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Chapter Twenty-Six

RAIN

T he cool thing about having magic was I could do stupid things with it.

All our fighting practice made me realize I'd been looking at my abilities all wrong, so when I woke up Sunday morning, I put my theory to the test. Now, I was cradling a warm cup of tea.

This was why there weren't any kettles or microwaves in the rooms!

The students here could usually do this magically, and I'd finally figured out how.

Sitting in the chair Wilder had made, wearing my crow pajamas, and flipping through a textbook on my tablet, my goal was to get a little studying in while Aspen was still sleeping.

Finals would come before I knew it, and while Ms. Rhodes said I wouldn't get expelled, I also really wanted to graduate.

I swiped at the screen again, and Jack jerked himself awake. I noticed the movement, looking over just as my crow's full attention shifted to the door. Spike began to stretch its tendrils up.

"Knight!" Jack cawed, proving what had caused their reaction.

I quickly put both my cup and my tablet down, hurrying over to answer it before he could knock. The last thing I needed was Aspen to wake up. Sadly, I wasn't fast enough. I had my hand on the doorknob when his fist rapped soundly, the boom echoing through the quiet suite.

"Shh!" I said as I jerked my door open.

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 of us like 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?"

She made a face and rocked her head from side to side. "That's not the word I'd use. He thinks he needs to die, but he also hates it."

"So how do we fix this?" I asked, looking between her and Keir.

"We can't," Aspen said. "Rain, he's in a horrible position. As my younger brother, he's the natural heir to my throne - and I don't want to have a child! Not now!"

"No," I assured her, waving that away. "I didn't mean replace him."

But Keir was giving her a strange look. "I wouldn't think you'd want to have kids. I mean, that involves a man."

Aspen rolled her eyes. "Keir, I've lived on Earth long enough to know about fertility clinics and sperm donors. I don't have to fuck someone to get a child. And who knows, maybe in a century or two I'll want one. Maybe not, but I certainly don't want to try it now!"

"No," he agreed. "That would make all of this worse, but somehow we need to make Torian realize he's important."

"He knows that," Aspen said. "The problem is he feels too important. Well, more like the necessary tool everyone is going to abuse."

"Tool?" I asked, catching Aspen's choice of words.

"He called himself a weapon before," Keir pointed out. "He made it clear that if he inherits the Winter Crown, it will fuck up everything."

I nodded, remembering that conversation with Ms. Rhodes, but wasn't it just one more reason to fight? If I was in his position, I'd want revenge, not death!

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"There's nothing we can do," Aspen said.

"Fuck that," I grumbled, shoving to my feet. "No, Torian shouldn't have to deal with this on his own."

"Rain, I've been trying," Keir said.

I shook my head, making it clear I wasn't blaming him. "I don't mean like that, and this shouldn't all be on you either. This is something we all have to help with. The entire court has to make it clear we can't do this without him."

"He knows that," Aspen said. "That's the whole problem, Rain."

And she would know. She was in Torian's head half the time - or maybe more. I wasn't sure how their connection was doing now, but it still existed. That meant Aspen had the inside scoop on Torian's thoughts. So if she wasn't worried, then why was I?

Because I could still remember clutching a teddy bear as my entire life crumbled around me.

I knew the pain of seeing my mother led away in handcuffs.

I knew what it was like to experience loss, but so did everyone here.

The difference was they'd learned it was inevitable, while I'd been lucky enough to think of it as a rare moment of tragedy.

"I need to talk to him," I decided, glancing down at my pajamas.

"It won't help," she warned.

I grumbled under my breath. "I still have to try, Asp. I just… I need to do this, ok?"

"Ok," she relented, "but if we all gang up on him, he'll only ignore us."

So Keir jerked his chin at Aspen. "I mean, I could escort you to breakfast while Rain talks to my suitemate."

"Court!" Jack agreed.

"And you can come with us," Aspen offered. "I'll let you eat bread!"

"Queen!" Jack cawed.

Which made me pause to look at him. "Ok, that's a very good word, Jack." And a new one.

He slung his beak up and down. "Queen, Knight, Morrigan, Jack!"

"And your Morrigan needs to talk to a prince," I said. "Do you want to eat with Aspen or come with me?"

"Queen!" Jack decided.

Which made Aspen squeal in delight. "Then I need different clothes!" she said, hopping up to head into her room.

I heard the door on her side close and wanted to sigh. I needed them too, but I wasn't about to change with Keir here!

"Um..." I said, trying to come up with a nice way to ask him to step outside.

Instead, he raked his eyes over me. "Love the crow jammies," he said. "I also want to talk about something else real fast."

"Keir, I need to change!" I hissed.

He lifted a hand, holding me off. "Yeah. I got that part, but before you head over there, I just want to make sure you know Torian and I have been..." He pushed out a breath.

"Fucking?" I offered.

"No!" And then he dropped his head. "Flirting, I think? Getting closer. I'd say becoming friends, but he seemed surprised I put him in that category."

"No, that's a good thing," I assured him.

He stood, moving closer so he could grab my hand. "I happen to like this girl, right? But things have been a little crazy lately. I feel like we never get to just sit and talk anymore, so I want to make sure this is out there."

"What is?"

He shifted just a bit closer, putting us chest to chest. "I'm not opposed to kissing Torian again, Rain."

"And?" Because that had already happened. Once it was even in front of me.

A nervous smile flashed over his mouth. "Um, and I don't want you to write me off. See, I like it when you do those cute things with me. You know, like talking about Aspen? Like teasing me. Maybe even holding my hand? Definitely the kissing parts."

Lifting my chin, I closed the distance between us, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. "Like that?"

"Mhm," he agreed. "And I'm not taking this further, because I can't stop worrying about him."

Something about the way he said that - the tone, his choice of words? - made me realize what he was trying so hard to hint around.

"You want to date Torian too?" I asked.

Keir made a face. "Date is a strong word. I might like to giggle about him with my girlfriend, though. I mean, that's the part I was trying to figure out how to ask. If it would be ok for me to talk to you about him?"

Jesus, could this guy get any more adorable? Reaching up to cup his face, I nodded my head. "Yeah, I can do that. And if you do end up stealing some more kisses, will you tell me? I can pick on Aspen with it, and I have a feeling you're kinda sexy when you're crushing on someone, huh?"

His eyes jumped between mine. "You are so completely fae."

"Nope," I said. "I just trust that my friends who can't lie won't, well, lie."

"Mm, there's that." And he leaned in for another peck. "Now change. I'll wait in the hall."

Then he left. Quickly, I rushed over to grab my Morrigan shirt from the wardrobe and a pair of jeans. It was the weekend, so I didn't have to be in my uniform, and I had a feeling "functional" was going to be the necessary style for this mess.

Because I was not going to let Torian suffer alone.

I knew Aspen hadn't, but sometimes she was so completely fae that the obvious went over her head.

Keir got it, though. He knew what it felt like to be alone while surrounded by others.

Torian? He just thought he was alone. Always alone.

Eternally made to be that way. My goal was to make it clear he wasn't.

I was buttoning my jeans when Aspen slipped back in. "I was trying to give you and Keir a moment," she explained.

I reached for my shoes. "Well, it worked, but right now Torian is what matters."

"Rain..." she tried. "Hun, he's been like this for as long as I can remember. Telling him we care isn't exactly going to change his mind about how fucked up all of this is."

"Because his mother made sure he knew he was a tool, not a person!" I snapped.

"But he is."

I shook my head. "He can be both things, Aspen. You know what? He can also decide he's not going to be the tool he was created for. A screwdriver can be a weapon, right? So why can't the Mad Queen's weapon become the fae's protector or something?"

I saw when her eyes widened. "Oh. I hadn't thought of that."

"And that's why I'm here," I assured her. "So let's go shove a little humanity in your brother's face, ok? Make sure he knows he's needed - and not just to be used?"

"He won't believe you."

I got my last shoe on and stood. "Yeah, but he can taste lies, right? Well, I'm more than willing to shove a little truth down his throat." And I reached out my hand.

Aspen took it, letting me haul her out of my room.

Jack fluttered off his perch, but it wasn't my shoulder he claimed.

Instead, he picked Aspen's. Oddly, I was starting to like that.

It was nice to know he accepted her. Somehow, it made me feel like this thing I had with her wasn't going to be fleeting.

Yet once my girlfriend saw Keir, she pointed at him. "That's your boyfriend. Hold his hand."

Keir offered his palm. I took it, lacing my fingers between his, then Aspen moved to his other side, sliding an arm around his waist. Without hesitation, Keir draped an arm casually over her shoulder.

Together - feeling like we could hold back all the bad in the world - we turned for the boys' side of the building.