It was Peony. “The Queen has called an announcement and asked that everyone in the castle meet in the ballroom.”
Scarlett dressed quickly into a clean outfit and made her way to the ballroom. The room was full of the castle staff. Cade and Kassandra stood on the balcony. Raith stood in the back corner of the room behind everyone. Why wasn’t he with Kassandra and Cade?
“Welcome,” Kassandra said. “I have unfortunate news. I’m afraid the king has perished.”
A murmur swept through the crowd. A punch of sadness hit Scarlett—not her own, but Raith’s. He always seemed to distance himself from the king, but the king was his father. Losing him couldn’t be easy.
“Since the Battle of Heirs has already begun, I will step up as interim ruler,” Kassandra added.
The pain coming from Raith turned to anger. Fury punched her.
“Fae from all over the Summer Court, as well as important guests from the other courts, will be coming to witness the battle. I expect the castle to be in perfect condition. Anyone who does anything less will answer to me.”
Fear swept through the room.
“That’s all,” Kassandra said. “Back to work.”
Scarlett looked for Raith, but he was already gone. She could still feel rage coming from the bond, but with Raith out of her sight, it wasn’t as strong.
When Scarlett went to her training session, Jaser was the only one there.
“Hello, mortal-fae.” Jaser grinned. “Raith is taking a day off, so it’s just us.”
They got straight to work. Today, Jaser showed her what summer energy was. It was basically a ball of light in his hands that he could hurl at someone.
“Depending how powerful the blast is, it could knock you down, or with enough power behind it, shoot a hole right through you.” Jaser’s summer energy was orange in color. “I’m going to throw some at you.”
Scarlett stared at him. “What?”
“You can block them with your staff,” Jaser said. “Don’t worry, they’ll be weak. If they hit you, they’ll sting, but they won’t do any real damage.”
Scarlett held her staff in front of her as Jaser stood across the room and threw balls of energy at her. Who knew years of playing softball could save her life? Swinging the staff was different than swinging a bat, but it required the same hand-eye coordination.
After hitting nearly twenty with her staff, one got by and hit her in the leg. It burned through her leather pants.
“Ow!”
A welt appeared on her skin. But she thought of her leg unblemished, and the welt disappeared before her eyes.
“Nice,” Jaser said. “You can heal yourself.”
“Only if I’m alive to do it.”
Cade buttoned his black jacket. Even though the fae were supernatural and wouldn’t die of old age, when they did die, they paid their respects with a funeral, just as humans did.
The royal cemetery lay in the back corner of the castle grounds. The High Priest stood by the casket holding the king’s body.
Cade still couldn’t believe his father was gone. His father was still a young king, whose own father was nearly three-hundred-years old when he was killed in the last major fae war. But the king was only eighty—still a young adult in the fae world.
Something had been wrong with him for a while. It wasn’t unheard of for a fae to lose his mind—just rare. Regardless of why, the king was dead.
Cade and Kassandra stood next to the priest. Right before the ceremony began, Raith showed up, taking his place next to Cade. The castle servants were there to give their respects, too.
As the High Priest gave his blessing, Cade remembered his father. The king had taught Cade about the history of the fae and how the Summer Kings before him had ruled.
When Cade won the battle—he would defeat Raith—he hoped to be as good a king as his father was.
Once the ceremony was over, Cade went back to his room to have some time alone with his thoughts. In a few days, the battle would begin. The winner would immediately be king. Cade had always expected his father to live for at least a while longer—not for the winner of the battle to become king the moment of victory. Had that ever happened before?
One of the queen’s servants came to Cade’s room. His mother required his presence. Cade sighed, but went straight to her room. He wasn’t sure how his mother was handling his father’s death. She was never one to show her emotion. But if she needed Cade for anything, he would be there.
The queen sat on a chaise by the window in her room. “Son, come, sit.” She gestured to the chair next to her.
The door closed behind Cade as he walked to her.
“With the king gone, our victory is more crucial than it’s ever been. Now is the time for you to focus.”
“Of course, I’ve been training every day.”
“So has Raith, and he’s been strategizing. Why else would he claim the human as his second?”
“To mess with my head,” Cade said. That was Raith. Always finding a way to stir the pot. But picking Scarlett as his second was sloppy and foolish. She was no match for Poppy, a trained Summer soldier. Her mortal nature made her weak and slow and breakable. Had Cade not gotten to know Scarlett, he’d be delighted at his brother’s choice. But the image of Scarlett dead on the forest ground sent a twinge of sadness through him.
“I’m sure that was part of it, but he also took away your main power source,” Kassandra said. “And I think you’ve grown fond of the human.”
He’d enjoyed his time with Scarlett, sure. But he wasn’t attached enough to let it interfere. More than anything, he felt sorry for her, he assured himself.
“What exactly is the bargain you made with Raith?” Kassandra asked.
“Scarlett is mine except for a training session a day with Raith, but I can’t feed on her emotion or make her do anything against her will.”
He hadn’t had much use for her since she stopped Cade in bed. He could feel his power building from his lust, and then once she said to stop, it froze.
“She’s only a burden to you now, son,” Kassandra said.
“What should I do?”
“She should be put in the dungeon. It will mess with her focus, as well as show Raith she means nothing to you.”
The dungeon? That had to be a little extreme. Scarlett hadn’t done anything to Cade. It was all Raith.
“Even now, you’re questioning if I’m right,” Kassandra said. “The stakes are too high for you to show any mercy. You must be strong. For your father.”
Guilt sat in the pit of Cade’s stomach, but he agreed. Kassandra would have her guards take Scarlett and lock her up, only allowing her out for her training session per Cade’s agreement with Raith.
Then, in a few days, Cade would take his brother down.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
A hand on her wrist yanked Scarlett from her dreamscape. Her eyes snapped open. A fae soldier, dressed like the guards at the doors, pulled Scarlett from her bed. Two others joined him. Scarlett kicked as three guards dragged her from her room. Two held her arms and the last, her leg.
“Let me go,” she yelled as they walked by a group of servants.
The guards held her until they tossed her into a cell underneath the castle. Scarlett landed on her butt with a thud.
Anger radiated through her. What assholes. Had Cade asked for her to be thrown in the dungeon like some criminal? All because she turned him down? Typical.
There was a thin mattress on the floor in the corner of the cell with a blanket and a pillow. On the other end was a toilet. This was literally a prison. Scarlett screamed, but no one paid her any attention.
The stone floor sent a shiver up her back, so she moved to the bed. Eventually, she curled under the covers and tried to clear her mind.
Hours later—how many, Scarlett didn’t know—Raith showed up with a guard who unlocked her cell.
“C’mon,” Raith said. Scarlett could feel the rage bursting from him.
When they were in the training room, Raith exploded. “I can’t believe that bitch would do this. And, of course, my little brother went along with it.”
“What’s going on?” Jaser asked.