Susan's Summer (20 page)

“All right,” I said. But I was still reluctant. “I’m sure it doesn’t say anything bad, anyway.”

“The Arsenals and the Marchells, Part One,” I began.

“Oh man, that’s Samuel all right,” said Mae, shaking her head. I just kept reading:

“The Marchell Court and the Arsenal Court have lived on their lands for three generations. They’re among the newer courts, with the Marchell Court having been set up in response to the strength of the Arsenal Summer Fairies. That situation required a balance, and it was achieved with the Marchells. The land the Arsenals occupy is old and strong, and as long as they control that land they will always be very powerful. The Marchells are growing and getting stronger by the day, but they can in no way match the old strength of the Arsenals. The Courts were agreed upon by the High Fairy Council, which decided that another court in the northeast was the best way to maintain the greater balances of power. The Court now deems both the Arsenal Court and the Marchell Court as independent and fully mature.

“The Marchell Court (pay special attention to this, Susan) has always been thought of as power
hungry. Whatever they’re doing, they’re doing it for their own gain, of that I am sure. The Arsenals are the exact opposite. They want the good of all Fairies. The King and his wife are prime examples of that. They always worked for the good of the whole, sacrificing what was best for themselves in order to achieve it. This gained them respect, but it also gained them certain detractors. There were people who believed that they should take a greater interest in improving Arsenal fortunes instead of working together with other Fairy Courts.

“More specifics about the Marchells. My mother, Mrs. Cheshire, Queen of the Winter Fairies, was certain that they were after the Arsenal Land. They have only a small area of land themselves, and if they could get their hands on more land they would get more power, even in the summer months. I’m not sure I believe that, but not having been to the court myself, I can’t say. I do know the girl you
messaged
Autumn about, Terry. She’s a piece of work, and not in a good way. Power-hungry is how everyone describes her, and if that power should come from her marrying the heir to the Arsenal Kingdom, so be it.”

“Hello? Ridiculous,” Katie scoffed.

I was relieved that she scoffed at the notion of Seth and Terry marrying. I knew it was silly for me to get worked up about it, but I hated the idea more than words could express. How dare she think she could just use Seth for his title? Hadn’t he been through enough? Besides, he had to choose who he gave the Rose to and he COULD, conceivably, give it to someone it wasn’t intended for, as Holt had done—although I couldn’t see Seth doing that, at least not with Terry.

“Would he do it with you?” a small voice asked inside my head. I pushed the voice away. I didn’t want to think about that right now, or the deal my parents had struck, or the guy I fell asleep dreaming about every night.

“You don’t think he’d marry her?” Mae asked. “Even if it meant keeping the Kingdom safe?”

“What does that mean?” Katie and I chorused at the same time. Mae was smart and sometimes she saw patterns and dramas that other people missed.

“Arsenal isn’t as strong as it used to be. You don’t really have a king at the moment and most of your power comes from the land. The Marchells are, you would have to think, trying to get control of some of your land, to strengthen their own power base while simultaneously weakening yours. It’s a smart idea, and if they pull it off Arsenal would be in real trouble.”

“We could go to the Supreme Council,” Katie said. “I just can’t believe they would ever do that.”

I had a feeling the Supreme Council was already there.

Mae shrugged. “Samuel doesn’t trust them.” She told Katie what had happened at the Marchell party and Katie gasped.

“That can’t be right,” she argued. “Cressa would never tell you to leave. You’re our guests and are safe with us. Never think otherwise.”

Mae looked skeptically over at me, but I was lost in thought as I kept staring back at the letter. The thought of Seth marrying had shaken me deeply and I hadn’t expected it. Now I had to gather my wits. I surprised myself by foreseeing a black, dark future for myself without him, a future I didn’t think I could live with.

~ ~ ~

“I don’t think my brother plans on marrying for a long time,” said Katie. “At least not until my dad comes back.”

I didn’t want to say anything, but I had a bad feeling about her father, like maybe he had gone to Europe for good and was never coming back. But if Katie didn’t realize it then I wasn’t going to be the one to ruin it for her.

“Do you think the Marchells really want the Arsenal land?” I asked Mae.

Mae considered. “They want something. Except for Teegan, who Samuel says is all right, the Marchells have been hostile from the beginning. At the party they weren’t doing anything casually. Their questions, the way they treated us, it was all calculated, and I’m sure Cressa knows what’s going on. I think she was honestly trying to warn us.”

“We don’t even know what’s going on,” Katie argued. “Yeah, they were weird, but that might just be because they weren’t used to having Summer Fairy company. It’s not like they associate with us often—and you, Susan; everyone knows how much fun you are.”

I grinned in spite of myself. “Thanks,” I mumbled.

But deep down I was embarrassed by the reputation that preceded me wherever I want. I just wasn’t that person anymore. I couldn’t be. There had been too much loss and too much pain; it was hard to even think about being that happy anymore.

“I think if Teegan is involved, he doesn’t know the damage it might cause,” Mae mused. “I don’t think he would ever intentionally hurt anyone.”

I agreed with that. He was too kind and soft-hearted to fit the picture Samuel had drawn of the Marchell Court as a whole, but if some of its members (read: Terry) were willing to go to any length to get the Arsenal land and increase their power, then Teegan might unwittingly hurt the Arsenals just by going along with what the other people in his Court were doing. That included Katie, and maybe even Mae and me if we stayed at Arsenal much longer.

~ ~ ~

“I thought I’d find you all in here,” said Seth, sticking his head around the door jamb. His eyes found my face and then slid away again toward Katie. My own face went scarlet.

“I was hoping to have some company with lunch,” he said, glancing meaningfully at all the open bottles of nail polish. “That stuff smells, by the way,” he told Katie, wrinkling his nose. When she started to glare at him he grinned and said, “But the finished product looks splendid.”

His eyes flicked between Katie and me. I hoped it was because he couldn’t keep his eyes off me, just like I couldn’t keep my eyes off him.

“We’ll be right down,” said Katie. “We just have to do a top coat and let it dry.”

“Whatever you say,” said Seth, grinning at his sister.

“That would be a first,” she muttered as she grabbed a clear bottle of nail polish.

“Oh, and I went out to the trees today,” said Seth. A frown replaced his smile. “More have been cut.”

“Oh?” I tried to be casual, but my heart started to race.

“They were definitely cut, but I have no idea how it happened, which is strange, because I know whenever someone is on the property. It’s not like kids can just come around and mess everything up. Another powerful fairy, maybe, but I don’t see why anyone would randomly come onto the property and chop down one tree.”

“So, you think it was intentional?”

“Yes, but I don’t know why. It’s not like anyone could have known you would be walking by right at that moment.”

“Strange,” said Katie, shrugging. “Probably better not to worry about it.” She started to paint another nail.

“Probably,” Seth agreed. “I’ll see you all in a few minutes.”

He disappeared and I found myself wondering if I would ever get used to his presence. If he married someone else, or if I did (Teegan?), would I be able to treat him as just another normal guy I was in the same room with? Would that be fair to Teegan?

No. There was no way that would ever happen. Some things in life I was sure of, and that was one of them. I sighed and took the top coat bottle that Katie was offering me.

Since my arrival at Arsenal I had found out that the old fairy who helped out around the place lived in her own cottage and just came down when requested. I had a feeling she knew very well what was going on, but the few times I had tried to talk to her she had pretended she couldn’t hear me. The only thing I knew about her was that she loved the Arsenal children and that she was a fabulous cook. She had made a lovely lunch of soup, salad, and assorted fruits.

The meal would have been quiet, the four of us just sitting around chatting about nothing in particular—mostly the parties the Arsenals used to have—if a note hadn’t arrived as we were eating. It was delivered by messenger, which the Arsenals said was highly unusual. I had been expecting something like this to happen, though, because it was what Mrs. Cheshire would have done if one of her guests had had a bad time at a party she hosted.

The note was from the Marchell Queen and read, “I beg your pardon for our lack of hospitality recently.” They hadn’t made contact with the Arsenals since the party. She was far kinder to Mae and me.

At that point Seth snorted, but Katie ignored him and continued to read.

“I would cordially like to invite you all to join us for lunch sometime soon. Please drop in at your convenience.”

“What she really means is that she’s inviting you,” said Seth, looking at me. “And Mae if she wants to go along, that will be fine, but it’s you everyone is interested in. She is hoping that Katie and I decline.”

I looked down at my soup. “I don’t want to go back there again,” I said into my food. I didn’t want to admit that the place scared me, but it did. Samuel’s information only confirmed my suspicion that the place was trouble, and since the Marchells seemed to be bringing the trouble to Arsenal, why rush toward it?

“Why not?” Katie asked. “Teegan will probably be there.” She was oblivious to how I felt about her brother, or she didn’t care. With a stab of worry, I realized that she might not approve of Seth and me as a couple. Maybe she thought her older brother could do better—and to be honest, he could. He could easily marry any Summer Princess. But the fact that he had yet to make such an alliance gave me pause. I wondered what he was waiting for. Now in his early twenties and with his father clearly not in the best of health, he could consolidate his power base by finding a wife, particularly one from a strong court, and marrying her as quickly as possible.

I hated the idea of Seth marrying almost as much as I hated the fact that I would never see Holt again.

But what did Seth want? That’s what I couldn’t figure out for the life of me. “I don’t want to go because I don’t want to see Terry,” I said.

“Ah, Terry,” said Seth. “She’s harmless. I think. You don’t have to worry about her. She’s more bluster than action.”

I thought of the intentionally cut tree, but I didn’t say anything.

My note-stone warmed in my pocket and I pulled it out to check the new message. My heart rate increased when I saw that one of my parents’ friends had answered my question about a betrothal.

“What is it?” Seth asked. His eyes said that he was laughing at my far-off look.

The same overwhelming sadness that had been my constant companion over the past few months was enveloping me again. I wished I could fight away the hopeless feeling, but I couldn’t. It was suffocating and painful, like being stabbed in the chest. I just wanted to break away and run.

“Oh, nothing,” I said, looking up and trying to smile reassuringly. Most of my parents’ friends had told me that they had no idea who my mom and dad had betrothed me to, but this message looked longer.

What if it wasn’t Seth? Or Teegan? What if no one ever knew and I had been pining after something my parents had never meant to begin with?

Feeling suffocated, I excused myself and rushed outside. I thought I’d feel better in the open air. I needed to be able to breathe again.

I had barely gotten into the garden when I choked on my own sobs. It was too much. There had been too much change since we had arrived at Arsenal. Strange as it seemed, over the past months I had become comfortable in my unhappiness. There were no expectations there, no one to disappoint and no risks to take. I had accepted that I would never move past losing Holt and that there was no point in thinking otherwise. Once I had reached that conclusion, things had become simpler. I still thought of him every day and his loss still affected me on a visceral level, but it didn’t hurt as much anymore.

Then I had come here and started to feel again.

What was so strange was that I had barely felt sad recently. Every day was happier than the last. At first I had had trouble accepting that I could be happy again, but I knew that’s what my parents and Holt would have wanted. I wanted it too.

Something about this place—these people, Seth—had made my heart beat in a way that I thought it had forgotten. Now there were risks. Yes, rewards too, but I couldn’t get past the risks and the pain of putting my heart out there and feeling.

What if I got hurt?

What if Seth never got past whatever it was he was afraid of?

What if I felt again—and lost?

These were the questions that swirled around in my mind as I headed for Seth’s happy place. It had so quickly become my own refuge that it made me fearful, but I wanted—needed—to go back there.