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Before, I couldn’t muster the courage to look at the tattoo. Now I take in the dark swirls running down my right arm. The moment my gaze slides over the gold and black lines, the Winter Prince’s words ring through my skull.
She’s mine.
A surge of bitterness blasts up my middle. I’ve been branded as his, and even if Rhaegar wins the Nocturus and I stay his shadow, this mark will claim me as property of the Winter Prince until I graduate. ar to God, the entire assembly goes dead quiet. The Lunar Court girl starts to grin, but then thinks better of it and slaps a hand over her mouth. Rhaegar’s green eyes are twice their normal size, his pretty mouth gaping open.
My tormentor’s nostrils flare, a muscle twitching beneath his clenched jaw.
Take that truth bomb and shove it where the sun don’t shine.
With one last icy glance my direction, he turns to Rhaegar. “She’s mine, and that’s final.”
Mine? Rhaegar turns to face the Winter Evermore, his jaw set. “I invoke the right of Nocturus.”
A collective gasp from the crowd stirs the air.
“What’s Nocturus?” I whisper to Cronus, who’s too busy conferring with the sprites to hear me.
A moment later, he turns to the three Fae vying for me. “Nocturus has been invoked. Because Rhaegar was the first to claim this mortal, he keeps her as his shadow until Samhain, when the battle will be held under the full moon.” Keep me? Battle? He turns to the Lunar Court Fae. “Eclipsa Skywell, do you claim Nocturus as well?”
My heartbeat jackhammers against my skull. What’s happening? What’s Nocturus? It sounds horrible, if I’m being honest with myself.
Eclipsa shakes her head, a sly look on her face. “It wouldn’t be fair to either of them if they had to fight me.”
Despite my panic, her bravado makes me smile.
A sudden blizzard begins to rage, giant snowflakes dumping from the sky and pummeling the bubble of warmth that’s been basically keeping me alive. I watch in horror as one snowflake pierces the shell, then another, until a bitter cold forces itself into my wet clothes and penetrates my bones.
Rhaegar rushes me off stage and hands me off to Mack, with a quick warning to go straight to our dorms.
“I’d go to hell right now if it was warm,” I mutter, conjuring a tight smile from Rhaegar. Rhaegar does another warmth spell on me, but the weather is so bad that it has little effect this time.
“What’s Nocturus?” I ask Mack, desperate for someone to tell me what the heck is happening.
Apparently still in shock, Mack takes a few seconds to compose herself enough to answer. “It’s a magical battle held during Samhain.”
By brain is reeling. Do I dare ask what Samhain is?
She must read my confusion because she says, “The holiday celebrating the start of winter? No? Not ringing a bell?”
I shrug hopelessly, and then a thought occurs to me. “How do they decide a winner?”
“No, they . . .” She brushes a hot pink strand of hair behind her ear. “They fight until one of the combatants yields . . . or dies.”
“Do the Fae ever choose the death option?” I ask, glancing over at Rhaegar.
“They do if they want to keep their honor.”
My heart sinks. The last thing I want, the last thing I need, is some Evermore dying for me in a stupid magical battle.
This is decidedly not a good start to my first day.
“What about the other girl?” I ask. “From the Lunar Court?”
A wry smile tugs on Mack’s lips. “You mean the renowned Lunar Court assassin, Eclipsa Skywell?”
I swallow. “Assassin?”
“Yep. I heard every half-moon jewel on her body stands for a kill. You should probably be glad she’s no longer in the running to be your keeper.”
