Page 77 of Forged By Malice (Beasts of the Briar #3)

76

Rosalina

A wind blows through my lungs, quelling the fire that’s blazing. My ribs ache with pressure, and water billows up my throat. Then that wind flows through me again.

Come back to me, a voice cries within my mind.

That wind … It’s pushing me out of the fire. But I’m so tired, it would be so much easier to lie down and burn.

Come back to me, the voice growls again, commanding and insistent. I give you my breath of life. Come back to me!

The blackness clouding my vision wavers, but I still can’t see anything. The voice is right beyond it, I’m sure of that. A beam of light shoots out, disappearing into the gloom ahead.

Come back to me.

I suck in a breath of cool air. The shred of light tremors with each beat of my heart. I want to follow where it leads. I’m coming. I’m coming back to you.

I run through the darkness in my mind, using the light as a guide. The wind and fire and water swirl around me, but I push them away. I’m coming!

Because this thread is familiar; it’s been dormant in my heart, waiting for its moment to bloom. No longer stuck in hibernation, waiting. This part of me has been patiently anticipating its season.

Waiting to be forged into something greater.

The darkness shifts, storm clouds cast away by a breeze. An image wavers in front of me. I blink my eyes, trying to clear my vision.

There’s a face. Someone’s holding me in their arms. A man.

It’s a stranger … I don’t recognize him. But he seems concerned, his dark brow furrowed, mouth trembling.

This stranger is beautiful, in a rugged way. Stubble covers his firm jaw, his upper lip shaded by a mustache. His tawny skin drips with water. His dark hair falls in short waves around his pointed ears.

“Who are you?” I manage to ask, throat raw and raspy.

He flicks his gaze up, eyes meeting mine. They’re the deepest brown.

And familiar.

Eyes I’ve never seen, only felt.

Suddenly, it hits me like an arrow to the heart. This face isn’t unknown to me at all; I’ve seen flashes of it within myself and only now have the clarity to understand.

“Rosalina,” the fae man says. His voice sings within me. I recognize that voice. It’s different without the reverberation of his helm, but it’s still unmistakable.

“I know you,” I whisper, raising my hand to lightly touch his jaw. The feel of this skin beneath mine is like coming home.

A hesitant smile breaks across his face, and it’s more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen. His eyes crinkle as he looks me over, taking in my heaving chest. “I know you ,” he whispers.

“Ezryn.” I fling myself upward, wrapping my arms around his neck. He grabs me back, burrowing his face into the crook of my neck. Tears fling from my eyes as I rake my nails across his skin, then tangle my hands in his hair; every bare piece of him feels like magic.

“I thought I lost you,” he murmurs.

Pulling back so I can stare into his eyes again, I say, “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

His expressions are all new, and yet it’s as if I can match them perfectly to the tilts of his helm. Relief and joy bloom in the warmth of his smile, the shake of his head.

Something glints beside us: Ezryn’s helmet. “Ez,” I gasp. “Your helm! You’re showing me your face.”

Now, his expression shifts to one I’ve never seen before. He stares deep into me as if he could see the whole world in my eyes.

And it’s funny, because I swear, I’m seeing the whole world in his.

“Do you know why I didn’t kill you that very first day in Castletree when I thought you were a spy?”

“Because I was an innocent human?”

He shakes his head, a soft laugh bubbling up his throat. “Why I put you up in the Spring Wing instead of letting Kel imprison you?”

“Because Kel should clearly not be allowed to make decisions?”

Now, his smile is so big, it’s caught me too, and I’m laughing with him. “Why,” he continues, “I have sworn to myself a thousand times over that I will do anything and everything to ensure you are safe and living the beautiful life you deserve?”

I sit up on my knees before him and grab his face. I know what he’s going to say. My heart is crying out with it. My chest feels like it’s glowing, invisible beams of light radiating toward him.

“I know, Ez,” I say, tears flying down my face. “I know because I know you.”

“Rosalina O’Connell,” he says, lips trembling, “you are my mate.”

A smile breaks across my face like the first rays of dawn. “And you, Ezryn, High Prince of Spring, are mine.”