Hawke simply pointed at Wilder. "Duke." Then himself. "Duke. See? No problems."
"But..." Nevaeh paused, looking at Poppy quickly. "Shit."
And Poppy pointed at Wilder. "Winter." Then Hawke. "Summer." Then Aspen. "Winter." Over to Torian. "Summer." She ended by looking at Keir. "And you?"
He shrugged. "Fuck courts, monarchies, and any system where the government can be inherited by a despot. I'm Earthborn."
"Me too!" Rain said, flashing a smile at Keir.
"Jack!" her bird announced. Then he hopped toward Keir and Rain, his nails clicking on the table. "Jack, Morrigan, Knight!"
"He's Earthborn too," Aspen clarified.
So I lifted a hand and made a circling gesture, including everyone at the table in it. "One court, not two."
"And we're your courtiers," Poppy reminded me. "What you need to realize, Torian, is that courtiers aren't useful if you don't use them. So what do you need, how do we help, and no, this isn't me sucking up. This is me offering - because you said it'sonecourt."
Aspen lifted her chin. "We need to know the rumors," she told Poppy. Then she looked at Nevaeh. "They're attacking Winter. If your magic is white, and I know yours is, you need to watch your back. I'd appreciate it if the courtiers could help watch them too."
"Who?" Nevaeh asked.
"Everyone who has Winter magic," Aspen said. "The Children of the Exodus are being weird. They may or may not be related to these attacks, the graffiti, and who knows what else. I want to know."
"Which means I do," I told Poppy, adding my authority as well.
"No offense, Torian," Poppy told me, "but Aspen's request was enough. We're not helping because we're impressed with your mother, your title, or any realms you can't get to. So you know, here on Earth, you're just one of us. I'm helping you because I think you need it, and because I'm a good person even if you aren't."
"That's what I keep telling him!" Keir said with a grin.
"Asshole," I grumbled.
Which made him flash that smile at me. "Tor, you're a dick. One who happens to be right a lot more than I expected, but fuck your title."
"I mean, you could..." Wilder mumbled in a not-so-innocent way, clearly teasing both me and Keir.
But my eyes were on Poppy as I leaned closer. "I want to make this very clear," I told her. "My goal is to stop my mother.Not to save her crown, her throne, or her kingdom. I want to make sure the mess she made can never happen again."
"Hm." Poppy thrust out her lower lip and nodded. "Ok. I'll help. C'mon, Nevaeh. Let's figure out how to explain this to our friends without saying too much. Fucking lies would be useful right about now!"
Nevaeh glanced over to my sister. "Majesty," she said, dipping her head as if she would've curtsied if we'd let her.
"I'd rather you didn't do that," Aspen told her. "It makes things weird."
Nevaeh just nodded. "I'm supposed to be in Torian's court, but I think I'm in yours."
"Ours," I told her. "One court, Nevaeh. Just one."
"And pale magic is nothing to be ashamed of," Keir added. "It's just a color."
I made a note of that. It was a damned good line - and true. I should use it more. Maybe it would stop some of these people from being such assholes. Maybe I should even ask Keir if he had a few more lines like that. I'd just announced who I was, so I had a sinking feeling I was going to need to use a few platitudes. The kind that helped would be a better choice than those that continued to exacerbate this mess.
Chapter Twenty-Five
TORIAN
People didn't react to my announcement like I'd expected. For the rest of the day, I felt like the center of attention. I knew Wilder and Hawke were getting the same thing, and the stares at dinner had been intense. That was fine. The smiles were what threw me.
I was supposed to be adapted to things here. I should've been used to Earth by now, but I really wasn't. Oh, the itch of iron being all around? Yeah, I barely even noticed that anymore. The secrecy, the strangeness of humans, and everything about this place? I had that part down.
