Page 48 of Raven Rebel (Sablewood #1)

Meara

M eara watched Cerne speak with Aletris, the Autumn Lord and the Summer Lady. They were amicable but clearly there was no true affection between them. Cerne turned his charming smile on her, and Meara tensed. When was that smile genuine and when was it for show?

He picked up a cup and drank deep, draining it and reaching for a second. Faeries crowded around the leaders, and her shoulders slumped. He would be drunk soon at the rate he was going, and she had no interest in him in that state.

Exhaling through her teeth, she scanned the crowd, spotting golden curls and a sunburst hairpiece. Her sister was with Emrys, and her mood soured further. Brenna would be furious if she tried to intervene.

She reached for a drink of her own and took a swig of the spicy cider. Faeries moved around her, jostling her, some heading for the food while others moved between bonfires to join the wild dance.

Moving on instinct, she wandered further from the crowd.

The trees whispered to her, shadows calling her into their comforting embrace.

She sipped her drink and gave in to the impulse to lose herself in the darkness.

As she stepped into the tree line, she felt magic coiling around her.

Smiling, she pinched a thread of shadow between her fingers and drew it up, loving the way it floated like smoke.

A figure moved between trees in the distance. She watched, waiting to see if the faerie drew closer or kept their distance. A familiar set of broad shoulders and waving golden hair emerged from the dense gloom.

Clothed in ochre linen, darker than his usual ivory, the summer heir had a gilded mask over his cheeks and brow that was surprisingly plain.

“Lord Luce, are you hiding from your court’s Samhain celebration?” she teased, letting the cider’s effect relax her pose and loosen her tongue.

“It is not mine,” he grumbled, crossing his arms as he watched her unravel shadows and draw them through the air.

“You are the heir of the Summer Court, which happens to be the court that is currently hosting Samhain. Therefore, I fail to see how this is not your celebration.”

He chuckled at her sassy response and the warmth of it tingled on her skin. “I do not think I agree with your conclusion, but please continue.”

“You should be enjoying the party,” she said, scowling at him. “It’s not the same without you. ”

“Why?” Bicolored eyes bore into hers, thickening the air around them.

She broke the contact and looked away while sipping her drink. “You are summer embodied.” She waved her hand at him, and how even in the dim, he seemed to glow. “Therefore, the Summer Court requires your presence.”

“Summer embodied,” he echoed, smirking. “What does that make you?”

Caught off guard, Meara canted her head, lines forming around her eyes. What was she?

“Nothing. Darkness. The absence of light,” she muttered, looking down. Shadows seethed at her feet like a stream flowing over rocks.

Luce was in front of her, looking down intently. “You are not nothing.” He did not touch her, but he held her attention so firmly in his grasp, she felt as if she could not pull away even if she wished to.

“Night is powerful because it devours the day. Everything ends in darkness. It’s inevitable.” Shadows licked up his legs, teasing the loose fabric of his trousers. Luce’s eyes dropped. “Are you threatening me?”

“No,” she said, fluttering fingers at her shadows as they crawled up his legs, sending them dancing in swirls around their knees. Not a threat, simply asserting her dominance. The thought made her smile.

Luce laughed again, and this one was warmer, like he found actual humor in the situation. He opened his hand and called upon his magic, shining light down to chase away the shadows. They scattered and faded.

“Call them back, I want to see if you can withstand my light,” he commanded.

Meara’s heart leapt, her excitement rising at the challenge. “I wouldn’t want to smother your light,” she said with a sly smile.

“You can’t. I can take whatever shadows you summon. You won’t hurt me, little moth,” he said, stepping closer into her personal space.

She backed up, her back bumping against a tree.

“Are you sure you want to discover if that is true?” Looking up at him, she couldn’t help her devious grin.

She felt powerful, going up against this prince of summer.

Even now, her shadows twisted, coming closer to his luminous hands. “I would hate to make you a liar.”

“Now, that does sound like a threat.” He chuckled, his skin beginning to glow in earnest.

“I think threatening you may be my new favorite hobby,” she murmured, her focus pouring into the magic in the air around them. It gathered, taking form for her, wrapping around Luce.

He looked down at his body coated in darkness and grinned.

For a moment, his smile darkened, and a trickster shone through.

That was all the warning she received before his radiance intensified.

He blazed like a fire, breaking apart her shadows.

She threw her arm up over her eyes as he burned before her.

“What the hell is happening here,” Cerne growled, stalking toward them.

Meara could make out the outline of his antlers and little else in the shining light.

Luce faded, and lights wove across her vision as she took in the Autumn Lord, every line of his face tense with anger.

He grabbed Luce’s shirt and yanked him back.

“What are you doing? Stop!” Meara yelped, pushing off from the tree she had been leaning against and reaching for Cerne. His other hand shot out and grabbed her wrist to stop her.

The heir of summer glared at Cerne. “Is this how you treat your lady? ”

“I don’t let the heirs of murderers pin her to a tree and ravage her,” Cerne snarled.

Luce’s bicolored eyes flared. “Let her go.”

Meara yanked her arm to free herself from Cerne’s grasp. His hand tightened instinctively, and he pulled her back, further from Luce.

Meara cried her outrage, no true words forming, but before she could move, Luce twisted and swung his fist, landing a blow on Cerne’s jaw.

The Autumn Lord released his hold on Meara and staggered back, landing in the brush. Meara dropped to her knees beside him, her hands going to his head and shoulders to keep him from injuring himself further.

Luce shook out his hand and growled, “Meara, if you want me to take you away from him, you only have to ask.”

“What is wrong with you?” she muttered, brushing her fingertips over the bruise blooming on Cerne’s face.

He clumsily rose, snaking an arm around her waist to pull her against him. His fae canines glinted as he bared them at Luce. “You will pay for that if you ever come near her again.”

Meara pushed away from him, her anger gathering shadows around her so she was wading through black fog. “You are both brutes. I think you deserve each other.” Hair whipping behind her, she strode away from both males and toward the light of the celebration.