My mouth went bone dry as the guard walked away, and I ripped open the note. People were staring, no doubt wondering—as I was—if there had been some mistake.
Fallon Bane,
The queen and her council were delighted to receive your signed contract last night, although the bird feces stuck to the paper was not appreciated. It has been discussed and agreed that if you are able to restore Ariyon Madden to his former self, with his Maven healing powers intact, and you have your own magic back, there will be a spot on the Junior Royal Brigade waiting for you.
Secretary to Her Royal Highness,
Maxwell Bishop
‘Bird feces!’
Yanric cackled maniacally in my head, and I shot my familiar a glare.
“Holy Fae!” Eden read over my shoulder. “We’re going to be in the brigade together!”
“IfI get Ariyon back,” I hedged, guilt worming its way through me. I wanted to be excited about the invite into the brigade. It meant that I was a powerful warrior and had impressed the queen at the midterms, which I would have hoped, considering I saved her life. But it also meant she might be starting to trust me, to see me as a normal Gilded City citizen. In the meantime, though, I’d still lost her nephew—the love of my life—to the Realm of Rebirth.
“You will. I got Master Hart to get us approval to look in the rare editions library in the basement. We have to have a chaperone, but Master Clarke said he would do it after school today while he’s grading papers. We’re bound to find something there.”
Rare editions? That sounded promising. I peered around the courtyard and couldn’t help but see that Ariyon was missing. He should be here eating with us right now.
“Okay. Yeah.” It felt wrong to just go on with life and eat my lunch like Ariyon wasn’t fighting for his lift right now in the Realm of Rebirth.
If he became a Nightling, he was never going to forgive me.
Which meant I was totally going to die with my purity.
“Hello?” Eden waved her hand in front of my face. “Fallon.”
I shook myself. “Sorry, what?”
She was grinning. “Have you seen Blair today? She looks like she got trampled by a horse.”
Yanric snickered in my head.
I grinned a little at that. “She came to Hayes for healing, but he couldn’t make her eyebrow grow back.”
Yanric’s snicker turned into a full-on evil cackle.‘She will think twice before coming after us again.’
He must have said that to Eden too because her smile faltered. “Or her hatred will grow and, with it, a deep-seated desire for revenge. Just be careful, okay?”
I nodded.
‘Next time I’ll take her tongue. Try to grow that back,’Yanric sneered.
‘Okay, calm down, murder bird.’I shot Yanric a look that said to chill, and he ruffled his feathers and flew off.
The rest of the day passed quickly, and soon I was heading to Avis Apothecary. I was still working off my debt from when I’d broken in and stolen tinctures to try to heal my father and again when she’d given me help when he’d been injured at work. There wasn’t much to pay back now, and she had agreed to hire me on permanently three days a week until I graduated. I’d been upgraded from cleaning and dusting to actually helping her dry and bottle herbs.
“Hey, Avis,” I chimed as I stepped into the shop.
She was speaking with someone at the counter, and when they turned around, I frowned. It was Hayes.
What is he doing here?
Avis muttered something to him, and he left.
As he passed me, neither of us said a word to the other.
