Page 110 of Forged By Malice (Beasts of the Briar #3)

109

Keldarion

T he slam of the door echoes through Castletree. Many times, I have watched Ezryn leave. Many times, I have wondered if he would ever return.

But he always came back.

This time he won’t.

Even the air above me seems too heavy a weight. I collapse to my knees with a resounding thud, ice sword clattering out of my hands and shattering.

A profound sense of loss fills me. For my brother, for Rosalina, to be so truly trapped in this weak and dying shell of Castletree.

There’s a light tug on the front of my shirt as Caspian pulls himself up before me. His eyes narrow and he studies me before wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his tunic.

“Kel,” he says lowly.

I don’t reply. Can’t.

“Keldarion,” he purrs, and his hands rest upon my neck. He leans against me, blinking up with those enormous, violet eyes.

A smile tugs at the edges of his full lips as he draws even closer, then presses those lips against my own.

It’s been decades since he’s kissed me, and yet it’s as if time has simply melted away. The softness of his hair as I grip the back of his neck, the fierce urgency of his hands clutching my shoulders, and the passionate dance of our bodies pressed close together—every sensation, every touch ignites a blaze of longing that defies the long years that have passed.

He kisses me like he did the night we first made the bargain, full of desperation with the whispers of dark promise. The bargain that still digs into my wrist because I cannot banish my love for him.

That love that has cost me my brother, my realm, but maybe not Rosalina.

“Do not fret, Kel,” Caspian laughs darkly as he pulls away, lips moving to my ear. “No one will take your mate from you but me.”