I loosed an arrow. It soared through the night air and sunk heavily into the Redcap’s left paw. Mouth opened wide, it roared and lunged toward me. I was too slow this time. Its mouth closed around my leg, its teeth slicing through my skin. Pain exploded behind my eyes, and I dropped to the ground. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. The pain wasunbearable.
I closed my eyes and sucked deep breaths in through mynose.
I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to behere.
Wind whooshed around me, and I braced myself, waiting for the killing blow from the creature. But it didn’t come. Instead, I heard a soft clap. And then another. And then a light chuckle that came with the scent of burning leaves and dampdirt.
When I opened my eyes, I was no longer on the cliff with the creature bearing down on me. I was back in the Academy courtyard with the recruits staring at me wide-eyed and open-mouthed. The royals stood just to my right, softly clapping and nodding while Kael, the horrible fae who had abandoned me, was nowhere to beseen.
Rourke was suddenly there, holding a hand as he leaned over me. “Well done. You’re the first new recruit to shift. That means you’re likelymine.”
Chapter Twelve
“So,let me get this straight. Only Autumn and Winter fae can shift?” I sat in the infirmary bed, flipping through a book my roommate had brought for me. She’d found it in the library, the sole copy of a book we’d be covering in one of our classes next semester: The Magic of the FourCourts.
“That’s what it says,” she said with a nod, pointing at the book. “All fae have access to certain powers and strengths, like the whole bow and arrow thing, apparently.” She cleared her throat, knowing it was still very much a sore subject for me. “But then there are specalized gifts, likeshifting.”
I wrinkled my nose and crossed my arms over the thin infirmary sheet. “Why do they call it shifting? I would have thought that term meant changing into something else. You know, like werewolves orsomething.”
She let out a light laugh. “Wouldn’t that be something? Well, apparently it just means you’re shifting through space. From one location to thenext.”
“Which I did,” I said. “So, that means I’m definitely notSpring.”
A strange feeling passed through me, a mixture of both excitement and disappointment. Knowing that I was a member of one of the two darker courts meant that the strange connection I’d felt with Finn was really nothing at all. Those moments where he passed me in the hallway and winked, there was no reason I should blush in response. He belonged to someone else. Most likely myroommate.
I’d known that deep down inside, but having it confirmed made me feel more disappointed than I would haveexpected.
I frowned. “I can’t believe I’m probably going to end up mated to the fae who was willing to leave me for dead just to prove apoint.”
She pursed her lips. “I don’t think he left you for dead, Norah. He didn’t shift back into the courtyard before you gotback.”
“Are you sure? He disappeared right in front of me. And he left me those arrows so that I had to fend for myself,knowingthere was a Redcap in thatcave.”
“Yeah, I don’t think he actually left you,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “He probably shifted, like, five feet away. Close enough to step in just in case you weren’t able to manage thebow.”
“Well, if that’s the case, then why didn’t he come back when the Redcap bit me,” I said, frown deepening. “Face it, Sophia. I’m stuck with Kael, a fae who couldn’t care less about what happens tome.”
She shrugged and leaned back into the plastic chair she’d pulled up next to my bed. “I don’t think Winter fae are as unfeeling and emotionless as you think they are. Maybe he’ll end up surprising you as much as you surprised everyone when you appeared in the middle of the courtyard likethat.”
I scowled. “Unlikely.”
* * *
“How’s the wound?”The sweet scent of sunflowers whispered in from the open doorway of the infirmary. I glanced up from my reading. I had gotten pretty engrossed in the book about the four different powers and gifts, to the point where I hadn’t realized that several hours had passed until I spotted the clock on the wall behindLiam.
“It really freaking hurts,” I said with a half-wince, half-smile. “How long do you think it’s going to take toheal?”
He eased into the room and shut the door behind him with a click. “Unassisted? It could takeweeks.”
“You mean, withoutmedicine?”
His eyes flashed as he strode across the room and pushed the chair around so that the back was facing me. Then, he perched in it, legs spread wide on either side of the plastic. “Looks like you’ve been doing some interesting reading. Have you gotten to the chapters about the Summer faegifts?”
“No,” I admitted. “I’ve been kind of engrossed in the parts about the Winter and the Autumn fae. I guessbecause...”
“Because you think you’re one of them,” he finished for me. “And you’d be right. You’re an Autumn or a Winter. Rourke is going around telling everyone you’re his, though I’d place bets on you beingWinter.”
“What with the whole Redcapthing.”
