thin around us. I imagine the pain I feel wearing Valerian’s brand and being treated like property is nothing to what she’s endured for years.
“I knew the moment I saw him that he was his own type of poison, just like the foxglove blossoms he was so lovingly collecting. I knew he would try to break me, that he would destroy me if he could, but I didn’t care.”
“Why?”
“Because a part of me wanted him to do it. To break me into a thousand pieces so that no one could own me, not him, not the Winter King, not anyone.” She blinks as if coming out of a trance. “I suspected he was only interested in me to hurt the Winter Prince, but when he told me he would buy my freedom . . .” She stands suddenly, wiping at the corners of her eyes. “It’s late. Are you ready?”
As I slide to my feet, I ask, “Why does he hate the prince?”
She cuts her eyes at me, any emotion I thought I saw in her face gone. “You mean, besides the prince’s arrogance and penchant for pissing off other courts?” Her hand waves over the silvery air, her fingers tracing the pale blue outline of a portal. “Hellebore blames the prince for his parents’ death.”
And . . . now it all makes sense. Why Hellebore wants to publicly take me from the prince and then humiliate me. Some Evermore vendetta. I’m not even surprised.
“Is the prince to blame?” I prod.
She shrugs, and I find her non-committal attitude over whether my possible future mate caused the death of two people rather alarming. “All I know is Hellebore blames the prince for something that happened that ended the alliance between his parents and the Summer King. Without the king’s support, his aunt, Queen Maub, could finally have them killed and take the Spring Court throne.”
After that, I don’t ask any questions, afraid my brain will explode if I learn one more thing about the horrible Evermore Courts. Eclipsa portals me straight to my dorms, and I stumble to the room I share with Mack to find her curled up asleep on the ancient moth-eaten loveseat, surrounded by textbooks.
Cool night air blows in through the open window, stippling her bare arms and legs.
After helping her to her bed, I close the window.
Something catches my eye.
Frowning, I pluck the trinket from the windowsill and hold it up to the moonlight, taking in the rounded shape and smooth petals. The rose is carved from amber, the golden material translucent. Half asleep, I look inside . . .
As soon as I make out the long, thin legs and hourglass marking on the spider suspended in the amber, a chill runs through me.
It’s a black widow, perfectly preserved and so lifelike I nearly throw the stupid thing.
You don’t even know you’re trapped in my web yet.
Prince Hellebore’s words reverberate inside my skull, and I know—I just know, this is from him. He’s watching me to see how I respond. Hardly daring to breathe as he waits for me to realize it was him, for me to become afraid.
“Get off on this, you sick pervert!” I hiss, throwing up my middle finger.
Grunting, I yank back open the window and toss the gift to the ground below. Then I slam the window down again, the force rattling the glass, and march to bed.
I have to keep this deranged foreplay going just long enough to get through school. By the time he asks for me to perform my part of the bargain and realizes I’ve tricked him, it will be too late. School will be almost over. Then he’ll go back to his inbred academy and I’ll never have to see him again.
I tell myself this over and over until I fall into a restless sleep.
26
“Why did you never tell me the city in the fall is this beautiful?” I ask Mack as we stroll down Fulton Street in Brooklyn, past rows of orange and gold trees. Valerian and Asher walk beside us, their heads on a swivel as they take it all in.
We’re on a field trip for our Modern Mortal World class. Professor Lochlan set us free in Manhattan this morning, and we’ve spent the day traversing the city. The point is to immerse our Keepers in human culture while teaching how to do human things like buy something with a credit card, follow the pedestrian crossing signs, and flag a taxi.
When it came to using the