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It’s all so much of a blur now. My fingers gravitate to the thin scars along my jaw. The temptation to run away is strong. I could find somewhere no one knows about my shame.
“Tinger, look,” I murmur, tapping the map and showing him. “What’s the bet Irish Jade will take us to Ireland?”
He sniffs the parchment, then hops away, unimpressed.
“You’re right,” I reply, as if he’s spoken to me. “If this stone sits here unused, chances are that faraway place is uninhabitable.”
Feeling nostalgic, I rub my thumb along the worn green groove, for a moment wishing it was a djinn bottle and I could wish to turn back time. Invisible, tingling ants scamper up my hand as the magic awakens, looking for a connection it won’t find in me.
Something thuds downstairs.
Shit.Someone’s awake. I drop the stone into my bag, hoist Tinger by his broken antler, and toss him through the open window. He flutters off into the yard. I’m out next, using the rope to climb to the roof where I lie flat against the tiles, willing my pulse to slow.
No more thuds, but that doesn’t mean I’m safe from capture. I’ve been back in Elphyne for five years, but everyone still looks at me like the enemy.
In my peripheral vision, Tinger hops into the shadow of a neighboring oak tree. At least he’s safe. Me? I’ll be fine.
Oh fuck, did I close the window?
I scamper along the rooftop to an overreaching oak bough, then swing to the ground at the front of the house and hightail it across campus. I don’t slow until two blue-robed Mages further down the path spot me, then I pretend I’m on my mid-morning stroll. “Fake it until you make it,” my mother always told me. The Mages cross to the other side of the path, avoiding me like I’m a bad smell.
It’s business as usual, then. My confidence returns as I head home. A triumphant grin threatens to stretch my lips. Stepping back onto the path, I open my satchel to check my loot, so I’m not paying attention when I collide with a hard, leather-clad chest.
Glass breaks. I quickly drop the flap, praying a manabee won’t buzz out and give me away.
Avoid scrutiny. Apologize and move on. Quick.
My fist rubs a circle over my heart in the fae hand sign for an apology.
A handsome blond Guardian smiles at me as though I’ve made his day. His leather battle gear is squeaky clean. The blue, glowing teardrop beneath his left eye sparkles. His skin is deeply tanned, and he has pointed ears—clean, no furry tips like my father and brother. Must be an elf, then. A vampire would sweat buckets walking around this time of day.
“Willow, right?” His smile turns into a broad grin.
Behind him, two more Guardians approach. One is a crow shifter with black feathered wings, and the other is a wolf shifter. I’ve seen them around campus. They have the ambition to rise to the elite ranks of the Cadre of Twelve alongside my father and brother. They think fucking me will get them there. My family will rip out their throats first.
There’s no point engaging in conversation. I give a tight-lipped smile and continue walking, tensing as I catch their mumbled words behind me.
“See?” one of them says. “I told you she’s not worth the effort. As frigid as the dead she brought to life.”
I stop but don’t look back.
“That was her? But she’s the Prime’s daughter.”
The reply is in a hushed tone. “They say the Wellunmadeher as punishment.”
“I heard the Six were obsessed with her.”
“I heard she’s in cahoots with the evil traitors.”
“Nah, they’re dead. Or... I don’t know. Maybe they ran away.”
“Yeah,” one laughs cruelly. “She was too much of a freak for the boogeymen.”
They know I hear better than most. They want me to witness their disdain. I should be used to the gossip by now.
Hugging the satchel to my chest, I walk away until my house comes into view. It’s creepy, needing renovations, and belonged to the six Sluagh who were obsessed with me as a child. It’s because of them I was kidnapped, held hostage by humanity, and trained as a weapon. It’s their fault there was a war in the first place. But as those Guardians said, the Six are gone now.
When I returned, this was the only vacant house on campus for my parents to move into.
