Chapter 4 (part 2)

Nicasia gloats through the lesson, proud of her heritage. When the instructor moves on to Lord Roiben of the Court of 'Termites, I lose interest. My thoughts drift. Instead, I find myself thinking through combinations-strike, thrust, parry, block. I grip my pen as though it were the hilt of a blade and forget to take notes.

As the sun dips low in the sky, Taryn and I unpack our baskets from home, which contain bread, butter, cheese, and plums. I butter a piece of bread hungrily.

Passing us, Cardan kicks dirt onto my food right before I put it into my mouth. The other faeries laugh.

I look up to see him watching me with cruel delight, like a raptor bird trying to decide whether to be bothered devouring a small mouse. He's wearing a high-collared tunic embroidered with thorns, his fingers heavy with rings. His sneer is well-practiced.

I grit my teeth. I tell myself that if I let the taunts roll off me, he will lose interest. He will go away. I can endure this a little longer, a few more days.

"Something the matter?" Nicasia asks sweetly, wandering up and draping her arm over Cardan's shoulder. "Dirt. It's what you came from, mortal. It's what you'll return to soon enough. Take a big bite."

"Make me," I say before I can stop myself. Not the greatest comeback, but my palms begin to sweat. Taryn looks startled.

"I could, you know," says Cardan, grinning as though nothing would please him more. My heart speeds. If I weren't wearing a string of rowan berries, he could ensorcell me so that I thought dirt was some kind of delicacy. Only Madoc's position would give him reason to hesitate. I do not move, do not touch the necklace hidden under the bodice of my tunic, the one that I hope will stop any glamour from working. The one I hope he doesn't discover and rip from my throat.

I glance in the direction of the day's lecturer, but the elderly phooka has his nose buried in a book.

Since Cardan's a prince, it's more than likely no one has ever cautioned him, has ever stayed his hand. I never know how far he'll go, and I never know how far our instructors will let him.

"You don't want that, do you?" Valerian asks with mock sympathy as he kicks more dirt onto our lunch. I didn't even see him come over. Once, Valerian stole a silver pen of mine, and Madoc replaced it with a ruby-studded one from his own desk. This threw Valerian into such a rage that he cracked me in the back of the head with his wooden practice sword. "What if we promise to be nice to you for the whole afternoon if you eat everything in your baskets?" His smile is wide and false. "Don't you want us for friends?"

Taryn looks down at her lap. No, I want to say. We don't want you for friends.

I don't answer, but I don't look down, either. I meet Cardan's gaze. There is nothing I can say to make them stop, and I know it. I have no power here. But today I can't seem to choke down my anger at my own impotence.

Nicasia pulls a pin from my hair, causing one of my braids to fall against my neck. I swat at her hand, but it happens too fast.

"What's this?" She's holding up the golden pin, with a tiny cluster of filigree hawthorn berries at the top. "Did you steal it? Did you think it would make you beautiful? Did you think it would make you as we are?"

I bite the inside of my cheek. Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever. Valerian's hair shines like polished gold. Nicasia's limbs are long and perfectly shaped, her mouth the pink of coral, her hair the color of the deepest, coldest part of the sea. Fox-eyed Locke, standing silently behind Valerian, his expression schooled to careful indifference, has a chin as pointed as the tips of his ears. And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest, with black hair as iridescent as a raven's wing and cheekbones sharp enough to cut out a girl's heart. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

"You'll never be our equal," Nicasia says.

Of course I won't.

"Oh, come on," Locke says with a careless laugh, his hand going around Nicasia's waist. "Let's leave them to their misery."

"Jude's sorry," Taryn says quickly. "We're both really sorry."

"She can show us how sorry she is," Cardan drawls. "Tell her she doesn't belong in the Summer Tournament."

"Afraid I'll win?" I ask, which isn't smart.

"It's not for mortals," he informs us, voice chilly. "Withdraw, or wish that you had."

I open my mouth, but Taryn speaks before I can. "I'll talk to her about it. It's nothing, just a game."

Nicasia gives my sister a magnanimous smile. Valerian leers at Taryn, his eyes lingering on her curves. "It's all just a game."

Cardan's gaze meets mine, and I know he isn't finished with me, not by a long shot.

"Why did you dare them like that?" Taryn asks when they've walked back to their own merry luncheon, all spread out for them. "Talking back to him-that's just stupid."

Make me.

Afraid I'll win?

"I know," I tell her. "I'll shut up. I just-I got angry."

"You're better off being scared," she advises. And then, shaking her head, she packs up our ruined food. My stomach growls, and I try to ignore it.

They want me to be afraid, I know that. During the mock war that very afternoon, Valerian trips me, and Cardan whispers foul things in my ear. I head home with bruises on my skin from kicks, from falls.

What they don't realize is this: Yes, they frighten me, but I have always been scared, since the day I got here. I was raised by the man who murdered my parents, reared in a land of monsters. I live with that fear, let it settle into my bones, and ignore it. If I didn't pretend not to be scared, I would hide under my owl-down coverlets in Madoc's estate forever. I would lie there and scream until there was nothing left of me.

I refuse to do that. I will not do that.

Nicasia's wrong about me. I don't desire to do as well in the tournament as one of the fey. I want to win. I do not yearn to be their equal.

In my heart, I yearn to best them.

...~~...

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***