Page 31

Chapter Twenty-Four

RAIN

K eir carried Aspen to her room. I dropped off our weapons at the gym, found Jack, and still managed to catch up before they made it upstairs.

Now, she was sitting on her bed and Torian refused to leave until he was sure Aspen was safe.

I'd just convinced the guys we were fine when Wilder burst into the room without knocking.

The man looked frantic until his eyes found Aspen.

"They said you were carried back to the building!" he panted, making it clear he must've run all the way here.

But Aspen was sitting up. Weak, yes, but not dying. "I'm fine," she said.

Wilder's shoulders sagged in relief. "Yeah?"

Aspen nodded. "Yeah. Tor took care of me."

"And she took care of Rain," Torian added. "I, however, won't refuse a shoulder to make it back to our rooms."

"Short way," Wilder said, tilting his head towards the bathroom door.

Torian merely turned to inspect Keir. "This is one of those secrets that will never be spoken of outside the court."

Keir simply nodded.

"Really?" Wilder asked.

"He's earned it," Torian said.

"Court," Jack added, sounding as exhausted as I felt.

Clearly, that settled it, because Torian turned for the bathroom.

Immediately, Hawke was right there to offer a shoulder, but Wilder pushed in front, shoving a hand against the frame.

Wood glowed with the brightest white as the boys entered the bathroom.

Then they simply turned as if to come back - and vanished.

"Fuck," Keir breathed. "A fucking gate? "

"Go," Aspen told him. "It's a shorter walk to your side, and that'll be open for at least ten minutes."

"Yeah," Keir said, looking over at me. "Rain, your dads want you to crash with them tonight. Don't forget, ok? They're going to be worried."

"But - " I tried, lifting an arm in Aspen's general direction.

"I'm crashing with Tor," she told me. "We'll use the gate so we don't have to walk all the way around, get stared at..." A little smile curled her beautiful mouth. "And we won't go through any doors we aren't supposed to so won't get in trouble for curfew."

"Useful," Keir said, angling for the bathroom. "If either of you need me, text?"

I nodded. "Thanks, Keir, and I'm sorry about Fin."

"Yeah," he breathed. Then he simply crossed through the gate.

"So Fin's... dead?" Aspen asked. "Or is he just gone?"

I moved to her bed and eased myself down beside her. "No, he's dead. I saw it."

"Rain..." Jack croaked sadly.

Aspen reached for my hand. "Saw him be executed?"

"After," I admitted, "but I've never seen someone dead before."

"It sucks, huh?"

Yeah, I nodded, because that felt better than using words. This did suck. All of it sucked. The first time the Hunt had come here, I'd been freaked out, and it was scary, but no one had been hurt. This? It was worse. So much worse.

"But you're ok, right?" I asked instead.

Aspen twined her fingers in mine. "I am now. Tired." She groaned. "Oh, I feel like even standing is more than I want to try, but I am ok, Rain." She leaned a bit, catching my eyes. "Thanks to you."

"You kinda used the T-word," I teased.

She laughed, but it was weak and hollow. "Admit it, you like it."

"I actually do," I said. "To me, that word is like acknowledgement of my effort."

"Humans!" she joked. "You're so weird!"

I tried to laugh. In truth, I wanted to, but things felt too heavy right now. The weak jokes we were trying to make all fell flat, so I simply gave up.

"We were trying to find you, Aspen. Hawke saw you heading out there, and then the cold front hit, and Jack screamed it was the Hunt, and things were just crazy. After I got my weapons, the whole world was grey!"

"The freezing rain," she explained. "The Wild Hunt rides on a storm, but there wasn't any bad weather predicted for today."

"So they made it?" I asked.

Aspen could only shrug. "I hope not, because we've been counting on them needing the weather to move - not making it."

"Oh." I shifted a bit to face her better. "But seeing the Huntsman holding you? I'd just been thinking I didn't know where he was, and then I saw that and freaked out!"

"I begged," she said, the words almost too soft to hear. "I know what they do, and I was begging him to let me go, to just loosen his grip, and that I wouldn't tell." She grimaced, showing her shame.

"But that's the right thing," I insisted. "You have to do everything you can, right? Magic, and begging, and anything that might work, because I can't lose you, Aspen!"

"I tried magic," she admitted. "I unleashed everything I had on him, but he didn't care.

Hawke said they're immune, and Tor said that's how they're made, but.

.." She shook her head. "I didn't even try to control it, Rain.

I did like Harper, and I just lashed out, but he didn't even slow down! Not until he saw you."

"Am I what they're hunting for?"

"No," she assured me. "They came before you were here. The Hunt is like mandatory police service. Fae warriors are enchanted into it, made invulnerable, and then sent to track down criminals."

"So, bounty hunters?"

"Kinda, but more like cops," she explained.

"It's just that the laws are different. There's no 'innocent until proven guilty.

' There's the monarch's decision, and possibly a chance to prove them wrong.

So if we could get into Faerie, I'd be hauled to a court of sorts, and I could plead my reasons.

It never works, though. Rain, that's the whole thing.

The Hunt is the last line of our legal system.

It's what happens when nothing else works.

Usually, they only bring back a token to prove their job is done. "

"I stabbed one," I admitted.

"The Huntsman?"

I shook my head. "Just a hunter. He fell off his horse, and the three of us were hacking at him. Hawke lunged for his neck, he blocked, so Keir and I stabbed. My blade went in, but Keir's didn't. "

"Yours is iron."

"Steel," I corrected. "It still went in."

"Oh, Rain," she whispered, realizing what I was saying. Then she wrapped her arms around me, pulling me close. "But you did the right thing. You really did!"

"I can't forget how it felt!" I mumbled. "There's a pop. A fucking pop!"

"And you saved me," she said, putting force into her words. "You, Rain, kept me from dying!"

Her voice cracked. I looked over to see tears hanging in those big blue eyes. Her lower lip was trembling, so she clenched it, trying to hide it. Not knowing what else to do, I leaned in, pressing my face into her neck.

"And the guys helped," I said. "We're all ok now. It sucked, and I don't ever want it to happen again, but we take care of each other, right?" I leaned back to see her face. "All of us, but I would've stood between you and the Huntsman alone."

"I know," she assured me. "You ran without waiting for the guys. And when I saw your shadows stop, I gave you all the magic I could."

"Is that why you're so tired now?" I asked, not wanting to use the word weak.

She nodded. "Tor gave me some, and I gave it to you, and you made shadows."

"Wait, you can trade magic?"

She made a face and rocked her head from side to side. "Not trade, and most people don't, but because we're siblings, it's not a big deal."

"Ah." Yeah, that made sense in a way. I also didn't really want to think too hard about it.

Summer magic, Winter magic, and Wild magic. The lines were starting to get very blurry, and the reasons were clearly part of those things she didn't want to talk about, so I wouldn't ask. I trusted her, and I knew she'd tell me if I needed to worry, so I refused to let myself dwell on it.

"How long will it take you to recover?" I asked instead.

That made her smile. "Hawke will get a whole gallon of nectar, and I'll go to Tor's to drink it. We'll probably sleep like the dead all night, but Hawke and Wilder will crash in Tor's spare room."

I sucked in a breath, sitting up. "So they're the ones together?"

The look Aspen gave me was almost disappointed. "Uh, yeah. Tor's straight."

Duh. When she put it like that, I felt stupid. "I mean, Hawke said something about being with someone, but Wilder never has, and I just wasn't sure and didn't want to get anyone in trouble."

"Rain, those two hooked up as soon as Wilder got here. And they're cute !"

My mouth was hanging open. "Hawke said something to me today about how he'd kiss Keir, and I thought he was joking, but..."

Finally, a true smile found Aspen's face. "Oh my god! Hawke said that?"

"Yeah, when he was apologizing for saying he'd kiss me and freaking me out." I shrugged. "I mean, I'm trying to get used to everyone being into everyone, but I'm used to gay being weird. No, not weird. But like, not common? The norm?" I groaned, knowing I was only making it worse.

"Statistically speaking," she said, "humans tend to be heterosexual. Fae tend to be pansexual, caring more about the person than their gender. But 'tend to be' is not the same as 'always.'"

I nodded, making it clear she really was getting through. "I know. It's just that some things are so ingrained, you know? Half the time, I forget there's anything weird about being here. Everyone is so normal, just like people!"

She tittered, and while it wasn't her usual giggle, this was the exhausted version. "Rain, we're still people."

"I mean humans!" I groaned, letting go of her to flop onto my back. "My brain's fried, ok? And no, I don't want to think about all of this, or how Keir might be feeling, or how I am. I'd rather screw up the words I'm using and make you laugh at me, ok?"

"Hey," she breathed. "It's going to be ok. It's all over now."

"But they'll come back." I turned my head without lifting it. "What if they come for you?"

"Then you will save me again," she said, sounding so very confident about it. "My girlfriend's a badass, right? I'm dating the Morrigan ."

I bit my lower lip in a bad attempt to hold back my smile. "And I'm dating the prettiest faerie on Earth."

"Yeah," she breathed, leaning in so she could kiss me. "And thank you, Rain. For saving me, for being my girlfriend, for helping all of us, and I can't even think about what else. Mostly, thank you for being here when I needed you most."

"Always," I whispered against her lips, and something washed over my skin with a faint tingle.

She pulled back and sucked in a breath. "Rain! You're not supposed to make a vow! "

"But I will," I told her. "I don't care if I hate you. I didn't like Fin and I still tried to save him. Isn't that what I'm supposed to do? Aren't I supposed to be the one to fix all of this?"

"No," she soothed. "No, that's not what you're here for. You, Rain, bring balance. The fight you're supposed to stop isn't something you caused. It's not your fault. You're just the hero who stops it."

"But I didn't stop it, and now Fin's dead!" I shot back.

Which made her caress my face, and then lean back. "You made them leave. You made the Huntsman let me go. That counts, Rain. Believe it or not, it does." Then she scooted off the bed and offered her hand. "And I think we need to go see the guys."

"Uh..." I wasn't following along.

"You're being strong for me," she pointed out. "I'm trying to be strong for you, but you know what? You don't have to. I think you need to talk to your dads, ok?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, letting her help me up. "I probably should, huh?"

"You should," she agreed. "Because I know they'll be just as worried as we would be, and that's a lot. But most importantly, you need to talk to someone."

"I'm sorry," I mumbled.

She tightened her grip on my hand and stepped closer. "There's nothing wrong with hating it, Rain. It's how we know we're not the bad guys."

"Yeah?"

She nodded her head slowly. "Yeah, because sometimes, that's the only thing we have left. We hate the things that suck this much, so we can't be the ones causing it. We also don't always have to be the ones fixing it."

"Don't I?"

She shook her head. "This is an entire school filled with magical people. Know what that means?"

"No..."

"That you aren't alone," she told me, pulling her phone out of her pocket and typing a text. "Now let's show you how to sneak around, ok?"

"And not to tell anyone else, right?"

"Exactly," she agreed. "See, more proof you don't have to do it on your own, because you know what?"

"What?" I asked on command.

"I will always be there for you too."

The words were barely out of her mouth when the frame of the bathroom door glowed. Together, we stepped through it.