Kassandra was lovely, with flawless peach skin. Her sea-green eyes were stunning, but cold. A shudder tingled Scarlett’s spine.
Kassandra approached. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. “Why yes, she is potent.”
Potent? What did that mean? Kassandra ran the back of her fingers across Scarlett’s cheeks, sending a shiver down her arms. Normal people didn’t touch other people like they were pets, and right now Scarlett felt more like a dog than a person. Peony was a human and she was a servant. Something told Scarlett that humans weren’t on the top of the food chain in Faerie.
“Such lovely skin.” Kassandra twined her fingers through a strand of Scarlett’s hair that had escaped from the bun. “And what dark hair.”
Scarlett clenched her jaw, her teeth grazing the tip of her tongue. The tang of iron grazed her taste buds.
When Kassandra moved back to the chaise, Cade returned to Scarlett’s side.
“She will be quite well for you, son.”
Cade nodded and guided Scarlett back out of the room.
Whatever just happened, she needed to be careful.
Chapter Eight
Scarlett had met a fae queen and she wasn’t sure if she should be flattered or petrified. The way Kassandra had spoken of Scarlett like she wasn’t even there sent a queasiness to Scarlett’s stomach. And she’d pet her.
Anytime fear or dread surfaced in Scarlett’s mind, it slipped away before she could think too much into it.
“I told you my mother would approve,” Cade said as he sat on the bed that would now be Scarlett’s.
“What did she have to approve of?” Scarlett asked.
Cade gestured for her to sit next to him, and so she did. He rested his hand on her knee. He flicked his other hand and the door swung shut. “My mother is protective of me. You don’t need to worry.”
Before Scarlett could reply, Cade’s hands moved to her face. He gripped her cheeks gently and pulled her mouth to his.
Scarlett pulled away. “This place seems…” She wasn’t sure what to say without making things worse. “Different. Maybe you should take me home.”
Cade sighed. “I didn’t want to do this, but…”
The pain in Scarlett’s chest hit her like a horse’s hoof to her heart. Visions of her mother lying on the ground, the color drained from her face played through Scarlett’s mind. The metallic smell of blood filling the room. The fight they had when Scarlett snuck into the house past curfew the weekend before her mom died. The disappointment in her mom’s eyes.
Scarlett grasped her stomach as she tried not to puke. She thought it hurt before, but that was nothing. It was too much at once. Her head spun.
“Make it stop,” Scarlett screamed. The memories loosened their grip. She looked into Cade’s eyes and saw no remorse. He touched her lips with his finger. Her brain grew numb.
“You’ll like it here. Promise. Just give it time.” Cade’s hand grazed Scarlett’s thigh.
His lips met hers. A tingle spread through her face. Whatever had just upset her seemed light years away. Scarlett reached around Cade’s back and pulled herself closer to him. The desire to be close to him overwhelmed her. She’d craved the touch of someone before, but never like this. This wasn’t normal. Or human. It was something else. Something dangerous.
Scarlett was Cade’s for the taking.
When your mom hears voices, you grow up fast, or that was the case for Scarlett. Maybe if she’d had a dad there to help it would have been different. But it was just Scarlett, Ashleigh, and their mom.
Scarlett learned to pack her own lunches for school at six years old, asked her friends’ moms for rides to and from softball practice after school, and even taught herself to drive.
And, maybe because she took care of herself all too often, she craved attention from guys. Or maybe she just liked how they seemed drawn to her—her bright eyes and flirty grin.
She’d tease them as they ogled her. For once in her life, she was in control of something. They would go only as far as she felt comfortable—never all the way. She wasn’t a prude, her virginity not on some pedestal, but whenever she got close to crossing the line, she pulled back. None of the guys actually knew her. They thought she was pretty, sure, but until she dated Teddy, none of her boyfriends actually cared much about her.
She always had the control, until one night when a guy decided her consent wasn’t important. She was trapped underneath him in his beat-up Chevy truck when someone pulled him off her and told her to leave.
She listened, running four blocks back to Natalie’s, indebted to a stranger.
But now, under Cade’s influence, her virtue was the last thing on her mind.
Chapter Nine
Cade left Scarlett’s room with a smirk on his face. Magic buzzed though him. Scarlett’s pain was feast enough, but the lust she radiated filled him even more. He had to use it wisely, though. For his own desires, he wanted to devour her fully, but her hunger for him would last longer if they took things slowly. Kisses would have to do for now.
It was time for Cade’s first official training session. He’d been preparing over the last couple of months by himself, but once the battle was declared, each competitor was assigned a mentor to train him.
Cade entered the training tower and went into the battle room where his father had met him and Raith. A girl dressed in a brown fighting suit, with a long blonde ponytail that fell to the middle of her back, looked out the window and onto the courtyard. The open window allowed a breeze to sweep through the room.
“You’re late,” she said as she turned to him. Her silver eyes glared at him.
“You’re a girl,” Cade said. He was expecting some burly, fae warrior to be waiting for him, not some scrawny blonde girl.
“A woman, to be correct.” She approached him. “Got a problem with it?”
She was a pretty girl, at least. She might not be so bad, he thought, until she slugged him in the stomach.
Cade bucked over as he held his gut.
“I am the top graduate from last year’s battle class, and I don’t appreciate you ogling me.”
Cade straightened up. “Fine.”
“I’m Poppy,” she said. “And I know you’re Cade. Nice to meet you. Blah, blah.”
No one had ever been so direct toward him. He wasn’t sure if he was offended or impressed.
“Pick a weapon,” Poppy said.
Cade browsed the weapon wall. He grabbed a sword. He loved the feeling of the weight in his hands.
“Typical.” Poppy grabbed an iron staff. “The sword is a classic, and, when used right, powerful. Now, let’s face each other and practice.”
Cade swung the sword at Poppy’s throat. Maybe that would shut her up. Her staff met the sword and pushed it back toward Cade. As he veered it back at Poppy, she twirled her staff above her head and around Cade’s body, and then hit the back of his knees, knocking him to the ground.
“It’s also heavy and clunky, and, if you don’t control it properly, a liability.”
This Poppy was going to drive him crazy before he even made it to the battle. She reached her hand out to help him up, but he ignored it and pushed himself from the ground.
“You can be as mad as you want, but don’t think your brother’s trainer isn’t teaching him all of this, too.”
“Since when do they allow girls into Battle School?”
“Since the General had a daughter.”
The General’s daughter? Cade’s father had made his best friend the general when he became king. He was infamous for killing the Winter King and earning the Summer Court victory in the recent war. Cade didn’t know he’d had any children.
“Let’s try again,” Cade said.
The second time, he lasted on his feet for a few minutes before Poppy knocked him down. She was too damn quick. How did someone so small have so much strength?
“Better already,” she said.
Cade bit his tongue.
The longer they practiced, the dryer Cade’s mouth became.
Poppy had barely worked up a sweat. After an hour of Cade getting knocked down over and over, she declared practice over.