utilitarian, but perfectly functioning. Justice was next door, and I never heard a sound out of her when we retired at the end of our shifts.
Part of what drove me insane was wondering what the hell she was doing over there.
“She has huge walls around her emotions,” Grace told me, “and she doesn’t trust men. There have been no positive examples of a decent male in her life. Not from her foster families, to the last megalomaniac that attempted to steal her power. You’re going to have to work harder to break through her emotional barriers.”
Grace knew Justice far better than me, a fact that annoyed me more than it should have.
I was losing it.
“I need to get out of here,” I muttered again. “I’ll call you all later.”
I heard their protests, but I was already hanging up. This was probably the first time in their lives they’d had to worry about me losing my cool, and I knew they’d be formulating a plan to get us out of here early.
I needed them to succeed, or things could really go to hell.
Opening the window on my third story room, I swung my legs over the side, launching out. Using the wind, I slowed my descent so that I didn’t slam into the ground and wake everyone. Glancing up at the dark window next to mine, I thought for a second the curtains flickered, but when there was no sign of Justice, I turned and strode toward the only piece of nature available to me. It was a small garden with a few trees and a lot of perennial flowers—nothing like Stratford, but enough to sustain me.
The moment the energy of the trees surrounded me, I pressed my hands against the closest trunk, sighing as my energy vibrated in sync with the energy all flora produced, resetting me to a place of calm.
I stayed like that for a long time, losing myself to the commune with nature. When I finally pulled away, taking the path back to my room, the sun was starting to rise in the sky.
4
Justice Winter
I’d watched him for half the night. I told myself it was because I was worried about him, and that wasn’t even a lie, but there was something more. I was drawn to the prickly Compass in a way I never remembered being drawn to anyone. I couldn’t explain it. I hadn’t even tried to explain it, but I had decided long ago not to lie to myself about my true feelings.
The truth was, Jacob Compass stirred emotion deep inside my chest … maybe even deeper than that.
In my soul.
The fact that we might be true mates had crossed my mind more than once, but my entire life was built on abusive relationships, power struggles, and evil as fuck men. A soulmate … I wasn’t sure how I felt about having one of those.
Just sleep with him and find out.
My inner voice was starting to piss me off. Pushing me to “find out” by seducing the fey—apparently that was how jeweled princesses discovered their true mates.
This was one of the few things I’d learned from my parents, fey I had spent next to no time with because I couldn’t bring myself to acknowledge that they even existed.
Yeah … Jacob wasn’t the one with issues. It was definitely me.
The heavy knock on my door didn’t startle me. Every morning at exact 6 A.M, rain or shine, Jacob knocked to let me know our shift was starting. And even though he must have been out in the forest until near sunrise, he didn’t miss today.
Pulling on the stiff jacket that was a stupid and uncomfortable part of the uniform, I pushed a few strands of my braid back and went to answer the door.
“Hey,” Jacob said, showing not a single sign that he’d had no sleep: perfect hair, perfect green eyes, perfect uniform of dark grey trousers and button up white shirt, that looked tailored even though they had just been thrown at us with almost no care at all. No one could ever mistake this guy as human—he was too godlike for that.
“You okay?” he asked, eyes narrowing as he took me in. “Did something happen?”
Giving myself a mental scolding, I forced a smile. “No, nothing happened and I’m fine. Just didn’t sleep very well last night.”
His expression shuttered, and I sensed he wanted to ask why, but didn’t. “Ready to go, then?”
No. Not even remotely.
“Let’s get this shit over with.” The monotony of