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“Don’t you have any questions?”
“No.”
“Would you like to take a few minutes to ... change?” She casts a severe glance over the trackies I’ve worn.
“No, I’m comfortable in this.”
“You’re a very confident young woman, Theodora,” Tyr says. “I just wonder how much substance there is beneath your bravado.”
I shrug. I’m not engaging with Darwin’s stepmum. “Guess you’ll see.”
“I could assist you, if you asked me to,” she says, folding her hands at her waist and straightening her spine just that fraction further. Power pose. Inviting but authoritative.
Curious, I ask, “How?”
“I can teach you a chant to douse any flame. The most effective way to neutralize a Fire-mage. It’s not a spell anyone would expect someone of your tender years to know. The judges would certainly find for you.”
I’ve been learning those kinds of spells since I was twelve, given how my brothers liked to use me for target practice. Dousing spells are good if you get the drop on the Fire-mage, but they don’t stop a spell that’s already been cast. That’s why I like my StoneSkin spell so much.
But, wanting to see where she’s going with this, I nod and smile. “Thank you, that’s a generous offer.”
“Such a favor would, of course, come at a small price.”
Ah, here’s her play. Bet she asked Callan to instruct me.
“Of course,” I say.
“Put off your handfasting with my stepson a few years. Just until the end of his education. You’re very young to be handfasting in any event. Darwin needs time to sow his royal oats.”
I smother a snort. Darwin’s sown plenty of oats already. And for a bleak moment, I wonder if Tyr or any of the courtiers pushed Jade toward Darwin in the hopes he’d get her pregnant.
Didn’t work out so well for anyone if they did.
“I appreciate your offer,” I say. “But I’ll be fine.”
Tyr’s eyebrows flinch like she’s trying to frown but her muscles don’t work that way. Do fae get Botox? “Don’t be foolish, child. You’re outmatched.”
Loyal’s Veyron didn’t think so.
“Like I said, I appreciate the offer but I’m fine on me own. If you don’t mind, I want to spend a few minutes with my boys.”
I stand to leave the small room where she’s brought me for my “instruction.” I’d call it an office but there’s a harp in one corner and a massive embroidery frame in another, with a partially completed scene of peacocks in the work frame. Music and craft room? I got no idea what to call it, other than posh. Who the fuck owns a harp?
She sweeps up to her feet. Standing, she’s a few inches taller than me. Slender and regal just like I always reckoned all the fae would be. She’d be impressive except for the tentacles wriggling around her shoulders, which are just freaking creepy.
“Theodora, you should reconsider,” Tyr says, her face and voice going dark. “This is an important moment, with many eyes on you. You cannot be seen as weak.”
Something I haven’t been since my magic came in and I realized I didn’t have to cower and take it anymore? Weak. No one’s gonna see me that way today.
“Thank you, I appreciate the importance of this,” I tell her. “And I appreciate your time and instruction.”
I box her in with politeness. She gives me a thin smile and when I curtsey and leave, she doesn’t follow me.
I head straight to the dueling dome. Because, of course, they have one. No fae court is complete without a dueling dome, right?
Charlie and Gabe are waiting for me on the dome’s sands. Shows how few Earth-witches are roaming around the fae courts. With the spells I’ve been studying for DeWinter’s class alone—although I’ve got no idea who is going to administer and grade our Geomancy final now that DeWinter is cooling his heels in the magi supermax—I could do a hella lotta damage to someone with just what’s on the floor.
After the boys hug me, they go back to messing about with a little pair of portable speakers and Charlie’s phone.
