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SIG WAS GONE AND I was left staring at my little sister, who didn’t look so little anymore. It hadn’t been more than a month since I’d last laid eyes on her and yet she looked so different to me. Then I saw it, the insecurity that she harbored as she dropped her head and looked up at me from the distance between us.
“Did the anesthetic help at all?” she whispered. “I tried to help as best I could.” She wiped at her nose, a sure sign she was about to cry.
Alewar pulled her in under his arm and she clung on to him, burying her face into his abdomen, as this was the height difference between them. He was probably six feet two, like Sig, whereas Mary was just barely five feet tall.
“It did, Mary, thank you.” I took a step toward her and he lifted his hand.
“You are a banished, she should not even be speaking with you.”
My blood began to boil, and I could feel my scales begin to rise along my eyes and down my arms. “Who do you think you are to keep her from me?”
“I guard her, you are unclean, unkempt and deemed dangerous. I see no reason to allow you near my charge.”
“She’s my fucking sister and unless you want my foot in your ass, I suggest you back the fuck off!” I lowered my body, my back warming as I fingered my weapon. I had only ever drawn it on whims, never to actually fight. I knew how to use it, but until that day in the Great Hall, none knew I even had the thing, and they still didn’t really know what it was. Not for certain anyways.
“You? Best me?” He chuckled as he set Mary to rights and pulled his broadsword from his own body. Like him, it was long and lean and took two hands to handle. A disadvantage, my lance was balanced enough to wield singlehanded, leaving me able to use my left hand to punch and defend with my scales and razor sails.
I smirked as I pulled my weapon, watching as his eyes widened and his arm suddenly dropped.
“You are bearer of the Lance of the Sidhe? The- the promised one?” His eyes roved over me as though he only just saw me for the woman I was. Frankly, it made me uncomfortable. I wanted to cover up more, even though I was moderately dressed in jeans, boots and a T-shirt. It just felt as though he could assess all of my assets anyhow.
“That’s the second time someone has said that to me without an explanation. Only you seem a wee bit more in awe, wanna tell me why?” I pointed my lance at him and Mary got in the way. “Mary, this really isn’t the time for you to grow a pair.”
“He’s my Guardian Aella. I’m as responsible for him as he is for me,” she pleaded. “He’ll tell you what we know. I’ve found out much since I’ve been with the Unseelie. They keep so much in the Underdark records. It’s unreal what we get access to as acolytes.”
“Lady Marigold, you must not share our secrets.” Alewar looked down at my sister sternly. She reached up, cupping his face in her hands, drawing him down to her level.
“I do as I wish,” she whispered, “and so shall you.”
He nodded, a puff of smoke billowing from between his teeth. “Can we adjourn to someplace less open to speak?”
He had a point, we were standing in the middle of a parking lot.
***
I HADN’T BEEN IN THE Deviant dorms yet. I had been integrated, sharing the regular dorms with the rest of the freshman class. Their house was huge, holding fifty rooms and a common area, a communal kitchen and laundry. There were even extra bathrooms! The vibe in the common room was totally Vampire. Dark curtains during the day, black leather furniture, paneling, old paintings. The place was in dire need of an update.
“Why did we come here?” I asked, feeling out of place and not sure why we were there.
“Because I-err, we live here now. We enrolled this week. Mabegone, leader of the Leanan Sidhe, insisted that I spread the good work and the word. We heard what happened to you. Your being attacked in the open. We in the Winter Court will not stand by idly while our own are put to the whip.” Mary flopped down on one of the couches, like she owned the place.
“I’m fine, though,” I insisted.
“You’re not. You’ve not been to your classes yet, have you? Haven’t been told that they wanted to see you? They’ve rules about fights, and the Otherkind was already on thin ice after last semester’s infractions.” Greisen stepped into the room, filing his nails in an uncaring fashion. “They were already talking expulsions, but I got Collette in the room to convince them otherwise.”
I looked at the floor. “Thank you again, for saving my ass.”
“Seems we do that a lot,” Collette chimed in, coming around the corner, fixing her top and skirt. “Yet you’ve been ignoring us lately to hang out with that asshole Keegan and his bitch girlfriend Ryane. Huh, Ryane. I’ve seen her transcripts. You know her name’s so fucking country. It’s actually spelled to sound like Ryan but she tells us all, it’s Rain. Like she’s special or something. Fucking pathetic.”
Greisen put his fingers to her lips. “You’re doing it again.” She choked as his middle two fingers slid into her mouth, gagging her. “You know I hate it when you go on a tangent.”
Tears ran down her cheeks and Mary looked away as I stepped forward, Greisen put up his hand at me.
“You don’t want any of this kitten.” His fingers were slick with something I couldn’t identify, but my nostrils didn’t like the scent and I shook my head.
He pulled his fingers from Collette’s mouth and she gasped, falling to her knees coughing.
“Poison, my pet. As a Fey, she’s quite immune, but it still leaves quite a burn.”
He really was a fuck; I was seeing why Sig wanted me to stay away from them. This, this was his child? Boy, did the apple fall far away from the tree. Frankly, I think the tree was on a hill, at the side of a cliff, on a mountain top.