“Yes, I’m fine.” I nod and glance back at the girl I saved. “But she needs—”

My words trail away into silence. The girl hasn’t moved from where I positioned her.

The Summer Evermore’s expression goes dark, and he looks to the Faun. “Basil, is she alive?”

The Faun shakes his head, and I can’t help but notice how he genuinely seems sad about her death.

Tears spring to my eyes before I can help it. I try to blink them away, but then I remember that I’m now disqualified from staying at this cursed school, which means I don’t have to pretend to be strong. So I let the tears fall.

And with them, my anger grows.

“A selkie attacked us,” I say to no one in particular.

The Summer Evermore frowns. “No, they were all fed and sedated.”

“Well someone forgot this selkie. She almost killed me but . . .” My hand goes to where my necklace rests, hidden beneath my shirt. “I scared her away.”

Basil steps from the boat, carrying the drowned girl in his arms. “If the selkie wasn’t drugged, you would be dead. I promise.”

Mack wraps her arms around me. “I didn’t know you’d gone back for her until I was in the boat . . . and then . . .”

“It’s okay.” I rub the last tear away with the heel of my hand and glance at the crowd in the distance. As my gaze falls on first Inara, then Reina, and finally my tormentor, I feel a potent rage spark inside my chest.

They’re to blame. Not Mack. Not the poor drowned girl. Them.

We walk toward the crowd, the bubble of warm magic the Summer Evermore gave me melting the snow at my bare feet. They’re grouped into two sides: Seelie and Unseelie.

A shrill voice I immediately recognize as Inara’s calls out, “How did you like the selkies? Guess they thought you were too ugly to eat.”

A thought comes to mind that I can’t shake. She’s responsible. She somehow made sure that one selkie wasn’t drugged.

If not for the selkie, I would have had time to get the girl to the surface before she died.

If I were staying, I’d recognize the uncontrollable rage and tamp it down. Even I’m not stupid enough to make powerful enemies when I don’t have an escape plan.

But I’m not staying, and I don’t care if they all want to murder me.

I’ll be long gone soon, out of their reach.

Fists balled at my side, I throw off my blanket and march the rest of the way toward them before Mack or the Summer Evermore can stop me.

15

“Hey a-holes!” I yell at the Unseelie court gathered to the right.

The mean girl who locked me in the cage, Reina, is the first to acknowledge my words, followed by a gorgeous male Fae who, with his spiky snow-white hair, deep lavender eyes, and sneer, has to be related to Inara.

Speaking of, Inara gives an incredulous gasp, her murderous gaze sliding to me.

I match her scowl with one of my own. What can she do anyway? What can any of them do? I’m about to get shipped off to somewhere far from her reach.

“I guess in your world, killing someone innocent is fine,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “But where I come from, that makes you cowards.”

Mack has caught up to me and gives a hard yank on my arm, nearly popping it out of socket.

“What are you doing?” she whisper-yells, her voice shaky.

“Go,” I order, “unless you want to be associated with this train wreck.”

Before Mack can respond, I prowl over to the trio. Anger seeps from my every pore. “Did you really think you could lock me in that cage and not face consequences?”

Reina shrugs. “Yeah, actually, I did. You weren’t supposed to make it to the surface.”

The way she talks of my death so casually fills me with uncontrollable rage. Despite the cold, prickly heat flashes over my cheeks and chest. “Like the other girl?”

The two mortal boys that helped Reina in the cage stroll over. One of the boys whispers something to Reina, and then they all burst out laughing. But there’s no mirth in Reina’s eyes as they lock on me.

Her sprite, a dark-haired female with a dour face, hisses at me. My sprite, who I didn’t notice until now flying above me, hisses back. Her tiny pinprick teeth bare in a snarl as she hurls a string of what I assume are insults in another language at the dark-haired sprite.

She’s definitely growing on me.

“Too bad you didn’t take the hint and die too,” Reina purrs. “She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but you . . . you I definitely meant to drown. Your kind don’t belong here. You’re too weak, too ugly, too poor. Just like the dead girl. I say good riddance.”

Something inside me snaps.

Before I can think about what I’m doing, I swing my fist at her smug face, every ounce of my indignation concentrated in my right hook.

Obviously not expecting me to hit her, she doesn’t even try to defend herself as my knuckles catch her square on her perfect nose with a loud, satisfying crack. In shock, she crumples to her knees, her eyes wide and hand covering her nose.

Blood dribbles between her fingers.

“That’s for locking me inside the cage,” I snarl.

Holy Fae. I just punched her.

“You—you hit me!” she screeches, coming to the same genius realization. The two boys flock around her. One has already ripped off his shirt and is pressing it to her face. Inara and her look-alike male Fae are just staring at me in shock. As if, they literally cannot believe I hit her.

That makes three of us.

A wide grin spreads across my face as I shake out my hand, playing it cool. “Yeah, someone should have done that a long time ago.”

God that felt good. At least I get to leave this place with the memory of my fist connecting with her now-not-so-perfect nose.

Mack has come back to rein me in, and she finally succeeds in dragging me away. She plants us behind the Summer Evermore that helped me out of the boat. The Seelie and Unseelie react, the Seelie cheering while the Unseelie boo and hiss.

It’s only then that I realize how big our audience was.

I glance over my shoulder at Reina, who’s still on her knees, being tended to by her two male bodyguards. Inara has her arms crossed over her chest and a murderous look twists her face into something truly terrifying.

“That was crazy-wicked,” Mack whispers. “She’s had her nose done three times already; I bet she’s livid, along with half the Fae Courts. Now get ready.”

The panicky tone of her voice puts me on edge. “Ready? For what?”

Reina is the typical bully who can dish it out but can’t take it. She’s still crumpled on the ground in dramatic fashion. No way she comes after me in that state.

Mack shakes her head at me. “Inara has already unofficially chosen Reina as her shadow, so she’s under the protection of the Elite Six.”

The elite who? Nope. I don’t even want to know. The less I know about this pretentious school before I leave, the better. “I didn’t mean to piss off the Elite Six. I just thought, since I wouldn’t be here . . .”

Mack’s eyes go wide. “Who told you that?”

“You . . . did?” Uh oh. A pit of dread forms in my gut. “You said I had to be one of the first fifty students out of the lake or . . . they would kick me out?”

The Summer Evermore comes up beside me, one side of his mouth quirked. His gold ear cuff glints along his pointed ears. “That’s true, but we also have a bravery clause. If any of the participants show extreme and selfless acts of courage, a court may petition to have them stay.”

Shit. My mouth goes dry as Mack says, “Rhaegar petitioned for you to enter the Selection.” She nods at the Summer Evermore before turning back to me. “You’re still a shadow candidate . . . although anyone who chooses you now will risk the wrath of the Six.”

There’s that stupid name again. I barely keep from rolling my eyes as I say, “What’s the Elite Six?”

She lets out an exasperated sigh that blows her pink and brown bangs away from her forehead. “This school is ruled by six incredibly powerful Unseelie: Inara Winterspell, her twin brother, Bane Winterspell, and the Winter Prince, all Winter Court. And . . . see that girl?”

I follow her gaze to a beautiful Fae girl near the edge of the Unseelie crowd. She wears a gorgeous sable-black tunic embedded with diamonds in the shape of half-moons, her silver hair pulled back into an elaborate nest of braids. Half-moon earrings hang from her pointy ears, and a similar jewel sparkles from between her silver eyebrows.

“That’s Eclipsa Skywell from the Lunar Court. And that boy there”—she points to a big Fae with dark brown hair that falls to his shoulders and huge moss-green eyes—“is Asher Grayscale, a dragon shifter and the prince’s best friend.”

I swallow as I watch Inara’s two friends from earlier whisper with her. “Let me guess; those two psycho girls I met earlier with Inara are part of the Elite Six?”

Mack nods as she flicks a quick, fearful glance toward the pack. “Only one, the vamp from the Mortal Beasts Court, Kimber Bloodstone. The other, a lycan girl named Lyra, isn’t technically a member . . . but she’s currently dating Bane, so they let her hang out with them. She’d love to make it the Elite Seven, but that will never happen.”

An overwhelming mixture of conflicting emotions surges through me as I scan the rest of the Unseelie side. On one hand, I’m thankful I get to stay at the academy and not slave away in the Unseelie Courts. But I’ve also basically pissed off all the Unseelie, by the way they’re all staring daggers into me.

Especially the Elite Six.

Fae-freaking-tastic. I’m so screwed.

But screwed or not, Aunt Vi would die if she knew I wasn’t using manners. So I turn to Rhaegar and say, “Thank you for making sure I don’t get kicked out.”

He smiles, a nice, warm grin that somehow makes him even more beautiful. “It was nothing. Besides, I’m interested to see how you shake things up.”