“Okay!” she cheerily replies. I swear if she is this cheery in the morning before I have had my coffee, I might throw her out of the treehouse. I don’t do happy, happy people. Poppy heads off into the crowd, and I keep my eye on her as she starts talking to a big group of girls. By the way they are all giggling together and shit within a few minutes, I figure Poppy has made herself some friends already.
“Go and refill the drinks, you piece of shit. I didn’t give you permission to just stand there!” a reaper student snaps from my right. I turn in their direction as I stand up to see who he was talking to. The reaper has red hair, an extremely bright colour really, but he is skinny and lanky as fuck. His cloak swallows him as he leans over an Unseelie fae on his knees. I don’t need to be close or even talk to the man to know he is my kind. I feel it, like a sixth sense, and the dirty grey clothing he wears only makes me want to help. Several scars line his neck and face, and I would guess him to be only a teenager at best. The fae is bald, his hair shaved off and a rune marked on his forehead.
A mark of slavery. I swallow the fear and guilt in my throat as the Unseelie fae stumbles with his bare feet to get up. I hoped I wouldn’t have to see any Unseelie fae slaves, having heard most of them have been drained of all their magic years ago, and the few who survived are held as prisoners. Whoever the reaper is, he must be from a well-off family to have an Unseelie fae slave these days. The reaper lashes out, slapping him hard across the face, and he falls back down onto the dirt. A few other students laugh in the distance, but I’m frozen, watching as the man gets up again and walks in my direction. As he passes me, he pauses, no doubt sensing me the same way I can sense him. He looks up, his dark brown eyes meeting mine.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he harshly whispers. “No one with Unseelie fae blood is safe.”
“Shh,” I quickly whisper. “I know what I’m doing, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry I can’t help you.”
He shakes his head. “We fae will rise in their darkness and, with it, take back what is ours.”
“I hope so,” I reply, but he is already walking away. A branch snaps behind me, and I twirl around as a man steps out from behind the tree. His dark blond hair is short and tidy, and I would guess he is the same age as I am. With a sexy smirk on his lips and his tanzanite eyes like mine, he is hard to look away from.
I’ve never seen anyone with eyes like mine. I stare at him for far too long until it becomes almost awkward to say anything. Turns out there is more than one fae in the academy.
“Nice eyes,” he comments, his voice deep and strangely nice at the same time. “I know your secret now.”
“Do you?” I comment with fake innocence. “You must have been hearing things, Prince Sebastian.”
He chuckles. “I’m glad you know who I am.” For whatever reason, I let him back me into the tree and place his hands near my head on the bark. He leans down, the muscles in his arms clenching. “Because if you dare to cross me, my name is the last thing you will beg before I kill you.”
“Try,” I say, tilting my head to the side. “I will say your name when you try to kill me and fail, Sebby.”
“Sebastian, your mother wants you.” Finn’s dark and grouchy sounding voice snaps nearby, and I look over Sebastian’s shoulder to see Finn staring at us. Though his eyes are more on me. All sorts of possessive vibes blast off him, and I swear I can feel them attack me, claiming me. Or that might be wishful hope on my part. He might look like that at people he wants to kill. Sebastian moves his hands away and straightens up.
“Finn, next time you see me with Daesyn, fuck off,” Sebastian not so kindly suggests. How the fuck does he know my name, and why does he think there will be a next time?
“It would be amusing to see you try and make me,” Finn replies, crossing his arms against his chest. They both stare each other down for a long ass time. Sebastian is the one who moves first, swearing under his breath and storming off into the forest towards the castle.
Finn doesn’t say a word, just settling his dark gaze on me like always.
“Is this the point where you try to warn me not to fuck with that guy?”
Finn mutters something and looks up at the sky for a moment like he is looking for the gods’ advice on how to deal with me before meeting my gaze. A single word utters from his lips, and it almost feels real with the power behind it. I feel the word roll over my body. “Intrepide.”
He walks away, his body tense, and I repeat the word once before shouting to him. “What does that mean?”
Finn never answers me, but someone whispers in my ear long after he is gone. Someone that sounds a lot like a woman, and she is no one I’ve heard before, but her angelic voice answers my question:
Fearless.
Chapter 11
“How is your time with the mortals coming along?” My mother’s divine voice fills the room, her presence blinding to anyone that is not me. I stare at the Unseelie fae woman she is possessing, a blonde woman with blue eyes. Someone who looks similar to my mother.
“They are more interesting than I thought,” I reply. “And I have chosen one mortal for my mission.”
“Good. I would not like to see you fail, son,” she replies. “We will welcome you home soon.”
The Unseelie fae drops to the floor like a plank, my mother’s soul leaving her body. I lean down and press my fingers to the woman’s neck, not feeling a heartbeat. Gods can be so cruel to mortals.
My very existence is a mystery to me. Mostly.
Sebastian walks into my apartment, a bottle of fae wine in his hand, and he pauses, looking at the woman. Dead Unseelie fae are nothing new here.
It just feels different because of one certain dark-haired raven.
“What happened?” Sebastian asks, placing his bottle down and walking to the fae. He leans down and checks if she is breathing like I did before rising. I see the pity in his eyes for a second.
“My mother. She…simply used her for a time, and her body could not handle a goddess’s presence,” I explain. Seb runs his thumb against his lip.
“I will bury her,” he replies and picks his bottle back up.
I lean down and pick the woman’s body up in my arms. “I shall help, this was my fault.”
Sebastian doesn’t agree with me out loud, but I sense his judgment all the same. We head out of my apartment, and no one looks our way as we head outside and into the forest.
“You should stay away from Daesyn. The new girl,” I warn Sebastian. “She is like fire, and you are an explosive. Together, the world wouldn’t survive.”
He laughs. “I bet I’d enjoy burning the world down with her though.”
I narrow my eyes at his back. “Just back off.”
“Tell me the real reason why you want me to, and I will think about it,” he counters. The cocky shit.
“Because I will kick your ass five ways to Sunday if you don’t,” I growl.
