The moment I tried to get up I was surrounded by at least a dozen Fae guards, pikes and spears and swords bristling as their points crowded me on all sides. I held my hands up.
“Easy! Easy! This is a misunderstanding!”
“What is the meaning of this!” General Zell roared at Lucien.
“I ask that you put your weapons away,” Lucien said, though he sounded like he wanted them to give me a few good stabs first, just to teach me a lesson. “She is a student here, and also under my care.” He frowned at me. “Though I realize her lack of proper judgment leaves much to be desired.”
It took a few long seconds before the Fae eventually pulled their weapons back. But General Zell wasn’t done. He wrenched me to my feet, and I had to shove down a quick swell of the Dark Prince’s volatile anger.
“Is she a spy?” General Zell demanded, shaking my arm.
“She’s a student,” Lucien said.
“I can vouch for that!” Master Siphos called. “Though her marks in my class could use improvement!”
Geez. The Masters knew how to kick a girl when she was down.
I yanked my arm out of General Zell’s grasp. “I wasn’t spying. I just wanted to see the Fae-”
“How exciting!”
All of us turned to find Zephyr staring up at the busted grate I’d fallen through. “So lively! Such spirit!” He swiveled his lapis-blue eyes to me. “You look familiar. Ah!”
I recoiled as he reached for my hair. Perfect or not, I had a history of dealing with overly-grabby people. A violent history. “Hey! What are you doing?”
“Apologies,” Zephyr said, gracefully retracting his hand. “The silver streaks in your hair. Are you perhaps a descendant of the famous Aspen Rivest?”
“Yeah. I’m her daughter, Skylar.”
“Marvelous!” Zephyr said, though I couldn’t see what was so dang marvelous about it.
Lucien, too, was looking at the prince like he’d just figured something out. “I never thought to ask, but do you…know Aspen? She and I…well, our dealings with the Fae haven’t always gone spectacularly.”
“Yes, Aspen Rivest and my ancestors have something of a mutual history,” Zephyr said.
Great. Someone else from my mom’s past who’d returned in the present. They seemed to be cropping up a lot lately. I wondered if my mom had killed anyone from Zephyr’s family like she had from Kasia’s.
General Zell grabbed my arm again (Fae or not, he had a punch coming his way) and started tugging me toward the door. “My prince, I will remove the intrusion.”
I freed my arm. “The intrusion can remove herself. Sorry to drop in.”
“I actually have a request,” Zephyr said, a glittering smile lighting up his face. “I’d like Skylar to show me around the Academy.”
“That was something,” Lucien said as we walked side by side from the meeting room. “That was…something.”
“Just yell at me and get it over with,” I grumbled.
Lucien remained contemplatively silent. I didn’t like it. And I was still confused why the prince of the Fae wanted me to give him a tour of the Academy. I mean, sure, the Academy was awesome, but we kind of had more important things to deal with at the moment than less-than-stellar students giving him the grand tour.
“This is actually opportune,” Lucien finally said.
“Oh?” I said. “For me, or…?”
We stopped, and the normally cheery grin Lucien wore slid away to a more serious frown. “As you heard, your mother and I have had a tumultuous history with the Fae.”
“I heard,” I said.
Lucien frowned deeper at my dark tone, but if he wondered why I had a negative response to hearing that news, he didn’t ask. I wasn’t sure if my mom had told him about what she’d done to Kasia. I wasn’t sure I wanted him to know.
“The Fae have always been a wild card among the Supes,” Lucien went on. “The Night Court worst of all. But as uncertain as they are, the truth of the matter is they’re powerful. In the past they’ve even united with the rest of the Supes in time of need.”
I could see where this was going, and it made my skin prickle uncomfortably. “You want me to convince the prince to help us against Kasia.”
“I feel the need of our plight will have a greater impact coming from you than from a formal council, yes,” Lucien said. “Depending on whether you can be subtle about asking.”
I grimaced. I was many things, but subtle wasn’t one of them. “Zephyr’s already having General Zell find Kasia.”
“He won’t find her. Even if he did, one Fae won’t be enough to stand against her. You know this better than anyone. We need the support of all the Fae, Night and Day Court both. Already the Paranormal Coalition have received reports that Kasia’s acolytes have started gathering in the city. I’m sure, if she’s not already here, Kasia will join them soon. That means she’ll strike soon.”
Which put a time limit on my job as tour guide. “So…no pressure,” I said.
Lucien beamed. “Don’t sound so dire! It isn’t all up to you. If Zephyr is truly taking the mantle as king of all Fae, I’m sure they’re putting in a failsafe. Perhaps a council who can rein in his power as they see fit. I can’t imagine those of the Night Court giving up complete control. That means that, even if we convince Zephyr to help, he may not have the backing of all the Fae.”
“So even if I convince him to help, it may not do anything?” I said. “That…strangely doesn’t make me feel any better.”
Lucien let out a boisterous laugh. I shook my head, partly appalled, partly unsurprised that he could still act so laissez faire. Then again, if half the stories I’d heard about what he and my mom had done were true, he’d seen and been through things just as bad as this, if not worse.
Just the thought of my mom turned my stomach. She and my dad were both home in Ember’s Landing, but I hadn’t gone to see them since they’d returned a few days ago. I hadn’t wanted to see them. My mom had lied to me about her involvement with Kasia, and even now my head still spun with what to believe: The memories of Kasia’s I’d seen, or what my mom had finally told me about that day. I still loved her fiercely, but my heart ached knowing that part of the danger I was in right now was thanks to something she’d done in the past.
One day, when you have to make your own tough choices, I hope you’ll forgive me.
I shook my head until my mom’s voice went away. Maybe one day I would. Maybe one day this would all make sense. But it wasn’t today.
We stopped at the edge of Remembrance Hall. The wide hall, filled in the middle with a gnarled, mis-formed oak tree and grassy lawn, would usually be brimming with students on lunch break. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had lunch here. I couldn’t remember the last time it hadn’t felt like I was fighting for my life.
“Be honest with me, Lucien,” I said. “How long do we have before Kasia attacks?”
“Who knows!” Lucien said, not doing a good job of answering in the morose reverence required. “It could be an hour, it could be a month. Hopefully never. The best we can do is prepare as best we can and ride it out when she comes.”
He gave me what I assumed was supposed to be a comforting pat on the shoulder. “I’ll leave you to tour with the prince. In the meantime, I’ll talk with your parents and the other Masters to see if there are any defenses the Academy could use. Master Scalius was telling me he has a particularly nasty bunch of hobgoblins with poor hygiene we could sic on the acolytes if they get too close. I wasn’t keen on the idea at first, but I’ll admit it has a strange appeal now…”
He gave me a hearty wink before striding down the hall and leaving me alone. I stood there, thinking, until I heard the faint sound of voices. Fae voices. I followed them to a corner where I peeked around. General Zell and Prince Zephyr stood in a shallow alcove between the two halls, speaking low to one another. Zephyr’s guards were nowhere to be seen, which seemed strange. Either the prince thought they were in no danger, or he’d gotten as fed up with being constantly surrounded as I was at constantly seeing them.
“I don’t know what you hope to gain by indulging the mortals,” General Zell said.
Zephyr leaned against the wall, appearing at casual ease. “It’s not an indulgence to truly wish to bridge the gap between our kinds. As a veteran of many preventable wars between the Fae and other Supes, surely you can see the logic in it?”
General Zell crossed his massive, armored arms. He probably slept in that armor. He didn’t seem the type to take a break from duty, even for a moment. “They offer us nothing.”
“Except for peace, comradery, and good will.”
“Your mother—”
“Is dead, because she tried to draw strife where none was needed. Aspen and Isak Rivest remedied the folly of her ways before she could more greatly damage our kind.”
I sucked in a silent gasp. So that’s how my mom had been involved. Somehow my dad, too.
“May your mother rest forever in the Twilight Realm,” General Zell murmured.
Zephyr smiled wryly. “Hopefully her bloodthirsty tendencies left that place of peace alone.”
“I see your reasoning,” General Zell said with a resigned sigh. “But I…”
I ducked back around the corner as he cast a quick glance either direction. “I fear our arrival is most inopportune. The Cursed One, the Zukami…The Seers would call them bad omens.”
“I see them as things that need to be dealt with,” Zephyr said. “For if this evil threatening them does not stop here, it will surely spread to us. Besides.” He patted General Zell on the shoulder, offering a playful smile. “All the training you’ve given me would be for naught if I could not take on a simple god eater.”
General Zell grunted. “You will never have to. I would tear this entire realm apart to keep you safe.”
Zephyr gave a light, delicate laugh. “Of course you would. But another time, perhaps. For now…”
At this, his eyes locked directly on mine. “I believe my guide is here.”
Busted.
I tried to act as though I hadn’t been snooping and stepped out. General Zell gave me an incendiary glare, but I returned it with my best smile. “I thought I heard someone talking. Fae talking. I thought I heard…you…”
I trailed off as General Zell stalked up to me.
“General…” Zephyr said in warning, but Zell didn’t back down. I held my chin high as I looked up, up, up, into his disapproving expression, hard as granite.
“You will show the Prince no more than three of the Academy’s most prestigious draws, then you will return to me,” General Zell said. “If you do not—”
“General Zell, please.” Zephyr’s eyes were full of mirth as he gently stepped between us. “Am I a Prince if I cannot give orders? Go, relax. We will be back soon.”
General Zell looked as though he was as likely to relax as he was to actually trust me, but he gave a curt nod regardless.
“Forgive him,” Zephyr said as General Zell stormed off. “He’s been my guardian since birth, and as such tends to be a little overprotective.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” I said.
Zephyr studied me for a moment. I found his gaze, while beautiful, strangely unnerving. It was an unbelievable, otherworldly beauty, yes, but there was no warmth, no humanity. I knew the Fae felt emotion as much as any other Supe, but they could also shutter it better than most.
“I see, that was sarcasm!” Zephyr said at last.
“I would never be sarcastic to you,” I said.
He laughed again. “Excellent! This will be most entertaining. Please, lead the way.”
“Uh…” I wracked my brains. Shockingly, I’d never catered to royalty before. “What would you like to see first? We have Remembrance Hall, Philus Hall, The Hall of Memories—A lot of halls…Oh! There’s an indoor sparring arena—”
“None of that, please,” Zephyr said with a dismissive wave. “Please, show me an oven.”
This was weird. Like, really weird.
Not the ‘showing royalty around’ part, though that was up there on my strange-o-meter. No, Zephyr wasn’t interested in any of the Academy’s grandiose offerings. Instead, he was delighted by the kitchens, enamored by the mailroom, enraptured by the bathrooms (“Indoor plumbing? How marvelous!”). It was as though he’d never seen anything half as incredible. And to an extent, I could understand. Royalty like him probably didn’t get the chance to see what us mere mortals lived with.
“Spectacular!” Zephyr said. He stood at one of the broad floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the honking traffic of Columbus avenue. “Humans are simply ingenious in the ways they’ve gotten around using magic.”
“Yep, it’s really something,” I said. “You should see it during rush hour.”
Zephyr continued to stare, and I took the respite to consider how best to approach him with our request. I couldn’t outright ask for the Fae’s help. Like Lucien had said, it was likely Zephyr didn’t have complete authority over all the Fae and never would, even when he became King. But I still had to ask.
“So…” I crossed my arms as Zephyr’s eyes followed a sky-blue Volkswagen. “Did you really mean it when you said you’d help us with Kasia Armani?”
“General Zell will deal with her, I’m sure.”
I frowned. “How sure? Kasia’s not someone you just ‘deal with’.”
“Perhaps not for mortals. But we Fae have magic that would trump even that of a Zukami.” He pulled away from the window, still beaming. “Simply marvelous!”
“Zephyr,” I said, trying to bring him back to topic. “Kasia—”
“You know what I’ve always wanted to see? The Statue of Liberty!”
A sightseeing Fae. Why not?
“Sure, whatever. Look, Kasia could attack the Academy any day. It’d be great if you could bring a few more soldiers to protect the students—”
“It’s strange, isn’t it? Though our Courts are in Central Park, I’ve never been let out long enough to see our domain. I wish to tour them as well.”
“Zephyr, can you just listen for one second—”
“Is it true you have an entire building dedicated to human art—”
This time, the Dark Prince had nothing to do with my sudden rush of anger as I grabbed Zephyr’s arm and whipped him around.
“I’ve watched good people die trying to stop her!” I yelled. “I—”
I choked back a sob as Headmaster Phillipe’s face, covered in blood and breathing his last, flashed through my mind. “I’ve tried my hardest to stop her, but it’s not enough. We need your help. I need to know you’ll help!”
Screw subtlety. I wasn’t going to play games with a Fae, even a prince. Remembering Phillipe had opened a raw wound in my chest. He was just one of many who’d given all to fight against Kasia’s vendetta. The pain of those memories hurt more than I’d like. More than I wanted...
…And now that pain was going away. The agonizing thoughts were being pushed out by bright, happy ones, my anguish bleeding away along with them. What did I have to be sad about? I was fine. Everything was fine.
I looked up to find Zephyr’s fingers pressing lightly on my temple. He gave me a glittering smile. “Feel better?”
The Dark Prince growled, and I growled along with him.
“Paws off!” I shouted, smacking Zephyr’s hand away. “What do you—What did you do to me?”
The prince didn’t look the least bit sorry. His eyes dropped to my right arm, where part of my long sleeves had been pushed back. The black tendrils of the Dark Prince’s magic were stark against my pale skin. “My, my, that looks bad,” Zephyr whispered.
“Hey!” I snapped my fingers in front of his face, trying to draw his attention away from the marks. “What the heck were you doing to me?”
Zephyr had the audacity to appear confused. “You seemed in pain. I didn’t want you to feel that way, and so I used a little magic...”
“You can’t…dragon spit. You can’t manipulate someone’s emotions like that!”
Now he was really confused. “Why ever not?”
“Because it’s not real! What you’re making me feel isn’t real. I want to feel that, because it’s what actually happened.”
“I see,” Zephyr murmured.
“No, you don’t,” I said. “You think you do, but you don’t. I don’t want those emotions gone because I need to remember why I keep fighting. Just like you,” I jabbed him in the chest, “need to figure out if you’re here on a glorified field trip, or to actually help.”
Then, before he could get royally pissed, I turned and stormed off.