Chapter Twenty-Seven

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

GOLDEN HOPE

O lea waited by the passage entryway, staring through a pane window at an off-duty guard exercising. I was confident she hadn’t moved a muscle in the time I was gone; she couldn’t look away from the same handsome soldier that stood outside Gia’s door days before.

She led me through the kitchen and out to the stables. Cas stood next to two large Andalusian geldings, their coats a watercolor of creamy gray tones adorned with warm brown manes. Despite the potential distraction, I floated back to our conversation the prior afternoon. Swallowing, I approached him.

Cas’s black hair swayed around him in the mid-morning breeze. “Good morning, Terra,” he said, his voice soft and cheery.

I eyed the prince and the steeds that flanked him. “Good morning, Your Highness.”

He grimaced at the coolness in my voice. “Are you feeling better?”

I tilted my head in confusion, but then recalled the excuse for my absence at last night’s banquet. “Oh, yes, thank you for asking. I am.”

He stepped closer until we were inches apart, bent his head a little, and took one small inhale. He retreated, his eyes sparkling. “You don’t smell like a female bleeding.”

I scoffed. “Well, you’re mistaken.”

“An exceptional nose is one of several gifts from my bloodline. I am never wrong when it comes to scent.” With that, he winked and then cocked his head to the side, his eyes catching on the bruises circling my throat.

“Those marks on your neck. It looks like someone choked you,” he said, his voice low.

I shrugged. “I had a run-in with a certain blonde lover of yours,” I said casually. He narrowed his eyes, and I laughed, the sound pitching too high to be genuine. “Oh, so sorry, I forgot there’s more than one! The male.”

“Is that true?” Cas asked.

I nodded, picking idle flint off my jacket.

He mumbled something to himself in rage and then gestured to the horses.

“I didn’t ask you here to discuss your courses, nor Fayzien’s behavior. I have a present for you, and his name is ‘Romeo.’ He is a proud seventeen hands and a wonderfully clean ride. Unlike some of us around here,” Cas said, throwing another wink in with his last comment.

I rolled my eyes and approached Romeo. I showed him my hand, letting him warm to me as I stroked his face down to his velvety muzzle. “You’ve winked entirely too many times for this early an hour. And don’t think this makes me forget yesterday.” I paused. “But I will say, he’s a beauty.” I said the last part more to Romeo than Cas.

He moved behind me. “I’m sorry, Terra, truly. My words were cruel.”

Heat pricked my eyes. “Cas, I have no one to trust here,” I whispered, still facing away from him. “You are supposed to be my oldest friend, my partner in crime, my confidant. But you give me half-truths—you didn’t even tell me Jana was my aunt. And yesterday, you treated me less than—less than you . Like if I didn’t fulfill the purpose you’d laid out for me, I was worth nothing.” I choked on my words.

If my revelation about Jana surprised him, he did not show it. He only placed both hands on my shoulders and brushed his lips against my neck. “I’m sorry, mi karus . I’m sorry,” he whispered into my skin.

I let my eyes shutter, tilting my head back into him, but I snapped out of it a moment later. I shrugged him off and turned around to face him. “That might work on you lovers, Cas, but it will not work on me. I don’t want gifts or murmured ‘I’m sorrys.’ I want a genuine apology.”

He chuckled, and I shot him a menacing look. He raised his hands in guilt and said, “Okay, okay. I’m sorry for speaking so cruelly and wrongly to you. I didn’t treat you as an equal. You deserve much better from me, Terra. I will… do my best never to address you that way ever again.”

I almost rolled my eyes. Something told me to have little faith in what ‘his best’ would translate into.

I followed Cas on horseback through the winding cobblestone streets of Valfalla.

“Is it usual to be unaccompanied by guards?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I have a shadow, always. You probably haven’t noticed him. But other than that, a lot of those who live within these city walls are Fae. I fought alongside them in battle. They have my respect, and I theirs. I’ve never had a serious issue.”

After what felt like hours, we exited the city perimeter and reached open farmland. He kicked his horse into a gallop, and Romeo followed on instinct. Whether or not Cas intended it, simply allowing me space to run a horse out of the palace made my anger toward him slip away.

By the time he slowed, we had come upon what looked like a small, abandoned farmstead with a clear pond on its border. I recognized the place, remembering it from our youth. If we behaved, and if the heat of the day peaked to unbearable levels, our tutors would bring us here for morning studies. In the afternoon, Cas and I would swim in the pond.

It wasn’t quite mid-summer, and on the coast the temperature never rose to such heights, but here the air had heated up. The leather-corseted riding jacket stuck close to my body. A part of me longed to strip down, to feel the cool silky water on my bare, sweaty skin. Cas looked back at me with a devious smile, as if he thought the same. But instead of diving in, he walked around to the other end of the pond and knelt at the base of a large oak tree.

I lowered myself beside him. He ran his fingers over the bottom of the trunk, landing on a carving. He traced a line straight down to the ground from the marking and dug in the soft dirt.

I watched him in silence. He parted the dirt, making a mess of himself and getting nowhere. After a few minutes, I placed my hand on his. “Want me to help?”

He looked up at me in confusion, which then dissipated into a grin. “Go right ahead, Princess.”

I removed my riding gloves and rested my hands on the Earth, sensing the target of his digging. I found it in a moment and curled my power around it, a root pushing it to the surface.

The root rose, placing a worn leather pouch in his hand. He looked at me, awe creeping into his purple eyes. “What’s it like?” he asked after a moment. “Having power over something alive?”

“Some days, I think the Earth has power over me .” I chewed my lip. “But it’s not really like that—having power over something. It feels like a part of me… as essential as my breath or heartbeat.”

The side of his lip quirked and he turned back to the pouch. “Do you know why I always gave you purple stones when we were young?”

“Because they matched your eyes?”

Cas offered a rueful smile. “That’s part of it. Once, maybe a year or two after you arrived at the palace, you told me you liked my eyes because they were your favorite color. After that, I bought every purple stone I could get my seven-year-old hands on.” He laughed at the last part.

“But though I loved bestowing tanzanite and amethyst upon you,” he gestured to my left hand, “I never meant to propose with it.” He tipped the pouch into his palm, and a clear-stoned ring, set on a golden band, fell out.

He blew on it, clearing off the dust, but it scarcely needed it. Even in the tree’s shade, the stone reflected prisms of rainbow-colored light all around us. I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

“Seventy years ago, my father gave this to my mother when she won the Sk?l. It belonged to an original High Fae Viri queen but had been lost for centuries. Darlan found it during his youth campaigns and swore he would give it to the female that proved to have the fiercest heart. The myth of this ring is that only the fearless can possess the power of the unknown stone. On her deathbed—my birthbed—my mother requested it be given to me as soon as I could close my fist. I had nearly nothing of her growing up, save for tales of her greatness. And this ring. Though I was young, I knew from the moment I met you that you, and only you, would wear it. When you were gone, I buried it and told my father I lost it. He beat me with a wet rope for that. It was worth it. Even if you never returned, Terra, I would have never placed this ring on the hand of another.”

Cas finished, and I realized my cheeks were wet. “Cas,” I whispered, “I don’t know what to say?—”

“I know you don’t want to get married yet; I know you still have many questions and doubts. And possibly feelings for someone else. That’s okay.” He met my eyes. “We’ll take it one step at a time, figure it out together. I just wanted to show you.”

He rose, extending his hand to mine, pulling me to stand. “But will you wear it? It doesn’t have to be a promise of anything. I’ve always wanted to see my mother’s ring on your finger. Especially now, after so many years thinking I would never get the chance.”

I paused for a moment. I hadn’t said yes to his public proposal, not really—he’d slipped the ring on my finger before I knew what was happening. And though this wasn’t a proposal, it felt significant. My stomach clenched, the image of Ezren seeing yet another ring on my finger sending a pang to my chest. But Cas had mourned my disappearance for so many years, and if wearing this ring would give him solace…

I met his gaze. “Yes, Cas, I will wear it.”

At that, he slipped the ring onto my right ring-finger, and a zing went through my hand. I jolted slightly, my eyes shooting up at Cas to see if he noticed the reaction. He only gave a quick brush of his lips to my cheek. And then he turned to go, taking my hand with him, leaving me to wonder if the ring was more than just a gift.

My heart broke as we ran the geldings back to the palace, and away from the forest. Cas guided his horse next to mine once we slowed to a walk.

“You’re apprehensive about the Sk?l,” he said flatly.

I sighed. “It isn’t just the competition, per se, though I do find the concept completely archaic. It’s what comes after. The marriage. In Argention, I spent years dreading the village’s matching ceremony, knowing it might end in my engagement. I’ve always wanted more than that, Cas. It doesn’t always feel the same—sometimes overwhelming claustrophobia, and sometimes a slow burn. But it always comes back to one thing.” I paused. “I want freedom.”

“I don’t know if freedom is possible for people like us. Whether we like it or not, we were both born with the weight of a crown. It is our duty, and our honor, to carry that weight as best we can. For the sake of our people.”

Though I didn’t like his words, they rang true. The problem was, I didn’t know who my people were. Cas felt a clear responsibility for the Viri folk, and the Rexi seemed to care for the Nebbiolons. But since I was ripped from my life so early… did I feel a responsibility to the Fae? To the Witches? I matured in a human land—Argention, the only community I knew. In a way, I felt more human than Fae or Witch.

I chewed my lip, Jana’s advice tugging at the back of my mind. “I will compete in the Sk?l. But I want there to be an understanding between us. I still don’t know what wearing a crown or being a leader means for me. I’ll do my best to figure it out—whether it means standing beside you, or not. But I need time to figure out what I think, what I feel.”

And who I feel for.

“Can you delay the Sk?l as long as possible?” I asked.

“For you, mi karus , anything.”

I lifted my brow. “Anything?”

Cas groaned in mock sincerity. “I have a feeling you’re going to make me regret saying that.”

I laughed. “There has been one thing on my mind. Jana told me I had family here—relations from my birth father’s side. Well, I just wondered… can I meet them? Would they… want to meet me?”

Cas’s expression was unreadable. “They live north. I… suppose we could arrange a visit, but it’ll have to be after the Sk?l, given you’ll be training nonstop between now and then. And then there’s your mother. I’m not sure she would approve.”

“Speaking of my—” I hesitated, the word mother stuck in my throat. The image of my mom laughing in the kitchen after one of my brothers made a joke popped into my head. “The queen,” I said, my tone careful.

“What of her?” Cas asked.

“Who does she expect to rule Nebbiolo, if I marry you?”

“We would rule jointly,” he said simply. “Just as we would over Viribrum.”

“But then, why did she send me away in the first place?”

“As I said, I’m working out her motives. Likely, she only supports our union publicly but will seek to undermine it behind the scenes. What she wants from you or any of us, I cannot say.”

I paused, considering his words. Our horses swayed, snaking through the narrow Valfalla alleyways, the rhythm of their hooves a metronome on cobblestones.

“Maybe I should talk to—” Firm hands yanked me from Romeo’s back. Before I could scream or resist, someone shoved a cloth in my mouth and bound my hands behind my back. And then the light slipped from my view as a black sack covered my head.