Page 39 of Heart of the Summer Queen

“And you would have been happy sitting behind me for two whole days?”

“We could have found somewhere in the middle of nowhere and stayed there for the night. There was no need to rush here.”

Elaric pushes himself up with a groan.

Despite being unconscious only moments ago, he’s much quicker on his feet than I expect and retrieves the sack, slinging it over his shoulder.

“You can’t carry it,” I protest. “It’ll freeze.”

He gestures to the dark trees up ahead. “As I mentioned yesterday, my magic will cease to work as soon as we set foot inside the woods.”

With that, he trudges on.

“Elaric!” I call, though it’s no use.

I hurry after him and try to grab the sack, but he angles his shoulder away. My fingers grasp empty air.

“You’re injured,” I say. “You should let me carry it.”

“I’m not injured.”

“You were unconscious.”

“I’m fine.”

“Liar.”

He stops and turns to me, arching a silver brow. “Do I not look fine to you?”

I scan over him but aside from a small tear in the elbow of his tunic, I can’t see any injury. And even if he’s exhausted his magic, it doesn’t seem to have affected his physical strength.

“You’re so stubborn.”

His lips twitch into a smirk.

Since we landed so close to the woods, it doesn’t take us long to reach the trees. At first, I’m hesitant to step into their depths, fearing a strange enchantment will ensnare me. But Elaric proceeds first, and when nothing happens, I follow him.

The branches are so densely knitted together that no starlight can pass through. Cobwebs so thick they could be woven into fishing nets hang from the trees, draping them like silken curtains and glittering in the pallid light. On one of them, I notice sudden movement. A round, shadowy figure large enough to fill a dinner plate.

I try not to think about how it’s by far the largest spider I’ve ever seen and how it may possess poisonous fangs. I clutch the hilt of my dagger beneath my skirts, though I’m not sure what use it’ll be.

“Other than Belinda,” I say as Elaric leads our way through the trees, “is there anything or anyone else we should be wary of meeting?”

“Not as far as I’m aware, though many beasts lurk inside these woods. Wolves and bears and manticores and creatures you’ve perhaps never heard of. But it isn’t too late to return to the palace.”

“I’m not turning back. Not when you rendered yourself unconscious to get us here.”

“That doesn’t matter,” he says softly.

“I will not return to the palace empty-handed.”

Leaving now would mean returning with no chance of freeing my sister. I need to know the truth behind breaking Elaric’s curse, what I as his Summer Queen must do. Whether it really is true love and I must wait for fate to relent, or whether there is another way to end it.

“I have no magic here,” he warns.

I pause, shifting aside my skirts to find the dagger secured to my thigh, and then I pull it from its sheath. Steel whispers through the leaves. I offer it to Elaric.

Frowning, he takes it.

---