Page 87 of Rebellious Royals

Keir gave me a confused look. "Do I want to know?"

"Aspen's sleeping," I said, opening the door wider for him to come in.

His eyes jumped to the bed. "Did you two have a fight or something?"

I scoffed at that. "We used her bed last night. It smells good in there. I kinda like it."

"You like the smell of fae plants?" he asked.

Ok, that confused me. "Yeah? The atrium is nice too. I also like it outside. What's wrong with that?"

"No!" he groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "Sorry, I came here instead of getting coffee, so I'm not operating at full speed yet. I was thinking most ofuslike the smell because of the magic. You'd never mentioned it before, so I was wondering if it's a Morrigan thing."

On the perch by the window, Jack shook his head. "Rain!" he insisted.

"Sounds like it's just me," I told him. "And while I don't have coffee here, I did figure out how to heat up water for tea. Want one?"

"Oh, that'd be great," he said. "Do you have sugar too?"

"An entire container," I assured him. "Aspen borrowed one from the dining hall and keeps trading it out when it gets empty. Then again, I think she eats the stuff straight."

As I spoke, I made my way over to my shelves. There, I'd begun a nice collection of Silver Oaks travel mugs. Most of them were from Ms. Rhodes when she told me to take my drink with me. I had seven now, and I needed to start trading them back. Still, a few extras were nice now that I knew I could do this.

Filling a cup from the bathroom sink, I added a teabag, then magically heated it all as I carried it back to Keir. Pointing to my shelves, I showed him where the sugar was, then returned to my chair. Watching Keir pour a long, thick stream of sweetness into his cup? Ok, that was oddly adorable. It humanized him somehow.

"Have a sweet tooth?" I teased.

"Magic, so yes," he said, coming back to claim the edge of the bed. "Sadly, I have a bit of a problem, and I was hoping for some female help."

The bathroom door creaked. "Not how you ask to get laid!"

I turned to see a bleary-eyed Aspen reaching to close the door on my side. She flashed me a smile, then shut it all the way. That meant she was up, but for Aspen, that wasn't the same as being awake.

"I didn't mean to wake her," Keir said. "This also isn't about getting laid."

I shrugged. "She usually wakes up shortly after I do. I just needed to do some studying. So what's your problem?"

"Torian."

"Is a dick," I finished.

"And he has a point," Keir said. "Let's wait for Aspen, because I think she needs to be included, and I don't know if I can explain this twice."

Which meant I had time to make a tea for her as well. So while we waited, I gathered up all my things, then moved my own cup over to the bed so Aspen could have the comfy chair. Jack watched me, his dark eyes following me as I crossed the room a few times. And when the bathroom door finally opened, my girlfriend appeared on the other side, dressed and presentable.

"Tea?" I offered, slipping past her to put water in the mug.

"Oh, nice!" she said, turning to watch me.

"Go," I told her. "Take the big chair so you can curl up." Shutting off the water, I waved her forward, heating the tea as we walked.

Then Keir told us both about Torian's panic attack. Aspen nodded, likely aware of it, but Keir kept going. He explained about Torian's fears of destroying magic, his worry that Aspen would be targeted now, and how all of it tied together in one high school boy with too much on his shoulders.

"Shit," I breathed when he was done. "I didn't realize Torian was dealing with all of that."

"I tried to tell you he's not that bad," Aspen said.

"Yeah, but..." I paused, looking over at her. "Asp, is he suicidal?"