by Nissa Leder
So, if Scarlett made this deal and then Natalie was desperate to have her emotion fed from again, she could find another fae. Would that be difficult? Or were fae everywhere, eagerly waiting for a new human to prey on?
Cade had said Raith’s power laid in memories.
“Then take away her memory of this place,” Scarlett said. It was better that way. Then it would be as if she was never here and she would have never seen Scarlett. But taking away someone’s memory without her consent seemed low. But it was for Natalie’s own protection, Scarlett convinced herself.
“I could, but I’d need something else in return.”
“What?”
Raith shrugged. “How about…a kiss?”
“Just one kiss?” Was there some trick behind it? What harm could come from a kiss?
“One measly kiss and it will be as if Natalie never saw any of this.” He gestured to the ballroom.
“Why? Why all this trouble to make sure I don’t leave until after the battle?” Scarlett was just a mortal, and the importance, or lack thereof, of humans in this world was apparent.
“You’re making this whole battle far more interesting,” Raith said. “So, do we have a deal?”
“Deal.”
“We’ll seal it with the kiss.” He stepped toward Scarlett and placed his hands on her hips.
Scarlett looked up. A grin molded on his lips.
“Don’t look so miserable, love.” Raith leaned in and pulled Scarlett’s body into his.
Her chest pressed into his as his hands moved to her face.
She closed her eyes.
His tongue grazed her bottom lip before his mouth crushed into hers.
Scarlett’s instinct took over as she kissed him back. Their mouths moved feverishly as his hands roamed her body, grazing gently over her breasts and moving on to her waist.
This was pure passion, more than anything she had felt in her entire life. Her hands combed his hair.
And then he pulled back, a smirk on his face. “Well, that was…”
“Get Natalie home safely and make her forget it all,” Scarlett’s tone was bitter. But it wasn’t Raith that she was furious at; it was herself. It was supposed to be a quick kiss. Not whatever that was.
“As you wish.” His index finger brushed over his lips as a smirk formed on his mouth. “And Scarlett? Should you ever grow tired of my little brother, I can take your pain away better than he can.”
He disappeared before she could refuse him with some colorful words.
Scarlett wiped her mouth as she walked back up the stairs. She could still taste Raith’s mouth on hers.
And she didn’t hate it.
Chapter Eighteen
Cade’s magic buzzed through him as Poppy swung a dagger at his throat. He blocked it with his sword, twisting her dagger away from his face.
Ever since he inhaled Scarlett’s pain during the ritual, power surged through Cade. Her emotion had always been delicious, but with the added effect of the ritual, it was the most delectable thing he’d ever tasted. And she was his, not his brother’s. That alone made him happy, but everything would be even better when he defeated Raith in the upcoming battle.
Poppy sliced at Cade’s stomach. His sword clinked against her dagger. She swiped her other dagger at his neck, stopping before she severed his jugular.
How was she such a good fighter? With magic blazing through him, he thought he’d have an advantage. Apparently not.
“You’re getting better, but your sword is still too slow.” Poppy retracted her blade. “You should practice with the bow and arrow.”
Cade groaned. He’d always hated the bow. “The sword might be slow, but with a bow and arrow Raith would defeat me in mere seconds.”
“Not for the battle,” Poppy snapped. “For The Hunt.”
Right, The Hunt. Cade would have the pleasure of chasing down a boar. He couldn’t contain his excitement.
As Cade shot arrows across the room at a target, missing nearly every time, Poppy gave him some tips. “The boar will be drawn to the creek, so if you find the water, follow it.”
“Got it.” Another miss, but at least this one was respectably close.
“What’s going on with this human girl you’ve brought here?” It was the first time Poppy mentioned Scarlett.
“She refills my magic.”
But it was more than that. Sure, the main benefit to Scarlett was the ecstasy of magic she filled Cade with, but something else about her soothed him. He hadn’t felt as relaxed as he did the other day when he took her to the beach behind the castle in years. Maybe ever.
Duty. It was the pressure he’d felt his whole life. He was a prince—with certain expectations heaped upon him at birth. His older brother flew through life on a careless wind, but Cade wanted his people to respect him. Most of all, he didn’t want to disappoint his mother.
“And that’s all?” she asked.
Cade shrugged. He shot another arrow, this time through the target’s center. “That’s the most important part.”
A flicker of curiosity shot through Poppy’s eyes, but she didn’t ask any more questions about Scarlett. Instead, she brought up Raith. “And what’s the story behind you and your brother?”
“What story?”
“You seem...distant.”
Cade chuckled. “You’re quite the observant one.”
“He’s going to try to get into your head,” Poppy said. “During the battle.”
Raith would try. He always tried to stir Cade up. But Cade would keep his focus and show his brother just how powerful he had become.
Things weren’t always bad with Scarlett’s mom. In her lucid moments, her mom was her best friend. Someone she could go to about anything, no matter how embarrassing or taboo it was.
After Scarlett broke things off with Teddy, she was a mess. She spent the entire weekend in her bed, unable to eat or drink more than just a sip of water here and there. It was pathetic, really, because Scarlett was the one who broke up with him. But it wasn’t because Teddy wasn’t great—he was too wonderful. Scarlett was a mess when it came to guys. She didn’t want to brush her curse onto Teddy.
On Monday morning, despite feeling like a zombie as she went through the motions of getting ready for school, her mom barged into her room and told her it was a sick day for them both. She told Scarlett to put her pajamas back on and come out to the living room.
Her mom made French toast for breakfast, with strawberries and syrup and whipped cream. “Breakups require lots of sugar,” she told her. They made themselves comfortable on the couch, Scarlett wrapped up in her favorite hot pink fleece blanket, and spent the morning watching soap operas and mocking the sheer cheesiness of them.
Afterward, her mom asked her what had happened.
Scarlett told her she was too afraid to ruin something good, so she broke it off before anything amazing could happen.
Scarlett’s mom pulled her into a hug. “My girl, you aren’t damaged goods. Not at all. Any guy would be lucky to have you, no matter how it all turned out. You can’t worry about the future like that.”
Scarlett squeezed her mom, thankful for a normal mother-daughter moment. Despite the unpredictably of her mom, she loved her more than anything.
“Now, it’s chick flick time.” Her mom switched the TV to Netflix and they browsed the romantic comedy section until they agreed on a movie.
Maybe things were looking up. Her mom had been stable for a while.
Scarlett’s hope was shattered a week later when she came home and found her mom on the floor.
Chapter Nineteen
A week after the opening ceremony, Raith sat on the edge of his bed in the castle and pulled his black leather boots on. With everyone coming to witness The Hunt, he had decided to spend the night inside the castle instead of in his tree. This room had three windows, allowing plenty of light to enter. It was too grandiose for his taste. It could fit at least three more monstrous four-poster beds, maybe
even four. Don’t even get him started on the decorations. Gold, gaudy picture frames held pictures of creepy fae children playing in the courtyard. He preferred the coziness of his house under the tree. The small fireplace could light the entire room. This fireplace, on the other hand, was too far away from the bed to do much good.
With a sigh, he stood and left the room.
Raith didn’t understand why so many people cared to come to this event. It wasn’t as if they could see The Hunt itself. He and Cade would be in the dark forest, searching for a fucking boar. What better way to have two brothers duke it out than to have them hunt for dinner? Seriously, who’d decided that?
No point in complaining now. Unless he wanted to hand the Right of Heir to Cade, he’d have to compete in the silly ritual. If he managed to win, at least he could knock his brother’s ego down a few notches. Raith made his way to the courtyard. The king and queen sat on the outdoor thrones that had been moved there for the occasion. The same fae that had introduced everyone at the ball stood next to Kassandra. Raith walked up to them, bowed to the king and queen, and waited next to the other fae. A few minutes later, Cade showed up, hand-in-hand with Scarlett, who wore a dazed expression on her face. His brother must have just fed on her.
Raith hadn’t seen Scarlett since they’d made the bargain—when they sealed it with that kiss. Its intensity surprised him. He could sense that he and Scarlett shared a strong chemistry and had made the kiss part of the deal just to mess with her head. But the sparks between them exploded when their lips met. It made him even more curious about the human, something that could become dangerous.
Another flash of her memory hit him when their lips had met. A woman lay dead on the floor, blood splattered at her sides. It was horrific and Raith pushed it away, then got lost in the passion between them. But in that short moment, the pain he experienced felt like being carved alive with the dullest of blades, excruciating and never-ending. It was Scarlett’s pain, and now he understood why it had been so easy for Cade to lure her to Faerie.
Raith had done as she wished. He returned Natalie to her home, her memories of Faerie wiped. Even though fixing her pain wasn’t part of the deal, Raith felt for the girl. Her silly human vanity was making her miserable. A boyfriend had told her to lose weight, and that tiny seed had sprouted into an entire garden of self-doubt. Raith didn’t like messing with memories—it usually brought guilt, as if he were meddling in things he shouldn’t. But he saw Natalie’s vibrant self when her pain had been dulled from his feeding, so he erased the fat comment, too.
Scarlett’s eyes met his.
He winked, and he swore she held back a smile.
“Welcome,” the announcer spoke. “We are ready to begin.”
The crowd quieted, their gazes shifting to Raith and Cade.
The fae continued. “We are here to witness The Hunt. Both brothers will be fighting to be the one to spear the beast. But to make things more interesting, each will take a serum that blocks his mental shields against the forest.”
Well, shit. How did Raith not know that part? From the wide-eyed look on Cade’s face, he must have been surprised, too.
The announcer took out two vials of liquid, the same size as what Scarlett took at the ball. But this liquid was emerald. He handed them to Raith and Cade.
“After you take the liquid, you will be evanesced into a cordoned off section of the forest. The only creatures allowed inside are you two and the beast. Neither of you may leave until the beast is speared. You will each be given a spear and a bow with magically refilling arrows as well as a horse.”
How hard could it be? Raith lifted his vial into the air. “Cheers, brother.”
He gulped down the liquid, which tingled as it went down. It tasted like a pinecone. Raith gagged.
He heard the announcer wish him good luck before he vanished and appeared inside the forest. Raith had been in the dark forest many times, but never this far in. The trees remained still around him, not even a bird on their branches. He heard a rustle. Raith flipped around, arms raised in front of him. A black horse was tied to a tree. Its dark mane shined. Raith recognized him. It was Theo, his favorite horse from the stables. It had been, what, three years since Raith had last ridden? He’d been so busy practicing with weapons and his battle magic he didn’t think of tuning up his horseback riding skills.
“Hi, Theo.” Raith patted Theo’s neck. “Good boy.”
Propped against a tree were a spear and a bow and arrow, just as the announcer had promised. Raith slung the bow over his shoulder and fastened the spear in front of Theo’s saddle. He stuck his foot in the stirrup and grabbed onto the saddle horn then pulled himself up. He grasped the rains and gave Theo a gentle kick, and they were off.
He’d missed this, the feeling of the breeze as they galloped. Now, all he needed to do was find the boar, shoot it, and be done.
As they rode through the trees, something shifted ahead. Was it Cade? Or maybe the beast?
“Woah, boy.” Raith slowed Theo down to a trot.
Something grew out of the ground—tree roots. They climbed higher and snaked toward him. He tried to back Theo up, but the tree was faster. The roots circled Raith, binding him in place.
His arms struggled against the bonds with no luck. He was stuck. Theo kept still beneath him.
No, this couldn’t be happening. It wasn’t real. He remembered the liquid he drank. His mental shields were down and the forest had strong mind magic. This was an illusion—and a powerful one. Raith again fought to break the hold. No luck. Fuck.
His mental shields had been strong for so long, he’d forgotten the influence the forest could have. He’d been able to defeat it before. He could do it again. A squawking noise caught his attention. A raven sat upon a branch. Another joined. Then another. Their screeching grew louder and louder. Raith felt something drip from his nose. Blood.
He closed his eyes. This wasn’t real. It was an illusion meant to distract him. He emptied his mind, inhaling a deep breath. His brain pictured the forest as it was before, calm, with no attacking roots or loud birds.
When he opened his eyes, everything was back to normal.
It had been an hour and no sign of Raith or Cade spearing the beast. The announcer had told the crowd that once it had been killed, the brothers and the boar would appear back in the courtyard.
Scarlett watched fae talk amongst themselves as they waited for something to happen. She had thought the ball was full of fae, but there were at least twice as many here now. The ball had been adults only, but now children ran around their parents, trying to make the most of their freedom.
She wondered if the fae lived their lives like humans did. Did they marry and raise a family? Work a job to pay bills? Or did magic make everything easier? She didn’t even know if all the fae had magic.
Since Raith and Cade had disappeared, Scarlett kept quiet a few feet from the thrones. When she’d first arrived, she had been drained from Cade’s feeding of her emotion. But as she waited, her brain cleared, which had been happening faster the longer she’d been in Faerie.
Kassandra had a human servant bring her a glass of wine, which had been magically refilled three times now. The king sat in his throne, back straight and glossy-eyed. He hadn’t spoken, not even when the servant asked if he’d like wine, too. His expression remained forward as if he looked for something off in the distance.
Scarlett felt odd just standing there, but she wasn’t sure where else to go. Occasionally, she’d catch the gaze of someone in the crowd. Some eyed her curiously, probably wondering who in the hell she was to be accompanying a fae prince everywhere. Some glared. Some seemed to pretend she didn’t even exist.
Kassandra motioned for her servant. “Bring me a plate of fruit. I’m famished.”
The servant, around Scarlett’s age, nodded and rushed off, brown eyes full of panic. Her black hair was pulled into a bun that accentuated her long neck. She came back with a platter of grapes and apples.
“Where are the strawberries?” Kassandra asked as the servant tried to hand her the plate.
“I…They…” She replied.
“I won’t accept it until there are strawberries.” Kassandra shooed the servant girl with a brush of her hand.
She hurried away and came back with strawberries on the plate. Kassandra took it this time, with no thank you, and the girl returned to the side of the crowd.
“What are you staring at, human?” Kassandra turned her head toward Scarlett.
She hadn’t realized she’d been staring, but her gaze had been focused on the queen as the servant had given her the fruit. “Nothing. Sorry.”
“Come here.”
Scarlett stepped slowly toward her. She didn’t have much of a choice. Disobeying the queen’s orders wouldn’t win her any favor, no matter whom she supposedly belonged to. As she walked, she straightened out her dress. When she reached Kassandra, she curtsied to her and then to the king, who didn’t even blink. What was wrong with him?
“For whatever reason, you’ve been blessed with misery that helps my son.”
Scarlett just stared at her. Did she expect her to respond to that with you’re welcome that I’m miserable?
Kassandra flicked her index finger. “Come closer.”
Scarlett leaned in, a mere foot from the Summer Queen’s face. The queen’s smooth skin was flawless, with not a single blemish. How old was she? Scarlett was sure there were many aging women in the human world that would kill for such perfection.
Kassandra’s gaze began at Scarlett’s hair and worked its way down to her chest, which, at the angle she was bent, was exposed to the cool air. “You’re attractive—for a human. Most are hideous. And so desperate. The things they’ll let you do to escape their emotions. Death, heartbreak, disease. Humans run.”
“You can heal disease?”
“Of course not. But we can take away the fear of dying. Fear is one of the best flavors of emotion if you ask me.”
So, even the fae couldn’t have saved her mother.