“We would be honored to serve you all of our years,” Dad told the Summer King. “Thank you for showing mercy. Today’s events will never leave our lips. You have our word.”
McKale and Brogan stepped away. The King lifted his arms as he’d done to his Fae minutes before. A moment of fear shot through me as I wondered if this was a trick—if he’d decided to erase our memories after all. But the words never came to open our minds. Instead he sang a stream of magical words that enveloped us. I felt power constricting every cell of my body, blooming from my core outward, strengthening every fiber of my existence. Next to me Cassidy made a sound of surprised bliss.
As the spell ended with another zap, I inhaled, revived.
“There,” the King of Summer said. “Let us be finished with unpleasantries this day. I came to see a binding. Shall we have one?”
McKale came forward and took both my hands in his.
“Aye,” he said. “We shall.”
UNFORTUNATELY, THE TALES ABOUT Fae dancing all night were truth. They didn’t leave until dawn, which meant I couldn’t run off to console Cassidy when she left the party. As McKale and I finally headed to his, I mean our room, I peeked in at Cass but she was already asleep.
I’d awoken the next morning with a start in McKale’s arms, sunlight seeping through the drapes of cloth. Trying not to wake him, I slipped my dress back on and quietly left the room. But when I got to my old hut Cassidy wasn’t there. I ran around the nearly empty village. It had to be close to noon, but most of the Leprechauns were still sleeping after being danced to exhaustion the night before.
Panic began to rise as I burst back into my new room and found McKale sitting on the edge of the bed rubbing his eyes. He looked up at me blearily.
“I can’t find Cass.”
Without a word he dressed and we both ran. No need to discuss where. We headed to Clour land.
We were both breathing hard as we splashed through the shallow part of the stream, my dress getting soaked at the bottom despite my efforts to hold it up. Finally, at the edge of Clour land we found her. She must have heard our loud approach, but she didn’t turn to look at us. She leaned against a tree, one arm around it, watching as Rock, Blackie, and the blond twins gathered sticks and twigs at the other edge of the forest.
“I’ve been debating whether or not to say goodbye,” Cassidy said to the air.
I came up to her side and put a hand on her shoulder. For once, she wasn’t even crying. I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind and rested my chin on her shoulder. She rested her hands on mine and turned her face enough for us to press our cheeks together. I had to shut my eyes against a wave of emotion.
I had no words—no method of taking this pain from her.
A shout from the Clour boys made us look again. Blackie and the twins were playing around, but Rock wasn’t joining. He tossed his sticks onto the pile and sat on a log, staring out at the trees.
The poor guy looked… depressed.
McKale stepped up next to us, his eyebrows drawn together as he watched his friend from afar.
“He’s not forgotten ye, Cass. Perhaps he does no’ have the exact memories, but look at ‘im. His soul remembers. He knows he’s lost somethin’.”
Cassidy sniffled, and her tears came now. McKale drew back as if he’d said something wrong, and I rubbed his arm to tell him he did okay. Then I held Cass tighter.
“Sweetie,” I said. I needed to be real with her. “We can introduce you to him again. You can have your goodbye, but it’s not going to be easy when you remember and he doesn’t. It might make it hurt even worse.”
“I know.” She wiped her eyes and sucked in a breath. “I spent all night thinking about it. I don’t think I can handle him not remembering. I know I have to go back home and finish school. I know I have to go to college or start working with Mom and Dad next year. I keep telling myself Ronan is just another ex-boyfriend who I’ll eventually stop thinking about.”
But he was so much more than that.
I heard her swallow. “It’ll be okay, right, Sissy?”
“Yeah, chickadee. It’ll be all right in time.” Inside I was cringing. I knew Cass, and I knew she would be hurting for a long time. She had many bygone boyfriends, but she hadn’t loved any of them. Only Rock. Only the boy who wouldn’t remember.
“Come on,” I whispered. I moved to her side and took her hand. She let me lead her away.
“I’ll be ‘round in a bit,” McKale said. I gave him a grateful nod as he turned to seek out his Clour friend.
“Wait!” Cassidy said. Her eyes were wide. “I have to try. I have to see. Just this once.”
Her eyes pleaded with me, and I nodded. I would not stop her. “Just… be careful what you say. He might be feeling confused and I don’t want you to accidentally make things worse for him.”
She agreed, and the three of us walked through the trees.