I open my mouth, but no words come out.
A part of me can see it: to be his little wife in Orca Cove. Help run the lodge. Maybe feel like I belong.
I can also see the red tail of the letter S peeking out from under my sleeve.
Ice entraps my body and I feel like I’m drowning, heavy clothes pulling me deeper and deeper.
A nervous chuckle sounds through the crowd at my silence. They’re staring at me as if they’ve proposed too. Lucas finally turns to me, surprise etched on his features. “So, what is it? Yes or yes?”
I thought I’d know my answer. Shouldn’t you know the answer when someone is on their knees before you?
The door bursts open. Icy wind and dead leaves blow in, and standing there is the butcher’s son, holding something clutched to his chest. He stumbles into the room. “Rosalina, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
Lucas stands and pushes me behind him. “Thomas, what is the meaning of this? The lodge is closed for a private event.”
Thomas’s red hair is wild, his freckled face flushed. “You have to listen. I got turned around hunting in the wood today. Went off the trail mighty bad. Then I saw this. It’s Mr. O’Connell’s jacket.”
“Papa!” I push past Lucas and snatch the jacket from Thomas. It’s covered in blood.
“Rosalina,” Lucas says, trying to pull me back.
I ignore him and grip Thomas on the shoulder. “Take me to where you found this. I’m going after my father.”
4
Keldarion
“Hello?Doesanyonelivehere? I need help!”
The voice echoes through the castle. It isn’t possible. It can’t be…
“I got lost and was attacked! I mean no harm. I only need a place to rest.”
No, no, no.
There is an intruder in the castle.
The unfamiliar voice pricks my ears and I smell this invader’s stink even deep within my chambers. It can’t be.
Human.
A human has found his way through the Enchanted Vale and into the Briar. My heart thuds as I look up, trying to see past the tangle of thorns overtaking the ceiling. Castletree must be very weak indeed if the Vale is now so thin as to allow humans…
“Is anyone here?” the voice cries again.
A shudder of rage courses through me, and I shake, my heavy white coat flinging off the frost that has settled during the night. Where are the other princes to deal with this insanity?
Ezryn has left to patrol the Spring Realm, provoking goblins for his own sick joy. Dayton’s probably passed out in a pile of his own sick. And Farron, of course, is… occupied.
That means it’s up to me to deal with this intruder. A snarl sounds deep within my chest. My paws shatter the ice that covers the floor as I stalk toward the door. A human in the castle. It isn’t possible.
I fling open the door with my snout and see Astrid sitting there. She hops back, immediately shrinking down from the rage in my eyes.
“Master, there’s… There’s a human in the castle,” she peeps.
I ignore her, that icy growl rumbling through my chest again. Humans. Idiotic creatures with mayfly lives. Is the Vale truly so weak now?
The thought—this urgent reminder—of the dying magic makes my muscles stiffen with each step. Maybe the end has finally come. Maybe we will be freed from our misery once and for all.