Unstoppable (Their Shifter Academy #6) - May Dawson Page 0,16

at me for a second, and then Raura took my arm again. The chill in the air between them seemed to dissipate, at least for now.

“Look at the mortal, so tactful,” Raura said to Arlen. “You should be more like him.”

He scoffed. Something had happened between them, something uglier than their usual banter.

“If he were a mortal, you’d be queen,” he told her.

“And I’d be back in my own world, watching cable television and spending time with my incredible girlfriend who is not at all related to me,” I said. The two of them turned skeptical gazes on me, but I was still pretty happy about that turn of events. All Maddie and I had to do was fight our way back to each other from separate worlds, and we could finally have our happy ending. “I’m here, though, so what the hell is going on with Faer?”

“Faer is the would-be High King of the four courts,” Raura explained.

All three of us raised our voices to talk over the wind that blew hard around us, shaking the entwined tree branches high above so that green leaves and white flowers fell along with droplets in a slow cascade.

“He has a sister, Alisa, who challenged him for the throne,” Arlen explained.

“She spent years trapped in the mortal world, poor thing, but she’s back now,” Raura explained.

“Faer wants to see the new ruler of the spring court. My theory is he wants you to pledge allegiance to him, as Turic once pledged to his father Herrick.” Arlen’s cold gaze met mine. “If I were you, I wouldn’t do that.”

“What happens if I do?” I asked. “In my world, the leaders of countries lie to each other. And… everyone else. It’s kind of just what they do.”

Arlen scoffed. “In our world, promises mean something. You can’t make a vow and take it back.”

“Sure. But I’m not planning to stay here forever.” There was a limit on how many promises I’d ever have to keep.

Raura shook her head. “I don’t know why you’d go back to that dreadful world of yours. I bet if they had the option, mortals would line up to escape into our realm.”

“Maybe.” I wasn’t getting drawn into yet another conversation about here’s all the ways your world sucks. It was still home—and it was where I’d find Maddie again. That was what mattered, once I fulfilled my responsibilities to my court. “What happens if I don’t make that pledge?”

“Faer sends his stringers to find you,” Raura said lightly.

“Or maybe just burns villages until you decide to turn up,” Arlen said.

“It’s hard to be a decent type.” Raura’s voice was mock-sympathetic; she must have seen the horror on my face. “Turic didn’t care about the villagers; that made ruling a lot less stressful for him.”

“You were his primary source of stress, weren’t you, Huntress?” I asked her lightly. She could pretend all she wanted, but the princess had fashioned herself into a superhero to take on her father and his cruel reign.

Arlen had been in love with the Huntress, and Raura had obviously been in love with Arlen, so I wasn’t sure why the two of them were malfunctioning and fighting each other now. Fae. They’re all drama queens.

“You are so sweet to me,” Raura told me lightly, and Arlen’s face darkened.

I took her hand off my arm and let it drop. “I know you Fae love your games, but I don’t want to play. I’m going to ask Fenig for her advice.”

Arlen and Raura looked at each other as I headed toward the castle. The stragglers of the funeral procession walked ahead of us in through the gates that led away from the forest.

A moment later, Raura and Arlen caught up to me, flanking me on either side.

“I’ll play nice,” Raura promised, although I doubted she could keep that promise; the girl was chaotic good personified.

“Tell me more about Faer,” I said. These two needed to be kept on track with a mission.

“His father, Herrick, somehow amassed all kinds of power. People say he made a deal with the Fae of the northern islands.” Raura’s voice dropped dramatically when she said the northern islands, but when I didn’t react, she went on normally, “Of course that doesn’t sound scary to you, but the Northern Fae are very scary to us. They’re blood Fae.”

“Well, that sounds terrifying,” I agreed. “Why exactly are they called blood Fae?”

Please don’t let them be vampires.

“They’re like vampires in your world,” Raura said. “Not the cute