Page 57

Sav

W e snaked along the border between Spring and Summer, moving far enough away that Jack wouldn’t be ensnared again. No true fae would fall for glamour. Unless they’d never set foot in Faerie, I supposed.

My sister would have tested him. Used her magic to drag out the truth, no matter what it cost him to learn it. I shuddered. How had she and I shared a womb? Now, though, knowing Jack wasn’t just a human, I questioned the soundness of my plan.

He’d as good as said the words I had been thinking aloud, albeit without the threatening army at his back. So why did thoughts of making the trade twist something in my gut?

I frowned, gaze darting to the left. The fox had managed to stay with us the entire trip. Whoever it was, would likely report to my sister the moment we crossed realms. If I saw it again, I’d string it up by its tail.

We were closing in on the path to Earth and I wiped my slick palms on my skirts.

Our plan was half hatched at best and relied entirely on Creig’s aid.

If he refused me, I needed to come up with something else.

How foolish would it be to make the trade without the might of Sage’s army at my back?

Did Dane want his son badly enough and if so, what would stop him from simply killing me and taking him?

Would I be putting Jack in danger if I sent him back to the humans?

“Lady Briar.”

The blood in my veins froze as power crackled over my skin. I turned, already knowing who I’d see.

We were still on the spring side of the border, but nothing and no one was strong enough to stop the prince of summer from stepping over the line and ending me if he wanted.

I searched the forest behind him and realized with some surprise he was alone.

But with power like his, what did he need an army for?

I dipped my head, praying to Mab Jack was bowing as nonmembers of a fae court were expected to do, but couldn’t spare him the glance. To look away was tantamount to death.

“What brings you this far from your palace?”

I lifted my chin, not breaking his stare. Every inch of his honed, golden skin was bare, all the way to his feet, showing off the perfectly sculpted physique of our realm’s closest thing to a deity with Mab gone. It reminded me of our very first meeting.

“And with a human?” he continued.

I met his eye. “I’m merely shoring up our borders, your highness.”

Prince Fero barked a laugh. “Come now, Briar. You can’t think rumors of your binding haven’t reached me in Summer.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, hiding a grimace.

Though we hadn’t spent a great deal of time together when he visited our court, he held one card over me that, even now, had my stomach twisting into a knot.

If he wanted the truth, he could demand it.

“There’s more than one way to protect a border, your highness. ”

“Surely, your sister has more than enough magic for the task. Or,” he searched the forest. “Has her power weakened of late?”

“She has plenty of power.”

I squeezed my eyes shut at Jack’s words as Fero’s gaze moved to him for the first time.

“Your pet speaks so freely, Lady Briar. You should keep him on a tighter leash.”

I begged Mab to seal Jack’s mouth and thanked her when he said nothing else.

Fero’s flaming eyes, the color of autumn leaves, returned to me, looking me over.

I stood perfectly still, letting him drink his fill.

His perusal would have given my uncle great joy if it meant he could use it to his advantage, and years of training had me frozen in place, rather than speaking against it.

Letting my mind wander to the place it went in situations like these, I was surprised when it went instead to my sister’s prison and the moment Jack had burned the bars of his cage.

I’d looked into eyes flaming with a feral sort of rage that sent the hairs on my arms standing on end. Had they been orange, like Summer?

“I hear congratulations are in order. What will your sister do now that she has the might of the lakes and streams at her command?”

“The alliance doesn’t secure my sister over Prince Kaspar, and I’d recommend never making such a statement in his presence.”

Fero chuckled. “Glad to see he hasn’t curbed your wicked tongue. I miss our days together at court, Lady.”

He said lady with enough derision, there was no confusing his insinuation at how I’d received my title.

“Princess, soon enough.”

Fero shifted on his feet, and I kept my eyes on his face, studiously ignoring the impressive length hanging between toned thighs. “Ah yes. Has the happy date been set?”

My fingers slid to my waistband, running absently over the daggers rimming my corset. He could ensure my sister never received the aid she desired right now if he wished, and though my blades would be of no use against Fero’s magic, I wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“We’re working out the details,” I said, searching the tree line to gauge the sun’s position in the sky. Any moment the rain would begin in Spring. Perhaps it would be enough to send Fero away, but somehow, I doubted it. “I’ll be sure you receive an invitation, your highness.”

Fero’s raven eyebrow quirked up. “Will the festivities be held in your new sovereign’s court or did you just extend an invitation into Spring?” His right leg twitched as if he planned to take me at my word and step over this moment.

“We seek a neutral venue.” A deceptively cool voice replied behind me.

Fero’s attention shifted past me and I glanced to my left, swearing under my breath as Kaspar approached and took my hand.

“I want my betrothed to feel comfortable to invite whomever she likes to our nuptials.” He brought my fingers to his lips and pressed a kiss to my knuckles.

Sweat ran down my back. Kaspar had timed his entrance well, as usual. I fought the urge to sneak a look at Jack, wondering why he was so silent, but unwilling to risk drawing attention to him.

Fero was content to spend the rest of eternity chatting, or at least until I divulged too much information. What did he need spies for when he need only needle things from me? “Something neutral sounds perfect, my prince,” I said, painting on a false smile.

Kaspar’s attention drifted from me to Fero as he looked the male over, clearly unimpressed.

For the first time, I wondered if Kaspar’s power might rival the prince of summer.

We’d never talked about his gifts. In all the years I’d known him, he’d never mentioned them at all.

Perhaps that was because, unlike most land courts, the sea courts didn’t choose royals based on power.

Kaspar was destined to rule whether he had a drop of magic or an ocean full.

Fero met Kaspar’s cool gaze with one of his own and the two males sized each other up for long moments before Fero’s gaze broke first, nearly making me gasp.

“You know, Lady Briar, things would have gone differently if your sister and her husband had accepted my marriage suit. We might all be friends now, rather than preparing for war.”

Fero turned, giving us all his back, and Kaspar hissed at the insult. He crested a hill on his side of the border and disappeared over it. Jack let out a grunt behind me.

I heard the sounds they made, but they were background noise, drowned by the screaming in my own head.

Fero? Prince Fero had requested my hand and my sister had declined?

The forest spun at dizzying speed. Why had she never told me?

Why had no one ever told me? I wrenched my hand free from Kaspar’s, whirling to face him.

“Did you know? Was that why you offered your suit?”

Jack moved, pressing into my back, and my world steadied. I leaned against him, drawing on his comforting warmth, but my gaze remained fixed on Kaspar, a knife buried in my chest as I waited for his reply.

Kaspar watched me impassively, even as my heart thrashed under my ribcage. His lips were pressed firmly together and his gaze shifted over my shoulder to the man at my back. His eyes narrowed.

“If you hope to gain my lady’s affections, you’ll need to do more than—.”

“I don’t have a title to throw around, but make no mistake, I won’t back down from a fight.” Jack cut him off, stepping around me, towering several inches over the prince.

“Enough!” Heat flared to life in my veins, and tiny sparks fizzled along my fingertips. “Both of you!” I spun on my heel, marching away from all the testosterone clouding my nostrils.

“Sav, wait!”

I didn’t wait for Jack or Kaspar or any more men who thought they had a claim on me.

So much might have been different if anyone had bothered to ask me what I wanted.

I wanted love, they knew, but if I’d been given the opportunity to make peace between two rival courts at war for centuries, I might have taken it.

I marched blindly, not caring where I went, suddenly feeling my mission to save a few fae was a pebble, sending a tiny ripple across a great lake.

I might succeed in saving a few today, but what would become of the rest of my kind?

In Faerie, on Earth? Fero may have been willing to open his borders to the low fae.

I might have found them a place that didn’t involve assimilation and degradation on Earth.

My breathing had calmed, but my temper hadn’t. I longed in this moment for a taste of my magic so I could expel some of the heat burning through me. I glanced over my shoulder. Jack was crashing through the brush in an attempt to keep up. Kaspar was nowhere to be seen.

I continued on, reaching the place we’d been trekking to all day.

Now that I was here, I wasn’t sure what to do.

Even if Kaspar offered asylum, the low fae couldn’t survive underwater.

His offer might have bought us an army and the ability to spy on our neighbors, but there were so many things Summer offered.

So many things my sister apparently didn’t want.

But why? Why choose an alliance that guaranteed war when there had been another option? One that would have strengthened us.

I leaned against a tree, grinding my teeth.

Jack halted beside me, breathing loudly.

My gaze hardened on him. Who did he think he was challenging a prince of Faerie? And who did Kaspar think he was, deciding my fate for me? These males and their egos would drive me to violence.

He straightened unusually quickly, catching his breath far too fast for a human, reminding me he was no normal man.

A thrill of fear shot through me. I had been too hasty in my plan to deliver Jack to Dane.

I had no idea what he was or what he was capable of, and once Dane had him, he would know how to get into Faerie.

I couldn’t do it. Not when giving him up might hand Dane the key to everything and destroy what was left of Faerie.