"Jack!" he agreed, right on cue.
"Oh." Her entire body relaxed. "Yeah, um, I kinda like what you said in there. You know, about jevadu being all fae. Because, they are! Jack's fae. Jevadu are more like you, though. They kinda work as a magic converter."
"Yeah?" My excitement slipped into my tone. "So there's something else out there like me?"
"A lot of things," she assured me. "I mean, Jack's like you."
"Rain." The bird shook his head.
"You use Wild magic," she countered.
He shook his head again. "Rain!"
"Ok, well, you used to!"
This time, Jack nodded. "Morrigan!"
"But they're coming at you because of Torian," I told her. "They all know what he is, so why is it still a secret?"
"Rain, they don't."
That made me pause. "Huh?"
Aspen groaned. "Fuck. I can't tell you."
"But either he is, or he is not a jevadu, and one of those answers has to be true," I pointed out.
Aspen sighed. "It's complicated, Rain."
"How so?"
She pressed her lips together, thinking for a little too long. "Fae cannot lie. That means we cannot break an agreement, because it would make our words false. It doesn't matter what you call it: promise, deal, arrangement, or agreement. They're all the same thing."
"Yeah…" I was so confused. "But Keir told me there were repercussions to breaking a promise."
"Wecan't break them," she said again. "Humans can. Some faelings can. If they can lie, they can break a deal, and our people find that to be a true crime. If we cannot trust your words, then the penalties should be severe."
"But I'm human," I said again. "I don't understand what that has to do with the culture on Faerie."
She giggled. "We had humans there too, Rain! I mean, they were rare and usually a big deal. Most were stories from history, but we know they exist. It's kinda why we came here all the time. Our magic allowed us to cross from Faerie to Earth. Humans needed help to get back."
"Oh." Ok, that was a detail no one had told me before.
"Yeah, we learned about it in History last year." She waved that off. "But the piece you're missing is that this is a school for the sidhe. Not for all fae, but only the sidhe. That's why you don't see trolls or sirens in your classes. The sidhe wanted safety, and we found it. For many, it's shelter from not only the Mad Queen, but also the wildlings, because both of them can hurt us."
"So I shouldn't be here?" I asked.
She shrugged. "You're not either one. You're human, and the rules allow human relatives of fae." Then a little smile appeared. "Rain, it's a loophole, and Ms. Rhodes is using it. Since the Morrigan is always a benefit to the sidhe, I don't think anyone's going to complain."
"But they would if a jevadu wandered into a classroom," I realized, reading between the lines. "That's fucking stupid. I mean, everyone's fine with Jack!"
"Jack!" he agreed.
She gave me a weak smile. "Yeah, but Jack can't pretend to be one of us. He is clearly a crow."
"And that makes a difference?" I scoffed. "He's still a wildling. Are jevadu really that different?"
"They feed on sidhe, draining them of magic." She grimaced. "So, yeah. I mean, they shouldn't be, but I can see where someone might be scared of one. For most of us, they're the monster in our bedtime stories. You know, the ones used to make sure we behave."
