by Nissa Leder
With a spin, Vida slashed at Sage’s neck.
Sage recoiled just in time for the dagger to miss her throat by less than an inch.
She shuddered. It would have been the end of her. Her strength waned as her stamina grew low. She wouldn’t be able to keep the sparing up much longer.
Sage would have to make a move soon or she would lose.
Vida aimed lower this time, swiping at Sage’s knees.
With a backward hop, Sage jumped out of the way. Instead of using her daggers, Sage slammed her elbow into Vida’s cheek and then kicked her stomach.
Vida stumbled away from Sage and, dazed from the blow to her head.
Sage somersaulted toward her and sliced the back of Vida’s calf, dropping her to the ground. Then she jumped on top of her and hovered her daggers over her throat.
Vida’s eyes filled with rage. “Do it.”
“My mentor taught me never to kill needlessly. I have no need for you to die.” Sage kept her daggers at Vida’s neck.
This wasn’t about winning a battle or taking over a tribe. The goal was to save Cade and Poppy and search for the power.
“If you don’t want me dead, what do you want?” Vida asked.
“My friends and I go free. We need blankets, weapons, and food for our journey. And you won’t bother us again.”
Vida glared. Apparently, she didn’t like losing.
“That or I slit your throat and I become queen of the tribe and my friends and I go on our way with all the food, blankets, and weapons I want.”
Vida clenched her teeth. “I surrender.”
She eyed Scarlett again and Sage swore she saw Vida’s eyes soften.
After Sage defeated Vida, Scarlett’s hands were unbound. She went to Sage, who held out a hand and helped Vida up from the ground.
“You okay?” Scarlett eyed Sage’s cut. If she had her magic, she could heal it.
“And you doubted me.” Sage grinned.
“Leena will take one of you to pack some food,” Vida gestured to the woman who had tied up Sage. “I can take you to get blankets and we will all meet up at the armory hut.”
Scarlett looked at Sage. Could they trust her?
Sage hesitated but nodded. “Very well. Our other friends can wait here.” She glanced at Cade and Poppy, neither of whom had spoken a word.
After Vida had let Scarlett pick out enough blankets and pack them in a sack, she led her to a circular hut filled with weapons. It reminded Scarlett of the training room at the Summer Court, where Jaser had taught her as much as he could about fighting before the battle of heirs. Sage and Leena weren’t there, yet.
“I’m not sure what Sage wants,” Scarlett said as they waited.
“You two aren’t from here, are you?” Vida asked.
The two faced each other in the center of the tent. Although Sage had won the battle, Vida had been friendly toward Scarlett.
“Not exactly.” Scarlett wasn’t sure how much she should share.
“What brings you to our realm? It’s been a very long time before we’ve had visitors.”
So, Vida knew they’d come from another realm. How?
“We’re searching for something.”
“Oh?”
“Are you fae?” Scarlett asked. She might as well learn what she could while she waited for Sage.
“No, we aren’t.”
“And you have no magic?”
Vida glanced to the ground. “We don’t.”
“What is your weapon of choice?” Vida asked.
Scarlett stared at the weapons hanging on the wall. “A staff.”
This choice earned a grin from Vida, who, instead of grabbing the staff hanging with the other weapons, opened a large, rectangular chest and pulled out a much more ornate looking one. It was made of dark wood, with silver twine twisted around the middle portion and an opal-like jewel in the center.
Vida tossed it to Scarlett, wide-eyed as Scarlett caught it as if she hoped something would happen.
Nothing did, and Scarlett swore she saw a flicker of disappointment in the warrior’s eyes.
“Thank you,” Scarlett said, happy to have something to fight with if they were attacked.
Once Sage and Leena arrived at the hut, Sage chose a few items and they headed back to Cade and Poppy.
As they walked, Scarlett asked Vida how they could find the center of the island. She was prepared for her to refuse to help any more than Sage had bargained for, but as they were leaving the camp, Vida gave Scarlett a compass of some sort and told her it would show them the way.
Kaelem leaned against a tree as Raith paced back and forth. It had been at least an hour since Scarlett and Sage had left. Kaelem didn’t like the idea of Scarlett going into the lion’s den with Sage, but he wouldn’t tell her what she could and couldn’t do.
“Pacing isn’t going to make them return any faster.” Kaelem crossed his legs. “And if we have to charge the camp and rescue them, I don’t want to have to carry you.”
“Please,” Raith scoffed. “I have too much stamina for walking to wear me out.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
Raith glared. “They’ve been gone too long. What if something happened?”
Kaelem wanted to tell Raith he worried way too much, but he was anxious himself.
Sage could hold her own in a fight, but Scarlett needed her magic to defend herself. They knew nothing about the tribe or this realm. What if they were cannibals and had Scarlett tied up and ready to roast over a fire at that very moment?
Kaelem groaned. When did become so concerned about Scarlett?
“If you’re so bothered, I guess we can go check on them.” Kaelem didn’t want to seem like he was the distressed one.
“I wouldn’t want you to dirty your delicate skin,” Raith scoffed. “Feel free to wait here while I go rescue them.”
“Please, and leave their safety in your hands?”
“You don’t have magic here, Unseelie King. No curse to give you an unfair advantage.”
Kaelem didn’t like being without his magic, but he wasn’t as worthless without it as Raith made it seem. “And you don’t have Sage here to protect you.”
“I seem to remember both Sage and me saving your ass at the Winter Solstice,” Raith said.
“We can argue or actually come up with a plan.”
Raith groaned. “Since the last time you tried to rescue someone you almost got killed, how about I decide what we do.”
“Go for it, just don’t get distracted by your mommy issues again and leave Scarlett to fend for herself like last time,” Kaelem said. “I should thank you for that. You let me slip into the role of her hero quite nicely.”
“Please,” Raith sneered. “You stole her sister. That doesn’t make you the hero. It makes you the villain.”
“If being the villain gets Scarlett into my bed, well…”
Before Raith could respond, something shuffled in the trees.
Kaelem reached for his sword.
Raith grabbed his daggers.
Scarlett’s face appeared in the greenery. She pushed herself through with a large sack slung over her shoulder.
Behind her, Sage carried a bow and quiver of arrows and a sack half the size of Scarlett’s. A dark slash cut across her arm.
“We were just about to come save you,” Raith said. “Are you okay?”
Sage raised an eyebrow. “Really? We heard you arguing from a mile away. Probably not the best way to rescue us.”
A few seconds after Sage and Scarlett appeared, Poppy and Cade followed. Both kept silent as they stepped into the clearing.
“You guys are on dinner duty. Scarlett and I did our part.” Sage dropped the bag she carried then handed Raith the bow.
Awkward silence consumed the group.
Scarlett was the one who broke it. “Here’s the deal. We’re all here for the same thing: to find some prophesied power we know nothing about with no clue how to find it. None of us can u
se magic here, and we have no clue what else awaits us. There’s no turning back.
“I for one think working together to find the power is the best idea. If we find it, then we can go back to being enemies. At least in the meantime, we might stay alive.”
Kaelem didn’t think he’d ever heard Scarlett say so much at once. From the shocked faces around him, he doubted anyone else had either.
“She’s right,” Raith said. “We have our differences, sure. But none of us is safe here. Maybe if one of us gets this power, we can all make it back to the other realms.”
“I’m in.” Kaelem pushed himself from the ground. Apparently, finding dinner was his duty and he was hungry.
“I just risked my life to save you bastards so I think that speaks enough for me.” Sage glanced at the cut on her arm.
Cade and Poppy looked at each other before Cade answered. “Thank you for saving us. Working together seems the be in the best interest of us all.”
Poppy groaned. “I follow my king.”
Kaelem took the bow and arrows from Raith. “Well, friends, I don’t know about you all, but I’m starving. How about Cade and I find us food, and Raith and Poppy build a fire?”
Kaelem and Cade left the group to go exploring into the trees, hoping to find some game to shoot. Who knew his archery lessons would actually come in handy?
Dusk had come and the world grew darker.
“The first thing you did in a new realm was get captured. Tsk tsk.” Kaelem watched his steps carefully as he walked. Who knew what might be crawling among the underbrush?
“I said we’d be allies, not that I wanted to talk,” Cade said.
“C’mon, we haven’t had a chance to chat since you’ve become king, or, should I say, managed to somehow not become king.”
Cade stopped, turned his body, and glared. “The Summer Court is none of your business.”
“On the contrary,” Kaelem said. “The Fates predict war. It’s my responsibility as king of the Unseelie Court to know the happenings of the other courts. Alliances are forming, and I will choose my allies wisely.”
Something ran past them up ahead, ending their conversation.
Cade signaled for Kaelem to keep quiet and reached for the bow.
Kaelem handed it, along with the arrows, to him. His reunion with archery could wait.
Cade crept forward. He pushed himself through the thick trees, drew out an arrow, and took aim. Carefully, he lined up his shot, and, with a deep breath, released the arrow.
Together, Kaelem and Cade dragged the catch—which was much like a mortal deer with an orange hue to its coat—back to the fire.
Kaelem didn’t complain when Sage offered to skin it. Archery may have seemed a practical thing for him to learn as a prince, but preparing meat to be eaten was not required Unseelie training. The brownies did that for him, and Kaelem liked it that way.
Sage and Raith tugged the animal toward the light of the fire. Kaelem had no desire to watch. Instead, he followed Scarlett as she walked away from the group.
“Are you all right?” Kaelem asked as he approached Scarlett.
She leaned against a tree, facing into the darkness of the woods. “Just worried.”
Kaelem placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll be fine. With a group like ours, what could go wrong?” He chuckled at the sarcasm in his words.
Scarlett fought a grin. “We are an unusual team. But it isn’t us I’m worried about.”
Of course. Her sister. “Aria will take care of Ashleigh.”
“How do you know?” Hope coated Scarlett’s gaze like sugar.
“I visited them before we went to the Seelie Court. Aria is watching her closely and your sister seemed happy.”
It wasn’t like him to care about the mood of mortals, but when he found Ashleigh and peered into her mind to find her joyful, he almost regretted taking her. He couldn’t fully regret it, because he’d saved his sister, but that wasn’t the point. He didn’t want Scarlett to worry now.
“You saw her?” He didn’t need magic to sense Scarlett’s envy. Her face said it enough.
“I heard her in the other room as I talked to my sister.” Kaelem pulled Scarlett into an embrace. “Worry about our mission here. Your sister is getting the space she needs and you’re searching for a power to protect her.”
Scarlett rested her head on Kaelem’s chest. “Thank you for checking on her.” With a deep breath, Scarlett pulled back. “I’m going to go see if Sage needs any help.”
After Scarlett was out of sight, someone stepped out from behind a tree.
Raith approached Kaelem with a glare. “Scarlett’s been through enough. She doesn’t need any of your games.”
Kaelem covered his heart with his hands. “You wound me, Summer Prince.”
“This isn’t about me,” Raith said through gritted teeth.
“No? Then who are you to say what Scarlett needs or doesn’t need? I didn’t leave her to go search for answers about my dead mommy.”
Raith drew a dagger from his side. “I came back.”
“Only to leave again.” Kaelem realized he’d left his sword back at camp. Not smart. At all.
Raith chucked the dagger at Kaelem’s chest.
Kaelem leaped to the side, thankful his agility remained in this realm. “Now, now. What will Scarlett say if you kill me?”
“She’ll thank me. You stole her sister. She’ll never forgive that.” Raith’s hand lingered above his other dagger.
“No? She didn’t seem to hate me while we fucked at the Seelie Court.” Kaelem shrugged, satisfaction in his eyes. They hadn’t slept together, but they’d come close enough, a little pun intended.
Kaelem waited for Raith to unleash his last dagger, but instead, Raith charged at him with no weapon.
The fun began as Raith and Kaelem blocked each other’s swings until Kaelem snuck a knee to Raith’s stomach, sending him backward as he gasped.
Raith lunged at him again. He dove into Kaelem, knocking them both to the ground. As he straddled Kaelem, Raith slammed his fist into his cheek.
Blood filled his mouth. He swallowed it as pain pulsed through his face.
Raith swung again, this time aiming for Kaelem’s jaw.
Before Raith’s blow could land, Kaelem rolled over and pushed Raith from on top of him.
They both hopped to their feet.
“You’ll ruin her,” Raith said before turning and walking away.
Kaelem already enjoyed Scarlett’s company, but Raith’s envy made the game even more interesting.
When Kaelem returned to the rest of the group, Sage was roasting the meat over the fire. They shared the meal in silence. Kaelem hadn’t expected to find a realm where their magic didn’t work, and he was thankful someone in the group had practical skills.
In the fae world, they were an unlikely group, but, for now, they were allies.
Until they weren’t.
Chapter Eighteen
Scarlett unfolded the blanket Vida had given her onto the ground next to Raith’s blanket, though he wasn’t there, yet. They’d finished dinner and sat in silence for a while before Sage suggested they get some sleep.
After Scarlett crawled into her bed for the night, she rolled onto her back and looked through an opening in the tall trees around her and into the sky as she lost herself in thought. She hadn’t been surprised that Sage had won their freedom against Vida, but she had been shocked at how helpful Vida had been after her loss.
Now, Scarlett admired the night sky above her. The stars were so bright here in yet another new realm. How had she lived so long without knowing there was so much more to life than what humans thought?
Footsteps approached, and Raith lay down next to her.
She’d sensed his worry as she’d gone with Sage to rescue Cade and Poppy and his relief when she’d returned. Even without the bond, she felt she knew him. They shared a connection she couldn’t explain.
“How is your sister?” he asked.
She rolled toward him. “I don’t know. She hates me now. Aria has promised to protect her in the mortal world, so hopefully, she’s as least safe.”
“Aria is tough. She’ll take care of her.”
Raith knew Aria? Scarlett knew so little about his life before her time in the Summer Court. She knew so little about so much.
“What if we don’t make it back?” Scarlet hadn’t wanted to think so negatively, but she couldn’t help it. Not now that they were trapped in some new realm with no magic, denying the possibility would be stupid.
After Scarlett had gained her fae magic, sometimes she wished it would go away. When she’d been unable to control it, it seemed more burden than gift. But now, after it had saved her in the Winter Court, she felt naked without it.
And here she was, searching for more magic.
“We will.” Raith reached for Scarlett’s hand. “I’ve missed you.”
“Me too.” She smiled. “I hope someday everything will calm down and my life will feel normal again.”
“Has your life ever felt normal?”
Scarlett thought back to her mom’s struggle with mental illness. Then her suicide. Then Scarlett’s time at the Summer Court. “Now that you mention it, no. It’s a good dream but probably not in the cards for me.”
“Never say never.” Raith took back his hand and rolled into his back.
Scarlett considered reaching for him again but decided against it. After her trip to the Seelie court with Kaelem, she needed space to herself. There was so much on the line. Any guy drama would only needlessly complicate things.
Instead, Scarlett rolled onto her side and curled up to keep warm.
Sage and Poppy were the next to set up their beds for the night while Cade and Kaelem took the first watch of the night.
With no idea of what lurked in the trees around them, Scarlett doubted she’d get any good sleep. But she was tired and would try.
They had no idea how far away the power was or even what it was. But Scarlett kept hope they’d find it before anyone else did.