“Run, and I’ll make this even worse for you.” He slips from the shadows, the yellow light from the lamppost reflecting off the buttons on his green vest, embroidered with fuchsia oleanders and tiny gold daggers. “I see you liked my gift.”

Panting, I try to retreat, only to feel the rough stone wall scrape my bare back. His eyes travel the length of my dress.

Frick. I pinch the fabric of my skirt, dandelion heads blowing in the faint shafts of lamplight piercing the dimness. “This was you?”

“Fae hells, you’re adorable. Of course it was me.”

He prowls toward me, and I raise my hands. I already know I’m going to fight. I’m not prepared. I thought there would be some sort of warning before he requested my part of the bargain. Time to enact my plan.

“Why now?” I demand.

He flicks up an eyebrow. “Simple. Your Winter Prince is all but ruined. He’s been mired for months in controversy. First stealing his grandfather’s soulstone, then attacking me over a mortal servant. And now that he slighted an ally of his own court for you, only to be publicly humiliated after giving up everything for you.”

“He didn’t steal the soulstone.” You did, you pointy-eared prick. “And that’s not what happened. I didn’t humiliate him.”

He tsks. “Truth doesn’t matter, perception does. But you’re clever. You know he’s doomed. The other courts smell blood in the water. And once I parade you in front of him and all the courts as mine, once I ruin you and then toss you aside, the prize he gave up everything for—his destruction will be ensured. His reign over.”

“Liar,” I hiss. “I don’t care what your powers are, I will never give in to you.”

“I am a liar, but you will submit to me, Summer. You will spend every moment of your existence in my thrall. I’m going to parade you in front of him, forcing him to watch you become what you were always meant to be. A slave.”

“Are you absolutely sure about that?” I feel my face twist into a look of pure hatred. “The moment you slip up, the moment your magic wanes, just for a moment, and I’ll sink a dagger of iron into your heart.”

He laughs, his lips twitching in amusement. “I understand now his obsession with you. He and I both share a taste for poisons, but mortal love is more elusive and deadly than a thousand vials of the toxins I collect. Now, speaking of collecting . . .” He closes the space between us, his eyes burning with excitement. “Where would you like me to touch you?”

I cast a desperate glance toward the party in the distance. Dammit, Ruby. Where are you?

“No one can help you,” he insists cheerfully.

I swallow, my parched throat convulsing. Ruby Ricin, if you’ve ever loved me, get your tiny drunk ass over here.

I turn my cheek as he places his hands flat on either side of the wall. “If you don’t choose, I will for you. I vote for something with meaning. Perhaps your smart mouth, since that’s your most offending part.”

Crap. This is happening. I close my eyes. Knee poised to do as much damage as possible to his nether-regions the moment he touches me.

I hear him shift slightly. My eyes flick open—

“Ruby!” I shout as every limb in my body goes numb with relief.

“The one and only,” she slurs, bowing mid-air before slamming into my shoulder. Nerium follows behind her, dipping in a way that tells me he’s as lit as she is.

“I am going to buy you a year’s worth of skittles, you glorious creature,” I whisper before facing Hellebore. He’s backed up a few inches, obviously displeased that his sadistic party has been crashed. “I’m ready to choose where you may touch me, prick.” Plucking Ruby from my shoulder, I hold her out as offering. “Ruby, how would you like to be enthralled to the Spring Court heir?”

Her eyes light up, and she waggles her eyebrows at Hellebore. “Does this mean I finally get an invitation to your red room of pain?”

The smile on his face falters. As realization takes hold, something dark scuttles just beneath the surface of his arrogant facade. “Is this a joke?”

“No joke. You see, I remembered a clause in Faerie law that specifically states once a sprite has declared allegiance to a master, and that master to their sprite, they technically are regarded as one. I also double-checked that theory with a lawyer I know. It’s ironclad.”

I thought watching Hellebore’s expression as he realizes I’ve outmaneuvered him would be satisfying . . . and it is.

But more than anything, it’s frightening. He goes still. Which is scary in its own right. Like a cat right before it pounces. But the black fury brimming inside his eyes—I know with absolute certainty that he will destroy me for this.

Ruby squirms, misreading his swelling hatred for disgust. “What, do you have something against tiny people?”

His sharp gaze switches from her back to me, and I know I’ve gone too far. He’s going to straight up murder me right here.

“Why wasn’t I invited to this party?”

I glance over Hellebore’s shoulder to the figure behind him. Eclipsa leans against the stairwell, half in shadow. A dagger glitters from her fingers where she rolls it between them, proving that no matter how many shots she had, she’s still capable of tossing that dagger straight into Hellebore’s heart before he can so much as blink.

Hellebore doesn’t turn around. Doesn’t even take his eyes off me as he says, “I never pegged you for a human lover, E.”

Eclipsa picks her fingers with the dagger. Her casual demeanor so at odds with the tension drowning the air. “I don’t love them. She’s my prince’s property, and I’m sworn to protect what’s his. Other than that, I could care less what you do with her.”

Property? His? After everything, her words hit me harder than if she’d slapped me in the face. I stare at her as a wound opens inside me. I thought we were friends. I thought . . .

Hellebore takes in my wounded expression and laughs. “Oh, did you assume she actually cared about you? That you were anything more than her master’s prize, to be locked away and protected?”

Eclipsa smiles. “Hellebore, if you aren’t gone in say, five seconds—to match the number of inches of your favorite body part—I’m going to cut out that quivering organ you call a heart and ram it down your throat.”

“That does sound lovely, E, but I’m afraid just like the last countless times, I must rebuff your affections.” He winks at me, and if there was ever a way to make a wink say, Enjoy your upcoming murder, he just nailed it. “Now, I’m off to visit a certain female whom I know will be overjoyed to see me.”

The moment he’s gone, I sag against the wall as blood floods back into my legs. Nerium makes an obscene gesture at Ruby before zipping after his master.

Eclipsa glides down the stairs. “Summer—”

“Don’t.” I shake my head as fresh tears slick my cheeks.

“What I said, it’s all a game.”

“Not to me.” I rub the back of my hand over my eyes. “But Hellebore was right. I’m a fool for thinking the Winter Prince could love me, and I’m an even bigger fool for thinking you and I were friends. It won’t happen again.”

“Summer, wait!”

But I’m already running toward the dorms, Ruby in tow. My room is empty. After texting Mack to make sure she’s safe, I curl up on my bed—still in Hellebore’s dress—wrap myself in my sheets, and cry.

39

I wake up to Mack’s protests from above, and what sounds like . . . meowing?

“Make it stop, please,” Mack groans from above. “The sun isn’t even awake yet.”

Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I slide from bed, change out of my rumpled dress and into leggings and a T-shirt, and throw open the door to . . .

“Chatty Cat?” I squeak.

Chatty Cat sits there in all his mangy glory, yowling his head off. I reach for him but he hisses and scampers into the room, still mewling and doing his best to wake up the entire world.

Another groan comes from the upper bunk. “You made it worse.”

I drop to my knees beside the cat, who is sitting on his hindquarters, singing the song of his people. “Chatty, what are you doing here?”

Chatty hisses, his ears drawn back in annoyance. I can’t help but feel he’s growing impatient. What am I missing?

“Just take him back to your sister,” Mack pleads beneath the pillow over her head. “She was supposed to keep him in a crate.”

“Jane?”

At her name, Chatty Cat makes a bloodcurdling scream. His lime-green eyes pleading with me to . . .

“Oh my God, Jane!” Cold dread washes over me. “Is she in trouble?”

I swear, Chatty Cat nods before fleeing under my bed.

Just like that, Hellebore’s parting words replay in my mind. I’m off to visit a certain female whom I know will be overjoyed to see me.

Mack sits up, rubbing her head. “What? Why are you screeching?”

I don’t even bother putting on shoes before I rush out the door. Zinnia and Vi are already in the hallway. They’re both still in their long nightgowns.

Zinnia grabs hold of me, the desperation in her eyes confirming my worst fear. “She’s missing, Summer. Our girl is missing.”

While Zinnia’s tight lips are bracketed by grooves of fear, Vi’s are twisted with righteous fury. “I knew coming here was a mistake. I warned you, Zinnia. If these Faerie bastards have harmed a hair on that girl’s head, there will be hell to pay.”

Oh, God. I need to handle this before they make it worse. “I think I know where she is,” I reassure them. “This is all a big misunderstanding. I need you to wait for me in my room with Mack while I get her back.”

Somehow, Zinnia manages to talk Vi into waiting before she goes on a vengeance spree. Zinnia catches my eye as I sprint down the hall. “Get that poor child back, Summer, whatever it takes.”