Lachlan grinned. “I’d be more than happy to share my girl with you guys. With all of us, she’d never be alone or be in danger.”
“Mygirl,” Thorn corrected.
Moving my glasses to the top of my head, I chuckled. “Ourgirl, right?”
Lachlan’s brows went up, and Thorn smirked.
“Our girl,” they corrected, and the magic in my veins hummed with satisfaction.
TWENTY-ONE
Rhett
Draggingahanddownmy face, I let out a discreet sigh. “So you’re wanting to do what, exactly? Make life hard on some helpless girl that your rival likes?”
The fire fae, Nate, nodded with a hesitant grin. “That’s the plan, yeah.”
I grabbed my pen and jotted down the word ‘unstable’ in his file before clicking the pen and setting it down. “Explain to me why that would be beneficial.”
He chuckled, raking his fingers through his red hair. “The Ice Kingdom and the Fire Kingdom are at war in the Fae Realm. The Earth and the Wind Kingdoms are staying neutral, so it’s between us. The dude is the Ice Fae destined to rule over the Ice Kingdom, and I’m the Fire Fae destined to take over the Fire Kingdom. He and I used to be best friends, actually…” His mouth twisted.
I let a small amount of my pheromones out, just enough to relax him a bit. “What happened there?”
He shrugged, leaning back in the chair and crossing his ankle over a knee. “My parents declared war against his, and it forced us to sever our friendship.”
“Why did your parents wage war?”
“They didn’t tell me. I tried to find out, but nobody knows. Their hatred for his parents can’t be for nothing though.”
“So you have no actual reason to hate this ice fae?”
His face soured even more, and he exhaled. “Bloodshed between our kingdoms isn’t enough?”
“No, Nate, it’s not.” I clicked the pen and wrote ‘hatred for the sake of hate’ in his file. “Do you want to know what I think?”
“What?”
“I think someone is telling you to hurt this ice fae. I think you don’t actually want to harm him, and you’re hurt and angry with the situation your parents have put you in.” I exuded a little more pheromones, and his shoulders dropped.
“What else am I supposed to do to ensure my kingdom comes out victorious?” His voice shook. “If I could just convince him to step down as the future ruler…”
“By hurting an innocent girl that you’re not even positive the fae likes?”
He shrugged. “He just seemed protective of her when I saw them together.”
Gliding the pen over the paper again, I wrote, ‘potential danger to a student’, and wrote in my notes, ‘dig into the files and find the ice fae prince.’ There were several ice fae on campus, and while I knew the prince of the Ice Kingdom was in attendance, I wasn’t sure which fae that was.
Putting the pen down, I steepled my fingers and leaned forward. “Nate, I don’t think bringing any other being into the dispute between you and the other fae will help anyone. If you have your issues, you need to deal with them directly.”
He snorted. “Direct. That’s stupid. That’s how you die in war. You have to be cunning.”
“I’m not here to coach you about war. I’m here to help you figure out how you’re feeling, and I don’t think you’ll feel good about yourself if someone gets caught in the crosshairs between you and this other fae.”
“Casualties are inevitable in war. I’ll be fine.” He jerked his head to the side to glance at the door.
“Very well, but I still discourage it. If I hear word of you harassing an innocent student, I will be sure to give your name to the headmaster with an expulsion request,” I told him as I got to my feet. “If you need to talk about anything else, you know where I am.”
Nate pushed up out of his seat and walked out of the door without looking back, and I sucked in every bit of my pheromones before collapsing back into my chair with a sigh.
