"Yes, she's the queen," I assured him.
He shook his beak and kept watching Aspen. "Morrigan. Knight. Queen?"
Aspen sucked in a breath. "Are you asking if you can use that?"
This time, he nodded.
"Yes." Her answer was calm, confident, and without any hesitation. "You may call me queen any time you want. I'm done trying to pretend I don't exist!"
"Court!" Jack told her. "Jack. Morrigan. Queen. Court!" And he nodded like he was proud.
"Hey," I said, pausing at the last set of stairs that would let me head down to my next class without taking her too far off course. "I'm sorry about Carol. I didn't know her either, and I would've fought for her."
"Does that mean you don't agree with me?" she asked, scanning my face.
"Aspen, I think this is crazy. I mean, magic is real? The rest of it? I'm along for the ride, and doing my best to keep up. If this is whatyouwant to do, then I will fight for your right to scream itall day long. If it's something Torian, or Ms. Rhodes, or anyone else makes you feel like you should be doing, then fuck them."
"No, this is all me," she said.
"Then I'm proud of you," I told her. But I rocked my head from side to side. "And I'm kinda pissed I can't brag that my girlfriend's a queen."
"And mine's the Morrigan," she said, squeezing my arm. "Yeah, let's not risk that yet. If Ms. Rhodes makes us move, we'll have to set up a whole new system of gates to include you, then teach you how to gate, and that's just a mess."
"Wait. I can gate?"
She shrugged. "No idea, but I can gate to you - and I will if they try to keep us apart."
I was struggling not to smile. "I want to learn how. I mean, if there's ever a reason you need me, I want to find a way to get there."
"You need alittlemore training," she said, holding up her fingers about half an inch apart. "Screwing it up makes a big mess."
"Ok, but one day?"
"One day," she swore, "we will have green, black, rainbow, grey, and white gates."
"Because screw the magical binary," I said as I took a step back. "Now get to class, Majesty!"
She snapped me a silly salute. "Heard!" And then we both turned and walked just as fast as we could.
Likely, I'd be late, but I didn't care. Aspen was ok with being the queen now? To me, that was the best news! Not that she'd officially announced it or anything else. I was just relieved she didn't regret accepting the crown. Mostly because I had a feeling she was exactly what the fae needed right now: a queen whodidn'thave the biases of her parents.
Chapter Thirty-Four
TORIAN
Aspen told me after she'd mouthed off in her and Rain's math class. She'd been so proud too. The elation that had flowed into my mind hadn't been at all what I'd expected, but it felt perfect for her. My big sister was finally being acknowledged as the amazing woman she was becoming.
And the paranoia was already taking over.
All weekend, I placed enchantments, trying to catch any plans to harm her or the rest of our court. Ms. Rhodes and her staff found most of them, removing them easily. Monday morning, I had a message sent to my first period class, which I now spent with Keir. It was short, simple, and to the point.
Stop invading the privacy of others. This is still my school, not yours.
Chuckling, I crumbled it up and incinerated it. That made Keir lift a brow, and then I had to explain everything to him. He, however, had some information that helped ease my paranoia a bit. Not enough, but lately, anything was beneficial.
"So, I can say the sentinels are listening around too," he told me.
"Why?" I asked, trying to find a problem with that.
