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 about 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.
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.