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The carousel is pulled by centaurs and pegasi, the ponds churn with selkies and water sprites, and the zoo is filled with every Fae creature imaginable.
We’re just finishing with Cherry Hill and passing over the Bow Bridge when Valerian messages. The scavenger hunt activated Mack’s competitive streak, and she’s already way ahead with Richard, Jace, and Layla, searching for the elusive bogle, a warty goblin that lives deep in the Ramble.
Facing out toward the still waters, I rest my arms over the stone balustrade. My lips curl at the edges as I read his text.
I keep replaying this morning.
I text back, you keep replaying me kicking your Fae ass?
God, you’re adorable when you try to act tough.
This mofo. Try? I type. You must be forgetting when I took you to the mat this morning.
Believe me, that image of you straddling my waist is indelibly engraved in my mind. Even if I let you take me down.
You’re an asshole.
But you adore this asshole. A pause. Those annoying three dots flash and then . . . Still coming tonight?
I almost respond with something jerkish about checking my schedule before reining in my inner shrew. Even in text, I can feel the vulnerability behind those three words.
Every year before the Yule holiday, Valerian, Eclipsa, and Asher attend a fancy private dinner at a resort lodge owned by Valerian’s family. It’s tradition, one that Eclipsa informed me his mother started. She would have the chefs cook dishes she’d found in the human world that she loved, even though the Winter King would have lost his crap.
At least, before she betrayed Valerian and disappeared.
Last week, Valerian officially invited me.
It’s funny how one invitation—formally engraved with a cute little blue ribbon—could make my heart feel like it was leaping right out of my chest. After a little negotiating, he even agreed I could bring Mack.
Ruby’s invite wasn’t quite as easy to conjure; in the end, I promised to wear a dress of Valerian’s choosing.
Shimmer save me, I can only imagine what his devious mind is going to choose.
Yes, I send. Wouldn’t miss it.
I slip my phone into my jean short’s pocket, turn to jog down the bridge to join the others, and walk straight into a wall of the Six.
The new Six. Inara, Kimber, Lyra, Bane, Rhaegar, and poor Basil, who stands off from the crowd, unable to meet my eye.
Nope. I whip around, but Reina, blocks my path. Her twin boy toys stand guard just behind her. Their beefy arms are crossed and faces scowling, just in case Reina’s one fingered salute didn’t make their intentions clear.
Well, frick.
Hands balled at my sides, I force my chin high as I face off against Inara, the obvious leader. She’s super extra today in a pressed baby blue pantsuit and cream-colored Louboutins.
“Did you forget?” I taunt. “You’re not on the screw-with-Summer approved list.”
Her faux look of disappointment stirs something close to alarm inside my gut. “Aren’t I?” She makes a point of looking around. “Do you see anyone who’s going to stop me?”
Solid point. They snicker as I glance around, praying to spot a professor or another student. Not that either would actually protect me from Inara.
“Don’t bother, idiot,” Inara purrs, flicking a speck of something from her lapel. “There’s no one here but us and you.”
Adrenaline floods my veins. Maybe Hellebore lifted his protection. Maybe he got bored of our little game and decided loosing Inara’s inner serial killer on me would liven things up. Maybe I should stop counting on one psychopath to restrain the other and deal with this myself.
Gathering every ounce of courage I possess, I fake running right and dart left, toward Reina and the twins. They’re human, so the playing field is leveled a bit.
You can take three on one, Summer. Piece of cake.
