Two Princes of Summer

by Nissa Leder

  Chapter Five

  The beer had soaked into Scarlett’s stomach and taken control. The room spun around her slowly as she took another drink. She leaned into Cade and sank into his warmth. Even in her drunkenness, she realized that Cade was there and Natalie had acknowledged him. He wasn’t just a hallucination. He was real.

  She wasn’t losing her mind. Well, she hoped not. At least Cade wasn’t just a vision. Then again, he wasn’t human either, and she wasn’t sure if that was worse. What about her had piqued his interest?

  Scarlett caught Teddy’s gaze. Again. Ever since Cade showed up, he’d sent her dozens of glares. Scarlett giggled. She didn’t even know what Cade was, but his body so close to hers felt right. It was much better than staring at Teddy and the bimbo with him.

  Natalie knocked a lamp off an end table with her elbow and burst into laughter. “I think,” she hiccupped, “I have had enough.” She propped herself up against the arm of the couch. “My dearest brother, help a sister out and take me to my room?” Natalie slurred.

  Teddy sighed but left his date and held his sister upright as he helped her to her bedroom.

  “Follow me,” Cade whispered into Scarlett’s ear. He lifted her with the arm that reached around her waist. Cade led Scarlett through the kitchen and to the back porch. The night wind sent a chill through Scarlett, but Cade pulled her closer. “Come with me, Scarlett.”

  She peered up into his aqua eyes. She wasn’t sure if it was the beer or Cade’s proximity that calmed her. The fight with Ashleigh, Teddy’s new girl. Her mom’s death. None of it seemed to matter anymore. She closed her eyes and inhaled the freshness of the night. “Where will you take me?”

  Cade tucked Scarlett’s hair behind her ear and nibbled on her lobe. “To a castle, where you won’t have to worry about all your human worries again.”

  Scarlett placed her head on Cade’s chest. Her pain had flown so far away, she barely remembered it anymore. What was the big deal, anyway? She was a screw up. No one was left to miss her anymore, and Cade brought her a peace she hadn’t felt in such a long time.

  Could she just leave her whole life?

  “You’ll be miserable without me.” Cade pulled away from Scarlett. Emptiness stabbed her in the chest. The hole inside her returned and hurt more than ever.

  “I’ll go.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and she felt whole again.

  A small part of Scarlett felt bad about leaving the party without saying goodbye. She could tell someone to let Ashleigh know she was leaving for good and was one less problem for her to worry about. Maybe even say goodbye to Teddy and wish him well. He deserved a goodbye. And Natalie, her best friend, would never know where Scarlett went. But as Scarlett walked, hand twined with Cade’s, none of it seemed important enough to bother with. Together, they walked through town. Past the neighborhoods. Down main street. To the outskirts of town where trees towered, blocking the starlit night above.

  In the woods, the crisp night air dropped even cooler. Something flowed through her veins. Something that was anything but worry.

  “Are you ready?” Cade squeezed Scarlett’s hand as they approached an out of place wooden door with floral iron accents around its edges. It stood alone in between two skinny trees. It didn’t connect to anything and seemed rather pointless.

  “What’s that?”

  “An entrance to Faerie, the world of the fae.” Cade put his hand on the doorknob. “Don’t worry, you’ll love it there.”

  A door that led to another world. Surely, this was a dream. If Natalie hadn’t been able to see Cade, too, Scarlett would have sworn it was a hallucination. But somehow, it wasn’t. She wasn’t turning into her mom. Yet, at least.

  The beer in her system caused Scarlett’s head to spin again. Or maybe it was something else. She should think this through. Was running away really what she wanted? Cade placed his hands gently on the side of Scarlett’s face and kissed her forehead and all her doubts vanished.

  Cade opened the door. Behind it, Scarlett saw an empty room with stone walls. Cade held Scarlett’s hand and they walked through the door together.

  There was no bang. No flash of bright light. No earthquake. Nothing out of the ordinary happened when Scarlett stepped through the door. And that was what made it creepy.

  Yet, something changed inside her. Her skin tingled. Iciness swam through her veins, then warmth. For a second, fire exploded inside her. She thought her heart might rupture. Then it cooled and she felt normal again. Normal-ish, at least. She couldn’t place a finger on what had changed, but something had.

  Once inside, Cade released Scarlett’s hand. Worry crept back in.

  She opened the door, only to find a wall of stone on the other side now, not the forest they had entered from. “Where’d Silver Lake go?”

  “The door leads to many places and to nowhere at all.” Cade grabbed Scarlett’s hand again. “Don’t worry, you’re safe here.”

  A feeling of being trapped struck Scarlett, but, as if nothing more than a fleeting thought, the dread drifted elsewhere.

  They left the empty room and entered a hallway. It was lit by white candles hung on the walls. Her feet clinked on the hard floor. The hallway seemed to go on forever, but before they reached the end, Cade stopped at a door. Inside was the most magnificent room Scarlett had ever seen. Crystal chandeliers lit by more candles hung from the ceiling. A canopy bed sat against the wall, with roses etched into its wooden columns and a sheet of velvet draped above. A large fireplace across from the bed lit magically.

  “Did you do that?” Scarlett asked Cade.

  “Yes.” Cade wrapped his arms around Scarlett. “There’s a lot I can do.”

  Scarlett leaned into Cade. She wanted to know the things Cade could do.

  As her nerves settled, curiosity took hold. Scarlett had always wished for her life to be different. She’d felt in her soul that there was more out there somewhere.

  This place was just that.

  Chapter Six

  So, his baby brother had found a human magic fountain. No big deal. Raith didn’t need humans for power. Still, he couldn’t deny he was curious about this girl. Why was her emotion so potent? Raith didn’t have time to dwell on it, though. He was late for his first battle practice.

  Raith had spent the night in the castle. He preferred the solitude of his tree, but since the battle was nearing, he worried someone would discover his spot. It wouldn’t surprise him if Kassandra sent one of her minions to spy on him. To protect her baby, Cade. Raith rolled his eyes at the thought. For as worthless as Kassandra made Raith think he was, he knew she was worried. In her mind, The Summer Court would simply fall apart if Raith were king. He chuckled.

  At first, he thought he’d just train on his own. He didn’t need some soldier from the royal guard to teach him. If the soldier were so powerful, he wouldn’t be spared from his guard duties. Not that there was much threat to the Summer Court. It hadn’t been attacked by anyone since long before Raith was born. But you can never be too prepared, or so Kassandra always told the king. She made more of the royal decisions than he did.

  After climbing three flights of stairs, Raith arrived at the training tower and entered one of the smaller training rooms. Weapons covered the circular stone walls of the room. Swords, staffs, bows and arrows. Any weapon the summer fae had ever known was in this room. There were no guns. Shooting something so fast and powerful from far away was for cowards, or so the War Council had decided when humans invented them. Guns, cannons, and bombs were banned. If any fae tried to sneak them into the realm, they would vanish. The realm had powers of its own. Sometimes a mind of its own, too.

  As a child, Raith and Cade had fighting lessons. Cade always chose a sword, the typical choice. Their father’s preferred weapon. Raith favored daggers. Their versatility. Their stealth. The feeling of their slash through the air, sharp and quick. They’d be allowed one weapon for the final battle. Daggers would be Raith’s choice. He didn’t wa
nt Cade to know, though. So he would practice with all the weapons. One thing Raith learned long ago was never trust anyone. His trainer could be under the grasp of the queen—feeding her information about Raith’s strengths and weaknesses. Or maybe he would be on Raith’s side. It would be a first, though, so Raith would be careful.

  He grabbed a sword from the wall, its shiny metal glistening in the sunlight sneaking through a window. It felt clunky in his hands as he waved it through the air. He twirled it behind him and it grazed his side.

  “Watch where you’re swinging that thing,” a deep voice said behind him. “I’m Jaser, your trainer.”

  This guy couldn’t be more than a few years older than Raith. He had dark brown hair, with chocolate eyes and caramel skin. Apparently, someone experienced was too much for Raith. Figured. At least he gave the whole trainer thing a chance. Raith hung the sword back up and made for the exit.

  “Leaving so soon?” Jaser asked.

  “I don’t need a trainer,” Raith said as he walked through the door. A whizzing sound passed his ear as a dagger flew into the wall in front of him and clinked on the ground.

  “Your brother wouldn’t have missed on purpose.”

  Raith snatched the dagger. “I wouldn’t have turned my back on him.” He tossed it to Jaser, who caught it in the holster attached to his pants. “Maybe next time you can enlighten me with your wisdom.” Raith turned away, heading straight for his tree.

  Chapter Seven

  A bright light shone through the window and into Scarlett’s eyes, stirring her awake. Her body sank into the mattress as she hugged the warm blankets covering her. She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept so well. Lately, she barely even slept. Last night was a dreamless night. For the first time in a long time, Scarlett woke rested.

  Her eyes blinked as they adjusted to the brightness. The first thing she noticed was the velvet, turquoise canopy above her head, accented with silver swirls, hung from a large, four-poster bed.

  It wasn’t in her bed and she wasn’t in her own clothes. She wore a long, pale pink nighty.

  Scarlett thought back to the night before. Her fight with Ashleigh, the party, and Cade. She remembered the lightness she felt when she was with him. She also remembered leaving her realm and entering his.

  Realm. She was in a different realm. What had she done?

  Alone, her brain felt clearer. The emptiness inside her thrummed. Not only had she lost her mom, but now her sister didn’t even want to speak to her. She was probably better off in a different realm. Maybe her sister would regret blaming Scarlett for everything. Or maybe she’d be glad Scarlett was gone. Either way, Scarlett was somewhere else now. She may never see her sister again.

  The idea should freak her out. Maybe she’d read too many vampire stories, but she wasn’t surprised that a whole other world existed. There had been times she’d see someone lurking that others paid little attention to. Scarlett could feel something different about them, but she couldn’t say what exactly. She didn’t want people to think she was a freak. Like her mom. The thought punched Scarlett, but it was true. To most of the world, her mom’s visions of people who weren’t there and erratic behavior made her crazy. What made Scarlett think her sense about people was any different? Now she wondered if she’d been right all along.

  This world was far more luxurious than the one Scarlett was from. The room she was in came straight out of the fairytale book Scarlett’s mother read to her as a child—when she was on her medication, that was. Scarlett had always loved fairytales. The gold walls had dark wainscoting, and candles littered the room, though none were burning.

  As a child, Scarlett wanted to be a princess swept off her feet by Prince Charming. When she got older, she quit reading the tamed versions and moved to the darker ones. Where Sleeping Beauty was raped by a king. Cinderella’s sister cut off her toe to fit into the slippers. And the evil queen in Snow White was forced to dance in burning hot shoes until she dropped dead. Actual life was messy. Fairytales should be, too. Prince Charming didn’t come to the rescue. Throwing a penny in a wishing well didn’t make your dreams come true. Scarlett would know.

  Scarlett pulled the silk sheet up to her shoulders. The soft material slid against her skin. She closed her eyes and sank her head into the feather pillow. It smelled like lavender. She wasn’t a princess, but she would enjoy this moment as if she were.

  “Morning.” Cade entered the room. Today’s outfit was very different than yesterday’s. At the party, he looked like any other of the guys there. Today, he looked like a sixteenth century prince, in black boots and pants and a long, black leather coat with gold accents. “Peony will be in to help you get ready.”

  “Ready?” Scarlett sat up in the bed. “For what?”

  “To meet my mother.”

  Meet his mother? That seemed quite a big step after one night. They didn’t even do anything but sleep. Cade put his hand on her shoulder. Scarlett’s nerves faded.

  “Don’t worry. My mother just likes to meet any humans I bring into Faerie.”

  A woman, dressed in a modest gray dress, entered the room. Unlike Cade, her ears were round like Scarlett’s. She must have been human.

  “This is Peony. She will find you a dress and help you bathe.”

  Peony curtsied to Cade as he left. Her long silver hair was pulled into a bun. “Come,” she said and then went through a door in the corner of the room.

  Scarlett shivered when she got out of the bed. She rubbed her arms as she followed Peony into the largest bathroom she’d ever seen. Marble covered the floors. The claw foot tub underneath the stained-glass window could fit three of Scarlett into it. Peony turned on the bath water. She left the water running and stood next to Scarlett. She held out her hand. “Your nightgown, Miss.”

  Now Scarlett really felt like a princess. Someone to run her bath water and take her clothing from her. Scarlett pulled the nighty over her head and handed it to Peony. Her nakedness made her modest, but Peony didn’t pay any attention. Scarlett waited until the bathtub was half full and then stepped inside. The hot water warmed her as she sank into it. She relaxed as the tub filled, then Peony helped her wash her hair and back. It was a strange combination of awkward and wondrous. As Peony rinsed the soap off of Scarlett’s shoulders, Scarlett asked, “You’re a human, right?”

  “Yes, Miss.” Peony poured water on Scarlett’s neck.

  “And you help Cade?”

  “I belong to Miss Kassandra.”

  “Cade’s mom?”

  “Yes.”

  Belong. A strange word to use. Peony didn’t work for her. She belonged to her. Like a slave? Scarlett wanted to ask more, but she didn’t want to offend Peony. After she finished the bath, Peony wrapped Scarlett in a plush towel. “I’ll be right back, Miss.”

  While Scarlett waited, she looked at her reflection in a mirror on the wall. Her long hair waved from its wetness. The water had washed away her makeup. The bags that had been under her eyes had halved in size since yesterday thanks to the full night of sleep. Her skin appeared brighter than normal. Peony returned and helped Scarlett into a floor length mauve dress. Sparkles covered the bust. Scarlett sucked in as Peony tightened the corset.

  The bottom of the dress brushed the floor as Scarlett walked back to the bedroom. Peony gestured for Scarlett to sit on the bed, and then she put a pair of gray heels on Scarlett’s feet.

  “How long have you been here?” Scarlett asked.

  “With Miss Kassandra?”

  “Here in this realm.”

  “For three years.”

  Peony moved on to Scarlett’s hair. She brushed out all the tangles. “I’m not crazy, like I’m sure you’re thinking,” Peony said. “My old life wasn’t worth living. Miss Kassandra takes my pain from me, and I serve her in return.”

  What could be so bad that being a servant was the better option? If Cade would take away all Scarlett’s pain, would she do whatever he asked? She hoped not.

  A
nd what exactly did he expect of her?

  Scarlett thought of her mother. She wished more than anything to have her mother back again. That wasn’t possible, though, and she couldn’t even think of her mom without a tightening in her chest. If Cade could take that away, Scarlett wasn’t sure she could say no.

  Great, the stab in her chest was back.

  Once Scarlett’s hair was twisted into a bun, Peony dabbed some makeup on her face. Soon after, Cade was back to escort Scarlett to meet Kassandra. As soon as he stepped in the room, her pain dulled.

  “You look lovely,” Cade said as he locked his elbow with Scarlett’s.

  They walked arm in arm down the hall. Scarlett admired the pictures that hung on the wall. Most were portraits of beautiful beings, but some were of trees and rivers and other landscapes. After climbing a staircase, they went down another hallway and arrived at Kassandra’s room.

  A man with a sword at his belt stood outside the door.

  “We’re here to see my mother,” Cade said.

  The man stepped aside and let them enter. This room was even larger than the room Scarlett had been in. On the far side, a large window covered over half the wall, from the floor to the tall ceiling. Kassandra lounged on a chaise in front of it.

  “Dearest son,” she said in a smooth voice as she stood. “Who have you here?” Kassandra wore a metallic dress that was neither gold nor silver, but a shade in between. The bust pushed up her breasts, which were framed in a square neckline and puff sleeves. A gold crown sat atop her head.

  Scarlett curtsied. Or tried to curtsy, at least. She’d never had to be so proper before. Hopefully curtsying was normal here. Kassandra returned the curtsy with one herself. Scarlett relaxed.

  Cade released his arm from hers and stepped away. “Scarlett, meet my mother, the Summer Queen.”

  The Summer Queen? It made sense—Scarlett was in a castle after all. But to meet some inhuman queen took Scarlett’s breath.