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Summer, you badass bitch, show them your lady balls are made of Teflon.
Emboldened by my little speech, I wrangle my wet hair into a messy top-knot and sprint back to campus. The fuzzy dandelion seeds that swarm this place stick to my damp skin. I make it back just in time to meet Mack and the others at the picnic tables near the lake.
She tosses me an apple and a cheese stick. “Hurry, they’re cutting lunch short for a mandatory announcement in the main courtyard.”
A dramatic sigh bursts from my chest. “I was just there this morning and look how great that turned out.”
Richard, Jace, and Layla find something else to stare at. A part of me wonders if just by sitting with me, they’re making themselves targets of Inara’s rage.
Once again, I’m radioactive.
Have you accidentally been exposed to Summer Solstice? I think in my best TV lawyer impression. Symptoms may include random bullying, higher risk of death, and social suicide.
Eff my life.
As if Valerian can feel my spirit sagging, my cell buzzes in my pocket. Thank the Shimmer one of Mack’s birthday gifts was a protective case or it would have been fried during my orange juice bath.
Shoving the cheese stick into my mouth, I quickly scan the short text. Eclipsa’s on her way.
My shoulders sag. The last thing I wanted was for Valerian to feel like he has to protect me.
Before I can reply, another text pops up. Want me to come back and talk to Inara?
Yes, I type, can you murder her please and thank you? I stare at my words before hitting delete and writing, No, I can handle it.
As much as I’d love to watch Valerian talk to Inara, I can’t let him fight my battles. Plus, someone already did that . . .
Little dots flash as he writes. I can’t stop thinking about what you’d taste like covered in syrup.
Heat barrels through my core just as Mack yanks my phone away. “Fae tits! What are you, a pancake?”
Her fingers fly over my phone screen as she sends him a barrage of pancake gifs.
Yes—yes I am, I don’t say. A confused, lonely, radioactive pancake.
She shakes her head, sending her silky, multi-colored hair swaying around her face. “If only you could let him butter your pancake, just once, and get him out of your system.”
Water nearly sprays from my nose as I laugh. “There is no just once with him. He’s like . . . like the Ebola virus. The second I let him inside, he’ll infect every cell, every molecule of my being until he owns me.”
Richard and Jace exchange weird looks, while Layla flashes a sympathetic smile. They have no idea who we’re talking about, thankfully.
Jace finishes off his ham sandwich and shoots me a pitying stare. “Not that I’m one for sage relationship advice, but If you’re comparing romance to an infection, you’re probably doing it wrong.”
Shrugging, I shove my phone deep into my pocket. Obviously Jace has never experienced the delicious agony that is Valerian Sylverfrost.
6
We’ve barely started toward the courtyard with the others before Eclipsa appears across campus, near a collection of bright green sculpted hedges. I know she’s furious by the way she marches, her long legs stabbing the lush lawn, arms pumping. She’s dressed for battle in a dark gray leather ensemble fitted with enough knives to take out a small country.
Alarm prickles my skin. Dressed like that, with that many weapons . . .
What is Valerian not telling me?
If I thought I was notorious before, when the infamous Lunar Fae assassin makes a bee-line straight for me, the other human shadows around us gape before scattering like the dandelions swirling in the wind.
“What happened?” she demands, wrapping me in a quick hug.
“Inara happened.”
