Behind her desk, Ms. Rhodes shoved her face into her hands, letting her elbows hold the whole thing up. "Torian, you cannot drain students. You just can't!"
"Clearly, I can," he drawled.
So Ms. Rhodes slapped the surface of her desk. "Do you want everyone asking why you're here? We made an agreement - "
"And I told you that Aspen comes first!" Torian screamed, shoving to his feet. "'As long as my sister is not at risk.' Those were my words, and you cannot undo them. I don't give a damn if they stake me out for the Hunt to find as long as it's not her! Don't you understand, I'm - " And his mouth hung. Torian pushed against it, fighting so hard I saw a trickle of blood at the corner of his lips.
"Tor, stop!" Aspen begged, hopping up just to grab a tissue and press it to his mouth. "You can't do this to us, ok? I'm fine. Rain made sure of it, and you have to trust her too."
"I don't care what they call me," Torian told her, the anger in his voice losing its direction. "But the court? You are all off-limits. Even him!" And he thrust an arm out at me.
"Torian, what does he know?" Ms. Rhodes asked.
Wilder chuckled once. "He's figured out I'm a duke. Besides that? A whole lot of nothing."
"You didn't exactly hide it," I pointed out.
Wilder shrugged. "It's not something to be ashamed of, and it does take some heat off my friends. If my title gets out, guess what? I'll be the one they torment."
I felt my gaze narrowing as I tried to peer through the secret wrapped around his words. Wilder saw, smiled, then turned back to Ms. Rhodes as if nothing had happened. Sadly, all of their partial hints kept pointing one way, and that wasn't a very good direction at all.
So I asked Ms. Rhodes, "Why did you let them come here if they're a problem?"
"Because Silver Oaks is a school for the fae, and it's the only one we have in North America right now."
I heard all the evasions in those words. "And? Because that's too convenient of an answer, considering your reaction. I also have a feelingyoucan say the things they can't."
And the headmistress smiled. "The rest of the day," she said, ignoring my comment completely, "will be spent in your rooms. No, you cannot use the gates. If that magic is activated, all of you will be expelled." She looked at Torian. "And that will do nothing to help your sister, will it?"
"No," he grumbled.
"So spend the day and evening thinking about your actions. Consider what will happen if you edge around your promises. Just because you'vefound some loopholes doesnotmean you should use them! If Keir and Rain have an issue with our agreement, you are free to send them to me."
"I'm good," Rain said. "I also won't stop putting bullies in their place. And so you know, I kept my deal. Maybe I'm not compelled the way you are, but Zez said like for like. Well, that..." She grunted in frustration. "That boy! He hit Aspen with magic, so I sent shadows at him."
"She kinda blocked my flinch," Aspen admitted, sounding almost meek. "It was just all so fast, and I got pissed, so I tried to push, but the ice comes so easily lately!"
"It's the surplus of Winter magic," Ms. Rhodes said. "I'm hoping Nevaeh's situation will ease that a bit."
My mind was spinning. If Aspen was so powerful because so many Winter users were gone, then how strong was Wilder? Did Torian's magic ebb and flow with seasons, or merely because of who he'd drained last?
Sadly, I couldn't ask any of that. Rain was the only one who could even talk about it, and I had a feeling she didn't know any more than I did. Ms. Rhodes clearly wasn't about to give me a hint. Yet the strange thing was, I didn't mind. Granted, I did have one question, and I was pretty sure I'd get an answer to it.
"Rain, did you send your shadow to get me?"
"What?" she asked.
"Your shadow," I said. "It found me, waved for me to follow, and led me back to you. Well, led me close enough I couldn't miss what was going on, but I lost track of it after that."
Everyone else in the room looked at the floor below her. Right on cue, her shadow waved, but everything else about it was normal.
"Shadow!" Jack announced.
"They know that," Rain told him.
"Morrigan-Shadow!" Jack tried next.
That was enough to make Ms. Rhodes reach up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I was going to release you from your extra class, but I think today's actions provenoneof you are ready to be excused from that."
