Winter

The world careens around me as he fights with Ruby. The stench and the swirling and the fingers vising my stomach make puke surge up my throat. Then I remember the splinter of wood in my hand. It’s only four inches long, but the end is sharp . . .

The orc swings again, his fist finally connecting with Ruby. I scream as I watch her arc through the air and slam into the stone wall near the gaping hole that used to be the door.

“Hideous bastard!” I scream.

The orc glances at me, his eyes wide as if he forgot I was still here. A slow, stupid grin reveals a mouthful of daggerish teeth. “The Dominus will give me shiny things for you. So many shiny things.”

With a wild roar of anger, I lift the makeshift stake and then plunge it into his right eye.

A deep bellow spills from his chest. The grip around my waist loosens and then I’m falling, my stomach somersaulting. The floor smashes into me so hard I swear my soul leaves my body along with every bit of air in my chest.

Pain rips through my leg until I welcome the darkness circling my mind. Then nothing.

I come to a moment later, my head ringing and chest tight, just in time to see the orc stumble into a bookshelf. The entire thing careens over and lands with a huge boom. A rage-filled screech surges from his mouth as he yanks out the splinter in his eye and flings it to the floor.

One giant hand covering his injured eye, he focuses his good eye on me. His lips twist into a hateful sneer. Large teeth honed down to needlepoints and dripping with saliva flash in the low light.

I try to stand, but daggers of pain sink deep into my calf the moment I put any pressure on my right leg. I’m ninety-nine percent sure it’s broken. I’m also ninety-nine percent sure the orc isn’t going to take me to the Dominus anymore—whoever that is.

By the hatred inside his remaining eye as he stumbles toward me, he’s going to kill me. Or eat me alive first and then kill me.

Both options suck.

A second before he reaches where I lay, bright blue jags of light flash and strike the orc mid-chest. A cold blast of air draws goosebumps over my flesh, the room suddenly ten degrees cooler.

The orc goes still. Frozen with his arm raised above me, mouth open wide, a millisecond before he would have pounded in my skull. Frost creeps over his ashy-green skin, crackling and popping, until a thick layer covers him. His uninjured eye is the last to freeze. My stomach churns as I watch it turn opaque white.

All I can do is stare as my savior struts out of the shadows. I know that swagger. That predatory smoothness. That icy disdain for everything around him. His collar is askew, his hair messy and rumpled, as if he took a stroll out of bed.

My heart lurches at the sight of the prince. Where the hell did you come from?

He doesn’t even glance at me as he squares up to the orc, one arm behind his back. Then he waves his hand like he’s flicking water off his fingers and, with a thunderous crack, the frozen orc shatters into a million tiny shards of ice. Frozen bits pepper my hair and face and oh God . . .

I’m covered in orc pieces.

“My sprite,” I call, my voice raspy with pain. “I think she’s near the desk over there.”

Once he’s collected her, he moves on to me. His dark blue eyebrows meet above a frown as he scoops me into his cold arms. “You hurt?”

“No,” I mutter through gritted teeth as a spasm of pain consumes my lower leg. “My leg always sticks out at a ninety-degree angle.”

I swear to God an actual smile twitches the corner of his lips.

A moan slips from my throat and he shifts me in his arms so his one hand is free. Yes, he’s totally holding me with one arm like I’m nothing. A flash of icy pain shoots up my leg. The sensation is so startling I can’t even manage to cry out as my breath gets caught in my throat. Then the fiery agony of my leg melts away.

“I didn’t have time to heal it,” he says as he begins taking the stairs two at a time. “I need to get you out of here in case there’s more orcs. But I used a spell to mask the pain.” His breath is cool on my neck, his voice soothing and not at all winded.

Now that my pain is gone, the aftereffects of the orc and adrenaline dump hit me. I’m sinking fast into darkness.

“You have to stop doing this,” I mutter.

He’s quiet for a beat. “What?”

“Acting like you care about me at random times. You send me food. You give me expensive coats. You save my life. It’s confusing and you have to stop.”

Cold wind envelops me as he begins stalking across the lawn. As luck would have it, the campus is packed with Fae. I ignore the stares, the shocked faces and whispers that fill the night.

“Would you rather I left you to die down there?” he asks, sounding genuinely curious.

Closing my eyes, I relax my head, letting it fall gently against his chest. He smells of juniper and balsam and cedar. It’s intoxicating.

I nuzzle into his neck, inhale his scent deeper, and whisper, “I’d rather have never met you at all.”

27

I’m not sure if I’m awake or dreaming. I know I’m in bed because I can feel cold, starched sheets lightly fitted over my legs and waist. But it’s like I’m underwater, in a pocket of space between sleep and reality.

I can’t open my eyes, can’t speak or move.

The first voice I hear is Eclipsa’s. “Are you sure you didn’t heal her? Because a healing of that nature . . .”

“I think I would know if I did,” the male voice answers.

Oh, I know that voice. The confident, sultry tone practically runs through my head on repeat. The prince.

“You have to be careful,” Eclipsa warns. “If it takes hold—”

“It won’t. Believe me. She hates me.”

Who hates him? What are they talking about?

They continue speaking but it’s far away now, muffled voices from the end of a long tunnel. And then I plunge into a warm, velvety darkness.

“Why do I have to stay here even though I’m healed?” I ask, sitting up in bed. The healing center is on the main campus, a good-sized three-story white brick building with large windows and flowers in every room.

My nurse, a blue Fae girl with a huge nose and black eyes, glances at the clock and sighs. “Twenty more minutes and you’re released. Some humans have reactions to the healing magic.”

Right. I remember reading about that in class. Humans who have adverse reactions usually do so within twelve hours. Which means I’ve been stuck in this room for the entire morning.

“Pfft, she’s fine,” Ruby yells from where she sits on my headboard. “Look at her.”

The nurse shoots Ruby a dark look before handing me two herbal drinks to help with any residual pain; one reeks of swampy mud and is lumpy and gray, the other has a verbena and lavender scent.

Ick.

Ruby flits over and snatches the verbena tumbler. “You gonna drink this, kid?”

“All yours.” I throw the covers off, antsy to find a way back to the library and grab that book. Hopefully it’s still a crime scene, or whatever, and I can somehow slip by and find it.

Mack and Evelyn sit in the faded blue loveseat in the corner, pretending to read human magazines. They burst in here a few minutes ago when nurse killjoy decided I could have visitors.

The moment the nurse finishes with me and leaves the room, they rush to my side.

“We heard what happened,” Mack squeals. “A Cave Orc? Really, Summer?”

“Yeah, the whole school is talking about how it almost ate you,” Evelyn adds.

Mack grins. “Did it stink? Cave Orcs are supposed to smell the worst.”

Evelyn’s face drains of color. “Oh . . . God. I think I’m going to be sick.”

Mack rolls her eyes and jerks her shoulder at Evelyn. “Someone had way too much Faerie wine last night.”

“Nope, not gonna puke. It passed.” She flashes a bright smile, as if not puking is an achievement. “And I can’t help if Rhaegar kept handing me drinks. He asked where you were, Summer, by the way.”

Rhaegar? He seems like the last person who’d be plying a first year with alcohol.

“That’s why we didn’t show up until now,” Mack adds, frowning at her feet. “If I had known what happened . . . well, anyway. Thank the Fae the school’s shadow guardians heard the noise and came.”

I cringe at the lie. The prince left almost as soon as he brought me here. But not before making me promise to stick to that story. I wouldn’t be surprised if he glamoured all the Fae witnesses to forget, too.

Can’t have his bad boy image tarnished. Not that I mistake him saving me as kindness—he obviously doesn’t want me to die before he gets to torment me as his shadow.

“Yes,” a female voice says. Headmistress Lepidonis strides through the room, her moth wings tucked low into her back. “Thank the Fae.”

She flashes a tight smile at Mack and Evelyn as Mr. Willis enters the room. The girls look from the headmistress to Mr. Willis, their mouths hanging open.

My focus immediately hones in on the variety of weapons strapped to his person. I might not actively want to be a shadow, but wearing enough blades to arm a small gang?

Totally cool.

“Girls, I hear you had a late night,” Lepidonis says with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her dark eyes. “I would think you’d be very tired after such an eventful evening. Shouldn’t you be getting back?”

A red flush creeps over Mack’s cheeks, and she flashes me a see-you-later look before disappearing with Evelyn.

The moment they’re gone, Lepidonis turns to me. “Miss Solstice, we’ve already suffered one human death this term and we cannot have another. The Council for the Mistreatment of Humans has already opened an inquiry into Miss Turner’s death. Another death would be very bad for us, especially this close to winning the vote.”

“What vote?” I ask, twisting the white sheets between my fingers. I haven’t watched the news since I arrived.

“The vote to allow permanent residence for the Fae in the Untouched Zone, of course.”