"Um, I've been calling it a him and named him Spike."
"Well, Spike's a she, because the males have different flowers." Wilder smiled at me. "What about the others, do they have names too?"
"Marigold is the Icebreaker," I said. "I thought it was funny, because it's marigold-colored, but that's also a plant. Kinda like naming a dog Kitty."
He chuckled. "I like how you think."
"And the one in the bathtub is Soup," I added. "Which just had to be done."
"So Glow, Spike, Soup, and Marigold."
"The Avalon Petticoat is named Lace," I said. "Since her flowers look like lace."
Wilder caressed the Assassin vine one more time before stepping away and looking around my room. "You need better chairs."
"Yep." But that was beside the point. "Wilder, why are you here?"
He grunted, ignoring me as he gestured to a spot beside Jack's perch. White light glowed on his fingers, and against the wall, wood supports began to form into existence as if an artist was painting them in with will alone. Then came padding, and within seconds, the whole thing was covered with a minty-green velvet, revealing a plush reading chair that matched the rest of my room.
"Much better," he said, dropping into it.
"Uh..." Did that really just happen? "No frost or plants?"
"Signs of untrained power," Wilder explained. "And yes, we're both talking about Aspen. No, I don't do that. My magic works exactly like all those Summer suck-ups. The difference is the season. Nothing else."
"Oh." So I sat on the edge of my bed, facing him. "And speaking of Aspen..."
"Part of why I'm here," he assured me. "So you know, Keir is the other part."
"Yeah?" For some reason, my guts clenched as a wave of worry washed over me.
"He and Torian had a little disagreement."
"About?" I pressed.
"Well, Torian's a prick," Wilder said, "and Keir is patient, but does have a limit. Torian pushed, so Keir pushed back, and now Keir's in his own room again."
"Keir pulled away?"
"Was sent," Wilder clarified. "Hence the prick part. He's not out of the court, though. Rain, we all agree he's still a part of the gang, or whatever you want to call us."
"Who's us?" I asked.
"Aspen, Hawke, and me."
"But not Torian." I nodded, because that made sense.
"So I came to see what you think," Wilder went on. "You see, you're a part of the court too. That means we value your opinion, but I'm hoping I can sway you to keep Keir in."
"Uh,yeah!" Because I was pretty much the reason he'd been invited in the first place.
Wilder just nodded. "Then as far as I care, that settles it. See, politics are easy."
And that made me laugh. "Hate to break it to you, but this is called drama, not politics."
"Pretty much the same thing," Wilder assured me. Then he shifted in the chair so he could rest his elbows on his knees. "So how are you doing with everyone hiding in Torian's suite while you're not?"
"Rain!" Jack grumbled. "Rain-Rain. Morrigan! Court!"
