“Get your toned ass over here,” I order.
Grimacing, she slides into my open arms. After the longest group hug ever, Mack and Eclipsa disentangle from my grip.
Eclipsa jerks her head to the room she exited. “I did a few little renovations to the bedrooms. Hope you don’t mind.”
“She claimed the biggest room after yours, but mine is still beyond perfect.”
“Wait.” I shift my backpack onto my left shoulder. “You are both staying with me? Here?”
“Yep.” Mack hooks my arm in hers. “Eclipsa ironed out the details with the Head of Housing. She can be very persuasive.”
I grin. Sometimes I forget just how persuasive.
“I just reminded them that you are still mortal and therefore frail, followed by how very screwed they would be if something befell not only the Summer Court Princess, but the fiancé of the Spring Court Heir.”
They must have arrived early this morning because both their rooms are fully decorated. Accordingly, Mack’s is an explosion of teal and coral, pulled together by black accents and a gorgeous sunrise orange leather couch. Eclipsa’s room is black and silver, the ceiling painted with magical lacquer to look exactly like the night sky.
When they drag me to my room, emotion tugs behind my eyes, and I have to chew my lip to keep from crying.
Easily the size of the living room below, the space is all soft creamy walls with accents of emerald and gold. A light honeysuckle breeze drifts in from the ajar balcony door. On the other side is the forest.
But it’s the gold-framed photos that I immediately cherish the most. Pictures of my aunts and siblings line the distressed cream-white dresser and matching nightstands.
Plucking a stuffed white owl from atop two fat gold pillows, I fall into one of the studio chairs near a coffee table and sigh. “I don’t deserve you guys.”
Mack picks up a pillow embroidered with the initials SS + ILB and squeezes it against her chest. “We’re pretty awesome.”
Yells draw my attention to the top of the stairs outside my door. My mother storms down the hallway, her signature too-sweet perfume claiming the rose and honeysuckle scented air. It’s the only part of her that isn’t understated.
“What is this garbage?” she demands. Her forehead, made nearly immobile by her tight bun, grooves slightly as she examines a can. “The entire pantry is full of this . . . this . . . poison.”
My chest swells, and I barely manage to fight off a grin. SpaghettiOs.
Only one person knows how much I love the canned pasta, aka the poor man’s heaven. Valerian.
“Trash it,” she calls over her shoulder to the overwhelmed assistant, who has run out of notebook space and looks ready to pass out.
“No.” When it comes to wasting gourmet food, that’s where I draw the line. “They’re for . . . Ruby.”
I can feel Ruby suddenly come to life atop my backpack. “A present?”
My mother looks over Ruby, her disdain oozing from every feature, and then she slowly turns that iron gaze to me. “I do hope that you will remember, daughter, the weight you carry on your shoulders. Everything you do, from the company you keep to the food you consume, reflects on your court.”
“I do.” That weight is practically crippling.
Her perfume grows stronger as she nears. She leans down, brushing her lips over my cheek, and says, “I will miss you.”
I’m not sure who she’s trying to convince. Me or her. She doesn’t wait for a reply. When the muffled sound of the front door can be heard clicking shut, I exhale, sinking into myself.
Funny how I always imagined reuniting with my mother would somehow fix everything wrong in my life. But I’m learning my mother doesn’t fix things.
She obliterates them and then molds the broken fragments into something she considers more acceptable. But what is that?
What does she want from me? If only I knew, I could try to be that person.
Pulling my phone from my backpack, I drift to the balcony, absentmindedly checking for any new texts from Zinnia. I know I should be thankful for everything my mother has done. She helped negotiate my contract with Hellebore, she opened her home to me, and she’s bought me everything most girls could ever want.
Except what I want can’t be bought. To feel at home somewhere. To feel accepted, maybe even loved.
God, I miss Zinnia. Her warm hugs and kind voice. Her gift for always knowing the right words to fix a broken heart. And her tea. No one makes tea like that woman.
I stare at my last message to Zinnia before shutting off my phone. Maybe this is what I need. To let go of my mortal family so I can embrace my Fae heritage. To become who I need to be instead of who I want to be.
I tell myself it’s my choice so I don’t have to face the horrible truth. Just like Valerian and Asher, the people I care about most are drifting away and there’s nothing I can do about it.
8
There are a thousand things I need to do before school starts on Monday. So of course, like productive adults, Mack and I spend the weekend binging Mack’s gift basket of goodies from her dads, painting each others’ nails, and gossiping. In her typical mysterious fashion, Eclipsa buzzes in and out all weekend, but when she’s here, she joins us.
It helps with my nerves, but by Sunday night, I can’t pretend this isn’t happening.
I’m entering the school as an Evermore student.
According to my schedule—and the hour-long meeting I had with Headmistress Lepidonis yesterday—I’m actually a hybrid student. Which is basically a fancy way of saying they don’t know where to put me.
I’m no longer simply mortal, but I’m not Fae either.
Apparently, the entire Fae council spent a weekend trying to decipher the laws to decide where to put me.
In the end, they decided I’m somehow a little bit of both. I deserve to learn with the other Evermore, but since I can handle iron I also get to train as a shadow.
Simply put, I’ll be attending shadow classes in the morning and Evermore classes in the afternoon. Only this time, I won’t be anyone’s bitch.
It’s ironic that my first year here, I would have given anything to not be Valerian’s shadow, and now, I’d give anything for the opposite.
“So,” Mack begins, twirling her bare foot above her. We’re lying in my bed with the balcony doors open, inhaling the honeysuckle and jasmine scented summer breeze. “Any thoughts on the Selection this year?”
A wire of anxiety constricts my breastbone. I’ve been so busy trying to catch up on my Evermore studies that I haven’t given much time to my duties as head student. “Here’s a thought. Make the Evermore parade in front of the shadows, naked, like prize pigs at a county fair.”
“Ooh. I know who I’m pinning my ribbon on.” Mack makes a crude gesture with her hands and hips, rocking the mattress.
“I’m fairly sure there isn’t a ribbon big enough for Dragon Boy.”
A loud rap booms from the door downstairs. Mack and I tumble from my bed in unison and rush down the hall.
“That has to be Richard and Jace!” Mack squeals as she uses her hip to knock me behind her. “They’re going to legit die when they see this place.”