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As soon as we exit, I follow Mack and Evelyn down a mirrored hallway. Soft cream rugs line the white marble floor. I frown at myself in the mirror. My jeans—Mack’s jeans—are stained from overuse, and the sleeves of the gold jacket she gave me to finish off the ensemble hits just below my elbow.
I refused to take any of the clothes from the prince’s manor, but now I regret my stubbornness. I’m meeting Mack’s parents. By now, after hearing all of Mack’s stories, I practically love them, even though I’ve never met them. I want to make a good impression.
“Stop fussing, you look great,” she orders as she drags me to the dark gray door. “Tell her, Evelyn.”
Evelyn gives a feeble nod. This is the least I’ve ever heard her talk.
The moment the bell rings, an excited cry comes from the other side and the door swings open. Two men wrap Mack in an embrace.
Startled by the unannounced hugging, I retreat a step as I study them. Both men are handsome, in their mid-forties, and in good shape. But that’s where the similarities end. The one who practically lifted Mack off her feet has soft green eyes, cropped red hair that’s thinning on top, and thick muscles that scream CrossFit at least twice a day.
The other man is dark skinned and wears a dinner jacket with fashionably distressed jeans. He’s slender and tall, with a shaved head and impeccable eyebrows. I have him pegged as more of an elliptical/hot yoga kind of guy.
As if just remembering me, Mack ducks from the red-haired man’s grasp and shoots me a smile. “Summer Solstice, meet my dads, Nick”—she nods to the red-haired dude—“and Sebastian.”
Dads? Both men are beaming their picket-fence straight teeth at me. Then Nick grabs me in a vise-like hug. “So this is the girl we’ve already heard so much about.”
I lock eyes with Mack, wondering exactly what she told them about me.
“I might have texted them about the Shadow Selection, and the bar incident with the Winter Prince.” She flashes an apologetic smile. “And possibly about winning the cup.”
“Honey,” Sebastian says, waggling his perfect eyebrows at me, “Evermore gossip spreads like wildfire. Just assume we know everything.”
My unease must show because Nick laughs. “Yes, I’ve heard the prince is quite enamored with you. Is he as delicious as they say?”
Sebastian tsks at Nick. “First, of course he is—he’s the Winter Prince. Second, give the girl some space. You’re smothering the poor dear.”
“Darling you know you love my smothering,” Nick amends, but he does, indeed, give me space.
I flash Sebastian a relieved smile. After they both shower Evelyn with hugs and questions about her family, we all trail inside as Nick and Sebastian take turns gabbing. Apparently I’m the talk of their tiny circle. Poor Tainted Zone girl gets into the academy and becomes shadow to the Winter Prince.
“It’s like a fairytale,” Nick proclaims.
“They’re talking about making one spot available each year for underprivileged students from the Tainted Zone,” Sebastian adds. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
I nod dully, praying my true feelings don’t show in my face.
High up in their fantasy world penthouse, with its flying buttresses and terracotta gargoyles, Mack’s dads have no idea what the borderlands are really like. Most kids in the Tainted Zone don’t want a scholarship to the Fae academy; they just want clean water and enough food to last the winter.
We all trickle into the kitchen. A stunning dining table set for twenty spreads across the room, but my eyes go to the people filling it.
“Mack,” I whisper-yell as I tug on the sleeve of her ivory leather jacket. “You didn’t say there’d be other people here.”
I glance over the gilded sideboard buffet to see Ruby taking bites out of blocks of undoubtedly expensive cheese. She loads her arms up with yellow sugared candies the size of her head, ignoring the shocked looks from the guests.
Shimmer help me.
“Oh,” Nick says, flicking his hand at the table. “That’s just one of Sebastian’s casual lunch parties.”
“Lunch?”
Mack twirls a strand of indigo hair around her finger. “They host them on Fae time.”
Right. Most Fae eat lunch around five o’clock, and dinner around eleven. But at the academy lunch is closer to three o’clock.
Evelyn’s eyes brighten. “I love Fae lunch, and I’m starving. Do we have time to join them?”
I almost hug Mack when she shakes her head. “Nope, we’re on a mission. Look hot as frack at the Winter Formal, remember?”
