Chapter 1

1

Since I didn’t have a home to return to for the holidays, I made do with a little fake Christmas tree that was supposed to have blinking colored lights. Most of the lights stayed on all the time, while a few didn’t turn on at all. The branches of the little tree were bent nearly shapeless, and no matter how much fae magic I threw at the thing, the plastic needles continuously dropped anyway. It might as well have been a real tree.

I didn’t mind much. It was the tiny bit of Christmas cheer the school allowed in my dorm cubby. Anything else wouldn’t fit and I didn’t want to risk the ire of the staff as well as a second lecture on fire hazards.

Was it wrong to say the tree and I matched on some level?

The holidays had come and gone with little fanfare, although most of the students at the Fae Academy for Halflings went home to visit with their parents and families. As for me, I spent the three-week break stuck at school, holed up in my bunk cubby or in the library poring over every book I could get my hands on to prepare for the coming semester.

Tavi Alderidge, top of her class, with a memory like a sieve.

I needed whatever help I could get.

Luckily, the Academy didn’t force their students to go home for school breaks. Those who wanted to leave were free to. I admit, it was so nice not hearing my bunkmate’s bullshit. Persephone Glaski was blonde, perfect, and a pain in my butt even though we both worked hard to keep our place at the school thanks to their cutthroat culling system.

You’d think a shared goal would have made us friends. Nope, she’d hated me on first sight.

She never let me forget: she was better than me, full stop, no further explanation required. It also didn’t seem to matter how I’d made it through our first term with higher marks than hers. She had a bigger head than most of the full-blooded Fae I’d met in my life and my good grades were icing on her cake of hatred.

The clock on the wall across from my bunk struck five, and my stomach rumbled right on time.

Throwing a coat over my shoulders, I walked out of the dorm toward the cafeteria, listening to the echo of my footsteps in the near-empty hallway, red hair tied back in a bouncing braid. I purposely turned to take the main hall, lined with golden-framed mirrors, stopping to stare at myself—and not because I had a head as big as Persephone’s.

For the entire first semester, I hadn’t been able to look into a mirror at all without suffering the consequences. My curse wouldn’t allow it.

Now I paused on purpose in front of a mirror to look at my reflection for the hell of it, taking in long rich auburn hair and the escaped curls close to my breasts. Green eyes slightly upturned. Full pouty mouth and high cheekbones, strong yet feminine features with a hint of badass to back them up. Or so I liked to think.

The expression I wore today was one of ease instead of worry. I’d managed to put on a little bit of weight to make up for what I’d lost—another aspect of the potion I took to suppress my shifter side: I couldn’t eat garlic, of which the school chef was a huge fan—and it helped round out my figure to keep me from looking like I knocked on death’s door.

With the school on break, I didn’t need to wear makeup or make sure I kept my school uniform neat and clean. I slouched around in whatever I wanted, which today included comfortable gray sweatpants and a tank top, with my favorite ratty pair of Converse sneakers.

Magic kept the castle insulated against the cold Massachusetts winter.

It didn’t take long to get to the cafeteria, recessed away from the main hallways of the castle and enchanted to replicate a fairy tea garden. Flowers and ferns grew year-round, and there were twinkling white lights intermingled among the low-hanging garlands of greenery and flowers dripping down from the ceiling. The tables were long and made of solid oak, the seats comfortable. Like a forest glen except smack dab in the middle of a castle repurposed as a school.

The rest was like any normal cafeteria in any high school across America. Except no one here was normal, and our ceiling had moss growing on it.

Today the tables held a scattered assortment of students who had also chosen not to go home for the holidays. I made my way toward the lone cafeteria worker, a Fae woman with pointed ears and long green hair twisted into a complicated knot on the top of her head. She had an apron looped around her tiny waist and delicate fingers some might call spindly and others artistic.

“Hi there, Sparrow,” I called out to her automatically. “How are you doing today? Do you have my meal?”

Sparrow said little but her expressions spoke volumes, and her eye roll was no exception. She disappeared for a moment before returning with a special plastic-wrapped preparation just for me. Sans garlic.

I tried to thank her because I knew what special allowances had to be made for me in this case. She’d already moved on, her attention focused on stirring a pot of something that matched her hair in color. I got a whiff of the concoction and it smelled like spring. It smelled healthy. Yet underneath it all was the strong, overpowering stench of garlic.

The potion I used to keep my wolf-shifter half a secret had many rules going along with its use. Not as many as the first potion I’d gotten—from a witch with definite hoarder tendencies—but some stipulations remained true for both of them. I still couldn’t go out in direct moonlight, touch quartz crystal, or eat garlic. The last one was unfortunate because the school chef was insanely fond of using garlic in everything he made. Everything.

I had found that out the hard way and had my spell broken immediately. In the middle of a busy breakfast. In front of all my peers who had no idea what lengths I’d gone to in order to hide who I really was.

At least I’d managed to work out a deal with the kitchen regarding my “food allergy” but the chef clearly didn’t believe me because my specially prepared meals seriously sucked. I think he did it on purpose because I refused to eat his regular food.

But at least my meals didn’t make my glamour fail. I’d had enough broken spells from accidental garlic ingestion to last me a lifetime, thank you very much.

Nurse Julie, one of the only people here at the Academy who knew my secrets, had taught me how to make my own potion so I wouldn’t be beholden to any more questionable-at-best witches to provide for me. She was a miracle worker.

Speaking of…

Nurse Julie rounded a corner with a flick of wings, her blue skin picking up a slightly golden hue from the overhead lights nestled among the greenery. Her eyes caught mine and she changed direction to head toward my empty table.

“Hey there, Tavi,” she called out when she got close. “How are you doing today?”

We waved identical plastic-wrapped food at each other. Yup, we were the same on the inside.

“I’m well enough. What are you up to?” I asked her.

She pursed her lips, staring down at the meal she held in her hand. “Just picking up dinner to take back to the office. How about you? Do you have everything you need?”

Seriously, Nurse Julie was the sweetest. I’d gotten super lucky to count her among my friends. “I think I’m okay.” I thought back to the box of potions stored under the pillow in my bunk. So far I’d managed to keep from wasting them when I messed up, and was only taking one every thirteen days on the dot. “But I appreciate your checking up on me,” I finished.

“Okay, well, if you need me, you know where I am.” Wings fluttering behind her, Nurse Julie put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing before moving past me out of the cafeteria.

“I appreciate it.”

I settled in my seat and carefully unwrapped my meal, staring at the sandwich. Wheat bread with dried-out crust, the meat inside looking like some kind of byproduct rather than anything edible. Bologna, maybe?

I couldn’t say I was surprised.

“You shouldn’t have to eat alone. It sucks. Good thing I came out when I did.”

Blinking up in surprise, I watched Nora slide onto the bench opposite me. She pressed her glasses higher on her nose and stared at me through narrowed eyes.

“Thanks,” I told her. “It’s good to see you.”

I’d met fellow Halfling Academy student Nora Kwan a few times before winter break, but our frequent trips to the library over the holidays quickly marked her as a new friend. I’d take as many of those as I could get.

Nora was older than me by a few months, quiet, with black hair cut just beneath her chin, narrow eyes, and a distinctive bookworm vibe.

An orphan, she’d entered the first-year class with me as half fae, half human. We shared the same dorm room in the castle but never had a chance to bond much thanks to our very loud, very obnoxious bedmates. AKA Persephone and her group of identical mean girls.

“Is that what you’re eating?” Nora pointed her fork toward my sandwich.

I groaned, nodding, wishing I could take a bite of her pasta with peas and prosciutto. “Apparently so. Chef doesn’t like me much. He makes sure I pay for requesting special dishes.”

“Damn those food allergies. They’re no joke but people hate it when they have to go out of their way. Now it looks like you really are paying the price,” she said softly. Then shook her head and twirled the noodles around her fork. “But I guess it beats swelling up like a balloon.”

“Yeah, it’s better than dealing with the garlic.” I shuddered.

“You’re telling me. I think I just found an entire chunk. Not even chopped. A whole clove.”

Her pasta did look suspect but I wasn’t about to say anything to her. “I took down my Christmas tree today,” I said instead, grabbing hold of my sandwich and taking a bite.

Drier than the desert.

“That’s good,” she replied. She twirled her fork again and this time knocked several pieces of garlic aside. “You had it up long enough. Christmas was last week.”

I chuckled. Nora definitely had opinions and no shame in sharing them. Plus I had the distinct feeling she hated Christmas as much as I did, although I didn’t blame her. I hadn’t looked forward to the holiday this year either. It was my first I’d spent alone since running away from home. Of course my mind drifted toward my uncle William, who’d been my caretaker for the last twelve years of my life, and what he was doing without me there.

Those thoughts led to nothing but depression.

Uncle Will no doubt hated my guts now. I’d run away from the home he provided, stolen his money, and definitely rebuked the marriage he’d planned for me. If he found me…

No, those were banned thoughts too.

“You’re probably right,” I told Nora. “Besides, it was getting old trying to clean up those loose needles on my bed all the time. Speaking of beds, how is your insomnia?”

Her gaze dropped. I’d noticed the dark circles under her eyes, marring her porcelain skin. “I don’t know. It seems like the insomnia is getting worse and worse. It’s probably the stress of the culling. I barely made it through.” Her voice took on a woeful tone.

“You did make it through, though, and that’s what matters.” I reached across the table to place my hand on top of hers.

“I know. Maybe my body got used to staying up all night to study and now it doesn’t want to sleep anymore.” Nora shrugged delicate shoulders. Short and slender, she reminded me of my best friend Melia. They both had slight builds, although in Melia’s case she had muscle and an attitude of no hesitation to use it when necessary. Nora looked like she would be a better fit behind a desk in a library. Which was where I’d found her the first time.

Melia Haversham had been assigned as my fourth-year mentor during my first semester, a relationship that quickly shifted to the most important friendship I’d ever had. I missed her terribly.

She’ll be back soon.

I smiled at Nora. “Have you thought about trying a spell on yourself? Something to help you relax enough to actually get some sleep?”

Nora shook her head and said with a sigh, “No, I don’t trust myself to perform any kind of high-level magic. I might accidentally kill myself. My mentor advised against it as well.”

“You make a good point there. Maybe you should try to talk to Nurse Julie about a solution. She might have some options for you.”

“I already have. We’ve tried herbal supplements, essential oils, meditation, you name it. Don’t worry about me, Tavi. I’ll make it through and we will rock this next semester. Together.”

“You bet.” I held my hand up for a high five, cringing before she could slap it home. “You have a little bit of garlic there.”

She grimaced and wiped her hand on her napkin. “Sorry. It’s everywhere.”

“You enjoy while I try to force this sandwich down.” I took another large bite, the bread dry and crumbling in my hands.

Still better than garlic, I tried to tell myself. Or salads and fruit every day. I’d eaten like a cow to survive my first semester, until Julie helped me get things straight. It was really nice to have someone to share my secret with. Someone like me—a half shifter trying to hide from a difficult situation—in my corner.

The Fae hated shifters with a fiery passion. Yet here we were, seeking refuge among them.

My phone dinged in my pocket and I dug for it as Nora was telling me about a book she’d been reading. As I stared down at the screen, a familiar name popped up and filled my heart with immediate joy. And there, his message for me: I’m back!!

It was Mike. Better known as Michael Thornwood, the Crown Prince of Faerie and my very own knight in shining armor.

I was falling for him fast. Even though I knew I shouldn’t be because it was a disaster waiting to happen.