Page 35 of Faerie Trials

The unexpected encounter with the king left me feeling ungrounded. Vulnerable. Something about him always felt like it probed my mind for weakness and prepared to stab in whatever tender spots were found.

Like bringing up my failing grades. Talk about a soft spot. He had no idea, of course, what I’d been doing to try and pass the classes in his stupid school.

Iwasimproving, slowly, I thought as I flipped to the last page I’d read, keeping the book elevated above the water. Not only would I get to the top of the class again, but I’d do it with style. I’d pass those damn Trials too and come out on top. Then it was only a few more years before graduation and I’d leave this damn city behind for good.

“I’ll show him,” I muttered.

“Tavi!”

I jerked at the sound of my name, splashing water and nearly dunking my book. Then my mouth went dry and my stomach swooped.

“M-Mike? What are you d-doing here?”

Gah, did I reallystutter? I gave a little giggle to cover up the nerves, the sound ending on a snort.Kill me now.I tossed the book over the edge to keep it safe and dry and sank down until my chin touched the water. Probably red-faced to match my hair, too.

“I didn’t realize you knew about this place,” he said, walking up slowly.

Mike didn’t have a towel with him.

And he was shirtless.Shirtless.

He was a golden god. He was sunlight and summer and everything good in the world.

And I was awkward as hell.

My mouth stayed dry and the rest of me began to tingle like I’d walked right into a hornet’s nest. Especially when he threw his legs over the edge and let his body slip into the water on the opposite end of the pool.

“I found it by accident,” I explained, sounding a bit defensive to my own ears. My mouth slipped too low in the water and some of the words came out as a gurgle. “I wanted a place to relax.”

He shot me a tense smile. “It’s the perfect place, then. No one really comes here anymore and I think a lot of the palace staff and courtiers have forgotten about it over the years. Mostly my mother and I come down here when we need to get away. And she’s been so busy lately. It’s good to know someone is making use of the hot springs.”

“Yeah.”

We stared at each other for a long moment, my gaze searching his. Neither of us had apologized after Coral’s party, and I wondered if I would be the one to break first or him. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Have you had—”

“What have you—”

We spoke at the same time and both ended up laughing. “You go,” I told him.

“I just wanted to know if you’re having a nice spring break,” Mike said. His gaze searched my face.

I slipped off the submerged rock ledge I’d been perched on and floated in the center of the pool for a moment, steam rising between us. “It’s been necessary,” I told him, legs kicking to keep me afloat.

He nodded. “You deserve some time off. I know things have been hectic.”

“You have no idea. How about you? Keeping busy?”

This felt awkward. We’d never been good with small talk, not really. Our conversations from the start tended to begin rather shallow but quickly dive deep. Even though there were secrets I could never share with him—like my bloodline—neither one of us was a stranger to the other. We’d always been able to communicate.

Except when we chose to freeze each other out. That we did really well. Seemed he was just as stubborn as I was.

Here in the grotto with the warm water working its magic, I didn’t want to shut him out anymore. And it looked like he didn’t want that, either.

“Look,” Mike said, trailing one large hand over the surface of the water, making ripples, “I’m sorry about what happened at Coral’s party. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. I…I wasn’t sure how to talk to you about it and I ended up staying away because I didn’t want to make things worse. I’m sorry.”

I straightened. “You are?”

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