He nodded before letting the shadows down around us and fading into them himself, but I didn’t think he’d be far away.
“Okay,” Thorn stated, wrapping a hand around mine and using his powers to coat my skin in a cool sheen of ice. “I’m not sure when you got so close with Damien, but he’s very protective of you... and that’s a good thing.”
I smiled, nodding as I took a few deep breaths. “It is.”
“What was that about?” Trixie asked, crossing her arms and jerking her chin toward the spot where Grayson was. “He’s an asshole, but how areyouinvolved with him?”
“I’m not involved with him,” I snapped, and her face fell.
“I didn’t mean it like that, babe.” She grabbed a hold of her mushroom necklace that was identical to the one she gave me. “I just meant, what happened? I can hex him if you want.”
My fingertips brushed my mushroom necklace, and I glanced at everyone. Kian was staring at me with concern marring his features, Lachlan was trying not to stare but kept glancing at me with caution, and Thorn’s eyes still hadn’t left the side of my face. Alister had stalked off shortly after Grayson had left, so he wasn’t there.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t think—”
“Let’s change the subject,” Thorn interrupted, and the tightness in my throat lessened.
I knew I had to tell them about Grayson eventually, but I wasn’t ready to do that just yet. Pity was one thing I’d been given in the village as a child, and I couldn’t bear to see those who I thought of as friends look at me with pity in their eyes.
NINE
Thorn
Wrenwasashiningstar.
Everywhere she went, light followed her. Darkness surrounded her, but it only made her shine brighter. It was a matter of time before others would notice her sweet nature and be drawn in, just like I had.
I’d been in love with her since I was six. I prayed to the Fates that I was one of her mates every single day, but they hadn’t come through yet. Instead, they mated her to a complete thimbleweed who had the audacity to reject her.
Sharing her affections was something I’d prepared myself for, but the jealousy whipped around in my chest like a typhoon. I’d had her to myself for so long.
Damien, the shadow demon, had shown the most interest in her. He was obsessed, and he stalked her—something she didn’t seem to mind. In fact, it was as if she liked it. We had only been at the academy for a day and she’d gained the interest of several suitable males. Males I had a feeling could be her mates.
She was blossoming in Fate Hollow, but I already noticed a few students painting a red target on her back. That toadflax of a professor in Herbology, Ms. Fallon, had it out for her already. Just like Mirella did. It all stemmed from jealousy, but I didn’t think Wren would understand that. She was too big-hearted.
Not to mention, last night when I was in the library checking out a text on Herbology so I could impress Wren, I overheard two guys, trolls of course, gloating about catching her alone at night and all the depraved things they’d like to do to her.
The rage that seized my heart was unlike anything I’d experienced before. I’d been angry in the past. I was angry when the Fire Kingdom waged a war on the Ice Kingdom over nothing and I’d lost my best friend due to the hatred of our parents. But the anger I felt when Wren could be in danger was so much worse.
I wasn’t the only one who had overheard them, though. Damien came out of the shadows, legitimately yanking the guy's pants down and castrating him on the spot, while I’d struck a bargain with the other and sent the guy to my friend Steve.
Steve was a Kelpie, and we had an understanding that whatever being I sent to him, he was to drown in the lake that was in the land my kingdom had allowed him to inhabit.
Those two weren’t a threat anymore, but I knew there’d be more.
I had Steve write a letter before he left to the headmaster, stating that he was leaving the academy to pursue other passions. I doubted anyone would care. He didn’t seem like a being that would be missed very much.
Shoving a hand through my hair, I pushed open the door to our suite and walked inside, only to be disgusted.
Mirella was straddling Grayson with their bottom halves under some covers on the sofa in our living space. It was obvious what they were doing by the stifled moans and movements.
Holding back a gag, I bee-lined toward Lachlan’s room that had the door opened a crack.
He was snoring on his bed, oblivious to what our roommates were doing.
I didn’t understand how someone could reject their mate, a mate as perfect as Wren, and go further to stoop low enough to be intimate with someone else. The Fates would make him pay for spitting in their faces.
Tossing my bag on the floor next to Lachlan’s bed, I sat on the bed, making him groan.
