The Summer King and His Winter Bride-Chapter 47: Protection

The war chamber was stifling, summer’s warmth had turned oppressive. The atmosphere was heavy with frustration and grief. Maps lay scattered across the table, their corners curled and scorched from too many sleepless nights. Spells had been cast. Scouts had been sent.

Yet there was no sign of her.

"She is gone," Casimir said at last, his voice low, tight, a storm barely contained. "Vanished like a wisp of smoke. Not even the High Seers could trace her."

Victor, the new court mage, stepped forward. "Your Majesty... the wards hiding her are old. Older than the pacts between the courts. Blood-forged magic like this can’t be undone by force alone."

Casimir’s jaw locked. His hands clenched at his sides.

Victor hesitated. "Since she’s in the Evergreen Glade... there’s nothing we can do. Not without....."

"I don’t care what tradition says," Casimir snapped. "He took her from our wedding bed. He shattered the peace she swore to protect and now I’m expected to sit here and watch while he hides behind the blood of his grandfather?"

He slammed a fist onto the war table. The maps jumped.

"She is mine and I am hers. I will not lose her, not this time. Not to silence and the Spring Court."

Then, a soft knock on the war room doors. A flicker of flame in the hallway as the doors opened.

Lady Cynthia stepped in.

The fire in her eyes mirrored his.

"You summoned me?" she asked, her voice even, but her gaze searching.

Casimir looked at her. Not as a king and not even as her cousin. But as a man with everything to lose.

He crossed the room to her with no crown and no armor. Just a body of desperation wrapped in royal skin.

"I need you to go into the Glade," he said.

She blinked. "You know I can pass the threshold."

"That’s why I need you," he whispered. "No one else can cross. Not even me."

He swallowed hard.

"She’s in there and all alone." His voice was anxious. "Find her and help her escape. Bring her back to me."

Cynthia’s gaze softened.

"You trust me with her life?"

Casimir met her eyes.

"I trust you with mine and hers."

"Then I will bring her home," she replied.

A forest of towering trees with their bark glistening with spring dew stretched infinitely around Queen Caroline.

The Spring Court’s wards, invisible but potent pressed in like a living entity, keeping everything within their reach locked in place.

Caroline sat barefoot on a smooth stone with her knees drawn up to her chest, her white gown had long since been soiled by the damp forest floor. She could feel the cold of the earth through the silk. Her hair hung in long tangled curls scented with pinecone.

The ring Casimir had placed on her finger still shone, impossibly clean. She had tried to take it off once.

It wouldn’t budge.

Not magically stuck. Just... unwilling.

She remembered his hands trembling when he slipped it onto her finger. The way his voice had broken during the vows. How he had looked at her like she was more than a peace bargain like she was his home.

"Where are you?" she whispered to herself brokenly.

The Glade did not answer her question.

Queen Caroline’s breath caught in her throat as she felt the hairs on her arms stand on end.

Someone had breached past the wards that surrounded her.

Caroline turned sharply her eyes scanning her surroundings when she saw a figure emerge from between the trees.

It was a woman and her movement was graceful like a predator in the night. Her black hair was left unbound falling down to her waist in waves and her amber eyes glowed in the dark.

Her face was both fierce and regal.

She stepped with purpose her presence commanding attention. The air seemed to shift with an unmistakable power radiating from her.

Caroline’s heart raced for she had not seen another soul in the Glade since her arrival, save for King Cyrus and his courtiers.

She instinctively took a step back, her hand brushing the cool bark of a tree. The wards hummed louder now but they did nothing to stop the stranger’s advance.

"Who are you?" Caroline’s voice rang out laced with caution.

The figure didn’t hesitate. Her gaze locked with Caroline’s and her lips parted, a soft yet confident voice escaping her.

"It is I, Lady Cynthia Liora Aurelius, cousin to King Casimir."

Caroline’s breath hitched. Lady Cynthia. The name was familiar though only in whispers. She had heard of the Sol Aurelius bloodline that was feared and revered, its legacy intertwined with the very magic of the land.

This woman standing before her was no mere whisper for she must have been a force of nature.

"You should not be able to pass through the wards," Caroline said. Dread twisted in her gut, a mixture of doubt and something almost like hope.

Cynthia’s lips curved slightly, her eyes flickering with interest.

"The wards may stop most," she said, stepping forward, her footsteps silent against the earth. "But they cannot stop me."

Caroline narrowed her gaze. "Why?"

Cynthia’s eyes gleamed with confidence. She lifted her hand, the moonlight catching on her skin. In that instant, Caroline saw something ethereal, powerful, untouchable, yet strangely free.

"My hands have not shed innocent blood," Cynthia began, her voice soft. The Spring Court’s magic binds you Queen Caroline but it has no hold over me. I am able to walk freely through these lands."

Caroline’s heart hammered in her chest. Cynthia’s words made sense but they also shook something deep within her. No one had ever dared cross the Spring Court’s wards except Lady Cynthia.

"Why are you here?" Caroline’s asked sharply. She had learned to guard herself against those who moved in shadows.

"You cannot be here for nothing."

"I am here for you," Cynthia answered simply.

"You belong in the Summerlands not here surrounded by these walls of magic."

Caroline felt a twinge of disbelief mixed with something like relief, like a candle’s ignited in the dark.

"You would protect me?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Cynthia stepped closer. "I would."

The words were simple, but they held weight. Caroline had no doubt Cynthia spoke the truth.

"Why?" Caroline prodded. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"My loyalty lies with my family," Cynthia answered her voice carrying the quiet strength of someone who had long known the cost of such loyalty.

"King Casimir’s fate is tied to yours. I will not allow the Spring Court to hold you captive, not when you have a great destiny that awaits you together with him."

Caroline’s mind raced with images of him from their last meeting, the quiet promises they had shared, the bond they were slowly forging despite the odds.

Those thoughts were quickly replaced with the harsh reality of her situation. She was trapped, separated from him and everything that mattered most to her.

"What of King Cyrus?" Caroline asked, her voice firm now.

"He is not a man who can be easily fought."

Cynthia’s lips curved upward.

"I am not afraid of King Cyrus." Her eyes glittered with a fire that matched the magic coursing beneath her skin.

"He may hold the power of the Spring Court but I will not let him take away what was never his to claim."

Caroline felt the weight of her own uncertainty lift, replaced by a fierce determination she had not felt since her world had been torn apart.

Cynthia’s unshakable resolve gave her a glimpse ’of what could be’ that were beyond these walls, should she choose to break free.

"You will protect me," Caroline said softly more to herself than to Cynthia.

"I will not let them keep you here any longer," Cynthia affirmed her voice like steel.

"Is he angry?" Caroline asked

"He’s furious," Cynthia answered.

Caroline’s breath hitched.

"But not at you. He blames himself for not being able to protect you and not being able to break through the wards."

Caroline exhaled shakily and didn’t realize she was shaking until Cynthia stepped closer and caught her by the arms.

Warmth flooded her as her skin made contact with Cynthia’s hands.

"I don’t know if I can go back," Caroline whispered.

"Why?"

"I’m not the same person I was when I left."

Cynthia met her gaze.

"Then it’s a good thing Casimir’s not the same either."

The forest wind picked up and it sounded like it was sighing out of relief.

Cynthia held out her hand.

"Come with me."

Caroline looked at her hand, then took it.

The Glade resisted just for a moment as a tremor of ancient magic stirred in the air. It knew it could not keep her here for much longer.

The wards parted. Not forced but simply opened.

Caroline stepped through the threshold. The moment her foot touched dry grass, the air shifted warmer, charged. A current of fire swept through her veins.

She could feel him.

Casimir.

Somewhere beyond the trees, her king burned with fury and longing. She could almost hear the echo of his voice in the wind cracking with the same desperation she carried in her bones.

He had not given up on her. He had sent fire into the forest to find her and now she was walking back to him.

Caroline took in a deep breath and let relief wash over for this time she was not walking alone.