Summer of Frost

by L. P. Dover

  He ran his nose through my hair and moaned while trailing one of his hands over my breasts, down to my hip, and finally to the inside of my thigh. “Fuck, you smell so good … just like Summer. It brings back a lot of memories.”

  “Ugh, you make me sick,” I hissed. Reaching into my leather pouch, I sifted through it quickly until I found what I needed, and held up the scroll so he could see it. “Dammit, here’s your scroll! Now let me go! I’d rather die than be touched by you again.”

  Drake shook with fury, but before he could charge, someone yelled out from behind the trees. It was Alston! “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.

  “Ah, well if it isn’t the scorned lover come to rescue the day,” Alasdair teased. “Or is he, might I ask?” He tilted his head so he could address Alston. “You have nothing to worry about, she’s all yours.” Startled, I gasped and he continued gleefully, “That’s right, Princess. You didn’t know your ex-lover schemed behind your back, did you? I was shocked when he came to me. Most people want power in return for fealty, but not this one. Oh no, he wanted you, and now I’m going to give you to him.”

  “What?” I screamed, at the same time Drake yelled, “Like hell you are!”

  “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice, young Prince. Because once I force this concoction down Sorcha’s throat she’s going to forget all about you. You’ll be nothing to her. She’ll only know of her life in the Winter Court before you ever came into her life.”

  Wide-eyed, my heart hammered in my chest as I stared at Drake, who tried to hide his panic. “You lie!” he yelled half-heartedly. “She’ll never be able to forget about me. I’m in her blood, and no matter where I have to go or what I have to do I’ll always find her and bring her back.”

  “Not this time I’m afraid,” the dark sorcerer bragged.

  My heart hammered in my chest and my mind was reeling. I could feel Alasdair’s emotions through touching him and everything was so jumbled together, but the main emotion I felt was doubt. What did he doubt? I tried to concentrate on finding the truth of it, but his grip was bruising and constricting as he held me to him. I could barely breathe much less think. Gasping, I clawed and struggled in his arms.

  Grunting with trying to keep his hold on me, the dark sorcerer growled in my ear, “You’re a feisty thing, aren’t you? I think our Alston is going to have his hands full. All right, it’s time to say good-bye to your prince, my sweet vixen.”

  “Drake!” I yelled. The moment I opened my mouth, the dark sorcerer forced the hot, silvery liquid down my throat. Choking, I tried to spit out as much as I could, but it was too late. So many things happened at once. Drake lunged for me, but I was quickly thrown into Alston’s arms and whirled backwards. The world began to spin as I was whisked away from Drake, away from my life, and away from my memories.

  I remembered screaming Drake’s name, and watching in slow motion as he tried to grab me before all went black, and before I lost … myself.

  “Sorcha!” In the blink of an eye she was gone, taken from me as I stood there helpless.

  The dark sorcerer’s laugh echoed in my ear as I turned around to face him. “Oh, don’t look so sad, little Prince. At least she’s alive,” he taunted jokingly.

  “Where is she?” I demanded, pulling my sword and advancing on him.

  “Oh, I’d say she’s in Alston’s arms in the mortal realm somewhere. Who knows really? I didn’t care to ask.”

  “You son of a bitch! I will find her,” I swore wholeheartedly. I was only a few steps away, sword in hand, when the dark sorcerer slowly turned into his undefeatable shadowy self.

  “Good luck with that. Tell Ariella that I’ll be waiting for her. I have so many great things planned for her and me.”

  “Coward!” I yelled, as he vanished into the shadows of the forest.

  “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I screamed at myself. Stripping out of my clothes, I had no choice but to transform and fly back to the Summer Court. Usually, I couldn’t change back so quickly after turning into the dragon, but with the anger coursing through my body I knew that it’d be easy. Sure enough I felt the change begin as soon as I concentrated on it. When my wings unfurled from my back, I was off. I couldn’t think of anything except finding Sorcha.

  When the Summer Palace came into view, I bellowed out an ear-splitting wail as I approached. Everyone came running out of the palace, hollering and jumping up and down in excitement. Little did they know how I failed and that I was alone. Once I came into view and they saw I was alone, everyone grew panicked … Oren especially.

  Landing, I changed back immediately and Finn, my second in command, brought over a robe to drape over my shoulders. At that point, modesty was the least of my concern, only Sorcha was.

  “Where is she?” Oren yelled. “I can’t hear her. What the hell is going on?”

  The exertion of the flight had me exhausted and I could barely catch my breath enough to speak. “She’s been taken,” I growled with anger, anger at myself.

  Everyone gasped and put their hands over their mouths in shock. My father, King Oberon, spoke up. “Everyone inside, we can’t do this out here.”

  Hastily, everyone congregated in the throne room waiting for the details of our botched mission. Finn brought me a set of clothes so I could change out of the robe. Dressing quickly, I took a deep, steady breath before explaining my failure. I glanced at Oren out of the corner of my eye and his whole body shook with pent up rage. He was scowling at me, and I knew that any moment he was going to explode. I didn’t know what a guardian bond felt like, but I could assume it was just as great as my bond with Sorcha … strong.

  “Everything went fine until it came time to head home. The scroll was in our grasp, but the dark sorcerer intercepted us.” Murmurs and shouts erupted from the crowd. Some saying it was a fool’s errand while others argued that it had to be done.

  “Quiet!” I hollered, my voice booming through the room. “We don’t have much time. Anyway, the dark sorcerer appeared and apprehended Sorcha. He took the scroll and forced some kind of memory erasing potion down her throat. So now she’s in the mortal realm without any memory of me in her life whatsoever.”

  The expressions were grave, and for a moment I felt hopeless until a voice spoke out behind me. “Forgive me, Your Highness.” I turned to see Grayce, our healer, step forward. “May I have permission to speak?” he asked. My father and I both nodded, so he continued to step forward. “When it comes to the infamous Four princesses, I’ve learned that not all things go as planned with them. They’re strong, and even though some magic works against them, I know it wouldn’t be enough to deter them.”

  “What are you saying, Grayce?” I asked, confused. “That maybe the potion didn’t work?”

  He shrugged. “I’m pretty sure it worked, especially since she’s in the mortal realm. We are all weaker in that world, but I know Sorcha’s spirit. If anything, the potion will only be temporary.”

  Relief flowed through me, but until it wore off she was still susceptible to Alston’s advances and the dangers of being around him. If she got her memories back before I found her there was no telling what he would do to her.

  “How do you know she’s in the mortal realm, son?” my father asked.

  “Because he told me, and it makes perfect sense. You see, once Sorcha gave her blood, the dark sorcerer had instant access to her power. He didn’t need her anymore, but someone else did, someone that turned against us,” I said, peering over at Oren. Sarette was by his side, standing frozen in horror. Her wish to have her cousin alive was about to come true, but he was also dead once I found him.

  When I glanced back at my father, his brows were furrowed in confusion. “Who else was there that would want to take her, son?”

  “Alston of the Winter Court took her. We thought he was dead after the battle, but he wasn’t. He was hiding out in the woods when Sorcha and I found him. He made a deal with the sorcerer, and in return he took her to the mort
al realm so she couldn’t be found. With the memories of me and everything that’s happened erased out of her mind, he could feed her lie after lie and she wouldn’t know the truth.”

  Sarette’s high-pitched wail caught everyone’s attention. “He wouldn’t do that! He would never betray our court!” I knew it had to be hard to find out that a close family member was a traitor, but at the moment, I couldn’t bring myself to feel sympathy for her.

  “Be that as it may,” I snapped at her. “Your cousin is indeed alive, and he did betray your court, the whole Land of the Fae as a matter of fact. He has Sorcha in the mortal realm, and there’s no telling what’s going to happen to her if we don’t find her.”

  Oren tried to console her, but she pulled away from him and ran out of the throne room. Oren then began to speak, “I know Alston, and I know his ways. If she’s lost her memories he’s going to manipulate her into thinking something else, and whatever it is, he’s going to make it seem like she can’t come home. If he steps back in the Land of the Fae he knows he’s dead. This was the perfect way to get Sorcha and disappear for good. His obsession with her is lethal. He’ll do anything to keep her to himself.”

  “Where would he take her?” I asked impatiently.

  Oren shrugged helplessly. “There are so many places they used to go together. It could be anywhere, but I have some good guesses.”

  “Well, then that’s where we’ll start. We leave immediately, Guardian,” I commanded. “I’m not going to stop until I find her.”

  “Neither am I,” Oren agreed, coming to my side.

  Oren and I both turned to leave, but stopped when we heard the one question I dreaded someone asking. “How are we going to defeat the dark sorcerer now without the scroll?” Finn asked.

  My father sighed, eyed me wearily, and frowned. “We will find another way. There has to be another way.” I knew my father didn’t believe it, but we still had to make sure our people knew there was hope. I could only pray there was another way to defeat the sorcerer.

  Dressed in regular clothes, Oren and I were ready to begin our search in the mortal realm. “How long do you think it’ll take Sorcha to get her memories back?” Oren asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, but we’ll find a way to help her. So, where are we going to look first?” I asked him.

  Instead of answering, he began forming the portal. When he was done, he stepped through and I followed him into the bustling streets of Paris. “Really, Oren?” I questioned doubtfully. “I didn’t take Alston for the romantic type.”

  Oren grunted. “He wasn’t. He just tried to make Sorcha think he was. He was so desperate for her attention that he brought her here, and other places, in hopes she would fall in love with him.”

  “Did it ever work?”

  Oren shook his head. “Not really. For a time, I think she was in love with him, but once she met you she started to pull away from him. He didn’t like it and started trying to hold on to her harder. Sorcha isn’t the type to be claimed by any man, but in your case I’m sure she’d reconsider. Even now, with you out of her memories, she’s still not going to love him like that. However, she is going to remember him the way he was before he went possessive on her. They had more of a physical relationship than an emotional one.”

  Abruptly, I turned to him, growling. “That is the last thing I want to think about right now!”

  “I know,” Oren agreed calmly. “But if she still thinks they’re lovers, then you need to be prepared for what we might find. We don’t know how their relationship is going be out here.”

  Not thinking clearly, I punched the side of the building we were passing in frustration. I only wished it was Alston’s face. Part of the building crumbled on impact, leaving a huge dent in the side. Wide-eyed, I looked around at the people who stopped to stare at me.

  “We might need to go or I’m going to get arrested and put in a lab.”

  Oren agreed. “Good idea. Next time, don’t try to knock down a building. We’re trying to be discreet, and anyway, I don’t sense Sorcha here at all.”

  “Neither do I,” I mumbled wearily. Once we got into a deserted alleyway, Oren made another portal. “Where to this time?” I asked.

  Oren sighed and answered, “To another one of Alston’s many places he liked to lure in Sorcha.”

  “Great,” I muttered sarcastically. “Remind me never to visit any of them with her when I get her back.”

  “You have my word, Your Highness.”

  We stepped through yet another portal, knowing it was going to be one of many. Desperate couldn’t even begin to describe the way I was feeling.

  The bed was soft underneath my body, and the sheets were warm against my bare skin. When I tried to turn, I was held in place by an arm across my stomach. Tilting my head back, I could see it was Alston holding me tight, and he was sound asleep. What I didn’t understand was why I had no idea where I was or how I got there. By the smells and the feel of the land we were in the mortal realm, but the place we were in was never one I’d been to with Alston. Why couldn’t I remember how I got there, and why did my head feel so damn fuzzy? I guess I drank too much faerie wine.

  When I pulled the covers off of me, that’s when my attention peaked. My skin was no longer the pale white of a Winter Fae, but a golden hue of the Summer. “Holy shit,” I whispered. Panicking, I grabbed Alston’s arm and shook him forcefully. “Alston, wake up! Something’s wrong with my skin,” I shrieked.

  Alston woke with a start and immediately came to attention. When he saw me going frantic, he placed his hands on my face and pulled me down to him. “Shh, it’s okay,” he said soothingly. “You’re safe now. Everything’s going to be all right.”

  A jumble of questions came to my mind and I couldn’t stop from spouting them all. “What happened? Why are we here? Where’s Oren? And why do I feel so weird?”

  Alston sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “Calm down, Sorcha. It’s been a rough couple of days, and there’s a lot I need to tell you. Some of it’s going to come as a shock, but you need to know that you’re safe and so is your family.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I asked frantically.

  He paused for a few seconds before answering, and when he did I could tell he was very hesitant in telling me. “There was an attack at the palace,” he began. When I opened my mouth to speak, he placed a finger to my lips. “I’m going to tell you everything, okay? Just let me finish.” After I nodded, he continued, “When the palace was attacked, you and I were walking to your room. When I opened the door there were people there waiting for you. I don’t know how they infiltrated the palace, but they did, and they were coming to take you to the dark sorcerer. After I killed them, we left to find your parents and Oren. Oren wanted to be the one to bring you here, but your parents thought it best that he not follow you. The dark sorcerer knows he would never leave your side, so that made him a target. Wherever he is, you would be, but that’s not the case now. When you refused to leave, they had one of the healers give you a potion to knock you out, and for some reason your skin changed after you took it. I don’t know. They said it would probably go back to normal soon. I brought you here so you couldn’t be found so easily. We have to stay hidden for a while until it’s safe to go back.”

  “It’s never going to be safe!” I snapped. “How long do they expect me to stay here?”

  Alston’s sympathetic gaze was answer enough. “As long as it takes,” he suggested sheepishly. “We have to wait here until they come get us.”

  Jumping out of bed, I stomped over to the window. “Where is here exactly?” I asked, pulling open the curtains.

  I was met with rolling hills and trees as far as the eye could see, and I had no clue where we were. Alston came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I loved the feel of them around me, but for some reason it didn’t give me comfort right then. “We’re somewhere safe, baby. Why don’t you lie down and relax.”

  Giving
in, I nodded and headed back over to the bed. “Okay, but what about clothes and food? How are we going to handle it here if we have to stay more than a couple of days?”

  “You don’t need to worry about any of that. We have all we need here, and then some to last us a year.”

  “A year!” I shrieked. “I’m not staying in the mortal realm that long. My people need me. I’m not a coward that runs for the hills, Alston, and you know that. If they haven’t come to get me in a week, I’m going back myself.”

  Alston lowered his head and sighed. “I don’t want to stay here that long either, but your parents made me take an oath that I wouldn’t let you go back until they’re ready for you. I’m sorry, baby, but we have to stay in the mortal realm. If I go against my oath they can punish me to death, and your mother is cold enough to do it, too. I, for one, don’t want to die, so please don’t condemn me to it.”

  “Dammit!” I hissed “Why would you do that?”

  “I would do anything to keep you safe.”

  Sagging in defeat, I laid down on the bed and groaned. “I know, and I’m sorry. It’s just the thought of being here for a long period of time doesn’t settle well with me.” I paused to examine the room. It was very rustic, but modernly so. Everything felt and looked new, as if no one had ever stepped foot in the house. “Whose house is this anyway? From the looks of outside it doesn’t seem like there’s much to do around here. We’re going to be bored out of our minds.”

  Alston grinned and placed his arms on both sides of my body, pinning me to the bed. He leaned down to kiss me, and I allowed it willingly. His tongue entangled with mine, growing more urgent, but the way he tasted was … different. Why did I remember the taste of Summer? That’s strange, I thought. When Alston pulled away from the kiss, he said, “I wouldn’t say we’d get bored. I can think of a million things we could do together here. But to clear things up, this is my place.”