Two Princes of Summer

by Nissa Leder

  “Thanks for your help,” she said as she hurried down a path enclosed by rose bushes on each side.

  “Where do you plan to go?” Raith asked. The front gate to the castle grounds was locked. And if she somehow made it past, humans couldn’t make it far from the castle without being stopped. If they did, they’d be in even bigger trouble. The forest was no place for mortals.

  “Home.”

  “I’m not sure how much you know about the Summer Court, but you’re not going to make it home by walking.”

  The girl sighed and turned back to Raith.

  “You could take me home.” She smiled. A smart girl, using flirtation to wield Raith. Well, trying to.

  “I don’t even know your name.”

  “Scarlett.”

  “And how does a love like yourself end up here?”

  Scarlett hesitated. Raith wondered if she’d mention Cade, if she even knew who he was here or why she agreed to come with him.

  “I was tricked. Sort of. Mostly drunk.”

  At least she was honest. Some humans claimed they were forced, but the realm wouldn’t let him in unless they agreed willingly. It didn’t matter if they were intoxicated or coerced, though. Any verbal agreement counted.

  Raith tasted her emotions. They had been bursting from her when he saw her in the human realm. Today, they had dulled, but pain still lingered on her skin. Cade had already fed from her, Raith could tell. If he guessed right, Cade had drained her completely not long ago. A void would linger after a human’s emotions had been drained. It would fill back up eventually, but it would take time. Raith was surprised this girl had the determination to leave. Most humans took days to replenish themselves.

  “Who brought you here?” He knew the answer, but he wanted her to answer him.

  “Okay, look, I made a mistake. I was weak, and I agreed to come here because I thought it was a good idea. It doesn’t matter who brought me, I just need to leave.”

  “Why don’t you ask whoever brought you to take you back?”

  Scarlett’s forehead creased. “I don’t think he’ll take me.”

  This girl was worried, and she should be. Cade had found a brimming source of power. A jackpot for the upcoming battle. Raith could ruin it. He could take her back, help her hide, and Cade would have to find someone else.

  “Scarlett.” Cade yelled from the doorway, a scowl on his face.

  Raith had taken too long. Shit. Cade was there to take her back.

  Scarlett pleaded with Raith one last time with her big eyes. When he didn’t respond, she groaned and stomped to Cade.

  Another opportunity was sure to present itself. Raith would just have to wait.

  He had to admit, this girl intrigued him, too.

  Chapter Ten

  Cade rushed through the front door. Scarlett and Raith stood together, too close for his liking. A trickle of fury set his brows. He exhaled, releasing the tension.

  How did Raith find Scarlett? If there was anyone he wanted to keep Scarlett from, it was him. His brother would steal her for nothing more than a laugh.

  When Cade called her name, she walked to him. Raith followed her.

  “I’ve been worried,” Cade said as he kept his anger down. Letting his irritation show would only fuel his brother.

  “You caught me,” Raith said. “I stumbled upon Scarlett here and thought she deserved to see more of the castle than your bedroom.”

  “A great idea, but I can take it from here.”

  Scarlett looked back and forth between the brothers. Raith stared at Scarlett. Cade could sense curiosity from Raith. A fae could read another fae if his mind shields weren’t in place, and right now, Raith’s were slightly lowered.

  “Very well, brother.” Raith bowed to Scarlett. “It was nice to meet you, love. I’m sure I’ll see you again.” He winked and walked through the courtyard, away from the castle.

  Cade had something that Raith wanted. This could be fun.

  Scarlett approached Cade wearily.

  “Don’t let Raith scare you.” Cade reached his hand out and grabbed Scarlett’s. “Better stick close to me, though. He likes to ruin anything that’s mine.”

  The battle practice left Cade hungry. He tasted Scarlett, but her emotion level was still near empty. She should have stayed in her room and slept. What made her wander off?

  His mother was right. Scarlett was crucial to his training. After he’d felt her emotion, an average human would seem meager. He’d better be more careful from now on. He needed to keep Scarlett—and to himself.

  Scarlett saw her way home snatched from the grasp of her fingers. Raith was going to take her, she could feel it. Cade and Raith didn’t get along. That was apparent from the glare Cade gave Raith when he saw Scarlett with him. She didn’t know who he was at that point, but she hoped Raith would grab her and make her disappear before Cade called her. Instead, Cade took her back to her room where she’d spent the last three days.

  Somehow, she would find a way home.

  Cade entered her room. He had placed a spell on the door to keep Scarlett inside. Stupid magic. It always looked so wonderful in movies. In her life, not so much. Every time Cade came to the room, he drained her pain. She grew numb, until nothing mattered. He’d then kiss her and hold her close, until all she could think about were his hands on her body.

  Then he’d leave.

  Most guys didn’t leave until you slept with them. Not that Scarlett would know. She might not have been as innocent as her sister Ashleigh, but, somehow, she made it through high school without having sex. Not that people would actually believe her if she told them. Too many guys she dated told other stories, and she never cared enough to argue. She’d done plenty of other things to them, so there was no point in pretending she was an angel.

  She hungered for the touch of someone else. Of a boyfriend twisting his hands through her hair, or down the curve of her hips. Finding a boyfriend was never hard. They flocked to her like magnets to metal. She was pretty, sure, but so were a lot of other girls. She had something else they didn’t. She’d dated more guys than she cared to remember. But once the butterflies disappeared and they got bored of her saying no to sex, she’d dump them. The only guy she actually liked was Teddy, and she messed that up before it even began.

  Scarlett hid under the covers, still in her nightgown. If she was stuck in this room, why bother putting on actual clothes? Cade sat on the bed next to her and pulled her blankets back. “As beautiful as you look in the nightgown, I think it’s time you change into actual clothes.”

  “What’s the point?” Scarlett asked.

  After Cade drained her, she would lie on the bed, numb, for a few hours. But soon enough, her pain would return and so would her mind. She’d remember that she was stuck here, and that somehow she needed to get home. But when his lips were on hers, home was the last thing on her mind.

  “I’m sorry I’ve kept you up here. Faerie is a dangerous place for humans.” Cade rested his hand on hers. “I’ll take you out and show you our world. I promise. First, though, we need to get you ready.” Cade grinned. Scarlett couldn’t deny he was beautiful. Inhumanly beautiful. Dangerously beautiful. Scarlett had let not-so-beautiful boys do all kinds of things to her. How was she going to resist Cade?

  Peony was back to help Scarlett get ready. Apparently, Scarlett was to be Cade’s date to a feast. Cade had been bringing her food to the room, but she’d only eaten half of it. It was her way of protesting being stuck, but all it did was leave her hungry. What she did eat was delicious. Warm turkey, or what tasted like turkey, with gravy and purple potatoes. Scarlett wondered what there would be to eat at a royal feast.

  After a bath, Peony brushed Scarlett’s hair and painted her face with make-up. Unlike last time when she used neutral colors, this time Peony applied a teal shadow to Scarlett’s eyelids. She lined them with dark liner, then brushed mascara on her eyelashes. After some blush and lip gloss, Scarlett’s makeup was done. Next was her dress.<
br />
  “As Cade’s human, all eyes will be on you,” Peony said as she pulled a dress out of a garment bag. “The royal designer created this just for you.”

  The light pink fabric shimmered from the light of the chandelier. The dress hugged Scarlett’s bust, hips, and thighs and flared out at the bottom. The neckline dipped into a deep V and flaunted her cleavage. Scarlett felt like a walking mermaid. She sat on the bed while Peony curled her hair into long waves. The curling iron she used looked like Scarlett’s back home, except there was no cord attached to it.

  “Doesn’t it need power?” Scarlett asked.

  “It’s powered with magic.”

  Oh, of course it was. Duh. What else would she expect? After Scarlett’s hair was curled, Peony twisted a strand on each side and pinned them back. “Perfect.”

  Scarlett looked at herself in the mirror. She had thought she’d looked good when she went to senior prom. Now, she actually looked like a princess. “Isn’t it a little weird Cade is bringing a human to this feast?”

  Peony fluffed Scarlett’s hair with her fingers. “Yes, normally humans aren’t as publicly paraded.”

  “Oh, and this feast, it’s a big deal?”

  “Cade and his brother Raith will be battling for the right to the throne at the end of the summer. This feast is the first event of the tradition.”

  “How do you know all this?” Scarlett didn’t want to seem rude, but Peony was a human, too, and she seemed to know so much.

  “I listen. You should, too.”

  Cade returned dressed in a gray suit with gold and maroon accents embroidered on the chest. He held silver fabric in his hand, which he handed to Scarlett. “To keep you warm.”

  Scarlett unfolded it to reveal a long, silky cape. She swung it over her shoulders. Cade buttoned the front for her. He latched his arm with hers and escorted her out of his room. They walked down the hall and to a wide set of stairs, which led down and opened into a large banquet room filled with long tables. Scarlett peered across the room, which was surrounded by balconies filled with tables that looked down upon them. A thousand eyes stared at Scarlett as she walked next to Cade. Kassandra sat at the head of the table text to a man wearing a crown. The king. Cade hadn’t mentioned his father, but whatever Scarlett was expecting, it wasn’t an old man with gray hair that sat upon his shoulders. The king’s eyes drooped as he looked at Scarlett.

  “Father,” Cade said as he pulled out a chair for Scarlett. “This is Scarlett.” He removed Scarlett’s cape and laid it over her chair.

  “A human?” the king said. He stared at her with a tilted head. Scarlett held her breath. What if he disapproved? “Welcome, Miss Scarlett. It’s a pleasure to have you.”

  Scarlett sat down. Gold glassware had been placed in front of her. Chatter flowed through the room. Their table spread from one end of the room to the other, in between a similar table on each side. Above, guests looked down at them. “There are so many people here,” Scarlett whispered to Cade.

  “It’s a celebration. I’ve challenged my brother to a battle at the end of the summer. This is the opening ceremony.”

  Peony had already told Scarlett this, but Scarlett didn’t mention it. She didn’t want Peony to get in trouble. A hush spread throughout the room. Scarlett followed everyone’s stares to see Raith waltz into the room with a dark haired fae at his side. “Father, Kassandra.” He bowed to them. “Cade, Scarlett.” He winked at her. He didn’t bother to introduce his date.

  After everyone had taken their places at the table, the king stood. He pressed his fingers to the side of his throat and spoke, “Welcome. We’ve joined today to begin a summer full of festivities.” His voice boomed through the room. He balanced himself with a cane in his left hand. “My youngest son Cade has challenged his brother Raith to the Right of Heir, which will take place on end of Summer’s eve. I wish them both well.” The king reached his hand out. A wine glass, already full with a deep red liquid, flew to his hands. The king raised it, his hands shaking. “To my sons.”

  The room followed by raising glasses into the air and clinking them against one another. Scarlett joined in. She sipped the drink. It was fruitier than she was expecting. Every time she had wine, it was bitter and caused her to grimace. This was delicious. She drank some more.

  “Fae wine is delicious,” Raith said to Scarlett as he took a drink. “Quite lethal to humans.”

  Scarlett froze. Had this all been a trick? Did she just drink poison?

  Cade reached his hand under the table and rested it on Scarlett’s thigh. “Don’t listen to my brother. Fae wine won’t hurt you. It’s just more potent than human alcohol, so you may want to take it slow.”

  “Or if you’re spending the night with Cade, you may want to chug it.” Raith raised his glass to Scarlett.

  She swallowed a chuckle.

  Women dressed in cherry red dresses with white aprons brought out dinner. Scarlett was pretty sure they were human. Slices of turkey and ham were placed on Scarlett’s plate, paired with potatoes and a dish of fruit. Scarlett tried a piece that looked like pineapple, only it was blue instead of yellow. Like the wine, it was sweeter than she expected.

  “So, brother, where did you meet such a lovely human?” Raith asked.

  Cade sipped his wine. “It doesn’t concern you.”

  “Curiosity has the better of me.”

  Scarlett looked away. It seemed awkward to be talked about like she wasn’t there. She watched the humans walk around and fill the wine glasses from golden pitchers.

  “That’s fine with me,” Cade said. He ran his hand up and down her leg, sending a shiver through Scarlett.

  A woman approached their table. She lifted Kassandra's wine glass and poured more in. As she set it down, her hand slipped and knocked the glass over. Red liquid poured onto Kassandra’s lap.

  A rush of panic spread through Scarlett. Panic that wasn’t her own. She could feel the woman’s terror pulse through her veins as if she were the one the queen was glaring at. Scarlett closed her eyes and breathed in the surge of emotion, causing something to buzz inside of her. Iciness spread through her, like when she’d entered Faerie.

  What was happening to her?

  “I’m so sorry, my queen,” the woman stammered. “I will clean it up.”

  The queen stared at the woman. She huffed and flicked her hand. The liquid from her lap rushed back into the cup, which sat back on the table as if nothing had happened. “You are dismissed for the night.”

  The woman nodded and rushed away, taking her nervousness with her.

  As the dinner finished up, people came over to congratulate Cade and Raith. Scarlett wasn’t sure a battle against your brother really deserved congratulations, but she didn’t know much about the Summer Court. The other fae at the dinner were all beautiful. Some had dark skin, others light, with hair ranging from blonde to midnight black. Most who approached glanced at Scarlett, but no one acknowledged her unless Cade introduced them.

  A blonde woman eyed her as she reached Cade.

  “Such a lovely dinner, my king and queen,” the girl bowed. She was the only woman in the room not in a dress. Instead, she wore leather pants and vest. “Cade.” She bowed again.

  “Poppy, this is Scarlett.” Cade gestured to Scarlett. “Scarlett, this is Poppy, my trainer.”

  Interesting. Poppy had an intensity in her eyes that made her look like she was ready to kick ass. She nodded to Scarlett, then turned her attention back to Cade. “I’d like to arrange next week’s practice times, if you have a moment.”

  “Of course,” Cade said as he stood. “I’ll meet you at the top of the stairs, Scarlett. I think it’s time we leave.”

  When Cade left with Poppy, Scarlett excused herself from the table and headed to the stairs. Someone followed.

  “We meet again,” Raith said as he caught up with Scarlett.

  “I guess we do,” she said.

  Raith circled in front of her. “There’s something different abo
ut you.”

  “Oh?” Scarlett would have thought he was crazy earlier, but after feeling the woman’s emotion surge through her, she wondered if she was different. “Shouldn’t you be with your date?”

  “She’ll survive,” Raith said. “My brother seems infatuated with you.”

  Scarlett tried to back away. Something told her Raith wanted nothing more than to hurt his brother. “Not really.”

  “Your emotion is lovely. Right now, you’re afraid I’m going to hurt you.”

  “Should I be?”

  “Not of me,” Raith said.

  Scarlett turned and hurried up the stairs. She wasn’t sure where she was going. All she wanted was to get home.

  After Cade spoke to Poppy about training, he went to the top of the stairs to find Scarlett. She wasn’t there. Instead, Raith sat on the top stair.

  “Where’s Scarlett?”

  “She went that way.” Raith pointed.

  “Leave her alone,” Cade said. “She’s mine.”

  “Quite the protective one, are we? And of a human.”

  “You only want her because I’m the one who found her.” Cade marched up the staircase, past Raith. “I need energy to train for our battle, and bringing a human here was easier than going to the human realm.”

  “Then why not find a different human?”

  Why did Raith care so much how Cade fed? Whatever the reason, Cade liked it. Scarlett was his, not Raith’s. Soon, the crown would be Cade’s, too.

  Chapter Eleven

  It was the first time she’d been out of Cade’s room and away from him in three days, and Scarlett finally had a chance to run free. She wasn’t sure what her plan was. She was in another realm, more than just a cab ride away from home. Unless there were realm jumping cabs here. Somehow, she doubted it. If she could get away from the castle, she could hide until she found someone to help her home. Not the greatest plan, but a plan. It beat playing Rapunzel in the room Cade had put her in.

  Raith’s words replayed in Scarlett’s mind. Not of me. Maybe he was just trying to freak her out. Or maybe he was saying she should be afraid of Cade. Or Kassandra. Something about the queen scared Scarlett. She’d always had good intuition about people, and her gut told her to steer clear of the Summer Queen. Maybe Scarlett had just read too many fairytales where queens were always evil.