Five, there are no more Black Blood princes, and only one of the Elemental sons is cursed—me, the Prince of Earth.
Aer’s words, tempered by Ether, roll night and day through my mind. A torture, a torment. A promise of things to come. Things that will never be.
Prince of the barren earth, buried within it you must be for at least seven days and seven nights, and until your heart’s love unearths you. Then free and forever blessed you shall be.
Until my heart’s love unearths me. What foolishness! There will be no fated mate for me, for I could never value such a terrible gift.
No poison creeps through my cursed blood, and yet my heart is stone cold, any golden vein of warmth buried in deepest soil long ago, back when the Elements first formed me.
Buried already, dark earth surrounds me, lays heavy as a grave upon my ribs and my limbs. But I smile and laugh and pretend it’s not true. Not the way of things.
But it is.
Yes, it is.
And so, I drink and drink and watch the enchanted human as she twirls and twirls, for soon she will be gone from the Bright Court. Summer to my winter. Fire to my blood. Earth to my ashes. Ashes to my earth.
Because of her—I see no other.
The girl my sister will send home.
The Shade Court wants the girl back, Merri says. We’ll send her home to protect her from them.
But the girl they long for, I am destined to retrieve.
And though I’ll never want her insipid-human love, there are other things she can give me.
She won’t be safe unless I follow and protect her.
So she’ll never be Landolin or Moiron Ravenseeker’s toy again.
The summer girl is mine.
Forever mine.
Not to love.
But to own.
As it should be—a faery prince and his human pet.
Forever.
