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Chapter Twenty-Three

KEIR

A spen was wilted. Torian wasn't much better, and as Rain's tidal wave of shadows shoved the Wild Hunt away, the pair moved to clasp each other. I stood over them, my sword lifted and ready. My eyes scanned the area around us, but all I saw was everyone else running after the Hunt.

"They're leaving," I told the pair.

"It burns," Aspen whimpered.

"What?" I asked, my head snapping back to her.

"I got you," Torian swore, but he looked ready to pass out.

"Fuck," I grumbled, closing the distance so I could to reach down and grab Aspen's wrist. "Here." And I shoved my healing power into her.

But it was Torian who sucked in a breath. He was the one sitting straighter, snapping his head over to me just to waver, looking like he was going to flop over.

"Tor!" Aspen gasped, reaching for him.

"Fuck," he groaned, batting her free hand away. "Take the healing, Asp."

"Hey, hey," I begged, tossing my sword onto the grass and kneeling beside it without letting go of her. "I'll get him next."

"It won't help," Torian grumbled. "She's burned out, Keir, not hurt - and you have the wrong fucking magic!"

"Shit," I hissed, letting go of Aspen so I could grab Torian, but the only thing I could reach was his face.

I palmed the side of it and pushed hard. The guy's head snapped back and his pupils flared, smothering out the brilliant green color with darkness. I heard him suck in a breath, watched as he forced his eyes closed and lifted his head, then he turned towards Aspen.

"I will always take care of you," he whispered, finally taking her hand. "Even when it hurts."

I had no clue what the fuck was going on, but this time Aspen started to brighten.

Color returned to her cheeks. She was breathing easier, but still too weak to do more than lift her head.

Then again, considering how much magic Rain had unleashed - and that all of it had come from these two - it said more than they knew.

"Once they're back, we'll get you some nectar," I assured them. "I just can't carry both of you."

"I can fucking walk!" Torian snapped. "Help her."

"You," I growled at the spoiled brat, "can't even stand the fuck up. So shut your face, take the magic, and help me out here!"

"He is!" Aspen snarled before jerking up as if startled. "Tor!"

"He's fucking annoying," Torian shot back.

Ok, I had clearly missed something, but I still knew that was directed at me. "I'm helping you, Torian."

"He is," Aspen insisted - almost repeating herself, but with a very different tone. "It's ok, Tor. Keir's a friend. He's with the court. He's ours."

"He's Rain's," Torian corrected.

"And Rain is hers," I reminded him. "That means it's a big tangled mess which works, right?" I bent my knees, lowering myself a bit more so I wasn't looming over him. "I'm certainly not your enemy."

Torian glanced up and our eyes met. There was now the smallest ring of green around his overly large pupils. That was all, but it was an improvement.

"Can you take it from me?" I asked.

He nodded. "It's working, but you have to carry her back." He clearly meant his sister.

"I will," I assured him. "So let's make sure you can walk, hm?"

He nodded, his eyes dropping lower on my face, and then his lids closed again just as thunder rumbled and the wind picked up. Without letting go of him, I looked towards the gate, relieved to see clouds forming - but going the opposite way. That meant the Wild Hunt was leaving. It was done.

"Ok," I said. "I think it's over. "

"It's never over," Aspen whimpered. "Keir, he had me. He was going to drag me to the gate!"

"We would never let that happen," Torian swore.

"None of us," I hurried to assure her. "Rain was looking for you from the moment the cold front hit. The fucking Morrigan would never let them have you, Aspen."

Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. "I didn't ask for this," she said softly.

"None of us did," I assured her.

"You fucking did!" Torian growled. "You and your sentinels, always rushing in for glory."

"To help people!" I snapped at him. "Pull your fucking arrogant head out of your damned ass and think about that. We don't want to do this, Torian. I certainly didn't want to strap Rain into armor that might not work on her and turn her loose!"

"What?" Torian asked.

"Bracken made her eltam -studded armor, but every enchantment she touches, she negates."

"Because the magic fuels her," Aspen pointed out. "That's what becomes her Wild magic, Keir. When Harper shot her, it woke it up. That's why I hit her with all I had."

"What conjuration?" Torian asked.

Aspen huffed out a weak little laugh. "Protection. I figured it was safe either way, but she sucked it in."

"So I was right?"

Aspen nodded, all but ignoring me. "Harper hit her a few times last semester. It just didn't work, so we all thought she'd missed or failed in some way. But on the Solstice? Harper threw enough magic at her to kill her, Torian, and Rain couldn't hold it all, so the shadows poured out."

"Wait, so she didn't call it?" I asked, thinking back to the insanity of Winter Solstice.

Aspen jiggled her head in something like a no. "I don't think so. She's manifesting, but she can't do it on her own. Her magic is Wild, and Wild needs ours."

"She converts it," Torian realized. "Fuck. Ok. She needs to feed - "

"Fuel," Aspen corrected, looking over and meeting his eyes.

For a long moment the pair were quiet but clearly sharing something with their gaze.

I shrugged it off and kept healing, hoping I'd have enough magic in me to make a difference.

Considering they were both sitting up now, it seemed to be working.

I just wasn't sure if Aspen's recovery was delayed, or if Torian was doing it somehow.

I didn't even want to think how.

Nope. Winter and Summer magic didn't mingle well. And yet, I'd healed Aspen before, so I was pretty sure this was a delayed reaction. I could help her, and had. Plus, I was pretty sure healing was not one of Torian's skills. Then again, I could ask.

"Hey, Torian? Can you heal?"

He scoffed, looking away from Aspen to glare at me. "Healing is a weakness, little more than a waste of power."

"Tor!" Aspen huffed.

"Sorry," Torian corrected. "That's how I was raised, so no. The weak are culled and the strong survive. The goal is to be the strongest, so I was never taught how to use my abilities to help others."

"But can you?" I pressed.

"Yeah," he breathed.

I nodded. "I'll help you learn as much as I can. I mean, if you want to be able to help Aspen when she needs it."

I swore his body heaved as my offer sank in. "Why?" he asked.

I had to struggle not to smile. "Because it's what friends do, man. Think of it as me repaying you for giving me a seat at the table. It's nice to have some actual, real friends, even if you are just a little boy."

"Asshole," Torian muttered, but it was with a half-smile on his lips. "And I'll take it."

I let go and patted his shoulder. "Good, because that's all I have left if I want to be able to hack at anyone who comes around the corner."

The words were barely out of my mouth before Aspen sucked in a breath and pointed. "Rain! Hawke!"

"Where's Wilder?" Torian asked.

I turned to see Hawke all but dragging Rain back towards us, and she looked bad. Not wounded, but distraught. Her lips were pressed together, and everything about her body looked like a woman who wanted to stop and have a breakdown.

"Rain?" I called, snagging my sword from the grass before hurrying towards them. "Are they gone?"

"They're gone!" Hawke called back.

"Wilder?" Aspen begged.

"Helping Ms. Rhodes," Hawke assured her. But the guy pushed Rain at me before hurrying over to Torian. "Are you ok? "

"Aspen's burned out," Torian said softly. "I was, but Keir helped."

Hawke nodded, then turned to Aspen. "Here."

He offered his hand, and she clasped it. The strange thing was that I saw white glow from between their fingers, not Hawke's grey. That meant Aspen was doing something, but that wasn't possible, was it? She was taking his magic directly? Not being healed, but pulling from him?

"Keir?" Rain said, the worry in her voice making me forget all about the weirdness back there.

"Yeah?"

She stopped, pulling away so she could face me. "I..." Her voice cracked. "Fin..."

My heart sank, a rush of chills racing across my skin. "What?" I asked, not wanting to hear the answer.

She simply shook her head. "I wasn't fast enough. They killed him. Wilder's helping Ms. Rhodes thaw the ground."

"To bury him," I said for her. "Fuck!"

"I'm sorry!" she wailed, the sound of her agony clear in the words.

"No, no, no, baby," I soothed, pulling her into my chest and hugging her hard. "It's not your fault. I just didn't think they'd get Fin. I thought that bastard would weasel out of it somehow. Dammit! I..."

The problem was I didn't know how to feel. I wasn't sad. Shocked? Definitely. Guilty? That was there too. But I didn't even like the guy, and yet I hadn't expected this. Not any of it.

So I told her again, "It's not your fault. You did good, Rain. You saved Aspen from the Huntsman himself!"

"But I didn't hurt him!" she blubbered against my chest.

"You hurt him more than I could," I countered. "You fought with all you had, baby. You fought, and that's what matters, ok?"

"He was calling her," Hawke said into the pause that followed.

"What?" Torian demanded.

"The Huntsman," Hawke clarified. "He kept asking Rain to ride with him. More than that, he fucking talked to her!"

"But just her?" Torian wanted to know.

I turned in time to see Hawke nodding. "I was focused on avoiding his sword, but yeah. He kept talking to her ."

Those words made Torian go still. "The Hunt doesn't talk - except to announce their verdict."

"Or," Aspen added, "to claim those powerful enough to survive."

"Shit," I grumbled. "Does this mean he's going to come back for her? "

"Yeah," Torian said. "Considering the Wild Hunt just saw how many of us? That the Huntsman talked to Rain? Doesn't really matter why, but they will be back. They fucking know we're here now. Not a fae lost in the world, but a group of us!"

"Ok," I said, easing Rain back. "Can you walk, baby?"

"She's not a child!" Torian growled.

"He doesn't mean it that way," Aspen assured him.

But Rain was nodding. "I can walk," she breathed. "Thanks, Keir."

"Yeah," I said, refusing to touch on her use of the T-word this time. "I'm going to carry Aspen back. Hawke, can you help Torian?"

"Always," Hawke replied.

Together, we got the pair up and on their feet. Since Aspen weighed next to nothing, I swept her into my arms just to have Rain press in beside me, clasping her hand. Hawke wrapped an arm around Torian's waist, heaving him up, and together the group of us staggered back.

"Bracken wants Rain to spend the night with him," Hawke told Aspen. "Ms. Rhodes suggested a drink for nightmares."

"I'm fine," Rain insisted.

"You won't be," I warned her. "Trust me. The drink helps. A few of us will get one tonight."

"You?" she asked.

So I nodded, deciding it sounded like a good idea. "I think so, yeah."

"Me too," Aspen said. "I thought I was dead!"

"We hurried," Torian told her. "As soon as I realized you were scared, I left class, and Wilder followed. Mr. Greene was pissed, but then the alarms went off."

"Fuck," Hawke said. "How'd you get out of the building?"

Torian huffed in weary amusement. "The protections are mine."

I almost stumbled. I would've if I wasn't trying so hard to be careful with Aspen, but that? While Rain didn't seem to hear him, I was speechless. The protections were his? The ones that kept the Hunt out?

The same ones Ms. Rhodes had created with the founding members of the school's faculty?

With people who had gone on to start other schools in other nations?

The ones that had wiped out all of them for months because they were so intense?

He was talking about the magic Ms. Rhodes had merely repaired, knowing they were weakening, yet she wasn't sure she could make them again?

But they'd gotten stronger lately - and I hadn't even noticed until it was rubbed in my face .

Those enchantments kept every student at Silver Oaks Institute safe from the most dangerous things we could imagine, and a fucking high school kid was claiming them? A pure fae - regardless of type - who couldn't lie?

How? No one was that strong. It wasn't the sort of magic a person could do on their own. At least not anyone I'd ever heard of.

But what scared me most was that not even Torian's magic had slowed the Huntsman. A boy so strong he could do on his own what had taken a group before, and the Huntsman hadn't even cared. It had been Rain who'd chased them off! That she could proved she was so much more than she knew.

But this? Holy shit. I needed to seriously rethink the balance of things, because that one phrase from Torian had just upended everything I'd thought I'd known - and now I was right in the middle of it all.