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I sigh, letting my head fall back against the chair. “I do, believe me, and . . . it won’t happen again.”
“We both know that’s a lie. Predators instinctively attack those they perceive to be weak or . . . different, and you are both. It will happen again, and again, until your luck runs out and you die.”
“I’m willing to take that risk.”
Eyes narrowed, she taps the end of a long fingernail against her bottom lip as she studies me. “Professor Balefire said you acted cleverly by entering the water. He also said when they found you, the scent of a portal lingered in the air. Care to explain how the two go together?”
“If I said a certain prince abducted me against my will, would he be punished?”
Her lips curl at the corners. “Can you prove this abduction?”
Dammit. She knows I can’t. On the academy side, I was only gone for a few seconds at most. Eclipsa must have seen the abduction happen and leapt in after us.
Tugging at my ponytail, I slide from the chair and stand. “I deserve to be here and I’ll prove that, if you let me.”
“Things are different this year.” I could swear her mouth softens around the corners. “The Winter Prince is no longer the ruling Evermore student.”
“I’m aware.” I rub my arms as I remember the way it felt having Hellebore’s power slide over my flesh. “Why would the academy let someone like the Spring Court Prince in? Especially when you’re being investigated by the CMH? You know how shadows are treated at Whitehall, right?”
She scowls, covering up the flicker of surprise in her eyes. Then she turns to stare out the window once. “You will never begin to comprehend Faerie politics. The Spring Court Queen, Prince Hellebore’s aunt, doesn’t ask for permission from anyone.”
The pit that’s been forming in my belly since I was attacked this morning feels like it weighs a hundred pounds as I say, “So does this mean I’m . . . expelled?”
Silence. I watch her delicate wings as they move, the tips gently stretching and curling inward. Up close, beneath the stained-glass light, the velvety material is shimmery and beautiful.
Her wings aren’t as vibrant or as lively as a pixie’s wings, but something about their softness, the graceful way they dance in the air, makes them entrancing to watch.
Finally, she tucks her wings in tight and squares to face me. “Expelling you would be a mercy, but not one I am able to make. If Queen Titania has any blessings left to give, you’ll fail the first gauntlet and never step foot in this academy again.”
The tension bleeds from my shoulders as those two wonderful words sink in. Not expelled.
Thank the Shimmer!
Valerian must have pulled some strings like he promised. Oh, boy. I’m going to have to find a way to pay him back, and I know exactly how he’ll expect payment.
I wink at the headmistress, dizzy with relief. “I’m going to pass the first gauntlet, you’ll see.”
She wrinkles her nose as if she can’t quite figure out why I’m not more scared. I guess I should be, but screw that. “Yes, I suppose we will see. Rather soon.”
A flick of her hand is my dismissal.
As I stand, a question comes to mind. “What will happen to the griffin?”
She arches an eyebrow. “The creature who tried to kill you? Why, it will return to its cage. Every beast in the menagerie wears a tag that’s spelled to draw them back, if they ever should escape.”
The thought of that majestic creature being forced back into a cage makes me sick, and I can’t help thinking how our tragic stories are similar. Both of us pulled inexorably toward the place that will ultimately be our ruin.
Only the academy is worse than any cage. At least, in the menagerie, no one tortures the creatures.
As I leave, my focus drifts over her desk again and snags on a file. Evelyn Cantrell.
I quickly scan the other files next to it—all mortal female students, by the names and same red color coding.
My curiosity flares to life. Why are those files together? Have there been more students who turned?
But Valerian said preventing mortal females from bearing Fae children was simple.
If that’s true, why didn’t the Fae who slept with Evelyn make sure she was taking precautions? Or maybe it’s entertainment? It’s not enough to seduce mortal shadows just to humiliate them, now someone is turning them into darklings for fun? idiot should be terrified. Instead, Hellebore laughs like this is all a game. “The Winter Court might be formidable now, but I predict a time in the near future when that will change.”
