Chapter 2

2

Dead.

It wasn’t like I was a stranger to the concept, having seen my fair share of deceased, decapitated, dismembered bodies. A little weird, right? Especially for someone just past her nineteenth birthday. Still, the whole thing about the Trials being so competitive, so dangerous that students had died in the past…that I could die…

But Counselor Wicks had decided a plan of action for me. I shivered, wrapping my arms around my midsection. I needed help and a shoulder to cry on and I knew just where to find them. Well, the shoulder anyway.

Which belonged to my best friend Melia Haversham. Melia rented an apartment in the town of Eahsea, close enough to the castle to keep an eye on me if I needed some guidance—when did I not need guidance?—or if things went south. I didn’t have the heart to tell her things were already south. Way south. It didn’t look like I’d be making a course correction anytime soon, either.

Melia’s place downtown was a tiny attic room barely big enough for her bed, a dresser, and a kitchen table. The two of us once discussed getting an apartment together and had even gone so far as to make plans and check on a few available places for rent within the town limits but still in close proximity to my school.

Until King Tywin put his foot down.

He’d refused to let me out of my room in the castle, on the grounds that he’d invited me and the other top students from the Halfling Academy to Faerie—early—and he intended for me to live and work in the palace while I attended school. The surprise nearly had my jaw dropping open in front of the monarch.

Of course I had no choice but to agree and quickly rescind my offer to share with Melia.

I hated being stuck in the palace. While I’d been assigned to the kitchen, which I also hated, for my work–study program, at least I liked my boss Raelynn, so it made the job bearable. The king only wanted me close because of the suspected murder charge. Nothing else. After all, he’d outfitted me with the tracking device, one which sent a signal to him whenever I worked magic of any kind. Thank goodness the tracker had been taken off of me a couple of months ago.

Bundled now against the fierce winter weather—Faerie mirrored the parallel mortal realm insofar as seasons—I climbed the stairs, my footsteps echoing on the rickety wood, and knocked once before pushing inside the apartment. Melia knew I was coming and had left the door unlocked for me. Outside, the world had turned dark, billions of diamond stars alight in the night sky. Many more here than I’d ever seen visible in the mortal world.

The entire land of Faerie was alive. The very earth itself here fed into the powers of the Fae, enabling anyone with fairy blood to use magic. It also meant when things went wrong, the land rebelled. For example, the weeks of thunderstorms that ravaged the town when I first arrived here. I still had no concrete evidence linking the phenomenon to my presence but it made a girl wonder. And worry.

Melia whistled her way around the kitchen, oven mitts covering her hands. Despite the freezing temperatures outside, it was hot in the little attic room, the oven putting off massive amounts of heat.

“What took you so long?” she said, her dusky gold skin covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and her wild brown curls bunched in a messy twist at the top of her head. “I mean, how did your meeting go?”

I shrugged out of my jacket, which had become much too heavy in the nearly oppressive heat. “It wasn’t good,” I admitted.

“Oh?” She turned around and gestured with a clear indication for me to spill the beans.

I spent the next fifteen minutes telling Melia about my meeting with the guidance counselor and the bad news about the new tutoring I was required to do to stay in the game.

“I’ve got my first session with the tutor tomorrow.” I thanked Melia when she placed a heaping helping of butternut squash casserole in front of me. “Guess they didn’t want to waste any time whipping me into shape.”

Melia took the seat across from me. If either of us moved too far back, we would run into the kitchen cupboards and the makeshift desk she kept closed against the opposite wall. There wasn’t a lot of walking room but the place had a great feeling. Security, warmth. A real homey vibe.

Those were all things Melia possessed in spades. I wasn’t sure what kind of universal lottery I’d won by getting her as my mentor when I first arrived at the Fae Academy for Halflings, but it was one of the only good things of my life from the last few years.

“What are you going to do? I mean, you are kinda backed into a corner, girl.” She twirled her fork in her fingers before spearing it deep into a cube of steaming squash. “If you don’t do the tutoring then you might not make it through your classes and those stupid Trials. Which, can I just say, I’m so happy I didn’t have to do because I would have obviously ended up six feet under. But your classes! I mean, damn.”

I didn’t agree with her saying she’d end up dead. Melia had been assigned as my tutor my first semester at the earth-side halfling academy, and not only was she beautiful, she had brains too. She always pushed me to do better, to be better. She was the only reason I’d ended up passing with top honors, thanks to her unwavering support and knowledge.

“I’m super nervous!” I said, and groaned when I took a bite of the casserole. So good. “I mean, there are so many hoops to jump through. It’s one thing after another. Not to mention, like you said, people have died during the trials. Students! Why would the kingdom allow such a savage spectacle?”

I shook my head as Melia brought a bite to her mouth. She spoke through the food. “Like you said. It’s a spectacle. The Fae love nothing more than drama and excitement. It helps break up the monotony of our endlessly boring lives.” She rolled her eyes. “There are certainly bad things about living forever, as I’m sure we’ll discover.”

“Well, I’m going to say this, and don’t repeat it, but I wish we were back in the human realm.” I rested my chin on my palm. “At least there we were all on the same page. I am way out of my depth here.”

“What can I do to help?” she asked immediately. “There has to be something I can do.”

“You’ve done enough. You’ve helped me a thousand times over. This is just something I have to get through. I mean, it can’t be this hard every semester. Right?” I think we both knew I was trying to convince myself, and nothing I said would do the trick.

“Well…they don’t call it the Elite Academy for nothing, Tavi. I’m not sure you should hang your hopes on things getting easier. If anything, they’re going to get worse.”

I didn’t like the way her words settled low in my gut. She was absolutely right, I knew, but I hated hearing it come from anyone. As though saying it out loud made it so much more real, those words stayed there, rock-hard, taking up space instead of the delicious dinner Melia had prepared for us. Nevertheless we spent an enjoyable night together talking and laughing and catching each other up on life. Except I didn’t have a life. Not really. Not outside of the constant pressure of school and work.

I made my way out of the small apartment and into the streets a few hours later, drawing in a deep breath of cold air. Wrapping my coat tighter around me, I walked toward the castle, toward the room I’d been forced to keep. It wasn’t home to me. I’m not sure it would ever be home no matter what personal touches I added. It was hard to relax with a monarch breathing down my neck.

There were few Fae on the streets this time of year, and especially at night. Mostly it was those who were adept at using magic to manipulate the air temperature around them to keep warm. I’d seen faeries wearing scraps of fabric like we were in the height of summer. I walked past them, keeping my head down to avoid unnecessary conversation or eye contact.

Would I ever get used to living here? Instead of expending energy on a spell, I wore old-fashioned faux fur-lined boots and a thick coat. I would need all of the energy I could hoard for tutoring tomorrow.

Footsteps sounded in front of me as I approached the castle courtyard. The three stories of impressive stone turrets grew taller the closer I came. I didn’t glance up at the tinkle of laughter other than to note the couple keeping close to each other, with their breaths mingling in a white mist in front of them.

I did, however, jerk when I recognized the man’s voice. I also recognized the man attached to the voice, the same one with his arm around a pretty girl.

The girl I didn’t know, but the sight of her walking so cozy next to Mike had me seeing red. Yet there he was, in all his majestic glory. A full-blood High Fae, he embodied the description perfectly, everything about him magical. Golden hair hung down past his pointed ears. Green eyes the color of spring grass narrowed when he laughed again at something witty the girl said.

It took him much longer to realize it was me walking toward him, and although I got a flash of pleasure from seeing the shock in Crown Prince Michael Thornwood’s eyes, it was nothing compared to the searing jealousy I felt at seeing him with another girl.

“Tavi,” he said quickly. His smile had disappeared when he noticed me and was slow to return. “What are you doing out so late?”

I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t find the frickin’ words to say to him after so many months of distance. So of course when I did, they came out in a ridiculous mishmash.

“I, ah…” I trailed off, biting my lip. Pointed over my shoulder like he would follow my tracks in the snow. “Melia. I had dinner with Melia. Squash casserole,” I added inanely.

He shot me a wide smile. “That sounds like a fun night.”

“Yeah,” I said. And I wanted to smack myself but my heart was racing. Inside, I felt like someone had squeezed me until I cracked. A smashed bag of potato chips with only crumbs left. Of course Mike was entitled to be with other girls. He and I weren’t an item. I’d made my stance on dating him clear because I knew it was a bad idea, and yet—

I wanted to strangle him. Then her. Maybe both of them at the same time. And I could do it, too. I had shifter strength neither of them knew about.

“Hey, this is—” He started to introduce the very pretty Fae he still had his arm around.

Nope, I was outta there. Not able to handle any of it. I didn’t want to know her name, or how they met, or anything about her. “Sorry, gotta go. Super long day tomorrow. Enjoy your night!”

I raced awkwardly past them, clomping through the snow and trying to pretend I wasn’t jealous. And angry. And hurt. No matter how my cheeks turned red and the rest of me felt like I’d swallowed a pin cushion.

Mike and I might not have designs on each other anymore—and most of that was on me—but it sure didn’t hurt any less to see him moving on with someone else.

I had a feeling it would always sting.