Page 10

AVERY

“A ll right, Avery—we’re alone now so spill it,” Megan demanded.

The four of us—Megan, Emma, Kaitlyn, and myself—the original Coven, as I thought of our group—were sitting on two of the ratty blue couches that faced the fireplace in the Common Room.

The Norm Dorm is located in the dungeon of Castle Nocturne, which you might think was cold and damp and spooky.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, however.

It’s actually quite lovely and cool, even when the rest of the castle is too hot, due to the merciless Florida sun.

And at night, since it’s underground, it usually gets cold enough for a roaring fire in the huge stone fireplace which lights up the Common Area with flickering golden light and makes it feel positively cozy.

The girls were huddled on one couch, all dressed in their “jammy-britch”—which is our affectionate name for the pajamas and robes the Academy provides for us—and I was sitting catty-corner to them on another. It felt like a weird job interview, but I knew they were only concerned about me.

“All right,” I said, taking a deep breath and trying to collect my thoughts.

I was glad that Ari and Griffin were gone to their respective dorm rooms and Jalli, Ari’s little sister, had already turned in for the evening.

Bran and Lachlan were in the Fae Realm for the night, still on consort business, and Saint had gone silently to bed in our shared bedroom.

I knew the stone walls of the castle were too thick for even his sensitive Drake’s ears to hear through, which made me feel considerably more comfortable in laying out the entire tale to my Coven mates.

“So Coach Vasquez just left you there with Juan and the rest of the bullies to get beat up and maybe even killed?” Emma exclaimed, her eyes wide.

“I’m not surprised,” Kaitlyn said quietly. “That woman had a lot of hate in her heart for anyone who was different.”

Since we all knew the awful story of how Coach Vasquez had forced Kaitlyn to expose her scars, back before they had turned into sleek, rose-gold scales when she became a Drake herself, I knew what she was talking about.

Heads nodded as we all agreed—Coach Vasquez had been a horrible teacher—and a horrible excuse for a human being.

“I’m glad she’s gone,” Megan said darkly. “But I’d still like to do something to Juan and his crew of bullies!”

“What will you do, though?” I asked reasonably. “Turn all their toenails growing inward? Shame-mark them all the way you did Pedro Sanchez? Whatever you do, it will only make them hate me more.”

“No—none of that. Something more subtle.” Megan had a look on her face I wasn’t sure I liked. “And let’s be honest, Avery—I don’t think they could hate you more,” she added, frowning. “Sorry, but it’s true.”

I sighed deeply.

“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 so dramatic ,” I admonished her.

“But you’re obviously talking about someone , 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, “His Drake came to my rescue. Because for some reason, it’s completely fixated on me. A fixation which my roommate apparently does not share.”

“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 was not a “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 might like you. Like, I thought he might like like you, if you know what I mean.”

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

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

“The Drake might lead but the man attached to it always follows,” 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 I really want 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 night without those details, thank you very much.

“Look, girls, it doesn’t really matter,” I told my Coven mates. “It’s not like I was in love with 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. “He likes you, 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.”

“Well, they accepted the fact that you’re going to be with Bran and Lachlan when you come of age and go to rule over both the Summer and the Winter Courts,” I pointed out.

“Yes, well, we’re kind of a triad. The three of us just fit together and neither Bran or Lachlan is jealous of each other.

” Emma blushed, which looked beautiful with her new roseleaf complexion.

She was a stunning beauty now, though she had been completely plain and unassuming all her life until the geas she’d been under had been lifted.

I was glad for her good fortune—nobody deserved it more than she did.

Though I couldn’t help feeling just a teensy bit jealous that she got not one but two hot guys, while I still had no one in my life.

Admit it, whispered a little voice in my head. You thought you had Saint—at least a little bit. That’s why it stings so much to find out he secretly hated you all along.

The thought just made me tired and I wanted to go to bed. I wondered if Saint was asleep by now—that would be nice. I knew he didn’t want to talk to me and I would rather avoid talking to him too, if possible.

“Look, girls,” I said, manufacturing a yawn. “It’s getting late—I think I’m going to turn in.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk anymore about it, Avery?” Kaitlyn asked softly.

“Yeah, you know we’re always here for you,” Emma said and Megan nodded agreement.

I smiled at them.

“I know you are—I’m a lucky guy. Nobody could wish for better Coven mates,” I told them. “But it’s been a really long day and I honestly just want to try and get some sleep.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay sleeping in the same room with him? I mean, now that you know how he feels?” Megan asked in a low voice, nodding at the door to the bedroom I shared with Saint.

I nodded.

“I’ll be fine. He’s probably already asleep by now. I can just sneak in and get in bed. And maybe tomorrow I’ll move out to one of the other empty bedrooms.”

“Ah, Avery—I’m sorry. It’s tough for you to not have a roomie—it gets so lonely.” Megan looked sad.

“It’s all right—I’m used to it,” I reminded them.

“Remember, I was the only guy in the Norm Dorm for a good long time before Saint came. I don’t mind the solitude.

” I shrugged philosophically, though to be honest, I did find it rather lonely—and a teensy bit creepy—to be in one of the big, echoing, stone bedrooms by myself.

Still, better to be alone than rooming with someone who disliked me, I thought.

“It still sucks.” Megan came and gave me a hug and then Emma followed. Kaitlyn came too and soon all three of them were hugging me and saying how sorry they were.

I thought—not for the first time—that I was living a straight guy’s dream.

What man wouldn’t want three gorgeous girls hanging all over him in their pajamas?

But try as I might, I never felt anything but affection and friendship for my Coven mates.

Not that I wanted to change who I was—I didn’t.

But sometimes I couldn’t help thinking it would have made my life a whole lot simpler if I could just like the opposite sex instead of my own.

I sighed and hugged them back and thanked them for being so sweet. Then I told them all goodnight and tiptoed into my room, hoping that—since the lights were already off—Saint was fast asleep.