Broken by Daylight (Beasts of the Briar, #4)

by Elizabeth Helen

If I am not worthy of basking in her radiance, then I will walk behind her as a shadow. As her shadow, I will engulf any who would dim her light. If darkness is all I have, then I will use it to serve her.

“Caspian?” I look back. “Hmm?” Birdy doesn’t meet my gaze. Instead, she wrings her hands in her skirt. “Are you still in love with the Winter Prince?” “Unfortunately.” She looks down. “What does it feel like?” A breeze rustles through my hair. I cast a gaze to the side of Castletree that houses the Winter Wing, the wood blue with frost. “It’s like being stuck in the eye of a storm you can’t escape. It’s suffocating, consuming. It’s waking up every day with a weight on your chest, wondering if today will be the day it crushes you entirely. Love is continuing to drink poison because it’s also the only antidote. For me, it is a battle that if he wins, I lose, and if I win, somehow, I still lose. Love is the only reason I still choose to draw breath.”

“I promise. Use me however you want,” he pleads. “Just please, don’t ask me to leave.”

Tears run silently down her cheeks, and in my mind, I hear her voice: Promise me you’ll come back, Ezryn. Vow it. On your knees. I do. I sink to the floor and stare up at her. “Whatever it takes, I will return to you, my Queen. If I have to crawl, I’ll crawl. If I have to swim through rivers of fire, I’ll swim. If I have to defy the Fates themselves and rearrange the stars, I will do it.”

“You can’t keep dwindling your own flame just because you’re afraid of what it might mean if you burn brighter than both of them.”

His fingers play down my stomach before pushing my dress up to my hips. “It is the greatest honor of my life to be on my knees to serve you.” Words escape me