Cade sat on the bed next to her and placed her hand in his. The emotion inside Scarlett emptied until her mind was clear again, like a weight had been lifted from her thoughts.
She thought of her mother and her sister but felt nothing but numbness. It was better this way.
“I have battle practice this morning,” Cade said, hand still twined with Scarlett’s. “Will you be all right?”
Sometimes he acted like she was nothing more than a pet. Other times, like now, he treated her like she was someone he cared about.
“I’ll be fine.” She withdrew her hand and pushed herself out of the bed. “I may go outside and explore the castle grounds, if that’s all right.”
“Of course. Just don’t wander too far. It’s dangerous outside the castle walls.”
Scarlett looked to the scar on her leg. She knew all too well the trouble she would find if she tried to leave. Somehow, she had escaped the creature, but she still wasn’t sure how. And there’d be no point in running now. She couldn’t leave, not with the bargain she’d made with Raith, which she wasn’t about to share with Cade. She didn’t know exactly what happened when someone broke a fae bargain, and she had no desire to find out by breaking one.
After Cade left, Scarlett drew herself a bath. As she soaked in the hot water, she thought of her unusual encounter as Cade and Raith competed in The Hunt. For some reason unbeknownst to her, the Unseelie King—apparently a seductive ganacanagh— spent over an hour talking with her. Kaelem asked her questions about her life before entering Faerie—about her family, friends, hobbies. He claimed humans fascinated him. With the Unseelie Court in the mortal realm, he liked to get to know them better, or so he said. Scarlett didn't believe him. He was probably laughing at the mundaneness of the human life.
He offered to answer some of her questions, though.
When she asked him if humans were safe in the Unseelie Court, he bluntly said, “No, humans are never safe around the fae.”
Cade had already told her as much, but knowing that two fae courts resided in the mortal realm caused Scarlett to shudder. It was one thing to bring humans here to Faerie, but another for the dangerous creatures to live alongside humans. The Summer Court fae were powerful, but something inside Scarlett screamed that Kaelem was far more of a threat to her than anyone here in Faerie. Cade had said that the Seelie and Unseelie had limited the power of the seasonal courts of Faerie, leaving their fae gifts unrestrained.
Before she could ask anything else, Raith had shot the beast, and Kaelem evanesced Scarlett behind the thrones. Then he vanished. She wasn't even sure why he came to The Hunt. He didn't seem too concerned about who won. Did he care who would be king?
What fascinated Scarlett most was how the courts interacted with each other. Did they feud like European countries did in the sixteenth century? Or did they coexist somewhat peacefully? Scarlett guessed it was more the former, at least if Cade’s reaction to Kaelem was any indication. She kept her conversation with Kaelem to herself.
After Scarlett had enough soaking, she got out and dressed. She braided her hair into a French braid, then headed outside. The other day, Cade had shown her the back entrance, which was unguarded. It was magically enchanted as only a castle exit, though, and Scarlett would have to walk around the castle to get back inside. She didn't mind. The weather in Faerie was perfect, at least here in the Summer Court. Like a perfect June day, the sun warmed her skin as a slight breeze blew past.
She exited the castle to the garden, another benefit to the castle’s back door. There were rose bushes like the ones on the courtyard, and then there were tulips, chrysanthemums, hydrangea, and peonies. As a child, Scarlett’s mother taught her about different types of flowers. Most kids loved picture books, but Scarlett’s favorite was a gardening book of her mom’s, filled with pictures and descriptions of flowers.
Roses were her mom’s favorite flower. She’d spent every morning grooming the rose bushes she had planted along the backside of the house—even when she was off her meds. It was the one consistent thing her mom did. After her mom died, Scarlett tried to keep them healthy, but she didn’t inherit her mom’s green thumb. Between going to school and doing her homework so she could pass her senior year, Scarlett had little time, and, frankly, gardening just wasn’t her thing. Ashleigh would have kept them as perfect as their mom had no matter how busy she was, but she was away at school finishing up her first semester of college.
As Scarlett walked through the garden, she found yellow snapdragons, her favorite—partly because she loved their shape, but mostly because they had the word dragon in them which, as a child, convinced her they were from a magical land. She supposed that, now that she was here, it was true.
The numbness from Cade’s feeding had worn off already. She hadn’t told him her recovery time improved every day. It was one of the many signs that she wasn’t like other humans. Surprisingly, the pain and fear the nightmare had resurfaced was manageable now. This morning she thought it would consume her, but now, she breathed it in and exhaled it into the wind to drift wherever the breeze would take it.
Even though Scarlett knew the danger she was in amongst the supernatural creatures, a part of her felt this place was right. It was an unexplainable feeling but one she couldn’t ignore.
For now, she had no choice but to stay. But what about after the battle? Would she ask to remain, and, if so, what would she be to whomever became king?
Or could she finally return home and face her life again?
Raith spun and struck his daggers down onto Jaser’s sword.
“Better,” Jaser said. “But still predictable.”
“We've been training for weeks now.” Raith dropped his daggers to his side. “Of course you know my moves.”
“And your brother and you used to train together. Won't he know them, too?”
Raith groaned. Would Cade remember how Raith fought? Probably. But he didn't know about Raith’s nature magic. Neither did Jaser. During the first training sessions, Raith was convinced Jaser would get on his last nerve. But the more he got to know Jaser, the more Raith realized he wasn’t so bad. A brilliant warrior, too.
Maybe even a friend.
Raith had already learned a lot. He wanted to trust Jaser with his nature magic secret, but he couldn’t risk it. Maybe Jaser was devoted to helping Raith win the battle now, but allegiances could always change. Cade wouldn’t try to bribe Jaser. He would follow the rules and win or lose fairly. Kassandra, on the other hand, would fight dirty, doing whatever she could to assure her little boy’s victory.
“How’s your summer magic coming along?” Jaser asked.
Raith cupped his hands and thought of his power. A small blue orb appeared and then vanished. “Shitty.”
“You'll get it.” Jaser hung his sword on the wall. “Eventually.”
“Before or after my brother blasts me into oblivion?”
Raith was confident with his nature power, sure, but if he could master his summer power, too, then he’d really be able to show his brother up.
“Past kings have won the battle without their summer magic,” Jaser said.
“Yeah, like one out of ten of them.”
“Better than none.”
A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Jaser opened it to a male human servant with an envelope in his hand. He grabbed the note and the servant hurried away.
“I don't know why they're so scared of me.” Jaser flipped the envelope over. “Looks like it's for you.”
Raith flung it through the air to his hands and opened it. Inside was a note from the infirmary saying that the king was drifting away.
Raith crumpled the note in his hand.
“Everything all right?” Jaser’s eyebrows furrowed.
“The king is getting worse.”
“How is that possible? Fae aren't as frail as humans. We don't get sick.”