Page 94 of Mistaken Magic

"Yep,"Iagreed, turning whenKeirgestured for me to take a chair.Thankfully, he claimed the empty one beside it. "So,Itake itI'mthe only one here?"

Pascalnodded. "Atthe table, yeah.Thereare a few of your kind in the school, but thisisa fae place."

"Faeling,"Keircorrected. "Don'ttry to make yourself sound all impressive,Pas."

"Didn'tmean it like that,"Pascalinsisted.

TheoneKeirhad calledAxelscoffed. "Ifshe's hanging onKeir, pretty sure you don't have a chance."

"AndTorian..."Daivonteased. "So, you two chasing the same girl again?"

"Fuckoff, man,"Keirwarned him. "Andto think,Isaid nice things about you guys."

"Notmany,"Iadmitted.

"Atleast two, so it's true," he pointed out. "Itold you they were my friends, andI'mpretty sureIsaid you should hang with us."

"Youjust wanted her away from your archnemesis,"Bransaid before turning to me. "Lastyear, he andTorianwere ready to tear down the entire school.Should'veseenTorian'sface when he realizedKeircan hold off his magic."

"Dowhat?"Iasked, turning toKeir. "Youtwo got into a fight?"

Keirgrinned. "HementionsTorianthrowing magic at me, and your response is to call it a fight?"

"Isn'tthat what it was?"Icountered. "Imean, most guysIgrew up with used fists, butI'vealready figured out things work differently here."

"KindalikeToriancasting that slow enchantment awhile back?"Bransighed. "Igot caught in it.Wasthree minutes late to class.Almostgot detention."

"IntheDwing?"Pascalasked. "Heardabout that.Coupleof teachers were stuck in it too."

"That'swhy he got away with it,"Daivonpointed out. "Fuckingdick.Theteachers won't shut him down because they can't."

Myhead was bouncing around likeIwas watching a tennis match, butIwas pretty sureIwas keeping up. "So,Torianis trouble, huh?"

"Saysthe one girl invited to the court,"Branmuttered. "Yeah, trouble's putting it mildly.Ijust want to know how you got in.Theyonly talk to fae fromFaerie.Noone else."

"Aspen'smy suitemate,"Iexplained. "Shewas kinda the only personIknew for the first week."

"And?"Branasked.

Finwaved him down. "He'sjust jealous.Wethought we had those four figured out.Withyou being included, we don't."

"Ok?"AndnowIwas lost.

Keirsighed. "Therumor was that the court was actually from the court.Like, children of nobility sent here to grow up.Realchangelings.Eventheir girlfriends were kept on the outside.That'swhy you sitting at their table causes such a stir with the jesters."

Yeah, two plus two equaled four.Didn'ttake a genius to figure out the big reveal there. "Whoused to date one of the jesters?"Iasked.

Keir'smouth closed quickly, butFinleaned back in his chair and laughed. "Oh, you didn't tell her about that, huh?It'sgreat,Rain.See,Keirwas bangingHarperValentina.Toriansmiled at the girl once and she dumpedKeir'sass and moved onto greener - or maybeElysianfields."

"Elysianfields?"I'dheard that before somewhere.

"Homeof theSummerCourt,"Keirexplained. "Consideredthe perfect landscape by some."

"Ah."Andyet, the rest of that hadn't passed me by. "Soyou andHarper?"

"Don'twant to talk about it,"Keirsaid.

"Alllast year,"Finwent on, completely ignoring him, "allIheard from his side of the suite wasHarpersquealing. 'More,Keir.Harder,Keir.'"

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