Page 52 of Summer's Seduction

I couldn’t help the chuckle from tilting my lips.Maybe the dream had been wrong?I let the fleeting thought hover in the realm of possibility for a moment longer before dismissing it.

No. Too many pieces fit together. Larkspur was the lost princess, the true ruler of The Kingdom of Nightmares. Somehow, she’d been taken to The Realm of The Living and made to forget—forced to believe she was a young witch… but even that might not be true.

“When did your powers awaken?” I asked, unable to contain the anxiety spiraling inside of me.

“Twenty-one, like all witches.” Her smile faded as she studied me.

“And your magic?”

“Persuasion.”

“That’s not a power among the witches, Larkspur.” My voice was soft, even as my mind raced to connect all the threads.

“It’s from my mother’s side,” she said, lifting her chin as her eyes narrowed. “A gift from The Dark Ones.”

“Not a common gift,” I countered. “Most who wielded the power of persuasion were direct descendants from the goddessMelinoe. It was particularly popular among The Strix family, though itdidskip a few generations.”

I observed her carefully, but there was no recognition in her gaze. Nothing that hinted at memories from a time decades passed.

“Okay.” Larkspur drew out the word, looking as if she were trying to decipher why I decided on the history lesson.

“And your father?” I pressed as images of the towering figure cloaked in night rose to the surface. “If he was a witch, shouldn’t you have inherited some of his coven’s magic?”

She flinched. It was small, and she covered it well with a shrug, but I saw it all the same before she faced forward. “He was a green witch and only an anchor to The Realm of The Living. Maybe there was nothing for me to inherit. The power in my mother’s line was stronger.”

A plausible reason, and if she did have an awakening like every other witch, how could she be the long-lost princess? I should let the topic drop until I gathered more information. Hecate was the goddess of all witches. She’d be able to confirm Larkspur’s lineage. Then maybe—maybe—my little monster wouldn’t be dragged into the deadly game of crowns.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, catching hints of her eucalyptus and honey in the misty, pine-scented night air. Flashes of a young girl with umber curls raced through my mind too quickly for me to focus. It felt like I was spinning, my stomach clenching as bile burned the back of my throat.

“Morpheus,” Larkspur called as I dipped. The startled concern in her voice snapped me out of my thoughts, tethering me to this time. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m—” Words stalled in my throat as I glanced toward her, the image of the little girl flickering over her face. Girl and then woman. Then and now. Mist-covered pine trees and snow-capped mountains—but not just any mountain.

Glass spires jutted from thick snowbanks, the clear spikes reflecting prisms across white swaths. The once beautiful grounds were barren, rendered into a foreboding prison—The Glass Palace.

Larkspurhadbeen there. I’d seen her the day of the invasion when my mother proclaimed herself Queen of The Kingdom of Nightmares. I couldn’t have been more than ten. Ash covered her face and hair, hiding the finery of her silk gown, but there was no mistaking the green of her eyes.

Father forbid it, but I’d snuck through the buried palace until I found her room. There were guards positioned in front of her door, forcing me to slip back into the shadows. I took a hidden passageway and stepped into the brightly lit space.

Young Larkspur lifted her chin. The same hard glint she got in her eyes now was there then, her small hands clenched into fists as if she meant to fight me. “Are you here to kill me, prince?”

Itook to the skies for the rest of the journey, unable to look at her without worry gripping me. Larkspur had no recollection of her childhood. She recalled time spent with her father and sister; everything described was within the last decade, but nothing before. I’d asked once more, pushing to see if there was any chance I could be wrong, only for her to deflect my remaining questions, brushing it off to suppressed memories from a shitty upbringing.

I guess it was possible. Gods knew I wanted to believe that version of history, but I just didn’t. Too many things were not adding up, and despite her protests, I was sure Larkspur felt it too. Something was cresting on the horizon for us, still out of focus but drawing nearer. I only hoped we’d survive the crash.

“We land here,” Artemis called. I followed her gaze, spotting two huntresses flying toward us, nearly hidden as they wove through the shadows of the clouds.

“What do you think that’s about,” Larkspur asked as the pegasi touched down. The new huntresses dismounted, speaking in hushed whispers to Artemis and Camilla. It wasn’t long before the others had joined them, leaving me and my little monster out.

“I’m not sure,” I answered, noting the hard sets to their jaws and the thin press of their lips. I helped her down, holding her close as our feet touched the ground. “But it doesn’t look good.”

The entire meeting took about a minute before the huntress dipped their heads toward Artemis and returned to their Pegasi. Most launched into the sky once more, flying south as the remaining six figures turned to face us.

“Hades and Persephone have ensured all the corrupt souls have drunk from The Lethe,” Artemis said. “The threat to The Dark Palace from within The Underworld is contained, for now.”

“That’s good news,” Larkspur said, glancing toward the sky where most of the huntresses grew smaller by the minute. “So, why are they leaving?”

“My huntresses tell me the passages that connect our realm to The Realm of The Living are being sealed. Hecate and Thanatos are working on it, but Hades is worried this is part of Hypnos’s plan.”

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