Valerian is still as he watches me, quiet, his face twisted in conflict, as if he wants to help but is afraid I’ll hate him.

Do I? As soon as the question comes, I know I could never hate him. Never. And yet, the thing between us that I felt, the thing that made me lose all reason, terrifies me now more than ever.

Eclipsa gives me a knowing look as she approaches. “Prince, we need to get her back to the ceremony to finalize the Selection.”

“No,” I say. “If I’m going to let myself be traipsed in front of the entire academy like a pet on a leash, I need some answers.”

Once again, Valerian’s gaze flicks to the chain between us. Just another reminder of his claim over me. Our eyes meet, and I see the apology inside those silver pools—along with that smoldering fire of possessiveness that promises what he said was true.

He would burn the Everwilde to the ground to protect me, to keep me.

Eclipsa raises a silver eyebrow. “Answers about what, exactly?”

“Why the Winter Prince had to leave so suddenly before school started, for starters.” My hand hovers over my heart, where the power seemed to come from earlier. “Also, I think I might have used magic somehow.”

They share a look, their expressions not matching my surprise. Did they suspect that might happen?

Something passes between Eclipsa and Valerian, and then Eclipsa turns to me. “We’ll tell you everything, I promise. But not right now. Your friend is worried, and until you’re back at the Selection ceremony, you’re fair game. Any Evermore could fight the Winter Prince for you.”

My stomach sinks at the thought of Inara or Hellebore claiming me. “Fine, but I want to know by the end of the weekend, especially since I suspect whatever caused him to leave involves me.”

I threw that last bit in on a whim, but the way Eclipsa’s mouth tightens, I know I hit on the truth.

Crap.

The portal Valerian forms illuminates the air, the silver-blue edges the same color as his eyes. I follow him through the magical disk, resisting the urge to grip the collar around my neck. He’s careful to leave enough slack that I don’t choke, but I still feel like I’m gasping to breathe.

On the other side, I lift my head high.

The Evermore might have found yet another way to humiliate and demean us, but I won’t let it break me.

16

My phone is facedown on my bed next to where I’m sprawled, books open around me.

“ILB?” Mack asks as she hops down from the top bunk and pads to the bar cart in the corner of our room.

I never told her what happened Friday night in the cave, other than that Inara tried to murder me and then Valerian saved me. But my best friend’s perceptive—and also stubborn as hell—and she hasn’t stopped prying for details.

I check the phone, ignoring the tug of disappointment when I realize it’s not Valerian, but Eclipsa. She wants me to meet her at the gym in an hour.

Time to learn why Valerian was in the Winter Court and just how effed my life is about to get. I mean, I assumed it couldn’t get much worse—but I forgot the rule while living in the Everwilde.

For mortals, there’s always worse.

Today, I’m just a girl technically enslaved to my soulmate and singled out by the Evermore students. Bad . . . sure. But tomorrow I could find myself fighting in the scourge or chained to a stage in a skeevy club owned by Valerian’s dad.

“Silver linings,” I mutter.

“What?” Mack calls over her shoulder. She’s fumbling around with a coffee filter, trying to figure out where to insert it in our new coffee maker. “Hey, how do you foam the milk for the latte?”

I swallow down my chuckle. The expensive espresso machine—named George for George Michael, her favorite singer—is the latest victim of Mack’s new resolution to live like regular students.

Whatever that means, since most of the regular students are trust fund babies who pay more for a haircut than I’ll spend in a year. But, her dads are a bit . . . generous, especially when it comes to buying her stuff, so I understand her reasoning—even if losing George is a freaking travesty.

“I don’t think Fred comes with those options,” I say.

Fred, short for Freddie Mercury, is the new twenty dollar Target coffee maker Mack bought from Jace, whose parents run a business ferrying mortal products in the Everwilde. They’re the Amazon of the Everwilde and, if the rumors are true, every bit as rich.

I hop from the bed and pocket the phone. “But I think there might be some creamer in the fridge downstairs, if you want me to grab it?”

“Dang. I miss George.” She flips to face me, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. “Whatever, we’ll make Fred work.”

I hate that Reina has made Mack question her rightful place here. Sure, Mack’s a legacy, and that helped, but she’s also the hardest working student on campus. She’s earned her spot like everyone else.

She watches me slip on my sneakers. “Where are you going? Extra training?”

“No,” I say too quickly. “Eclipsa wanted to cover some stuff I don’t understand, but it’s not actual training.”

Not a lie, but my face burns with guilt anyway, and I focus on double and triple knotting my laces.

Regular after school guardian training starts this week, but ever since the gauntlets were announced, worried Keepers have already started booking out the gym for private sessions with their shadows.

Mine are mostly in the morning with Eclipsa, but Valerian texted late last night to inform me we have two sessions a week after regular combat class together.

I waited for funny emojis or a clever remark in the message, but that was it. The single text he sent me Saturday morning, after I’d slept off the entire embarrassing ordeal, was just as short.

I’m sorry things got out of hand.

Not sure what I was expecting, but after going full on horny hooker, I expected more than seven measly words in a text.

“Asher said the gym schedule this week is already full,” Mack adds, “so he talked the ILB into letting him train me during your appointment. Apparently Instant Lady Boner rented the entire gym out so you two could be alone.” She flashes a devilish grin that brings out both cheek dimples. “If you want that—some time alone with him—I’ll tell Asher this week is no good.”

I look away before she can see the conflicting emotions raging through me. Sometimes I wonder if she suspects that the mating ceremony wasn’t a fluke after all. I kind of just let her assume it was after I was expelled because that was easier than trying to explain the truth.

And when I discovered the danger attached to my history . . .

No way will I subject Mack to that hot mess.

“Summer?” Mack says, concern in her eyes.

“What?” I blink as her last question slowly surfaces. “Hell no. Chicks before dicks, bae before Fae, remember? And you’re my only bae. Besides, you deserve extra training time like everyone else to prepare for the gauntlet. If you didn’t pass . . .” I shake my head, sending the idea back to the dark hole from whence it came. “That will never happen because A, you’re the best student here and B, I need you. Got it? Even if that means training five times a day with dragon boy.”

“I mean, if that’s what it takes to pass, I’ll force myself to do extra sessions with Asher, but I won’t like it.”

We break into hysterical laughter, earning more than a few weird looks from our dormmates passing by the open door.

Tears of laughter stream down her face as she wraps me in a hug. “I don’t deserve you, bae.”

I hug her back, knowing the opposite is true: Mackenzie Fairchild is the love of my life, and I’ll never understand why she chose me as her best friend. Never.

“Can we please demand George back?” I whisper.

She squeezes me harder. “Shh, Fred will hear you! He’s temperamental.”

Great. I’m so going to punish Reina for this.

I find Eclipsa wiping down her eggplant purple yoga mat. Her text said to wear comfortable clothes, and I realize why when she pats the pink mat beside hers. I settle next to her, glancing at the two empty mats behind us.

“Someone joining us?” I say, but my heart already knows, and it stutters into a frantic rhythm just as the doors swing open and Valerian enters, followed by Asher.

Both wear black joggers and soft cotton tees that show off their athletic bodies. Holy hell, they could be models in a sportswear campaign.

This time, I’m prepared for the lightning bolt that spears my middle as our eyes meet. But prepared or not, I still gasp beneath my breath as the raw strength of the connection pulses to life.

Valerian stiffens before dragging his focus away. As they both prowl toward us like the badass predators they are, Asher throws me a wink.

“Princess,” dragon boy says by way of greeting as he somehow fits his bulky body onto his mat and falls into a surprisingly graceful pose. He ignores the pink and yellow Hello Kitty mat Eclipsa provided for him, much to Eclipsa’s disappointment.

Valerian, at least, hesitates for a hot second as he spots his SpongeBob SquarePants mat. Wrinkling his nose, he peers at the giant image of Patrick, slides his gaze to Asher’s Hello Kitty print, and says, “Why did he get the adorable cat and I get the weird . . . whatever this is.”

I barely swallow down my chuckle. There’s so much about mortal culture he doesn’t know still.

Asher draws his muscular body into a bakasana pose with an ease that startles me and mutters, “Because I didn’t try to eviscerate her a few nights ago, so I get the cute kitty while you get the pink lumpy creature.”

Frowning, Valerian begins to stretch. I do the same, willing my limbs to stop trembling, my breath to even out. The feet between us feel like inches. The aura from his presence seeping across the space and into my bones.

Sweat slicks my palms as I perform a downward dog pose. Sweet Baby Jesus, if I’d known my butt was going to be in his face, I’d have worn my loose sweatpants instead of my skin-tight black leggings.