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“It’s okay.” I rub the last tear away with the heel of my hand and glance at the crowd in the distance. As my gaze falls on first Inara, then Reina, and finally my tormentor, I feel a potent rage spark inside my chest.
They’re to blame. Not Mack. Not the poor drowned girl. Them.
We walk toward the crowd, the bubble of warm magic the Summer Evermore gave me melting the snow at my bare feet. They’re grouped into two sides: Seelie and Unseelie.
A shrill voice I immediately recognize as Inara’s calls out, “How did you like the selkies? Guess they thought you were too ugly to eat.”
A thought comes to mind that I can’t shake. She’s responsible. She somehow made sure that one selkie wasn’t drugged.
If not for the selkie, I would have had time to get the girl to the surface before she died.
If I were staying, I’d recognize the uncontrollable rage and tamp it down. Even I’m not stupid enough to make powerful enemies when I don’t have an escape plan.
But I’m not staying, and I don’t care if they all want to murder me.
I’ll be long gone soon, out of their reach.
Fists balled at my side, I throw off my blanket and march the rest of the way toward them before Mack or the Summer Evermore can stop me.
15
“Hey a-holes!” I yell at the Unseelie court gathered to the right.
The mean girl who locked me in the cage, Reina, is the first to acknowledge my words, followed by a gorgeous male Fae who, with his spiky snow-white hair, deep lavender eyes, and sneer, has to be related to Inara.
Speaking of, Inara gives an incredulous gasp, her murderous gaze sliding to me.
I match her scowl with one of my own. What can she do anyway? What can any of them do? I’m about to get shipped off to somewhere far from her reach.
“I guess in your world, killing someone innocent is fine,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “But where I come from, that makes you cowards.”
Mack has caught up to me and gives a hard yank on my arm, nearly popping it out of socket.
“What are you doing?” she whisper-yells, her voice shaky.
“Go,” I order, “unless you want to be associated with this train wreck.”
Before Mack can respond, I prowl over to the trio. Anger seeps from my every pore. “Did you really think you could lock me in that cage and not face consequences?”
Reina shrugs. “Yeah, actually, I did. You weren’t supposed to make it to the surface.”
The way she talks of my death so casually fills me with uncontrollable rage. Despite the cold, prickly heat flashes over my cheeks and chest. “Like the other girl?”
The two mortal boys that helped Reina in the cage stroll over. One of the boys whispers something to Reina, and then they all burst out laughing. But there’s no mirth in Reina’s eyes as they lock on me.
Her sprite, a dark-haired female with a dour face, hisses at me. My sprite, who I didn’t notice until now flying above me, hisses back. Her tiny pinprick teeth bare in a snarl as she hurls a string of what I assume are insults in another language at the dark-haired sprite.
She’s definitely growing on me.
“Too bad you didn’t take the hint and die too,” Reina purrs. “She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but you . . . you I definitely meant to drown. Your kind don’t belong here. You’re too weak, too ugly, too poor. Just like the dead girl. I say good riddance.”
Something inside me snaps.
Before I can think about what I’m doing, I swing my fist at her smug face, every ounce of my indignation concentrated in my right hook.
Obviously not expecting me to hit her, she doesn’t even try to defend herself as my knuckles catch her square on her perfect nose with a loud, satisfying crack. In shock, she crumples to her knees, her eyes wide and hand covering her nose.
Blood dribbles between her fingers.
