Page 21 of Rebellious Royals

"And?" he asked. "They could be wrong, Tor."

The shortened form of my name made me look up. It used to piss me off that this man didn't give a shit about my power, my place, or my threats. Now, I was starting to realize it was proof he was so much stronger than he knew. He didn't need to be intimidated by my power - and I liked it.

"They aren't wrong," I pointed out. "That's the problem. My mother made a very big deal about wanting an heir. She killed thousands to make it happen. Everyone knows I exist, but no one knowswhoI am. They know the queen hadachild. Boy? Girl? Blonde? Brunette? Those details never crossed into Earth."

"And you can't lie," he said, nodding to show he understood.

"Oh, but I can deceive," I assured him. "The problem is Aspen. The Huntsman called her the princess."

Keir lifted a hand. "Ok, before you spiral, think about this. You want to hide who you are, right?"

"Of course!"

"Why?" He lifted his chin almost like he was daring me not to answer.

"Anonymity makes us safer."

"Does it?"

I paused, thinking about that. When we'd come here, Liam, Bracken, and Ms. Rhodes had all convinced me that would be the best decision. Ms. Rhodes had gotten me to promise I wouldn't reveal it, and for well over a year, I'd kept my title secret.

But she'd repealed the promise.

"I don't know what to do," I admitted. "And I really hate this feeling."

"Yeah, insecurity sucks," he agreed. "Trust me, Tor. Most of us deal with it every day."

"It's dangerous if I don't have a plan."

"Then," Keir said, pushing off the wall to cross the room, "let's make one. Or a few, since I have a feeling the rest of the court will have ideas about how we should handle this."

Chapter Six

RAIN

That night, I told Aspen everything I'd learned. She told me all about the weirdos watching her. Worse, at least a dozen people had asked her about the Hunt. One wanted to know if she was the reason they kept coming back to Silver Oaks. She'd made it clear the Hunt was after all fae on Earth, but she wasn't sure they'd believed it.

All of this did nothing but confirm my fears that something had changed over spring break. It had only been a week, but a week of spending time with our friends, not required to attend classes, and plenty of students heading home to talk to their Summer-loving parents? Yeah, biases were on full display right now.

Oddly, it wasn't the jesters giving us shit. Sure, they still threw out their childish taunts, trying to make themselves look cool and tough, but we were all used to that. The truth was it felt like the jesters were merely a part of a bigger problematic group. Aspen called them traditionalists.

I thought they were just whack.

But Tuesday morning came much too soon. This time, I woke up with my alarm, but Jack didn't. The crow had his nose tucked under his wing in the cutest way. I almost didn't want to disturbhim, but I certainly didn't want to be late again. Not with Ms. Rhodes teaching my first class of the day.

Aspen and I managed to make it out of our rooms early enough to take the elevator this time. She got off on the second floor for her first class. I went down to the first, then hurried around the atrium so I could get to the staircase that led to the Never, but as I passed the atrium, I saw a pair of girls in there.

They were kneeling over something. Initially, I thought it was a plant, but a few more steps revealed a book on the ground. Ok, so studying for a test this morning? But when they saw me, both looked up and made a strange gesture.

They pressed their fist over their heart while making an L shape. At least, it was the same gesture kids did when holding an L to their foreheads for "loser." Except after they tapped their chest with it, they made a circle with their arm, like rolling the whole thing, and then pressed their chest again. Worse, they did it in unison.

"Morrigan..." Jack tried to whisper.

"I don't know what that was," I told him as I lengthened my steps, "but it's weird."

Not surprisingly, when I made it to the room we used, Ms. Rhodes was already there. Once again, she had a coffee for me - mixed with hot cocoa the way I liked it - and slid it across. I took the cup, but this was starting to be a habit.

"What's the deal with the coffee?" I asked. "Should I get used to this?"