"But you could make sure she is!" I shot back. "Your own revenge, Torian! She made you to screw everything up, so instead you fix it. She raised you to be only the things she needed, stripping all of your individuality, but you still kissed my boyfriend instead of punching him, right? Doesn't that mean her training didn't work?"
One corner of his mouth lifted a bit. "It was a one-time thing, Rain."
"Technically two," I pointed out.
"No, the second time, he kissed me."
"And you didn't push him off," I said. "That means it counts, Tor. You may have been kissed, but you still kissed back."
"Sorry."
Well, shit. I was fucking this up badly. "No," I groaned. "I mean, it's cool. I figure it's the same thing, right? I'm dating your sister, so you can mess around with my boyfriend to make it even."
And he sucked in a breath. "What?" His head snapped over, his gaze finally the intensity I expected from him.
"Making out with Keir gets us even for me dating your sister?" I said, making it a question because I wasn't sure if that was what he was asking about.
"No, the getting even part," he clarified. "You don't have a brother, so I can't date him. I didn't even think about Keir as a replacement."
And now I was really confused. "You want to make me pay?"
Torian leaned forward, looking completely revitalized. "Not you, her. I want to make her pay, but I'd been thinking about flipping things on her. Making Aspen the queen instead of me.Stopping her plan piece-by-piece by doing the opposite, but you're right. It's not about that."
"So what is it about?" I asked, aware I was working with only about half the information.
And Torian smiled. "Do you remember how Poppy Hawthorne acted when I said it was one court instead of two?"
She'd been both surprised and excited. "Yeah?"
"That's what it's about. Titania is fighting forwhichcourt has more power. If she wins, Aspen loses. If Aspen wins, the Mad Queen loses, but what if Aspen isn't trying to become the more powerful season?"
"So what are we doing instead?"
His smile was cruel in the best way. "We need to convince everyone there's only one court, Rain. It's us - all of us. Not us against them. Just us. Fae, faeling, andcaradil. If I'm spending all my time trying to prove my sister deserves to live, I'm on the defensive. If I make it so attacking the Winter users is an attack against me, thentheywill be the ones defending their actions. They will be the traitors, acting against the fae as a whole!"
"Nice," I breathed.
"And I almost kissed your boyfriend again."
He dropped that out so randomly I had to do a doubletake. "Keir?"
"Do you have another boyfriend I don't know about?" he asked, a devious little smirk showing itself. "Should I ask Hawke why he's not keeping me in the loop?"
"Oh, and you just assume Hawke's going to be next? What if I want to jump on Wilder's dick, huh?"
Torian scoffed. "Wilder would much rather jump on Keir's too. No offense, but you are not his kind of girl."
"No, I already know that," I admitted. "I also feel weird about flirting with Hawke, so I don't want to ruin everything."
And Torian leaned back, spreading his arms across the chair. "Why's that?"
"Oh, don't you start interrogating me, Mr. My-Shit-Don't-Stink!"
"It doesn't. I'm fae."
I let my eyes close and groaned. "That's not what I meant!"
"Rain." He waited until I looked at him again. "I'm giving you shit. I mean, it's true, but it's a deflection." Then he kicked his legs out a little more, truly relaxing. "And it's weird with Keir."
