“So, you don’t agree with the others. You don’t think we should force ourselves to stayapart.”
He pursed his lips, his eyes dancing in the dim light of the gym. “I think I want nothing more than to scoop you up in my arms and take you to bed. But it isn’t Alwyn I’m worried out, my love. It is the others. We’re your harem whether you realize it or not. We’re a unit, and the only way we can work is if we are honest and respectful of each other. So, regardless of what Alwyn would do, you and I? We’re still onpause.”
With a wicked wink, Finn spun from the door and disappeared into the hallway, leaving me even more frustrated and tense than I had beenbefore.
Chapter Nine
As I mademy way from the gymnasium to the dining hall, starving from the brutal workout I’d given myself, Alwyn stepped out from the shadows of a darkened doorframe and stopped me in my place. I bristled immediately. Even though Finn had explained why Alwyn was acting the way she was, it still didn’t change the fact that I hated how she spoke tome.
She wanted me to be the Queen of Otherworld, but she treated me as if I were achild.
“I need to speak to you alone,” she said, gesturing to her office door further down thehallway.
“Well, I was just on my way to get some food. It is lunchtime, you know. I realize I’m not one of your real changelings, but it doesn’t change the fact that I need to eatsometimes.”
I could have sworn she rolled her eyes. “I’m not here to argue with you, Norah. I need to speak with you. It would be wonderful if you came along to my office without making ascene.”
“Fine.” I crossed my arms over my chest and followed her down the hallway to her office. Once we were both inside, she shut the door quietly behind us and settled into a chair behind a massive mahogany desk. She drummed her fingers on the reddish wood, and then sighed. “I realize that you and I don’t always see things from the sameviewpoint.”
“You don’t say,” I couldn’t help but snarkback.
She exhaled a long breath through flared nostrils. “Queen Marin left this Academy in my responsibility. These changelings will only survive if they’re fully trained in the ways of this world. It is thankless work, most of the time. The rest of the realm looks down on us. But I made a pledge all those years ago, and I’ve stuck by that pledge, even when things were down. Everything I do here, I do it with the safety of this Academy in mind. I would do anything to protect my changelings. Do youunderstand?”
Well. This was far more of an explanation than I normally got from her. “Yeah, I can understandthat.”
“As hard as it is for you to believe, I do value your opinion,” she finally said, but slowly and strangely as if she had to drag the words out of her throat. “You have proven yourself time and time again, and I know you care for those less fortunate thanyourself.”
I stilled. “What is this about? You mean the Redcaps, don’t you? The ones that have only been transformed because of whatyoudo tothem.”
“Norah.” She let out a heavy sigh. “I personally wasn’t the one who did this to them. I didn’t come up with the Tithe. I didn’t determine how we pay it. It’s something that has been going on for centuries, long before either you and I were born. Even the great Marin, a powerful, compassionate fae I know you hold in esteem, she didn’t abolish this Tithe. She kept it going because she understood the repercussions if shedidn’t.”
“Just because it’s always been done doesn’t mean it’sright.”
“Of course it doesn’t.” She spread her hands across the table and pressed down hard. “I am not saying it’s right. But as I’ve told you time and time again, there is no other way for Otherworld to survive. That said, I appreciate your unending passion on this matter, so I will make you a deal. If you can think of another way, then I will take your idea to the courts and see what they all think. Until then, we must continue on with the changelings and the Redcaps and theTithe.”
So, I needed to come up with an alternative. I needed to find a different option for the Tithe. There had to be another way to give the Dark Fae what they wanted. It was time for things to change. The world couldn’t go on like this. We couldn’t keep swapping fae children for human children, stealing babies from their mothers, and allowing the magic of this realm to twist innocent beings into violentbeasts.
I didn’t know how and I didn’t know when, but I would find a way to stopit.
“Agreed. I will see what I can find.” I cocked my head when she didn’t dismiss me immediately. “Is that why you wanted to speak to me? To tell me I should find another way to beat theTithe?”
“Not beat the Tithe, Norah. Another way topayit.” Her chair creaked as she leaned back into the wooden frame. “But no, I called you in here to let you know that Shai awoke from her coma-like trance last night. She is fairly delirious and incomprehensible, but she admitted to all of the murders.Allof them. This means you have successfully found the guilty party. If you still want that information on your step-father…”
“That’s impossible. She couldn’t have done it.” Dread pooled in my stomach at the image of Bree’s face when she found out that her friend had killed the Hunters. She’d wanted so badly to be right. She’d wanted to believe the ones she cared about were resistant to the worst of thebeast.
And I’d been so convinced that she was right. I’d been so certain that Shai couldn’t be the killer. Perhaps my own bias had drowned out the facts. Perhaps I’d been too focused on what I wanted to be the truth that I didn’t see reality staring me right in theface.
“She has made her confession,” Alwyn said in a firm voice. “If she were a regular fae, then we would likely schedule her execution based on the severity of her crimes and the number of deaths. However, as I’ve mentioned before, she’s to stay alive until the Solstice of her eighteenth year. That’s almost two years from now. She’ll be kept in our dungeons for now, and then she’ll be moved to a more appropriate cell when we determined where that is. Most likely the Spring Court, as most of her victims were from thatseason.”
Alwyn’s words began to blur together in my mind. All I could picture was Bree’s crumpled face. Her friend would never again see the light of day, not until the Solstice night when she’d be tossed out onto thestreets.
“Do you understand,Norah?”
I glanced up, furrowing my eyebrow. I’d missed whatever that last part had been, but I didn’t get the chance to ask her to repeat it. A loud crack exploded from somewhere nearby, and a boom shook the ground beneath my feet. I cried out and grabbed at Alwyn’s desk as the stone floor rumbled underneathus.
“What’s going on?” Eyes wide and heartbeat racing, I met Alwyn’s wide eyes across the table. Her golden skin had morphed into a brutal chalk white. She clutched at her desk, mimicking my movements and looking as though her worst nightmare had come tolife.
“I don’t know,” she whispered, gritting her teeth when another wave of rumbles shook the floor. “Something like this has never happened before. It feels as though the ground is going to open up and swallow uswhole.”
