Page 171 of Rebellious Royals

"Queen," Jack announced. "Court." Then he flew to land on Rain's shoulder. "Shadow!"

"Shadow doesn't seem to be listening," Rain told her bird.

"But I was," Aspen said. "Tor, what's going on?"

Rain answered before I could. "He wants me to take his magic or something stupid."

"No," Aspen said.

"But I can't be your heir!" Fuck, this was going nowhere. "Look, I thought they were done, but I was talking to a girl between classes, and she was spewing the same bullshit - and she's not from the Children of the Exodus. She said hersuitemate was talking about how our father was the Winter King. They're thinking about that part, Asp, and yes, I'm scared."

My sister simply pulled out her phone and began typing. "So we deal with it," she said, her thumbs still going. "That's what you always tell me, isn't it?"

"Asp..." I tried.

And she finally looked up, ice blue eyes slamming into me. "Torian, every single time I've been scared, you've fixed it. Over and over, you help me when I need it most." Then she tapped one more time and I heard her phone make a little noise as a text was sent. "Now, it's my turn."

Chapter Fifty-Four

RAIN

Ididn't know what had set Torian off this time, but it couldn't be good. Worse, he was saying all of this out loud? Aspen and Keir had told me he wasn't in a good place, but this? It was so much worse than I thought.

Somehow, Torian was convinced he was the problem. Not The Silent, who kept trying to hurt everyone. Not his mother, who'd made this mess in the first place. He was sure if he was out of the equation - and I really didn't want to think about how he hoped to make that possible - then it would all just work out with sunshine and rainbows.

Yeah, this wasn't that kind of fairytale.

Thankfully, Aspen seemed to have a plan. I heard when she sent a text, her phone making a little noise to verify it was sent, and then she turned to face her brother. Before my eyes, their roles had reversed. The wild little pixie of a girl stood straighter, becoming a queen. The dark and cruel boy was almost trembling - and I didn't have a clue how to help.

I wanted to text my dad. I knew this wasn't the best moment, but I would later. Liam could help Torian more than we could, but not now. At this moment, Torian needed to be talked off the ledge - and I really hoped that was metaphorical.

"Why does it matter if they know about our father?" she asked, cramming her phone back into her pocket.

"Because if you die," he snapped, "I'm going to get the crown, and I don't want it. Shadow doesn't want me to have it. The plants don't either. Aspen, haven't you seen that? Every fae thing around us hates the idea of me anywhere near your throne!"

"Ok," Aspen said, her head twitching slightly as if she'd just had a thought. "So why do you want Rain to take your magic? Can she even do that?"

"I don't think I can," I admitted. "I mean, if so, I don't know how."

"You just look for the lines," Torian explained. "You have to reach for the magic first, then follow the threads to the people."

Yeah, I had no clue what he was talking about. "Tor, I don't have threads."

"And I can only feel Winter," Aspen told him. "Pretty sure that's one more example of why I need you to help me learn all this stuff."

He closed his eyes tightly and pulled in a hard breath. "Aspen, you'll be fine."

"No, I won't."

I watched as Torian's shoulders slumped, yet his eyes snapped back open. "What?"

So Aspen gestured to her head. "I'm used to you being in here! I count on you, Tor. And I think we both know you're not only wanting your magic gone. You think you can make yourself disappear, right? You're so fucking sure that if you're dead, you won't have to worry about this mess anymore, but guess what?Iwill! I'll have to do it alone. All alone, and I'll hate you for that!"

"No..." he breathed, surging in to clasp her arms. "Asp..."

"You're going to be king," she said. "Summer King, but still king. We're going to fix this, right? We have to. That's what you told me when I didn't want the crown, but you said I had to. Yousaid this was the only way - well, guess what? That's true for you too!"

"And I'm not the same as you!" he shot back. "I'm the one with both fucking seasons. Aspen, we can't confuse the magic. We can't fuck this up, and Titania made me to do just that. She fucking designed me!"