Summer Princess (Dark Fae Book 1)

by Sloane Murphy

  I spot Oberon standing on the outskirts of the market square, and sigh at his dark beauty. I watch as he interacts with a little girl; she’s too young to care what he is, and I laugh to myself as I watch him let down some of his walls and be silly with her. She hits him, and he falls to the floor howling in pain. I hear the girl’s giggles from across the square; the sheer joy in a child’s laughter is unmatched by anything else. He gets up and pretends to growl, and she squeals, pulling a face at him. I know just from this, that if it were possible, he’d make a great father one day. He, like me, is not like most of his kind, maybe that’s why I love him the way that I do. Neither of us fit—both seen as outcasts despite the roles we’re forced to play. I watch on as a frantic woman darts through the crowd and picks up the little girl, checking her over.

  “Avalyn, what are you doing playing with this filthy animal?” she scolds the girl, setting her back on the ground. “Little girls do not play with Hunters!” I can hear the scorn and disgust in her words from where I stand, and I start towards them.

  “As for you, how dare you interact with our children. You disgusting half-bloods are only good for one thing: cleaning up messes like the filth that you are. Don’t you ever talk to my child again.” She storms off, her daughter’s hand in hers, spewing the ridiculousness of generations passed, and spreading it to the children. The look on Oberon’s face will haunt me forever; he didn’t choose to be what he is any more than I did, and it saddens me to see people avoid him, not even make eye contact with him, because of what he is. Something about the darkness within him, the very darkness I was once afraid of, calls to me and draws me in.

  Maybe it’s the Demon in him that people are afraid of. Maybe it’s the fact that if the Hunters really wanted to, they could usurp the Fae royalty and rule our world. God knows they’re stronger than we are by far, and if it’s even possible, more brutal. But because they are half-Demon, half-Fae, they’re outcast and seen as beneath our kind, even though they work directly for the royal families. They should be held in esteem, yet they’re treated worse than the Elves that we love to hate. Unfortunately for the Hunters, their ancestors bound them to serve the Fae after a long a bloody battle, and an old magik holds them to their servitude, so unless they can find a way to break the bond, they must suffer the fate handed down to them. It makes no sense to me why they are treated so badly, but centuries-old grudges are what the Fae are best at, though personally, I’ve never really bought into the madness of it all. Maybe because I know what it’s like to be cast aside and outcast by those who should be the ones you’re closest to. The Fae are notoriously brutal with the truth. It’s just in our nature, and while the Summer Court isn’t exactly hugs and snuggles, at least we’re not all as cold and unfeeling as the Winter Court.

  I make my way over to him subtly, so as not to draw attention to either of us. While the Hunters work for the royals, for me to be seen in public with one, alone . . . Well, the fallout would be seismic. One day, far from now, when we’re far from here, none of it will matter. I hate that I can’t be close to him, or seen with him, just because of other people’s sensibilities. It saddens me that his kind cannot cross the veil, because I have no doubt that with him by my side, over there, we could escape the pain and bindings of this place.

  “Fancy seeing you here;” I smile at him, and he treats me to a rare smile that lights up his entire face. I sigh at the dark beauty of him. It gets me every single time.

  “Out here with the riffraff without your guard? Daddy won’t be pleased,” he teases, lifting his hand toward my hood, but catches himself before he touches me, and I can’t help but feel a little deflated, despite knowing why he stopped. Loving someone is never easy, but loving someone who you’re not meant to even interact with is even harder, especially when everything has to be kept secret for fear of death.

  “My father should know better than to put his goons on me. Despite his protests that he doesn’t, they still try every morning to follow me. By now, I don’t know why they even bother.”

  “Because despite your every wish, you’re still Princess of the Summer Court, and you always will be.”

  “Forever is a long time, who knows what could happen,” I say wistfully.

  “You want to get away from all these people for a little while?” he asks, picking up on my mood.

  “Where did you have in mind?” I say, letting my hand brush his, hidden by my cloak, and I feel him stiffen at the contact.

  “You should be more cautious than you are, Emilia. You being hurt because of me would break me, and I don’t think I could control myself if you were hurt. A lot of people would be in danger if I were in that sort of state. We shouldn’t risk such things; I don’t want to risk you.”

  “If people paid more attention, then maybe I would, but maybe, just for once, I want to be a little reckless. No one is going to see us. Just this once, for today, be reckless with me,” I say, stepping closer to his huge frame and looking up into his yellow-gold eyes. The color gives away his heritage; they shine against the olive of his skin so beautifully. His face is unreadable except for the glow of his eyes, which he can’t hide. I step a little closer, so we’re almost touching, and I hear his breath pick up pace. “Take me away, Oberon.”

  He takes my hand and pulls me into him, and I feel the air around us warp, and I know that he has hidden us from the world. His hand reaches up to my hood and pulls it back, revealing my long raven hair, which he runs his hand through. I grasp his thick biceps as I reach up to kiss him gently.

  “I missed you too,” he whispers as I feel the around us shifting. The world outside blurs, but I don’t care as he wraps his arms around me, and I feel safer than I have in a long time. He might be what the rest of my kind fear, but I know there’s much worse at court than a Hunter. The subtle breeze around us stops, and I hesitate to step away. We get so little real time together; I want to hold onto this moment.

  “We’re here, Emilia.” The roughness of his voice touches each part of me, and I shiver despite the day’s heat. I take a step back and pull away, his hand catching mine and holding as tightly as I do.

  “Where are we?” I ask as I take in the beauty around us. The wonder on my face must be evident if the rare smile on his face is anything to go by. We’re at the edge of the Eressea, and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore calms me. It’s abandoned, with the remanence of a shipwreck in the distance, but not another soul around. I’ve never seen the sea before, the court is home, but it’s also my own personal inescapable prison. We Royals don’t really get to see the world other than through the memories of others. The fact that I get to experience this here for the first time with Oberon means everything, and I wish I had the words to tell him so.

  “This is a place I found while I was out on my last hunt, and I knew you’d love it the moment I saw it. It’s a small fishing town called Tamaya. I wanted to bring you here for a while, but it’s so far away from the Court, I was worried that someone would notice your absence. Since you keep slinking away from your guard, I think we’re safe here for an hour or so.”

  “Thank you, Oberon. It’s so peaceful. I can almost pretend that the world back home doesn’t exist, that it’s nothing more than you and me.”

  “That could be our lives one day. We just need to plan carefully, but one day I’ll take you away from there, and we can be happy. We can live long and peacefully. Just us and our family.”

  “You’ve got this all thought out, haven’t you?” I tease as I shed my cloak and shoes, itching to move closer to the water. I can dream that our plan is all thought out, and we could run away tomorrow, but it would be just that. Dreaming.

  “I have spent a lifetime alone, never thinking I’d find someone who accepted me for who and what I am, let alone someone that could love me. And never in that entire lifetime would I have imagined it could be someone like you. My kind doesn’t find love often; you know that as well as I do. We’re too unpredictable, the Demon part
of us makes us dangerous. Unstable. We fuck and move on. I’ve only ever known one other of my kind find love, and that was with an Elven shifter. He left this life for her, moved to the Shadow Lands of Shani, and never looked back. I’d do the same for you in a heartbeat, Emilia. I just don’t want you ever to regret our life.”

  I stand on tiptoes and kiss him with everything I have. “I have never and could never love anyone the way I love you. I wouldn’t and never will regret a thing.”

  He lifts me and spins me around, his lips never leaving mine. I cling to him as he shrugs his jacket off and kicks off his shoes, removing my cloak before he runs towards the water. I squeal at the movement, and I hear him laugh. It’s so rare that I quiet and enjoy it before he barrels us into the freezing-cold water, and I can’t help but cry out in shock. My hold on him slips, but he holds me tight before submerging us both, taking my lips with his again. He lifts us, and we stay in the water, just messing around until the sun starts to sink in the sky, and my skin pimples with cold.

  “We should probably head back,” he says, pulling me towards the shore.

  “Do we have to? I like seeing you like this. Can’t we just run away now? Or at least stay away just a little longer?”

  “I have somewhere we can go,” he caves, and I squeak with joy.

  “Thank you,” I coo. I always hated those girls who acted crazy when they were in love, but these days I get it, and I just embrace the cheesiness that is my life when I’m with Oberon. It’s the light in the darkness of my life, so I cling to it tightly. He wraps me up in my cloak and kneels, pulling on my shoes before dressing himself while I draw on the fire inside me to dry our clothes and heat us both.

  “It’s a shame that little trick of yours doesn’t work in the water.” He chuckles, shaking the water out of his shoulder-length dark hair before pulling it back and securing it at his nape with a leather throng.

  “Water is a bitch for fire.” I shrug and step into his embrace as he wraps us in shadow before travelling us back towards reality. We move in silence, neither one of us looking forward to going back. We stop sooner than I thought we would, and I look around in the darkness.

  “Should we be here?” I ask him, looking at what I know is his home.

  “Probably not, but I’ve not had enough of you yet, and I don’t want to let you go.” He kisses me brazenly, not caring who is around us. I sink into him, forgetting the dangers around us.

  “I don’t want to go either,” I whisper, and he pulls me towards his door, ushering me inside quickly.

  His lips caress my neck before he pulls me backwards into the warm room. I hear the crackle of the fire, a comforting noise in the small house.

  “This is beyond reckless, Oberon, what if someone saw us?” I breathe, turning to look him in the eyes, but he quietens me with another kiss and steals my breath, quieting my worry.

  “No one would think to look for you here, princess,” he says as he nips down my neck and chest, making me cry out. “Why would someone like you be here with me? Our secret is safe here.” I let his words wrap around me like a security blanket. I don’t want to lose him, and that’s what will happen if we’re discovered before I have time to plan a way for us to escape this place. My thoughts evaporate as he unlaces the corset of my dress. He tears through the fabric and releases me from its confines before pulling it down to the floor, so I stand before him in nothing but my underwear and my black heels. I watch him as he seems to memorize the lines and curves of me.

  “There are more reasons that I love you than in all of this life and the next, but looking at you right now reminds me just how much of a lucky son of a bitch I am.” He smirks and rips off his shirt, and I see the faded white lines that etch his skin, a reminder that we are from two different worlds. Of the pain he suffered before he ended up here.

  He stalks towards me, the predator in him gleaming in his eyes, and my breath catches when he reaches me and lifts me, wrapping my legs around his waist. Feeling him pressed up against me, knowing just how much he wants me turns me on so much more. I feel his sharp nails dig into the soft skin of my back, and I hiss when I feel wetness on my back where he broke the skin. He tosses me on the bed. The Demon in him is just under the surface; I can see the strain in him as he tries to hold it back. I sit up and motion for him to come closer.

  “You want to play?” I taunt him, slapping his face before I run away from him, attempting to put some distance between us.

  “You’re playing a dangerous game, princess.” He growls as he crosses the distance in seconds, and his arms wrap around my torso. I shake in anticipation, knowing just how dangerous a game this is. Hunters are feared in our world; they are the punishers and the punished. They’re the big bad that goes bump in the night, more animal and instinct than anything else.

  “Maybe I want to play dangerously, Oberon. Maybe I love that darkness that swirls inside of you. Maybe I secretly have a darkness inside me that matches yours,” I say. I shudder as his hand works downwards and rips the black lace, I wore especially for him from my pale skin, before rubbing the most sensitive part of me. I gasp as he bites my neck while he toys with me slowly, mixing pain in with the pleasure.

  “I know you too well, Emilia. You couldn’t handle the Demon in me.”

  “You won’t know unless you try,” I say as I tremble under his touch. He releases me from his hold and kisses down my back, kissing the punctured skin he created earlier, making me hiss.

  “Don’t push me; I don’t want to hurt you.” His breath is ragged as he tries to contain that part of him, the part I very much want to see.

  “I don’t think you could ever hurt me; I just want to be with you. All of you.” He lifts each leg and removes my shoes and sweeps me back up into his arms, his black hair in his eyes, unable to hide the glow of them—the yellow-gold giving away his true nature.

  “Don’t try to run from me, and I’ll give you everything you want.”

  “All I want is this. You. Us.” I sigh, my breathing stuttered by the closeness of him

  His lips crush mine, silencing my words, and the world around me disappears, and there is nothing but him. I feel his muscles tighten when he lies me down in front of him on the bed.

  “First, let me love you, then I’ll show you who I really am.”

  “Promises, promises.”

  I hear the boom a second after Oberon, who has leapt from me and morphed into a full Hunter mode as he protects the door between us and whatever is trying to get in. The thunderous noise of heavy footsteps clambering up the wooden steps towards us fills my ears as I cover myself with the blankets on the bed. I want to step forward and help, but I know that few things can come through that door and best a Hunter. The door explodes inward, and I feel the splinters from the door fly past me, some embedded in my skin, but I don’t feel it. All I feel is fear for Oberon as I see who stands on the other side of the door, and I hear Oberon roar as he tries to shield me from the opening with his body.

  “I suggest you put some clothes on Emilia and call off your beast.” My father’s voice booms around the room, and I want to shrink inside myself. Why did we come back here? We should have just gone somewhere far away and never come back.

  I feel more than see Oberon leap forward as my father’s guards attempt to enter the room. The screams curdle my blood as he defends both his territory and me. I hear the shots I know will be from my father’s guards and cry out as Oberon drops to the floor. I scurry over to him, not caring who sees me.

  “Emilia, for goodness sake, cover yourself, or I will drag you back to the palace naked for all to see,” my father roars. I grab my dress and throw it on myself, my eyes barely leaving Oberon. “It was just a potion to knock him out, he’s not dead,” my father says, but it doesn’t help me breathe any easier. I know the punishment that will await Oberon for having me here. For loving me. I stop the tears from falling and stand tall, my chin held high.

  “What are you doing here, Father?” I deman
d as his guards tie Oberon’s wrists and ankles.

  “I got wind of your whereabouts. After your disappearing act this morning, I had people out looking. Imagine my disgust when I heard you were with this . . . animal.” The hatred and loathing pour from my father’s face. “Take him to the cages,” he orders, and his guards lift him despite my protests.

  “I will never forgive you for this,” I swear to him.

  “Emilia, you were a disappointment long ago, long before you decided to debase yourself with this filth. At this point, you should just be thankful you’re not joining him.” He spits at me before turning and walking away from me. I watch as the guards take Oberon away. Another guard enters the room and grabs my arm to the point of bruising.

  “Sleeping with filth like that. Maybe I’ll have my way with you too, and then let the boys have you. I’m sure after that beast, you’ll even enjoy it. It doesn’t sound like your father will mind if you come back a little worse for wear,” the guard sneers. I put my hand on his face and channel my fire and take joy in his screams as his skin bubbles beneath my touch before he falls to the floor as my fire takes him.

  “Maybe you should remember who you are talking to,” I tell him as I step over his writhing body. I extinguish the flames and walk away, back to the palace, back to my prison.