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Chapter Thirty-Seven

TORIAN

I 'd intended to kill the girl who'd run at Rain. I'd had every intention of it, until the bitch had attacked Aspen. Sadly, if I had to choose, I would choose my sister every time, simply because I knew what would happen if I didn't. I also had a feeling Rain would be fine.

Last semester, she'd been a naive and bumbling human girl. Now, our Morrigan was something amazing. So was her knight. Then there was Hawke. His eyes had constricted to horizontal slits, proving he was in his predatory mode.

He'd once told me short orders worked best when his hunting urge came over him. Something sharp and harsh to get through his instincts, and yet I didn't think he was that bad. Sure, he wanted to make others hurt, but who didn't? We were all so tired of this shit, and it just never ended.

But by the time Ms. Rhodes got there, we had the four attackers all detained.

Rain's anti-magic gloves seemed to be a winning conjuration.

No, spell. She really liked calling things that, and I didn't see any reason her magic couldn't use that term.

If Rain made it, then it was definitely going to be a spell.

"Who made a mess of my school?" the dean demanded as she marched toward us, her heels clicking loudly on the hard floor.

Keir just gestured at the four we held. "I think you can blame them. They came at Pascal."

"And how did the court end up in the middle of this?" she asked, sweeping her gaze over all of us.

Even I wanted to duck my head at the intensity of her inspection. Instead, I lifted my chin, knowing that backing down wouldn't do me any favors now. But before I could take the blame, Aspen spoke up.

"I heard someone scream," she said. "Ms. Rhodes, I will not stand by and let anyone else be harmed because some don't like me."

"Fucking ice bitch," the girl who'd been attacking Pascal murmured under her breath.

My head whipped over. "Say it again, I dare you."

So she looked right at me. "You betray your mother. You are not my prince!"

I reached for the power, feeling the weight of Summer begin to lighten around me as every strand, every speck, and every hint of my season's magic in this area responded to my will.

Searching through it, I looked for this girl's, intending to make sure she would never have the dignity of claiming my season again.

But nothing happened. At least, I thought nothing did, until Rain's shadow stood up and moved into my face. And when it opened its eyes this time, they weren't hollow. No, they were filled with green.

"Move," I told it.

Shadow just lifted a hand to wag its finger in my face. And then, to make it even more clear, the damned thing shook its head.

"Tor," Aspen said, "you can't do that."

"Rain, call it off," I demanded.

"I have no control over that thing," she told me.

And Shadow's eerie grin appeared, glowing as green as its eyes. I was sure it was blocking me somehow. I had no idea how, but if I had my way, I'd take the power from every one of these Children of the Exodus, then make them earn it back.

"Enough!" Ms. Rhodes said, moving around both me and Shadow to look at the thing from the back. "Torian, I don't know what you want to do, but do not do it."

"You don't have the authority to tell me that," I reminded her.

She lifted a brow. "Oh? You may be the prince, but this is my house, boy." And she took a step closer. "I will respect you. I will protect you. What I will not do is allow you to walk all over me the way your mother tried to. Am. I. Clear?"

When Shadow shifted out of her way, I dipped my head, knowing she was right. "Yes, Ms. Rhodes."

"General," Jack muttered softly from his perch on Rain's shoulder.

"Exactly," she told the crow. "Now..." And she looked around us.

"Hawke, take Pascal to the nurse. Keir, would you escort Aspen to her room?

I'm sure it would be best if you waited there.

Rain, I'm going to need you to help guide these four down to my office.

" She pulled in a breath. "Wilder, I'd appreciate it if you could help. "

"And me?" I asked.

"Can you be civil, Torian?"

"No."

Which earned me one single laugh. "Fine, then you can assist Rain and Wilder." But she marched over to the girl who'd started all of this, grabbed her shadow-encased hand, and gestured toward the stairs. "Walk or I will make you walk, child. This is not a game I'm fond of."

"Summer will not give way to Winter again," the idiot told Ms. Rhodes.

"Oh, it will," Ms. Rhodes assured her. "Just like day follows night, the seasons will continue no matter what we do. So walk ."

I took the girl who'd tried to rush at Rain. Rain took one of the guys, and Wilder got the other. Together, we marched them all down to the office, with Rain's shadow-bears as escorts. Yet when we got close, I slowed, letting the rest get far enough ahead so I'd have a little privacy.

"I would've killed you," I whispered in her ear.

"I don't care who you are or why you're doing this.

I do care that I've seen more death than anyone on this entire planet.

I've watched my mother at work, and this?

Oh, she would've tortured you to death for this fumbling bullshit.

Is she really the one you want to worship? "

"The Summer Queen will save us," the girl said, looking at me as if I'd lost my mind. "She's kind and fair. Those of us who serve her will be granted a place in her new, permanent court."

"Mmm." I had to fight the urge to smile, aware she was telling me more than we'd gotten yet. "Is this general knowledge, or is someone leaking our secrets?"

"They said - " And her voice just stopped. Twice, her mouth flopped as her eyes got wide. "No, it's..." But still nothing came out.

"The trick," I told her, "is to speak around it. Do not ever tackle a vow head on. The magic is too strong for that. You spoke a truth, now you're bound to make sure it stays true. So say the part you haven't already ruled out."

"Everyone knows the courts were decimated in the war," she said. "Everyone knows what happened in Faerie. They taught us that. But no one talks about us!"

"Which 'us?'"

"The faelings! Why are there so many of us? It was almost like it was planned, right? And - " Again, she slammed to silence.

"Mm. I turned for the door to the main office.

"Well, we should definitely explain faelings then.

You see, that which is different is always appealing.

When society was starving, the overweight were considered beautiful.

When society was tall, short was the height of beauty - pun intended.

In the Summer Court, white hair was the most desired, because so few of us were born with it.

We always want the thing we cannot have.

For the fae, that's humans. For the humans, that's fae. The result of that? You."

"No, there has to be more."

"We rarely expect to have children?" I offered, pushing her forward. "But if you'd like to tell me any more before we get in there, I'd take it as a personal favor. The kind I'd even tell my mother about."

"I..." Her brow creased. "You can't mean that."

"Oh, I do." Just not the way she thought I did.

"We have to be strong enough in our power, and only faelings," she said. "Our parents believe it's for the good of the whole."

From the edge of my vision, I saw Ms. Rhodes peek her head out of her office, so I replied, "I see."

"Torian?" she asked.

"And our time is up," I told the girl, pushing her forward.

But the moment she was in the room, I shut the door and enchanted it not to open to any of these four. Ms. Rhodes lifted a brow, Wilder whipped around to look at me in confusion, but Rain was inspecting the people before us.

"Sit," she told them. "There. In a row."

All four sat.

So Rain moved before them. "Ms. Rhodes, can I break this vow thing they have going on?"

"You shouldn't," she said.

And now she had my attention as well. "Why not?"

"Because we do not know the vow, curse, enchantment, or reason for their silence. A mere promise might be ok to break, but if there's a deeper, magical reason, you'd kill them, Rain."

"Why?" I asked, thinking of my own curse, the one my mother had put on me.

"Because some magics are woven into our own power.

If Rain negates that, she removes our life force.

We are magical things. At best, a fae would become mortal, living a standard human life.

At worst, they would wither quickly, no different than if you bled them out.

That's why I've never suggested it. I really don't want the Morrigan killing anyone she doesn't have to. "

"I'm on board with that," Rain agreed, stepping back.

"But I got something," I said. "It seems the stabby one is convinced the faelings were bred for a purpose. Since most of them are Summer, I'm going to guess she thinks this is it. I'm just not sure what 'this' is." So I looked at the girl I'd led down here. "Care to share?"

She shook her head.

"I also know," I went on, "that their parents are aware. I'm going to assume their whole community is as well. The ones picked for these attacks have to be powerful enough, yet a strong faeling is basically a weak fae."

"But few of them realize that," Ms. Rhodes pointed out.

"Our school is filled with faelings. We only have some of the teachers and you five students who are pure.

Here on Earth, using our abilities to the fullest is considered a bad idea, since humans would have far too many questions, so it's avoided. "

"Which means," Wilder told the group, "you were the sacrificial lambs. Replaceable. Useless."

"Stop," Ms. Rhodes said gently. "I think they have enough to deal with."

"They think they're earning a place in my mother's new court.

They don't realize she'd be happiest without any whining, sniveling, simpering fools to bother her.

Or so she's said many times. They have no idea my mother is willing to kill anyone who disappoints her, and that she wants the power of Winter for one reason, and one reason only.

" I stepped closer to the group, making sure they were paying attention.

"Now listen to me. I am fae. I am pure fae, born from two monarchs.

I cannot lie, so when I say this, you know it is true. "

The girl I'd escorted nodded her head nervously. The rest just stared at me as if wishing they weren't hanging on my words.

"Queen Titania only wants the power of Winter so she can make sure no one else has any magic. If she, and she alone, wields the power, then she will be unstoppable. Her goal is to subjugate us all."

And they quickly looked at each other in complete silence.

"I think you've said enough," Ms. Rhodes told me. "Torian, your sister is in her suite. Rain, take Wilder to the nurse's office. I want none of you alone right now. That includes you, Your Highness."

"Yes, General," I said, dipping my head. "Order heard."

"Then obey," she told me, shooing us out.

We went, with Rain trailing out last, looking back a few times. Yet once we were outside, she gestured up the hall toward the nurse's area. "Do you think that will change anything?" she asked me.

Wilder huffed once. "Tor just put something else in their minds, Rain.

They will likely be expelled. Their parents will take them home, where they will be treated as failures - or so it sounds.

When they're trying to figure out what they've done wrong, they'll think about what he said.

They'll consider the possibility that this is all built on a lie. "

"And," I added, "they might tell others. Saying it came directly from the Summer Prince? That adds even more weight."

"Maybe," Rain said. "Or maybe the groups don't even know each other? I mean, we're all trying to do what we think is right. The problem is we don't agree on what is right, so is there any way to fix that part?"

"Nope," Wilder said. "See, some people are selfish, Rain. Some are too busy, too stupid, or too misinformed to believe the truths we accept. Then there's the fear."

"What fear?" she asked.

I gave Wilder a dirty look, but answered. "The fear of it all being real," I said. "The fear that we can't change it."

"He means stop her," Wilder clarified.

"Because for most of these people," I went on, "my mother is so powerful they're no more than a fly to annoy her. They could be her enemy and die, or find a way to be her ally and maybe, just maybe, be lucky enough to get overlooked."

"On one hand, the chance for power," Wilder said, lifting a palm. "And on the other, living a life of obscurity, never achieving their dreams, and ending up as nothing worth remembering." He lifted the other. "Both are terrifying in their own way, if you stop to think about it.

"Or," Rain said, "dying while doing the right thing." She paused. "I was supposed to be nothing, so I get that fear. I also know that being something isn't easy. It isn't the sort of thing that's just handed to you - and even when it is, you have to work for it. I'm doing the work."

"So are they," I reminded her. "They're simply working for the wrong side."