What was happening to her?
Summer took deep breaths as she walked briskly through the streets of Konumarr, heading for the bridge that crossed the wide, deep Llaskroner Fjord to connect the city to the palace on the fjord’s northern shores. Ever since coming here three weeks ago, the wall of calm, serene control she’d spent a lifetime building around her magic had been crumbling. And not just with small, minor cracks either, although that would be bad enough. No, the foundation of her self-control, her ability to sublimate her own desires, had suffered a major seismic shift.
Was her father’s legacy of madness finally starting to manifest in her?
Gabriella was terrified that was the case, and even more terrified of what she might do to the people around her if it was. What she might do to the people she loved.
She knew everyone thought she was the weakest of the Seasons. She knew everyone thought she was so sweet and kind and gentle that she would never hurt a fly. That’s what they were supposed to think. That was the face her mother, the late Queen Rosalind, had taught her to show to the world, the mask she’d taught Gabriella to wear so well it had become second nature to her.
Even now, though her mother was long dead—nearly two decades dead—Summer could still hear her voice, so gentle and yet so firm, pulsing with a magic that Queen Rosalind’s Seahaven ancestors had long ago labeled Persuasion.
You were born with great power, my darling. Not just from your father but from me as well. You must learn to control it. If you don’t, you could hurt a great many people, and I know you would never want that. You must control it, Gabriella.You must.Your father and I will help you any way we can. But to start with, you must learn to always remain calm. Stay away from people and situations that upset you. Practice sending goodness, kindness, and happiness out into the world, so that you only get goodness, kindness, and happiness back.
And that was exactly what she’d done. She’d avoided conflict entirely at first. Anger, hatred, violence: those emotions stung her senses like nettles, feeding darkness into her until her own darkness roared in response. As she got older, she’d eventually learned how to defuse conflict rather than run from it. She’d mastered the Persuasive gifts she’d inherited from her mother and her Seahaven ancestors, though she was always careful not to “push” too hard with those gifts, for fear of unleashing her other, more dangerous magic.
She’d thought she’d succeeded in caging her deadliest gifts and escaping the madness that had consumed and destroyed her father, but since coming to Konumarr, her hard-won and painstakingly-maintained serenity had all but evaporated. The beast that dwelt inside her had begun rousing at the simplest provocation.
It didn’t even take anger or violence to shake the foundations of her control anymore. All it took was for her to want something, badly, and that hungry, wild, ferociousthinginside her roared to life, ripping and tearing at her control, threatening to break free.
Like seeing Lily’s baby move and wanting—needing!Craving!—a baby of her own to love, even though that was the last thing she should ever have.
She’d reached Ragnar Square, the central plaza of Konumarr. Two dozen villagers were hard at work, twining blossoming vines around lampposts and stringing cables for the lanterns that would be lit tomorrow night for the celebration welcoming the Calbernans to Wintercraig. Several of the workers saw her and paused in their work to doff hats and bow or curtsy.
“Your Royal Highness.”
Gabriella forced a smile, somehow managing to summon the Sweet Princess Summer mask they all expected to see. “Please, that’s not necessary. Don’t let me interrupt your work.” Unbidden, a strong thrust of Persuasion pushed out along with her words. The workers—all of them—immediately went back to their tasks as if she wasn’t even there.
Rattled by her unintentional use of power, Summer tucked her chin down and hurried past. This wouldn’t do. This wouldn’t do at all!
She didn’t dare return to the palace just yet. She needed peace and quiet and a place to center herself, to shore up the crumbling foundation of her control. Rather than turning to cross the bridge leading to the palace, she continued walking briskly down the Konumarr’s main road. She wanted to break out into a run, but that would draw attention to herself. Attention meant people would be bombarding her senses with their curiosity and alarm, and she wasn’t prepared to risk any further damage to the barriers that kept her magic in check.
Just before the city gates, Gabriella turned left down a stone-paved path that led to her favorite place in Konumarr: a small, mossy grotto tucked away behind the misting waters of Snowbeard Falls. There the air was cool and damp, and the roar of the falls drowned out all noise from the city. It was the one place in all of Konumarr where she could feel well and truly alone—alone enough to find the peace she so desperately needed.
Gabriella sat down on the stone bench in the center of the grotto and closed her eyes as the misty spray from the foaming white veil of falling water dampened her face. The chilly moisture evaporated quickly on her hot cheeks, but she gripped the sides of the stone bench with both hands and remained where she was until the speed with which the water evaporated slowed down to something approaching normal. Only then did she open her eyes, and with hands that shook only slightly, she unclasped the charm bracelet secured around her right wrist and held it in her palm.
Small jeweled charms dangling from the bracelet’s silver links winked up at her, each tiny shell, starfish, and sea creature paved with a different colored gemstone.
Your mother would have wanted you to have this.She could still hear her father’s voice, before the madness had him fully in its grip, before she and her other sisters knew their beloved father had become a monster. He’d given Gabriella her mother’s bracelet on her eighth birthday, less than a year after her mother’s death.You’re so like her.She remembered the feel of Papa’s big, broad hands petting her black curls back off her face.Like a little piece of my Rose, still alive for me to love.
Summer gave a stifled sob and pushed away those memories, reaching instead for the memory of her mother unclasping her bracelet and putting it in Gabriella’s small hands, teaching her how to find the calm within.Pick a charm, darling. Any one of them. How about this little blue dolphin here? Such a happy fellow, don’t you think? This one was always my favorite. Now, I want you to focus on it. Focus on this little blue dolphin.
In a ritual that she’d done so often it had become instinct, Gabriella poked through the charms with one finger until she found the small sapphire-studded dolphin. Pinching that charm between her thumb and forefinger, she focused intently on the blue glitter of its gems.
Imagine him swimming in the ocean, laughing and leaping in the waves. Good, that’s good, baby girl. Now keep imagining that happy dolphin until everything that makes you angry or upset fades away. There’s my girl. There’s my sweet, kind, good, beautiful girl. I love you, Gabriella. I love you so very, very much.
The little blue dolphin charm grew blurry. Gabriella blinked and wetness much warmer than the mist from the falls trickled down her cheeks.
“Oh, Mama,” she whispered. “Oh, Mama, I miss you so much.”
“You’re late,” Gabriella’s eldest sister, Viviana, better known by her giftname, Spring, greeted her as she stepped out onto Konumarr Palace’s western terrace. Spring frowned, her bright green gaze sweeping over Gabriella intently, missing nothing. “Is everything all right?”
Her mother’s bracelet clasped back in place around her wrist, the fractures in the fortress containing her power once more tightly sealed, Gabriella summoned a blithe, sunny smile and, with the ease of a lifetime of practice, chose a lie she knew her sisters would believe. “Of course. Everything’s fine. It was just such a beautiful day, I just had to take a little detour on the way home. I didn’t think you’d mind.”
King Wynter, Summer’s brother-in-law, had promised her and her sisters that come spring his country would transform into one of the most beautiful places on earth, and he had not been wrong. With the long, bright days of northern Wintercraig’s summer well underway, the ice and snow of winter had retreated, leaving picturesque waterfalls pouring down from the mountainsides, creating perpetual rainbows in the mists. Konumarr, built at the headwaters of the Llaskroner Fjord valley, was nestled in the very heart of that beauty, surrounded by green cliffs, lush forests, and abundantly blooming life. In certain parts of the city, you could even glimpse the glacier-capped peaks of the Skoerr Mountains to the north.
“Well, I don’t mind,” Spring said, “but a few more minutes, and I feared Autumn might start gnawing on her own arm.”
“Not my arm, Vivi,” retorted Autumn, the youngest and most beautiful of the three princesses known as the Seasons of Summerlea. “I was thinking about gnawing on yours.” With a laugh and a toss of her bright auburn curls, Autumn stuck out her tongue and headed for the wide table where a full afternoon tea had been laid out for them.
