“Instead of a gift, I have an offer.” The Summer King surveyed Brogan, McKale, and all of us Masons. “If you and your people can assure me that you will keep this indiscretion between us from now until forever, I will increase the magical ability of the Masons, thereby allowing them to live as long as the Leprechauns. I do not make this offer lightly. If I find you have spread word of Princess Khalistah’s shame outside of these clan lines the price you pay will be more than lost memories. Do you understand?”
We all nodded. Incurring his wrath was not something we wanted. I was certain the only reason we still had our memory was because his daughter had offended him more than we had.
“And does this offer appeal to you?” he asked.
I looked at my family. Dad and Mom shared grateful glances. Cassidy, still sad, gave me a single nod. I looked at McKale, whose eyes shone with hope.
“Definitely,” I said.
“We would be honored to serve you all of our years,” Dad told the Summer King. “Thank you for showing mercy. Today’s events will never leave our lips. You have our word.”
McKale and Brogan stepped away. The King lifted his arms as he’d done to his Fae minutes before. A moment of fear shot through me as I wondered if this was a trick—if he’d decided to erase our memories after all. But the words never came to open our minds. Instead he sang a stream of magical words that enveloped us. I felt power constricting every cell of my body, blooming from my core outward, strengthening every fiber of my existence. Next to me Cassidy made a sound of surprised bliss.
As the spell ended with another zap, I inhaled, revived.
“There,” the King of Summer said. “Let us be finished with unpleasantries this day. I came to see a binding. Shall we have one?”
McKale came forward and took both my hands in his.
“Aye,” he said. “We shall.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
UNFORTUNATELY, THE TALES ABOUT Fae dancing all night were truth. They didn’t leave until dawn, which meant I couldn’t run off to console Cassidy when she left the party. As McKale and I finally headed to his, I mean our room, I peeked in at Cass but she was already asleep.
I’d awoken the next morning with a start in McKale’s arms, sunlight seeping through the drapes of cloth. Trying not to wake him, I slipped my dress back on and quietly left the room. But when I got to my old hut Cassidy wasn’t there. I ran around the nearly empty village. It had to be close to noon, but most of the Leprechauns were still sleeping after being danced to exhaustion the night before.
Panic began to rise as I burst back into my new room and found McKale sitting on the edge of the bed rubbing his eyes. He looked up at me blearily.
“I can’t find Cass.”
Without a word he dressed and we both ran. No need to discuss where. We headed to Clour land.
We were both breathing hard as we splashed through the shallow part of the stream, my dress getting soaked at the bottom despite my efforts to hold it up. Finally, at the edge of Clour land we found her. She must have heard our loud approach, but she didn’t turn to look at us. She leaned against a tree, one arm around it, watching as Rock, Blackie, and the blond twins gathered sticks and twigs at the other edge of the forest.
“I’ve been debating whether or not to say goodbye,” Cassidy said to the air.
I came up to her side and put a hand on her shoulder. For once, she wasn’t even crying. I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind and rested my chin on her shoulder. She rested her hands on mine and turned her face enough for us to press our cheeks together. I had to shut my eyes against a wave of emotion.
I had no words—no method of taking this pain from her.
A shout from the Clour boys made us look again. Blackie and the twins were playing around, but Rock wasn’t joining. He tossed his sticks onto the pile and sat on a log, staring out at the trees.
The poor guy looked… depressed.
McKale stepped up next to us, his eyebrows drawn together as he watched his friend from afar.
“He’s not forgotten ye, Cass. Perhaps he does no’ have the exact memories, but look at ‘im. His soul remembers. He knows he’s lost somethin’.”
Cassidy sniffled, and her tears came now. McKale drew back as if he’d said something wrong, and I rubbed his arm to tell him he did okay. Then I held Cass tighter.
“Sweetie,” I said. I needed to be real with her. “We can introduce you to him again. You can have your goodbye, but it’s not going to be easy when you remember and he doesn’t. It might make it hurt even worse.”
“I know.” She wiped her eyes and sucked in a breath. “I spent all night thinking about it. I don’t think I can handle him not remembering. I know I have to go back home and finish school. I know I have to go to college or start working with Mom and Dad next year. I keep telling myself Ronan is just another ex-boyfriend who I’ll eventually stop thinking about.”
But he was so much more than that.
I heard her swallow. “It’ll be okay, right, Sissy?”
“Yeah, chickadee. It’ll be all right in time.” Inside I was cringing. I knew Cass, and I knew she would be hurting for a long time. She had many bygone boyfriends, but she hadn’t loved any of them. Only Rock. Only the boy who wouldn’t remember.
“Come on,” I whispered. I moved to her side and took her hand. She let me lead her away.
“I’ll be ‘round in a bit,” McKale said. I gave him a grateful nod as he turned to seek out his Clour friend.
“Wait!” Cassidy said. Her eyes were wide. “I have to try. I have to see. Just this once.”
Her eyes pleaded with me, and I nodded. I would not stop her. “Just… be careful what you say. He might be feeling confused and I don’t want you to accidentally make things worse for him.”
She agreed, and the three of us walked through the trees.
Blackie noticed us first. “Oy! Lads, we have guests!” He ran a hand through his hair and grinned at us as the rest of the Clour rushed out of the rundown cottage.
Cass’s hand was cutting off the circulation to my fingers. Rock was slowly standing. Looking between the three of us. We greeted the Clour boys, who weren’t nearly as boisterous as usual. Like McKale and I, they kept glancing furtively between Cassidy and Rock.
Rock stepped up, pale.
“Feeling ill, mate?” McKale asked him with concern.
“Aye. ‘Tis a strange feeling about. Bad magic or somethin’. Can ye feel it?”
“Aye,” McKale whispered. “I can.”
Rock shook his head, then looked straight up at Cassidy. All movement stopped as they locked eyes. And then Rock turned to McKale and said, “Have ye been hiding the lasses from us? Afraid the ole Clour charm will steal ‘em away?” This was asked half-heartedly, and even the chuckles from the other Clour were weak.
Cassidy slumped and my heart sank.
“’Tis been a busy summer,” McKale told him. “This is Cassidy Mason. Cass… this is Rock.”
“Hi,” she said softly.
The look on Rock’s face as he watched her was pitiful, like his mind was frantically trying to grasp at something right out of reach. His entire summer had been spent with Cass—that was a lot of memory to take. As grateful as I was to the Summer King, I was also angry that he addled the mind of a young man in such a dangerous way.
Rock pressed two fingers to his temple and closed his eyes. “Me head…”
“You should have a lie down, mate,” McKale said, reaching out to steady him. Rock nodded and hung his head, heading indoors.
“It makes it worse for him to see me,” Cass said with sad realization.
“Should we try to remind ‘im?” Blackie asked. “A bit at a time—”
“No.” Cass’s voice was strong. “I’m afraid it’ll strain his mind. I need to just… stay away.”