Page 162 of Rebellious Royals

Jack twisted his head a bit.

"Or that Shadow can talk to you?" Hawke tried.

"Court!" Jack said with another nod. "Duke!"

"Well, well," Torian said. "Looks like everyone at this table has a word for them except me now."

But Jack laughed at that. "Bitch!" he said. "Bitch, bitch, bitch!"

"Sounds to me," Keir teased, "that you have a word too. You can be our bitch, Torian."

I shoved a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing, but everyone else was grinning at the look on Torian's face. The guy really wanted to say no, but he also couldn't, and his mouth flapped as he tried to think of a true way to get around that circle of lies.

"Fine," he finally said. "I can be 'bitch.' I figure if it's good enough for Ms. Rhodes, then it's not an insult."

"And yet," Aspen pointed out, "we're no further ahead now than we were earlier. At least three people's magic has changed in some way."

"Two changed to Winter," Wilder said. "Maybe that's because there are so few of us?"

"Could they have a Winter ancestor somewhere?" Hawke asked. "I mean, even peasants sometimes married or partnered with other seasons."

"Never mind that Ms. Linden said she's married," Torian pointed out. "Ms. Caldwell is Winter."

"But they don't share that with the students," Keir said. "I've had Caldwell for Taxonomy, and I didn't know she was wed."

"Or," I offered, "maybe it was an Earth wedding? The sort of thing that makes life easier here, and not the mess the fae make of it there?"

"Which means we don't know," Aspen said again. "But I think we should all start thinking about it. Mostly because lunch is almost over."

"Shit," I breathed, shoving some more food into my face. "And Jack? If you can help us, we'll gladly play twenty questions with you."

"Jack-Rain!" he said. "Rain-court. Morrigan, queen, bitch. Knight, duke, duke." And he nodded.

Then, my bird did the last thing I'd expect. He bowed his head toward the center of the table and chattered in a dozen crow sounds that made no sense to me.

"I'm going to assume that's your agreement?" Torian asked.

Jack nodded.

So Torian dipped his head at my bird. "Then I'm in your debt, Your Highness."

Jack shook for no. "Court!" he replied. Oddly, that one word said enough.

We were one court. He was a part of it, so the Crow Prince was helping in his own way. No debt was necessary. This? It was merely our duty.

Chapter Fifty-One

RAIN

That afternoon, Keir tried to ask Pascal what he knew about his magic, hoping for some story about how the change in seasons had happened. Sadly, Pascal was so new to it he didn't really understand what Keir wanted. He gave an answer that had something to do with feeling like he was finally a real faeling, then mentioned how he was surprised at his season, but happy about it too.

But he said something that stuck with me. Summer was the default. The Winter students stood out. Most of themlookedWinter. Well, Ms. Linden's hair had changed while the court watched. But why did Winter look like their season, but that rule didn't necessarily apply to Summer? In desperation, I asked my zez about it during our practice hour.

"Humans," Bracken said with a smile. "Rain, throughout the history of humanity, the fae have been a myth lingering at the edge of your awareness. Sometimes we were evil. Other times we were miracle makers. Likely, both are true."

"And?" I pressed.

My zez smiled slyly. "And flowers are more alluring to superstitious people than ice. A kid with a talent for gardening was a good thing. One who froze ponds in summer was likelybanished, left to starve out there, or brought back to Faerie to be treasured by their fae parent. Thus, the warm tones became normalized here on Earth. And by here, I mean this country. Blondes, chestnut browns, and redheads fit in seamlessly with the human population. Aspen's white hair? Well, she's too young to be grey, isn't she?"