Tin can. That’s what she’d called me. It was so ridiculous, I almost could have laughed. Almost.
She’d stared me down with such a fire, I had no idea how to read it. Fear, anger. Something else.
It was a good thing Astrid showed up. I don’t know what I would have done. Probably let her go.
But even I dare not disobey the master of Castletree.
Keldarion stares at me with that familiar intensity. He wants an answer to his question.
Maybe I’m a masochist. Maybe I want Kel to feel anything at all, even if it’s hatred for me. But I ask, “You can’t possibly think the human woman is your—”
Kel flies across the room in a single instant, slamming me into the wall, and holding his forearm against my neck. “Don’t say that word to me,” he roars. His eyes flash with the power within.
It takes everything in me not to shudder into submission. But I force my muscles to stay still, take a slow breath, and calm my heart. We stay locked together for a moment, two wills facing each other.
Finally, he drops his arm and turns his back to me. “Leave me, Ez.”
I turn to the door. “I gave her a room and told Astrid to attend her. We’re not beasts.”
At least, not yet.
12
Rosalina
OfallthethingsI thought might happen when escaping, getting choked out by a giant masked knight was not on my list of possibilities. I rub my neck, flashes of how easily he lifted me burning in my mind. Then he’d dragged me like I was nothing but a sack of flour all the way here.
The masked knight. Prince Ezryn.
I inhale and give myself a moment to take in my surroundings. I’m in a giant room, and… it’s beautiful. A mesh of natural bark and stunning architecture. There is a literaltreegrowing out of one wall, blooming with pink cherry blossoms that flutter down and scatter across the carpet.
It’s obvious they haven’t used this place in a long time. White dusty sheets drape over the furniture, except the bed, which is four posts of gilded gold. A curtain of purple willow flowers drapes around it. The walls are pale pink marble, veined with white and rose gold.
It would all be perfectly delightful if not for the massive thorns breaking out of the wall and cracking up through the floor. The same as the ones outside and in the dungeon. These thorns cover every inch of this castle.
“Do you like it?”
I jump as I see the girl hovering by the door. The masked prince had called her Astrid. She’s a slight thing, with short white hair and stunning red eyes. Her pale skin is near translucent, and she wears an ivory dress with a blue apron. Astrid doesn’t look much older than me, though that probably doesn’t mean much with her pointed ears. If Papa’s ramblings had any merit, fae are immortal. She could be twenty or two thousand.
“Oh,” she continues, “I’m Astrid, by the way.”
“I’m Rosalina.” I plop down on the bed and a plume of dust erupts around me. “If that masked demon wants a thank you for moving me from the dungeon to a room, he’s not going to get it. A beautiful prison is still a prison.”
Astrid’s expression falters and a stab of guilt runs through me. Maybe she’s as trapped as I am. Who would want to stay in a place that imprisons harmless old men, is ruled by the rudest man in all of existence, and guarded by a terrifying masked prince?
I take a deep breath and pinch the bridge of my nose. “Sorry. I’ve been through a lot. A day ago, I didn’t believe the fae existed.”
Papa had been right all this time. Was Mom somewhere in this world? Could she have survived? I suppress a shudder as I think of the ashen goblins.
“You didn’t know about us? Really?” Astrid hops toward me. “How did you get here then? Usually, only believers can enter the Enchanted Vale.”
“The Enchanted Vale,” I whisper. “Is that where we are?”
“Precisely, we’re in Castletree.” Astrid tugs me toward the window. Outside lie the castle grounds, and beyond that the briars.
“Doesn’t seem very enchanted,” I mumble.
Astrid’s lip wobbles. “Our castle and the land are sick. And it’s spreading to the four realms.”