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Ruby curses beside me. “Stupid re-clothing spell.”
Eclipsa laughs. “Trust me, it’s not that impressive.”
“Lies,” Asher asserts, catching up with us. “Every part of me is impressive.” He grabs the arm of one of the shadow guardians. “Hey, why are we leaving? I was just getting started frying those bastards.”
Valerian snorts, pulling him off the poor fourth year. “Easy there, big guy. And you wouldn't be saying that if you were on the ground with those things.”
I smile, but I can’t help but remember how close the prince was to sacrificing everything for us.
For me.
We’re nearing the edge of the woods when I glance over my shoulder. The shadows have pushed the darklings back, and some have started fleeing into the forest. One darkling, the one who lead the others, has broken off and follows along the forest line, shadowing us.
There’s too many guardians for it to attack, but it follows anyway.
Not it. She. Unlike the other darklings, she walks upright, and she still has her hair and clothes. I can make out the tangled matted mess of red from here. A gold dress shredded and stained beyond recognition hangs in tatters around her emaciated form. Her features are still more human than monster, her ears jagged, deformed spikes.
Diamond earrings flash from them.
She grins at me, and something about the smile and the dress and the earrings pulls it all together.
Evelyn.
Before I can tell the others, she disappears into the cover of the woods.
58
As soon as we come out on the other side of the portal, the entire school cheers. When the headmistress learned of the attack, she cancelled the rest of the Wild Hunt, just to be on the safe side. Everyone has been waiting here to see if we survived.
The crowd quiets as the headmistress approaches us, her skin pale, almost bloodless. Her gaze flits over Valerian, then the others, assessing the damage. I can only imagine she expected more dead humans. Or worse. The death of the Winter King’s heir.
I imagine that wouldn’t be great for her career.
She regains some of her color as she realizes that everyone survived. Then she settles her focus on me. Her eyes narrow, her wings curling tight to her back.
She hesitates before saying, “Thank you, for saving the Winter Prince.”
Ruby scoffs. “That’s all Summer gets? A lame thank you? If Summer hadn’t come back to warn you, that attack would have been a bloodbath. Fae and human body parts everywhere.” Ruby flits over to stare the headmistress in the face. “She didn’t have to come back here. Hell, with the way this school has treated her, she should have let everything burn.”
Eclipsa raises an eyebrow in offense, but doesn’t say a word.
Lepidonis settles her firm gaze on me once more. “We owe Miss Solstice a great debt. What would you like in return?”
I don’t even hesitate. “I want to come back next year.”
Her eyes widen in surprise, and it takes a few moments before she answers. “As you wish. You are now enrolled for year two at Evermore Academy. At your own peril, might I add.”
Mack and the others cheer along with half the school. The Seelie side, at least. But Inara and her friends don’t even bother to hide their boos.
And Valerian . . . Valerian has donned his icy mask once again, his reaction totally unreadable.
Valerian stays true to his word. After all of us are assessed at the healing center to ensure we weren’t bitten or otherwise injured, he leads me silently down to the vaults. Eclipsa follows at a distance. Probably because of the wary, hurt way I still look at Valerian. Even though the prince who humiliated me in front of the entire school wasn’t actually him, he still hurt me.
Deeply.
“What are we doing here?” I ask. We’re in the hall of antiquities where the beautiful gowns float around the room like specters.
“You’ll understand soon.” He stands there for a heartbeat, almost as if unsure where to start. Then his focus moves upward and catches on something.
