina pulls on my elbow. As I turn to her, she falls against me, burrowing her face in my stolen underfae armor. I wrap my arms around her.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbles. “I just need a moment to be weak.”
“No,” I murmur into her hair. “Don’t apologize. I’ve got you, now and forever. Your sadness doesn’t make you weak. You are the strongest person I know.”
She gazes up at me. Sadness and strength, wrapped together in radiance.
I remove the underfae helmet and let it fall to the ground with a clank. She strokes a finger over my jaw, my cheek, then laces her hand through my hair. Her breath is warm on my lips, a taste of the world above. Gently at first, then with a ferocity I can’t contain, I sweep her in my arms and kiss her. She may think she’s weak, but her touch gives me more strength than I could ever explain.
As much as I wish we could stay in this embrace, I pull away.
“Now,” I whisper in her ear, “we go make this mean something.”
52
Caspian
Of course there’s more. There’s always more to my motherthan I anticipate. Layers and layers to her wickedness, and this cesspool is no different. The green water bubbles and pops.
We stand in the secret chamber within the mountain, the one only Sira and I are supposed to know about. She still has no idea it was I who led Farron here months ago, that we were the ones who destroyed her careful system that drained Anya’s magic.
But I should have known nothing will stop her. Below the water, there’s an even deeper chamber where she’ll attempt to take everything from Anya—every drop of power, every ounce of her life. And if it kills Anya?
Then Sira will hunt Rosalina and Wrenley to the very ends of the earth.
“It’s too dangerous to go in this way,” I hiss. “The baron’s magic is the strongest in that pool. He’ll corrupt your mind.”
“I made it through,” Rosalina says, face twisted in determination. “But the water was dark. He wasn’t present.”
“We’re not all as strong as you, sweetheart,” Farron says, brow furrowed.
I search his face.So the Autumn Prince found his way after all.
Perhaps the Baron isn’t as powerful as he wants us all to believe.
And if Farron found a way…
Let me follow.
“It’s just a little water,” Dayton says, stepping up to the lip. He holds his hand above the pool, jaw tightening. A pained sound escapes him.
