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“You’re right.And I don’t care what thugs like that think of me—I never have.It’s when someone whose opinion matters to me acts…like that, that it bothers me.”

“What do you mean, Avery?”Emma raised her eyebrows in confusion.

“Who are you talking about?Who hurt you?”Kaitlyn demanded.

“Gracious, Kaitlyn, you don’t have to be sodramatic,” I admonished her.

“But you’re obviously talking aboutsomeone, so who was it?”Megan asked, frowning.

“Well…” I didn’t want to say my roommate’s name out loud—even knowing that the castle walls were too thick for him to hear through.But I couldn’t help cutting my eyes towards the room we shared.

Of course, my Coven mates understood me immediately.

“Saint?”Megan asked.“But I thought he came to your rescue!”

“Correction,” I said, “HisDrakecame to my rescue.Because for some reason, it’s completely fixated on me.A fixation which my roommate apparently doesnotshare.”

“What?”

“What did he say?”Kaitlyn and Emma spoke at the same time.

I put out my hands to them, indicating they should lower their voices.

“Quiet girls—let’s not wake up the whole Dorm,” I told them.

“All right,” Megan whispered.“But we have to know, Avery—you can’t just leave us hanging!”

“It was after the incident in the gym, when we were both in the Headmistress’s office,” I said softly.I then proceeded to relate how Saint had declared that he wasnota “lover of men” and how he hadn’t said a word to me since.

“Oh, Avery, I’m so sorry,” Emma said sympathetically.“And you know, I really thought he mightlikeyou.Like, I thought he mightlikelike you, if you know what I mean.”

“Hedoeslike Avery,” Kaitlyn said with certainty that surprised me.“In fact, I think there’s a very good chance that Saint is head-over-heels inlovewith him.”

“No, he’s not!”I insisted.“Maybe hisDrakeis but that’s kind of like having an axe murderer in love with you.”

“The Drake might lead but the man attached to italwaysfollows,” Kaitlyn said, frowning.“That’s what happened with me and Ari—his Drake fell for me first and Ari couldn’t help following.Their hearts are bound together too tightly for one of them to love you while the other hates you—I should know.”

“She’s right, Avery,” Megan said.“I bet Saint has feelings for you, too.But he can’t admit them because of how horrible Drake society is to LGBTQ people.”

“To anyone who’s different in any way at all,” Kaitlyn added grimly.“Look at how they treated poor Jalli!She was supposedly going to be destroyed because of her twisted leg and club foot when she was a baby, but her mother couldn’t bear to part with her and her father had a soft heart.Also, Ari’s drake manifested and refused to let anyone hurt her.”

“Oh my!”Megan exclaimed.“I didn’t know that!”

“I wasn’t sure if it was my story to tell,” Kaitlyn said softly.“So please don’t mention it to her.I just wanted to point out that the Drakes hate anyone who’s different—whether it’s because of some physical deformity or sexual orientation or what have you.”She shrugged, looking unhappy.Since she was destined to be Queen of the supremely bigoted people, I couldn’t blame her.

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask my Coven mate about another “story that wasn’t hers to tell”—namely about whoever it was that Saint’s Drake had allegedly murdered—but something held me back.After all, did Ireallywant to know if the cursed being who had fixated on me really had killed other people and, if so, how many he had killed and how exactly he had killed them?

I thought not.I would probably sleep a whole lot better at nightwithoutthose details, thank you very much.

“Look, girls, it doesn’t really matter,” I told my Coven mates.“It’s not like I was inlovewith him or anything.I just thought he was…different from the other Drakes.And it was nice thinking that—thinking that he didn’t hate me for being what I am, like so many straight guys do.”

“Griffin doesn’t hate you!”Megan protested.“He respects and admires you—he’s told me so before.He likes how protective you are of us,” she added.

Kaitlyn and Emma were nodding as well.

“Ari truly doesn’t hate you either,” Kaitlyn said earnestly.“Helikesyou, Avery.He doesn’t buy into the same prejudices that most Drakes do!”

“And Bran and Lachlan like you, too,” Emma added.“Of course, being LGBTQ isn’t such a big deal in the Realm of the Fae,” she added thoughtfully.“I think people are more accepting of each other’s orientations because the Fae are all already so different from each other.I mean you’ve got brownies and fairies and trolls and goblins…” She shrugged.“The list is endless.”