“Liam,” I whispered, shaking my head as I flicked my eyes to the wall. There was in fact a massive hole, and the wood had splintered all over thefloor.
“If something happened to you,” he growled, “I don’t know how I could handle it. It would destroy me, Norah. Don’t you getthat?”
His grip tightened on my neck, and he yanked me closer. Hungry lips pressed against mine, and his tongue dove into my mouth. Excitement and desire sparked through me. Heat spread through my gut. I pressed up onto my toes and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling himcloser.
He growled and hooked his arms underneath my legs, hoisting me from the ground. I almost moaned from how good it felt to have his lips on my skin. It was every bit as passionate and fiery as I’d imagined. Maybe even moreso.
A throat cleared from behind us, and Liam stiffened. I pulled away from him, breath heaving, stars dancing in my eyes. Someone had walked in on us, and I had the sneaking suspicion that it might be one of my other instructors. Hopefully, it wasn’tKael.
“Liam, I thought you knew better than to get involved with a changeling recruit before her graduation.” The Head Instructor’s voice was sharp and cold, and dread slipped down my spine. Slowly, Liam eased me onto the ground. My knees were shaky underneath me, especially when I turned to face the Head Instructor. Her face reflected everything in hervoice.
“Apologies.” He gave her a curt nod, one that held none of the warmth he’d just been showering on me. “But I have reason to believe that Norah is mymate.”
“As far as I’m aware, Kael has much more reason to believe she’s a Winter fae.” She tsked, shaking her head. “There are reasons these rules exist, Liam. Go to my office. I’ll be there shortly, and we’ll have a chat about thissituation.”
“It was my fault,” I blurted out. I had no idea why I said it. The words just popped out before I could stopthem.
She raised her eyebrows. “I don’t doubt you were involved in this, but I have something else I need to speak with you about. Bree Paine. I’ve received word from the Autumn Court that her wounds infected her, and she’s quickly transforming into a Redcap. And they believe you know where sheis.”
My heart hammered hard. “I don’t know what youmean.”
“You know exactly what I mean.” A pause. “Where is she,Norah?”
“Honestly, I have no idea,” I said, hoping she could see the truth in my eyes. Because I didn’t know where Bree was. She’d been run out of the Autumn Court, and there was no telling where she’dgone.
The Head Instructor narrowed her eyes and sniffed. “For your sake, I hope you’re telling the truth. Because if she shows her Redcap face anywhere near this Academy, we won’t hesitate to shoot her on thespot.”
Chapter Twenty
“Where have you been?”Sophia hissed when I took my seat next to her in our History of the Fae class. “You keep disappearing all the time, and people keep asking me where you are. I don’t want to get you in trouble, but there’s only so long I can make upexcuses.”
“Sorry,” I said with a wince. “There’s been a lot going on. Kael and Liam have been giving me some extra training since I pretty much suck at everything. Guess they think I’ll be useless if I don’t get anyhelp.”
I hated lying to Sophia. She’d been nothing but good to me since we’d met. She was always there to listen to me complain about Watch Duty, she’d never judged me once for my terrible skills, and she didn’t laugh when I fell flat on my face when I tried something new. And now I was repaying her by keeping secrets to myself. Truth was, I was just too scared to tell anyone what was going on. The entire Academy hated the Redcaps, and half the new recruits were hoping to join the Hunters when they graduated. If any of them knew I was trying tohelpone of the ‘monsters’...well, I didn’t think it would go down verywell.
She frowned. “That’s strange, since Liam was one of the people who was asking me where you’dgone.”
“Right.” A pause. “Well, he and Kael aren’t great at letting each other know what’s goingon.”
What a lame excuse. If I were her, I’d see straight throughit.
Luckily, Finn saved me from having to come up with more nonsense to throw ather.
He strode to the front of the class, and his eyes met mine for a long moment. They sparked with something....dangerous almost. Frowning, I made a question with my eyes, but his gaze merely intensified. What was goingon?
When he reached the front of the class, he dropped a heavy book on the table where it fell with a thump so loud that it made the entire class fall into an eerie hush. And then he smiled that devilish smile of his before shoving the book straight into the trash can beside hisdesk.
“If you look at your syllabus, you’ll see that we were scheduled to discuss the lineage of Gregor the Giant, but that’s pure nonsense. We don’t need to talk about that today.” He flicked his eyes toward me, and then away again. “Instead, we’re going to cover a topic that I believe many of you are very interested in. Marin, the Queen of Fae who was assassinated by the AutumnCourt.”
Every single changeling in the room sat up straighter, including me. I’d been begging to hear this story. I’d even searched the library for information on her. If there’d ever been any books about her reign, they’d beenremoved.
He smiled, and his perfect teeth sparkled underneath the glow of the overhead lights. “That’s what I thought. You see, Marin is cloaked in a bit of mystery here at the Academy. And elsewhere in Otherworld, if you’re too young to have been there yourself. Luckily for all of you, I was alive during those times. I was even present at the event where she wasassassinated.”
I glanced at Sophia and raised my eyebrows. She looked just as intrigued as Ifelt.
Finn continued. “You see, each year there is an Royals Ball to commemorate the new political structure of Otherworld. Before Marin died, there were Four Courts, but each of them was ruled by a Lord and a Lady. They were able to make small decisions for their fae, but at the end of the day, Marin had the last word. The Autumn Court yearned for sovereignty. So, they tookit.”
I shook my head and leaned forward on my elbows just as Sophia raised her hand with a question. “Why did that give the Courts sovereignty? Surely if she died, her son or her daughter would take over instead? Or another family member? At least that’s how it works in the humanworld.”
