Page 34 of Midnight Star

“No. You’re the one who’s not thinking straight,” he rushes to continue. “It’s because of Aerix. He’s jealous of us. He’s trying to turn you against me. Don’t you see that?”

“There’s no way Aerix is jealous ofyou,”I say, and I raise the rake, threatening to slash him with it again.

I won’t—at least, I don’t think I will. But if I don’t get through to him now, I have a sinking feeling that his infatuation will just get worse.

Plus, his accusations and assumptions about what’s going on between me and Aerix are really pissing me off.

“Zoey,” he repeats my name slowly. “You need to calm down. I’m not going to hurt you. I love you. If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t still be here with you after you attacked me with that thing. Don’t you see that?”

I’m staring at him, thrown by how quickly this escalated, when Aurora’s suddenly standing at the edge of the garden, her eyes wide with concern.

Aurora—the king’s pet who’s always reading in the courtyard. She’s the most beautiful of all of us, and the most docile. The least willing to socialize, let alone place herself in the middle of a confrontation.

“Is everything all right here?” she asks, her eyes darting between me and Jake.

I lower the rake, my knuckles aching from how tightly I’ve been gripping it. “It’s fine,” I say quickly,even though my heart is racing, and my hands are trembling. “I have it handled.”

Aurora raises one delicate eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. “If you say so,” she tells me, and then she looks at Jake, her eyes narrowing. “You should go,” she tells him, and he bristles, his shoulders tightening.

“This doesn’t involve you, Aurora,” he says, his voice edged with frustration.

“It does now,” she replies evenly, not giving an inch.

He laughs and runs his fingers through his hair, as if he can’t believe this is happening. “You never say a word to any of them,” he says, “but suddenly you’ve got something to say aboutthis?”

She doesn’t move, her measured calm unshaken. “I speak when it’s necessary,” she says, glancing at the scratches on his arm. “And it looks like you’ve said enough here.”

Jake exhales slowly, his face crumpling with frustration. “Fine,” he gives in. “I’ll go. But Zoey… this isn’t over. You’re just confused right now, and scared. I’m going to fix this. I’ll figure out a way to make things right. I promise.”

He turns to leave, his shoulder bumping Aurora’s as he hurries past her to storm inside the palace.

When he’s gone, I become painfully aware of our audience.

Malakai’s girls—Lacey, Katerina, and Brenda—arehuddled over the table where they’re playing cards, whispering among themselves. Isla’s holding tightly onto her whittling knife, as if she was ready to attack Jake with it if he kept pushing me.

Henry’s already moving toward us, his trademark smirk firmly in place.

“Well, that was quite a show,” he says, his eyes traveling down my body in a way that makes my skin crawl. “Never thought I’d see someone take down lover boy with a garden tool.”

“I’m sure you know a thing or two about handling tools,” I say, raising the rake.

“You’re funny.” He laughs, tilting his head and studying me. “And now that you’re in need of a new swimming instructor, I’d be happy to offer my services.”

“I’d rather drown,” I say, not breaking his gaze.

Aurora looks back and forth between us with a hint of a smile.

Meanwhile, I continue my staring contest with Henry, refusing to lower the rake.

Aurora takes the opportunity to break the tension.

“I’ve always been interested in gardening,” she tells me, speaking slowly, as if she’s trying to talk me down. “Do you need any help with anything?”

Only if it involves using this rake to slash the smug smile off Henry’s face,I think, although now that she’s here, Idon’t want to startle her and lose what could be a good opportunity to talk to her.

Maybe I can learn more about the Night Court from her. Or maybe I can make another friend.

Right now, I’d take either.

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