"I..." Hawke glanced up at me, then back to his hand. "So, Rain, this isn't the sort of thing most people talk about in polite company. It's like guys discussing dicks, or girls talking about periods? I don't know about that since I'm not a girl."
"Which means you don't have to talk about it," I told him.
He shrugged. "I mean, it's ok. I get it. It's just that people are usually scared of me."
"She's not," Pascal pointed out.
"You are," Keir countered. "And Rain gets a pass because she didn't grow up on our faerie tales."
"I didn't either," Pascal reminded him. "Shit, I think I heard more from you, Keir, than anyone else. Being a foundling and all that."
Keir chuckled, proving these two had a bit of history. "Fair."
But Pascal jerked his thumb up and behind us. "So do you think that was meant to look like something a jevadu would do?"
And we all turned to look at him, the smiles gone. "What do you mean?" I asked.
Pascal just lifted his hands. "Easy there. All I'm saying is that before spring break, Torian was supposed to be a jevadu. Then he's a prince. If someone wanted to cause problems, would they use that, and then how would it affect Hawke?"
"Shit," Hawke grumbled. "I thought that once he made his announcement, people would stop thinking about jevadu."
"Um..." Pascal quickly looked between us. "Ms. Rhodes is coming, but can I ask one more question?"
"Might as well," Hawke said.
"How can you be a duke and a wildling? I've been trying to figure that out, but the best I can get is they must be teaching us the wrong shit here."
"She's human and a wildling," Hawke said, pointing at me.
But Keir waved them down. "An heir to the throne, when deployed away from the monarch, can assign rank to anyone they choose. Torian's mother isn't around, so he can promote Hawke to duke. Jack's father isn't around, so he can promote Rain to Morrigan."
Pascal nodded. "Nice." Then he jerked his chin. "Rain, I think they're going to need you."
"Me?"
And Pascal looked over, meeting my eyes. "I can't imagine Aspen wants to do this alone, so yes. You."
"Go," Keir said, nudging me that way. "He's right."
"And he wants to ask more questions," Hawke said with a little smile. "It's ok."
So I went. Behind me, those three pulled closer, clearly whispering about something. Probably dicks - because they were guys. But the botany class had cleared out, Ms. Linden was gone, and Aspen looked like she really didn't want to be here either.
"Hey," I said as I moved in beside Aspen. "Are you ok?"
"Her name," Ms. Rhodes told me, "was Carol Dumont." Then she paused, glancing away. "And she was a Winter student."
"Is there a chance this was supposed to look like a jevadu attack?" I asked.
And immediately everyone's attention was on me. "Who would know about that?" Ms. Rhodes demanded.
"Before spring break," I reminded her, "everyone thought Torian was one. What if they still do?"
"She was ripped apart," Aspen said. "Bent, broken, and literally ripped, Ms. Rhodes."
"That's not how jevadu feed," Bracken pointed out.
"But I don't think people know that," I said. "And she was a Winter user, but she wasn't frozen. How did she end up in the tree?"
