Two Princes of Summer

by Nissa Leder

  Scarlett peered through a cracked door. She entered a library. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with books, from floor to ceiling. Scarlett crossed the room to a window. She was on the second floor of the castle. The courtyard hung below. Scarlett tried to pry the window open. It didn’t budge.

  She closed her eyes and pictured the window lifting. The iciness returned, subtler this time. Her veins warmed, heating her from the inside out.

  The window slid up.

  Like magic.

  That didn’t make sense. Had someone else opened it?

  She didn’t know how she it opened, but she didn’t care enough to stop and worry. She climbed onto the windowsill. The ground was at least ten feet away. Scarlett didn’t have time to be afraid. She turned carefully so her back faced the courtyard and then eased her body down as far as she could while hanging on. Then she dropped.

  Her legs hit the ground with a thud. She fell backwards and landed on her butt. She’d be sore tomorrow, but she was out. Her dress constricted her movement, so she tore a rip in each side. She prayed no one would see her as she jogged through the courtyard. The moon and stars lit the night. They looked the same as if she were back home, lying on a blanket in the grass next to her mom and peering into the sky like they used to. Scarlett felt the pain creeping back in but pushed it away. She needed to focus if she wanted to escape.

  On the far side of the courtyard, she saw a gate, a towering forest behind it. If she could make it there, she’d be harder to find. She ran faster. The gate was cracked open. Score. Scarlett hurried through it and into the cover of trees.

  Now where?

  She followed the path that led from gate. The forest was much darker. The trees were thick and kept the light out. Why couldn’t she have escaped during the day?

  Something shuffled in the trees.

  “Who’s there?” Scarlett asked. Walking alone down the street at home was scary enough. Being alone in a dark forest in a whole other world was much worse.

  A figure stepped out. A woman with nearly translucent skin swayed toward Scarlett. “What a divine gift to find its way to me.”

  “Stay away,” Scarlett said. She bent her legs and raised her fists.

  “And what fear I feel.” She cocked her head to the side and grinned. Her incisors were the longest of her teeth, like a vampire.

  “What are you?” Maybe Scarlett could stall. Cade must be looking for her. So much for wanting to escape. But going back with Cade was better than whatever this lady wanted with her. “What do you want?” She tried to speak louder so someone might hear.

  “Food as delectable as you is hard to come by in these woods.”

  “They’ll know I’m missing. They’ll come for you.”

  The woman circled around her. “I’ll be long gone, and you’ll be nowhere to be found.”

  Scarlett tried to think of something to do. Somewhere she could run. Something she could say to stop her. Instead, she froze.

  The woman attacked.

  Thank god the feast was over. Raith had a long summer ahead of him. He preferred to be alone in his tree. If he had to be around other people, he’d choose people away from the castle. Court was boring. A whole world existed outside the castle walls.

  Raith walked through the courtyard to his door, which, to his surprise, he could see. Normally when he shut it, it glamoured itself invisible to anyone but him. When he got closer, he realized it was cracked open.

  He heard voices. Strange. Most of the forest fae kept away from the castle, and most of the Summer Court kept even further away from the forest.

  A scream made Raith hurry.

  He sprinted through the gate and into the thicket of the forest. Another scream steered him on a path leading deeper into the woods.

  A large figure pinned Scarlett’s hands behind her back. She must have wandered out into the forest to get away from Cade. Maybe Cade should have warned Scarlett about what would happen if she left the safety of the castle. Now she’d be eaten by a banshee. Too bad, too; she might have made the summer more interesting.

  Raith could save her. He really should save her. A poor human seduced into a dangerous world. Here was Raith’s chance to be a hero. The good guy. The misunderstood brother.

  Terror pulsed from Scarlett. Raith breathed it in. Magic buzzed inside him.

  Sympathy for the human filled him. too.

  “Stop,” Scarlett screeched.

  “You smell so warm,” the banshee said. She slid Scarlett’s hair from her neck. “Ow,” she said as she dropped her grip on Scarlett’s wrists. “You burned me.”

  Scarlett lunged from her as she held her hands in the air. The banshee was too quick, though, and snatched Scarlett’s leg and pulled her toward her. She lifted Scarlett by the ankle and sunk her teeth into her calf. Scarlett yelped and tried to break free, but she couldn’t. Whatever she’d been able to do before didn’t help her now.

  Raith sighed. He’d helped a human once before. Out of pity, out of weakness, he wasn’t sure, and he was about to help another one. He darted from the cover of the trees and slammed his body into the banshee. The banshee screeched as she released her grip on Scarlett and rolled into a crouch, anchoring herself between Scarlett and Raith. She hissed.

  “She’s mine now. It’s too late for her.”

  Banshee venom was lethal to humans. It would kill them without the antidote, which Raith didn’t have. He could just leave her to the banshee—pretend he was never here. But if he saved her, at least she wouldn’t be eaten limb by limb, a less merciful death.

  Raith pulled a knife from his boot and chucked it at the banshee. It hit her in shoulder. The banshee gasped, but she pulled it out and threw it back at Raith. Raith dove out of the way and landed with a summersault. The banshee pounced. She gripped his throat. Raith kicked her ten feet back. He hadn’t filled his magic since yesterday. He hadn’t expected a fight. A nice dinner, some banter, but not a banshee at his throat. The pain he’d absorbed from Scarlett was a start, but banshees were relentless. He needed more.

  With his eyes closed, he breathed in the forest around him. He didn’t have much time before the banshee would return. Magic entered his fingertips and moved through his hands. He pushed his palms forward. A murder of ravens flew from them. They pecked the banshee’s eyes as she wailed.

  Raith dusted himself off as he got up. The ravens struck until they faded away. The banshee clawed at her face. She would heal eventually—if nothing ate her first. But if he let her live, she might stick around for revenge. Banshees were spiteful like that. Annoyingly so. Raith brought his knife soaring to his fingers, and then he stabbed the pitiful creature in the heart, leaving it for something else to find as dinner.

  Scarlett was curled into a ball on the cold forest floor. Blood dripped from the wound on her calf. Raith picked her up gently. She groaned but didn’t stir. Once they were in his tree, he carefully placed her on the bed where she should be safe. He needed to go to the healing wing of the castle. Without medicine, Scarlett would die.

  Raith slammed the gate as he returned. The antidote for banshee venom was gone. A fae wouldn’t die from a bite, but it could get infected for a while without treatment. Apparently, a couple of banshees had moved closer to the castle and had been feeding off of unsuspecting fae.

  He snuck into his tree. If Scarlett was still asleep, he didn’t want to wake her. Then he’d have to tell her she would die. When he glanced at the bed, she was sitting up, looking at her leg.

  “Bad night,” Raith said.

  Scarlett’s neck snapped toward him. “Oh, it’s you.”

  She wasn’t afraid of him. That was good.

  “What happened to me?” she asked.

  “When I showed up, you were fighting a banshee.”

  “Oh. That’s what that thing’s called?”

  Raith didn’t remind her that she had burned the banshee. That was unusual. Raith wasn’t sure what it meant. When he checked her wound, he was surprised. It sh
ould have turned purple and started to spread already. Instead, it looked as if it were healing. He wet a cloth and wiped off the dried blood. All that was left was two bite marks. Somehow, Scarlett’s body was repairing.

  “Will I be okay?” she asked as she rubbed the wound.

  “I think so,” Raith said. He could tell her how unusual it was for her to still be alive. That even a fae would be more affected by a bite than she seemed to be.

  But he kept it to himself.

  Scarlett felt heat on her face. She remembered trying to leave the castle, the creature sinking its teeth into her leg and the searing pain that followed. Then everything went blank. Whatever happened next, she couldn’t remember.

  “You’re awake,” Cade said.

  She must not have gotten very far.

  “How’d I get here?” Scarlett asked as she opened her eyes. Cade sat on the edge of the bed.

  “You must have wandered off for a while. I found you in your bed with a ripped dress and dirt all over you.”

  Scarlett pushed herself up and leaned against the backboard. Her body was sore and her head hurt a little, but she felt mostly normal.

  “I have to go to battle practice, but when I get back, I want to show you around the castle,” Cade said. “I’m not going to lock you in. But I hope you’ll wait for me.”

  After Cade left, Scarlett peeked out the door. She wanted to check if he was telling the truth, and it seemed he was. Her last escape attempt was an epic fail, so, for now, she’d stay put. While she waited, she decided to clean herself up. Whatever she’d done last night had left her caked in dirt.

  Someone had to have brought her to Cade’s room. Had she passed out? And what happened to that thing that attacked her? It had wanted to eat her. Scarlett was thankful it didn’t.

  Scarlett went to the bathroom and drew herself a bath. She dipped her feet into the claw foot tub and then let her whole body sink into the hot water. She lifted her left leg to rinse it.

  On her calf, two round punctures swelled her skin.

  Those were definitely new.

  What else had happened last night, and why couldn’t she remember?

  Chapter Twelve

  Scarlett had bathed and dressed in one of the gowns Cade had put in her closet. Not as fancy as the dress she had ruined last night, this one was various shades of green, its top tied together with a forest green ribbon. Scarlett would find a way home; she was determined. But in the meantime, this world made her curious. The magic, the ritual. The fact that she actually felt the emotion of someone course through her. She wanted to ask Cade if that was normal for a human, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t, and that it meant something she didn’t want Cade to know.

  Cade kissed her fingers before he took her arm in his hand and they began their day out of his room. Their first stop was at the top of one of the corner towers. A guard stood in front of the door, but he let Cade and Scarlett through.

  Inside, weapons covered the walls of the round room.

  “This is where I train.” Cade let Scarlett look around the room.

  Most weapons she recognized. Swords, staffs, daggers, a huge bow and arrow. “Can I touch them?”

  Cade nodded.

  Scarlett took a staff from the wall. It was wooden and light. She twirled it through the air. She wasn’t sure how much good it would do against a metal sword that could chop it in half with one slice.

  Some of the weapons looked like the ones she’d seen on television. Some looked fancier, though, decorated with silver jewels. “Why do some have these?” Scarlett pointed to the jewel on the sword. It looked like a mini crystal ball.

  Cade grabbed the sword by the handle and the orb’s color glowed aqua. “Fae magic makes it faster and more powerful.”

  As Cade played around with the sword, Scarlett gripped the handle of a dagger. Its orb flickered violet. She dropped it. It shouldn’t have changed colors. She didn’t have magic.

  Or did she?

  Cade picked up the dagger for Scarlett and put it back on the wall. “Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself.” As he laughed, his eyes squinted. Sometimes Cade looked like a Norse god or an angel, but, every once in a while, he looked nearly human. A gorgeous human, of course. That’s what made him so dangerous. He could put on a pair of jeans and a band t-shirt and have a whole sorority swooning over him at a frat party. He wouldn’t even need to use any of his fae power. But if he did, no girl had a chance. He could make Scarlett forget her own name when he kissed her neck.

  Why did Scarlett melt so easily to Cade’s will? Was it just his fae super ability, or was she just weak?

  After the training room, Cade took Scarlett to the courtyard. When Scarlett was there last night, it was dark and empty. Everyone was enjoying themselves elsewhere after the feast. Today, people strolled through hedgerows and around bushes. Women dressed in gowns. Little girls and boys running around. On the far side of the courtyard was a market. They passed through the tents. There was a store that sold fruit that Scarlett had never seen before, one that sold wooden toys shaped as unrecognizable animals, another with swords, daggers, staffs, and other weapons. Cade stopped at a store with clothing and accessories. He grabbed a headband made of tiny lilac colored flowers Scarlett had never seen before.

  A silver haired woman dressed in a gray dress that was torn at the bottom sat in the corner of the tent. “Only nine silver coins for a handsome man like you,” she said. She must not know who he was. Scarlett wondered how many fae had never even met the people who lived in the castle. In the human world, everyone knew who the president was but he didn’t know most of them. In a world without television, people probably never saw the royals.

  Cade tossed her a gold coin. “Keep the change.” He put the headband on Scarlett’s head like a crown. She felt like a hippy. All she needed now was some weed and a peace-and-love attitude. Cade grabbed her hand and tugged her along. When their fingers touched, she felt a surge of emotion hit her like when the servant spilled the drink on Kassandra. Nervousness swirled with determination, topped with lust. Were those Cade’s feelings or her own?

  Something was happening to her, she just wasn’t sure what.

  They meandered through more of the shops. No one seemed to recognize Cade. A lot of girls stared at him, but no one treated him like he was fae royalty. People eyed her as if she were a black cat there to bring them a thousand years of bad luck.

  Scarlett wanted to think it was because she looked so awesome in her dress and flower-crown, but she was pretty sure it was because she was human and was waltzing around hand in hand with Mr. Gorgeous. All the fae around had a certain beauty, an inhuman quality to their skin, hair, and eyes. Scarlett was flawed by comparison, but she was the one with Cade, not them.

  “How come no one recognizes you?” Scarlett asked as they neared the end of the shops.

  “I’ve glamoured myself to look different,” Cade said. “To them, I look like someone who might work at the blacksmith’s shop. Just an average Summer Fae.”

  “Then why are they all staring?”

  “Ahh, because they sense you’re human.”

  Just as she suspected. Only, she wasn’t sure she was human. At least not a normal one, or else the orb on the sword wouldn’t have changed color when she touched it. But Cade could be wrong. Surely, it was some weird coincidence. Scarlett was just looking into things too much.

  Once they had visited all the shops, they turned back and walked down the street toward the palace. A group of fae women watched Scarlett, their bright eyes scanning her up and down. Scarlett linked her arm with Cade’s and pulled him closer so they’d really have something to stare at.

  Her mood was surprisingly good today. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt this alive. She thought of home—of her mom, Ashleigh, her friends. Pressure built in her chest, threatening to burst. Then slowly, as if being syphoned out, the heaviness dulled and her cheerfulness returned.

  Scarlett took in the world around her
. The bright colors of the fae clothing, the rich azure color of the sky above—much deeper than the sky in the human world. Even the weather was perfect, the temperature pleasantly warm with the softest of breezes. Like a dream world. Why rush home? She was happy here, much happier than she’d been in such a long time. For once, the only person she needed to worry about was herself. For as long as Scarlett could remember, she’d felt like a parent to an unruly child. Her mom tried to mother her, and at times—when she was on her medication—things were great. But the cycle always continued. Her mom felt great. She didn’t need her pills. Normal people didn’t take something that altered their mind and her mom was normal.

  When Scarlett tried to remind her that she felt good because of the pills, her mom would freak out, throwing things across the room, threatening to kill herself—because that was totally normal behavior.

  And off the pills, things were worse.

  She wasn’t fooling herself. Cade wanted her for what her emotion could do for him. So what? She wasn’t here to fall in love with a prince.

  As they approached the castle, the guards eyed them. Cade nodded. The gates opened. He must have removed his glamour.

  “Could someone use their glamour to pretend to be you?” Scarlett asked.

  “Yes, but our guards have a gift that allows them to see through glamours.”

  Scarlett stored the tidbit away with everything else she’d learned so far. She’d taken Peony’s advice to heart. Even if she’d decided to enjoy her time here, she needed to be prepared for whatever came her way. The more she could learn, the better.

  Rather than going inside, Cade led Scarlett around the castle. Along the fence that surrounded the grounds, Scarlett looked for the gate she went through the night before but it was nowhere to be seen. Had she dreamed it?