Etienne hadn’t been treated as kindly as me, and I saw that he’d been tossed haphazardly over a horse on his stomach, with a soldier sitting behind him, keeping him from being able to move.
We rode for a while. The saddle hurt my butt, and it felt like my knees might actually fall off. I’d probably walk bowlegged for the rest of the day. The smell of horse made my nose wrinkle. I so wasn’t a big fan of animals. Give me a car any day of the week. Hell, I’d settle for a bike at this point.
At last, the hills and woods opened to a large white oak gate, which had carvings etched into it. My mouth gaped open as the doors creaked, allowing us to enter. Everywhere I looked there were waterfalls and flowers. Houses were built into trees. Great archways gave way to gardens and fountains. Holy crap. I half expected to see Orlando Bloom step out dressed like Legolas.
Shand tugged on the reins of the horse, bringing us to a stop. More guards met us, and I was handed down to them, while others worked to secure Etienne beside me.
“We found them crossing the river from Winter into Summer. She claims they escaped and are seeking refuge,” Shand said.
“I’ll have Camlin take your horses—why don’t you bring them into the palace,” the other guard said.
Shand slid from his mount, his dark hair hanging to his shoulders and his armor gleaming in the sunlight. “Thanks.”
He gripped my arm tightly and pushed me up a marble stairway into a huge foyer. Four sets of staircases jutted to upper levels. Marble tiles covered the floor, while streams ran through arched doorways.
“Come along.” He jerked me forward.
My mouth went dry. Now came the true test. If they didn’t buy my story, I’d end up either imprisoned or dead. “Wh-where are we going?”
“The throne room. The king and queen are holding court as we speak.”
“Good, you’re doing great,” Griselle said in my mind. “You’re right where you need to be. Don’t be scared. I’m with you. And I’ll be with you when you make your move.”
Don’t be scared.
But she knew exactly what her voice in my head would do to me. She wanted me scared—just not of Nevin and Salome.
Two guards met us at a set of double doors. They nodded at Shand as we approached, and then they opened the doors for us. Heads turned to watch us as we made our way down a crimson carpet.
“Your Highness, we found this human crossing into Summer near the Winter border. She claims to have escaped, but we thought it’d be best if we brought her in for questioning.”
My gaze shifted to the raised dais, and my breath caught in my throat. There, sitting on one of the thrones, was Salome.
“Kadie?” Her eyes widened as she stood. “Release her at once. I know her.”
Shand glanced to the king who nodded. “Go ahead, untie her.”
The guard held out a knife and cut the bindings on my wrists. I rubbed the raw spots and twisted my hands to get the feeling back in them.
“I want to see her in private,” Salome said.
“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” The king caught her arm.
She glared. “Nevin, I’ll be fine. She’s my best friend.”
Gareth moved from his place behind her chair. “My queen, you need to take precautions. Regardless of your relationship with Kadie, your safety is our utmost concern.”
She moved from the dais and came to my side, wrapping me in her arms. Everything about her smelled like summer: flowers, rain showers, freshly cut grass. Gone was the familiar coconut lotion she used to wear. She squeezed me tighter, as if she thought I wasn’t real. And for a moment, it comforted me—made me feel like I was at home. I savored the sensation. This could be the last time I felt like this again.
She drew back, her eyes welling with tears.
Oh God. Salome…I couldn’t do this. Maybe if I told Salome everything, she’d be able to arrange to get me out of here.
But then I felt Griselle’s presence in my mind once again. I felt the weight of my hidden dagger. More than anything, I felt the fear of what Grisselle would do to me if I failed.
Salome released me, then turned to Gareth as she started to guide me along by my arm, her golden gown dragging behind her. “Please see us to my drawing room.”
Gareth sighed but fell in behind her, then turned to the king. “I’ll post guard outside her door.”
Nevin watched me closely. “If you do anything to harm her, I promise you won’t leave our dungeons, is that clear?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
“Don’t worry, I will get you out of there should something go wrong,” Grisselle said. “So long as you prove your loyalty to me, I will show my loyalty to you.”
“And what about this one, Your Highness?” Shand drew Etienne’s head back.
I heard any audible gasp from Nevin as I moved away from him. “It can’t be…Etienne?”
But I wasn’t able to stay and see how Etienne would handle Nevin. Salome reached for my hand. She was quiet as she led me from the throne room and down a hall decorated with marble statues. We came to a stop outside a door etched with roses. She pushed it open and pulled me inside.
As soon as the door drew shut, she hugged me again. “I’m so glad to see you. I-I just can’t believe you’re here.”
I hugged her back, my throat constricting. “Me too. God, I’ve missed you.”
Truth in lies. It made what I had to do all the harder.
“How did you get here?” She pulled back, wiping the tears from her face.
“After I caught Zac cheating on me, I left school. When I got home, my parents and I got in a huge fight. So I went to your house, but you weren’t there. I got a message from you to meet you at Club Blade, but I’m guessing now it might not have been from you.” My lip trembled, and I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I decided to go to Club Blade by myself. That’s where I met Etienne, a fae prince. He brought me through to Winter. I—I was there for a long time.” I swallowed. “The things I saw. The things they did to me… It was horrific.”
She clutched me tight as I sobbed, telling her about the blood and sacrifices and Demetria’s death. I even told her about falling for Etienne, though I left out his true identity.
“Now, Kadie. You must do it now.” Grisselle’s words echoed through me.
Salome stepped back but held my hand in hers. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that. If I’d known you were there I would’ve found a way to come for you.” She stroked my hair, reminding me of my mom.
“I know you would have come for me,” I said. “It isn’t your fault. You didn’t know.”
“I can’t help but feel guilty,” she said. “I’d do anything to keep you safe.”
I swallowed. “It’s too late for that,” I whispered.
She stopped and looked at me. “What do you mean?”
“Now,” Grisselle shouted in my mind. “Do it now!”
“There’s something else I need to tell you,” I said.
“What is it?”
I moved away from her, fumbling to tug the dagger from its sheath on my upper thigh. My eyes blurred as salty drops raced down my cheek. It was either her or me.
Her gaze flicked to the dagger. She went still. “Kadie?”
“Don’t worry, it’ll only hurt for a second.”
She took several steps away from me. “Kadie, you don’t have to do this.”
“I don’t have a choice,” I whispered. “You don’t know what she’ll do. What she’s already done.”
“Whatever threat she made, we’ll find a way to keep you safe. You still have a choice. I promise. Just hand over the dagger, and we’ll figure this out.”
Grisselle’s essence flowed through me, a reminder that the situation wasn’t so simple. I would never be safe again. Wherever I went, whatever I did, Grisselle would be with me.
Someone began to open the door, but Grisselle’s power lashed out of me and shoved the door closed then knocked over a cabinet to bar the
door and keep anyone from entering.
“Salome!” Gareth shouted from outside. “What’s going on?”
“Gareth, help me.” Salome staggered away from me and toward the barred door. She attempted to push the cabinet out of the way. When it wouldn’t move, she spun to face me, her skin draining of color as disbelief painted her features.
“We have her, Kadie. Finish it.”
I raised the knife to do as Grisselle ordered, but I hesitated, and Grisselle made me pay for it. My mind flooded with images of what she would do to me.
My body laid on a board as the skin was stripped from my bones one limb at a time—
A glimpse of myself being shoved into a boiling pot still alive, while trolls beat me back down every time I tried to climb out.
Musicians seated in the ballroom, playing a song until I bled to death.
I focused on blackness, nothingness, anything to shut out the wave of fear. Only then did I realize what Grisselle had done, filled me with nightmares of torture so powerful that while I focused on keeping them at bay, her power surged through me, forcing me forward as easily as she’d closed and barred the door.
Unable to stop myself, I lunged forward with the blade and stabbed it in Salome’s chest.
She screamed, her face already pale. She reached for the knife, trying to take it out, but I pressed forward, and she stumbled backward.
“Kadie…” She stretched her fingers out toward the wall to steady herself, but she fell to her knees then sagged to the floor in a heap, her sunshine colored hair spilling out around her like a halo while blood soaked into the ends of it from her wound.
My hands trembled as I stared at her, watching her gasp for air. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to. I didn’t mean for this to happen. I—”
The door burst open. Gareth took one look at me. I knew then that I was screwed. There’d be no clean getaway.
“Take her to the dungeons. Now. And get the king.” Gareth dropped down beside Salome.
Hands dragged me toward the door. “Let me go. Please. Listen to me. I had no choice. I had to do it. Please. Let me go…”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Kadie
Moisture dripped from the ceiling, splashing with a ping against the rocks. I drew my knees to my chest. Salome had looked so pale when the guards dragged me out: her lips blue, her eyes vacant like death veiled them. I’d done it. I’d killed her.
My stomach clenched. Oh God. I’d killed her. Panic set in as I stared around the tower room dungeon that held me. They’d used magic to get me up here. There were no stairs. No windows. No way to escape. Would Etienne or the queen be able to rescue me?
“Kadie? Are you there?” Grisselle’s voice rang out in my mind.
“Yes.” I sobbed.
“You did what I asked. You truly are my sister now. Ah, to see the disbelief on her face when you stabbed her will forever be one of my happiest memories. Summer will surely fall now. They thought they were being so smart crowning a queen. They thought they could destroy us, but we showed them.”
I shut my eyes. The things I’d now done… I couldn’t help but remind myself that I’d done them to survive. That in the final moment, it had been Grisselle who’d pushed my hand and the knife into Salome. I pushed those thoughts away. I’d chosen to make this bond with Grisselle. I’d opened myself to her to save my life. Everything I’d done and everything I would do now was my fault.
“Please, come get me.”
“Soon.”
“Nevin sentenced me here. I’m never gonna leave this place if you don’t get here. Gareth was going to have me killed outright, but Nevin thinks I have information he can use. They’ll torture me.”
I dug my fingers into my palms and rested my head against the stone wall behind me. Darkness fanned out all around me. The only noises came from the dripping water and scuttle of rats. The stench of must and mildew made me gag. The only good thing was at least it wasn’t freezing up here.
“I’ll send a friend for you. We’ll break you out and leave for Winter. I won’t let anyone hurt you,” Grisselle said. “And you’re sure Salome is dead?”
“You saw me do it,” I said.
”And what of Etienne, where is he? Can he not help you?”
“I don’t know; he was still in the throne room when I went with Salome. I haven’t seen him.”
My stomach soured, and acid burned the back of my throat. What if she changed her mind and didn’t get me? What if that would turn out to have been an empty promise? I would be stuck here, every day reminded of how my mistakes had led to the death of my best friend.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Salome
Freezing air burned my lungs while streams of ice chilled my veins. I sucked greedily but couldn’t breathe. Dots danced before my eyes.
I’m so cold.
Darkness settled over me as pain pricked at my skin and body like thousands of needles poking me at once. Kadie had stabbed me. Kadie, the girl who’d been my best friend since childhood. But why? I didn’t understand.
A burst of light exploded inside my head, and I watched as tiny snowflakes fell before me.
“You’re ours. All of ours.” A chime-like voice I didn’t recognize carried on the wind.
A wooden bridge formed at my feet, and I walked over the creaking boards. “Hello? Is anyone here?”
“Salome? What’re you doing here?” Darach’s face paled as he caught me in his arms.
“Here? I don’t know where I am?”
“Between life and death. You’re not supposed to be here. It’s not your time. It can’t be your time.” Panic washed over his features.
“Maybe it is my time. I’ve cheated death twice already. Maybe it’s finally caught up to me.” I touched his face. “And would it be so bad if I stayed here with you? You said we were friends and that you were lonely.”
His gaze softened. “No. But there’s still much for you to do in Faerie. Summer needs you, Salome. Their land will fall if you’re not there to stop Winter.”
“And how do you know I can defeat Grisselle? I might be queen now, but I’m still very much a human.”
And remembering what Kadie had done to me, I had all the proof I needed about how well a human would fare against Grisselle.
Darach pulled back. “You have never been just a human. I’ve told you before your destiny is something greater. If you won’t go back for you, will you go for me or for Gareth? For Nevin and the people of Summer?”
“I’m so cold.”
“It’s always like that here. You can never get warm. The only time I feel any sort of relief from it is when I’m with you, in Faerie.”
“Salome,” Gareth called my name. “Please, answer me. You’ve got to come back. You can’t die. I didn’t let you pull me back from death only to have you leave me.”
“Go to him.” Darach hugged me. “Do what I cannot. Be with the person you love.”
With a sad smile, I stepped away from him. “Someday, we’ll find a way to bring you back, too.”
“I know. Now go, before it’s too late.”
“Salome,” Gareth hollered from the bridge I’d just moments ago crossed. “You’ve got to follow my voice. You’ve got to come back.”
“I’m here,” I said, rushing toward his voice. When I made my way over the wooden walkway, I saw Gareth standing there.
Heat radiated through my body, thawing me. The iciness melted away as he swept me in his arms. In one swift movement, he hefted me up.
“Don’t ever scare me like that again. You understand?” He turned his frightened gaze to search mine.
“You—you came for me,” I said, resting my head on his chest.
“No matter what, I’ll always come for you. I love you.”
We walked back through the cold and darkness until the warmth came back again. The scent of honey hung around me.
“Open your eyes, Salome.”
With a gasp, my lids shot open to find Gareth, Nevi
n, and the man who’d come in with Kadie bent over me.
“You scared the hell out of us.” Nevin searched my face. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again. I don’t care who’s with you.”
A strand of my hair fell into my eyes, and I lifted my hand to push it back. “Holy crap. What’s this?”
The piece of hair was entirely blue, but that’s not what freaked me out most. It was the glittering, intricate ice-blue tattoo of swirling snowflakes that wound up around my arm.
“Somehow, you’ve been marked by Winter,” Nevin said, helping me to sit up.
“What? How’s that possible?” Oh hell. This was crazy. First I’d been marked by Summer, then Autumn—which Nevin still didn’t know about—and now Winter?
Maybe now it was time to come clean with him—about everything. Last year, I’d almost died because people had refused to share what they knew with me. Now here I was hanging onto precious knowledge like that could keep me safe. Instead, I was in more danger than ever. I had to take a risk and share with them what had happened to me. Share what little I knew. Whatever was coming, we needed to face it together.
“We don’t know. But I’ll have one of our archivists start looking into it. There’s got to be some significance. The only person I’ve ever known to be marked by more than one kingdom, was the Faerie Queen.”
With help, I managed to make it to my feet. My eyes wandered around the room. Fear settled as I remembered what’d happened. “Where’s Kadie?”
“In the dungeon, where she belongs.” Venom laced Gareth’s words.
“I-I can’t believe she stabbed me. It was like something dark came over her—the things she said to me, it wasn’t like Kadie at all. I just don’t want to think that she’d intentionally hurt me.”
“It was no accident,” the man said.
“W-who are you?”
“My name is Etienne. I’m the King of the Spring court.” His blue eyes blazed as he gave a slight bow to me. “I’m sorry I was unable to warn you sooner, but I couldn’t risk saying anything until Kadie was away from me. We’re just lucky we arrived before she could finish the job.”
“You knew she intended to murder me?”
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