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"They heard him call her a princess," I pointed out. "Not the queen, but the princess."

"And now they know who we are!" he spat. "If she finds out…"

"Do you ever call her 'Mother'? Maybe 'Mom?'"

My change in subject shocked him enough that Torian physically rocked in his chair. "The Summer Queen?" he asked, distaste coloring his words.

I nodded. "Yes. The woman who gave birth to you."

"Not if I can help it."

"Why?"

His jaw clenched hard enough to make the muscle bulge along his cheek.

"Mothers love their children. Me? I'm just a resource.

A loophole. A thing that is now in the way.

The one thing I could do to pay her back was make sure Aspen took the throne so I can never touch it – nor can my mother.

Now that my sister is queen?" He glanced away, swallowing back his temper.

"Rain will take care of her, Liam. Keir will help.

Wilder is loyal, and Hawke understands how important this is.

She'll become the best monarch Faerie has ever seen. She will fix this mess."

"And who will sit on the Summer Throne?" I asked. "Unless you plan to leave your mother there?"

"The gates are locked."

"And your sister is here, which means your mother still rules there. She's still causing pain there. What difference does any of this make if you're going to ignore that part? Or do you have some other idea for how to handle it? Seal the gates permanently, maybe? Let Faerie rot itself to death?"

"No..."

Uncertainty. I heard it, and it told me the last thing I needed to know.

"Torian, your job isn't done. You might be the spare, but you're also the heir. It's a difficult line to walk, sure, but I think you can do it. More than that, you're the one person who can help Aspen figure out how to control this power she's just accepted."

"They'll kill her."

We both knew he was talking about the people here, not there.

Too many fae still believed in the divide between seasons.

Worse, many of them hoped staying loyal to Summer meant they'd survive if the gates ever opened again.

In less than a century, the ones here had already started adjusting their stories, twisting truths enough to make themselves look like poor innocent victims caught on the wrong side of the gates when they closed. Not refugees who ran for their lives.

"Mm..." I shook my head at the boy. "No one will hurt her if she's protected. To have the favor of the Summer Prince? Oh, that would be a powerful thing, wouldn't it?"

"Fuck them!" he snapped.

"And yet it's a weapon you can use, Torian. It is a shield for Aspen. A means to keep your vow to her. To protect her. She needs you now more than ever, so you can't give up yet."

"But..."

"I know," I assured him. "Too many have died, and it's been too close.

You never should've seen these horrors at your age, but you have.

None of us can take that back. Instead, will you let us help you?

Will you allow us to hold you up a bit when you're too exhausted to continue? Maybe even to protect Aspen too?"

"I don't know how," he breathed.

"I know," I said gently. "And I know you think you're in the way, but right now, that's a good thing. Shields are in the way. They block the hits, and we both know Aspen isn't ready for what's going to come."

"But you're wrong," he told me. "See, Liam, that's the one thing you don't understand. She is ready. Rain made her that way."

"You did too."

His hand finally stopped tapping. "Yeah?"

I nodded. "You fought for your sister when no one else knew she was real. You never gave up, so don't start now. And when you can't take it anymore?"

"Lemme guess, come talk to you?" he asked.

"Or kiss Keir again," I suggested. "I've been told he can take it."

The smallest flicker of a smile crossed Torian's face. "He's stronger than he knows. He says it's merely defensive magic, as if that makes him weak, but it's really Earth magic."

Earth magic didn't exist - or hadn't. Then again, many things had been changing lately.

The Morrigan had come. Her benefactor rode on her shoulder like a familiar.

Never mind her shadow, which not even Ivy Rhodes understood yet.

So many things were changing, but while the fae wouldn't like it, I had a feeling this was a good thing.

"So what you're saying is he's not impressed with your title," I pointed out. "It doesn't change things for him at all."

And Torian's body finally relaxed completely. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," I promised. "You don't rule him, and he doesn't care about Faerie nobility.

You know what does matter to him? Finding someplace he finally belongs.

The interesting thing is that someone so against the idea of birthright nobility, and monarchies in general, has ended up right in the middle of your court. "

"Because a wise ruler doesn't need people to kiss their ass," Torian said. "They need someone to shove them down and remind them when they're out of line."

"Which," I said, "makes me think you're not as cruel as you pretend."

"Oh, I am," he insisted.

"You've also never been allowed to be anything else," I countered. "Not weak, not a child, and never dependent. And yet, those are things your mother taught you. Have you ever considered she's wrong?"

His spring-green eyes hit me hard. "Every fucking day."