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Chapter one

Roisin

M y legs were numb from sitting in the chair for so long. The Summer Court palace was my home, my sanctuary, but right now I didn’t want to be here. The urge to do something, anything, filled every inch of my being. Father, the Fae King, was dying. Mother wouldn’t leave his side. I didn’t blame her. Fated mates were everything to the Fae and my parents’ love for each other was epic. The love of fairytales in the books inside our magical library. The stories my older sister, Ciara, read to me when I was younger and I didn’t understand how to read a word. She and my other older brothers and sisters still considered me young even though I was the same age as Mother when she met Father.

I eased out of the chair and tiptoed from the room. Mother’s focus stayed on Father’s prone form. One last glance back at my dying father was all it took to send me out of the room. Blood rushed back to my numb legs. Pins and needles prickled my toes, but with each step along the marble hallways of the palace, the sensation lessened. By the time I reached the atrium where our Spring of Life flowed, the familiar, smooth cobblestones beneath my feet were the only sensation left to focus on.

Water gurgled slowly from the spring into the small stream beneath. The magical power in the palace’s heart still seeped from every inch, even though the once spectacular atrium was now decaying from its former splendor. Over the last few years, the effects on the spring were so obvious, it was lucky only the Fae royals saw it for themselves.

I risked a glance over my shoulder to make sure no one noticed me in the atrium. No footsteps came padding down the hallway. No one was searching for me. They’d all assume I’d stay here in the Summer Court.

Sneaking out of the palace seemed easy. Too easy considering the lengths Father had gone to throughout hundreds of years to keep us safe after the tragic attack by the Trappers. I’d also grown up with those stories. The horrors we’d faced. Our almost extinction at the hands of evil humans. An icy chill ran down my spine. If they’d succeeded, I wouldn’t be here today, and I was thankful for every day I had lived this beautiful life, but now our Spring of Life and the source of our immortality were dying like my father.

Perhaps one day we’d die too and all of Father’s protections would have been for nothing, anyway.

Such a pessimistic outlook when I wasn’t that way. My fingers rubbed against the sudden chill in my hands. My powers over ice made my hands glow like a snow-white crystal as I waved them in the air and called on the power of the Veil separating the Summer Court and Earth. The Veil swirled into view, a glistening curtain of magic the same color as my hands. I stepped into the curtain, sensing the magical vibrations on my skin. The power pulsed against my flesh as though it wanted free. Focusing on my sister, Aislinn, I stepped into an overrun garden. Aislinn’s voice echoed from a short distance away but I didn’t see her through the vines and rambling roses surrounding me. Relief shot through my veins as I successfully traveled through the Veil.

“Little sister, what are you doing here?” Lorcan, my beloved rascal of a brother, asked from behind me.

Startled, my power over the Veil dropped. Swirls of my white magic slithered back to my hands and up my arms. Ice covered them, but then it vanished, as did the magical portal in the blink of an eye. I’d started a new journey in my life.

“I’m not so little.” My hands landed on my hips as I huffed out a breath.

“No, I suppose not.” His eyes twinkled mischievously under the moonlit sky.

“Why must you antagonize your sisters?” Pepper, his fated mate and a witch no less, asked.

“Because it’s fun.” He shrugged.

I laughed, then hurried through the overgrown plants surrounding me to hug him. He ruffled the top of my hair as he hugged me back. My power flared in my hands and ice coated my palms, slithering up his back.

“Shite, Roisin.” He pretended to shudder and stepped back. “Don’t freeze me. ”

“That’ll teach you to tease me.” I tucked my hands behind my back, willing my power to ease so I wouldn’t freeze everything around me.

“How is Father?” he asked.

I shook my head and turned my face as a lone tear trickled down my cheek, turning to a droplet of ice as it did so. Lucky for me, Fae didn’t suffer from the cold, but now I was here on Earth, I’d have to temper my powers even more.

“Come on.” Lorcan flung an arm over my shoulder. “We need all the help we can get.”

Pepper gave me a wink and slid against the other side of Lorcan. He flung his other arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head. I never believed I’d see the day Lorcan would be so in love, but he, too, had found his fated mate.

When would it be my turn?

That should be the least of my worries, but it was the notion of fated love that kept all Fae strong throughout the many years.

Lorcan led us down a set of steps and into an underground building. People walked back and forth between a long table running down the center of the room and aisles upon aisles of bookshelves. Ciara and her best friend Malachi sat at the table, their heads bent over a book together. She must be in her element with so many books to read.

An old man with gray hair stepped forward, worry lines etched on his weathered skin.

“I’m Alister O’Cuinn, and who might you be? ”

“This is my sister, Roisin,” Lorcan said.

“We have more Fae here!” He grinned. “If this wasn’t under such dire circumstances, then it’d call for a celebration.”

He sounded like Mother and Father with their balls. A young man walked toward our small huddle. His stride was long and determined. Muscular legs like those of our King’s guards tapered up to his tight waist. His broad chest expanded as he drew in a deep breath. My gaze snapped to his face. His striking blue eyes held me captive. I couldn’t look away even as he stopped next to Alister.

“Grandfather, do you need help?”

“Brandon.” Alister slapped him on his muscular shoulder. “Meet Fae Princess Roisin.”

“Pleasure, I’m sure.” He grinned, not once blinking or looking away from my face.

His gaze seemed to drink me in the same way I was with him. I couldn’t explain the sudden obsession with a human. This wouldn’t do. I lifted my chin in the air and broke our staring match.

There was no way I’d fall for the strikingly handsome human.