Page 17 of Rebellious Royals

"Then we beat the shit out of the hunters. Teachers were heading toward us, we were trying to hold them off, and it got crazy. There was so much fog, though. I think that was what saved us, if I'm honest. But Torian, Wilder, and Aspen aren't exactly weak in magic, so we kept bouncing spells around, and watching each other's backs."

"And the dead hunter?" Lina asked.

My guts clenched. I didn't want them to, but I could still remember that moment. "I stuck an iron sword into him. I was pulling Wild magic, so I don't know if that had something to do with it, but yeah. Um, he turned normal and died."

"Fuck," Heath breathed. "You have to figure out how to do that again."

"Trust me, I've been trying to remember everything," I assured him, "but there was a lot going on. But yeah, that's how we killed a hunter. And everyone was casting - er, conjuring - everything they could. The Huntsman had me by the throat, and then lightning hit, and they left. I thought I was about to die, Keir tried to heal me, and then we realized I have to heal myself because of the whole Wild magic thing."

"And that's it?" Heath asked.

"Nightmares?" I offered. "I mean, that's the short version, but yeah."

"Where did the princess thing come from?" Lina wanted to know.

I blew out a lazy raspberry and shrugged. "I don't know who's been saying that."

"Is Aspen the Winter Princess?" Heath asked.

I laughed once. "She is not."

"Truth," he told Lina.

"Wait, wait, wait," the guy behind me said, proving he was listening in. "But everyone's saying she is."

"Everyone says a lot of things," I told them. "All I know is the jesters started calling our little group 'the court.' We embraced it, and now this? Tell me someone's not stretching the truth just as far as they can?"

"That's a good point," Lina said.

But Tag pointedly cleared her throat. "Rain, what are you supposed to be making?"

"Uh..." I quickly pulled out another nail. "I'm helping Heath!"

But the guy's eyes narrowed. "Truth," he breathed.

"And your project?" Tag pressed. "Miss le Fae, come here."

I grunted, knowing I was busted, but did head that way. Behind me, the students who'd been listening in all turned to discuss the "truths" I'd just laid on them. Tag, on the other hand, leaned against the cabinet where Jack was resting. Her muscular arms were crossed under her breasts, and she glowered at me like I was about to get in trouble.

"I'm supposed to be filing glass knives for botany," I said when I was close enough, "but I have to wait for them to cool. You know, since we just had spring break."

"I know," she said, turning me so my back was to the class. "I mostly just want you to remember to be careful. Anything and everything you say will be spread around right now."

"Yeah, but why?" I asked. "Tag, what the hell changed? I mean, why are we all feeling like something big is out there?"

"Mm." She looked across the classroom for a moment, then barked out, "Anyone who should be sharpening glass knives? Spend this class cleaning and sharpening your tools. Glass blowers, stop dawdling. Miss le Fae? Outside!"

"Yes, ma'am," I mumbled, hurrying forward, trying to figure out what I'd done, because Tag sounded like she'd just reached the end of her patience.

But we were barely outside before she turned to me and lifted her finger to her lips. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, Rain, butI don't agree with Ivy this time. Coming from here, you have no clue what you kids just stepped in."

"So tell me?" I begged.

She glanced at the closed door to the Forge, then back to me. "Half the kids at this school have no family. They were foundlings, kinda like you. Of the other half, the vast majority are from the Summer Court. Maybe not nobility, and certainly not royalty, but that doesn't matter. You see, for everyone trapped here, all that matters ishere. Some think that if there's no more Winter, then Summer will have power all the time. It would just become sidhe and wildling, not Summer, Winter, and Wild."

"So they want to kill Aspen?" I asked.

"And Wilder, and anyone else with Winter magic," she said gently. "Rain, most of these kids grew up being told Summer is better than Winter. They're stronger, prettier, more powerful, and everything else you can imagine. It was a parent's way of coddling their child, never realizing that without the balance, they were making monsters."