Page 169 of Rebellious Royals

"I figured you don't have the heart to kill me, so at least strip my power. We both know you can. You're the Morrigan. You must be able to."

"Stripping magic is your thing," she threw back.

"And I can't do it anymore!" I roared, storming toward her. "Don't you get that? I tried to strip that little bitch who was going to attack you. Iwantto hurt these people. Every time one of them comes at my sister's subjects, I can't think of anything but the pain I could cause. How I should hurt them. The ways I coulddestroy these pathetic people who don't have enough power to stop me!"

And she pushed into my face, proving she had no fear of me at all. "No, you don't!"

Those warm brown eyes of hers glared into mine. They held me. Panting, I tried to find a way to force her to do this, but nothing came to mind. I wouldn't push her. I couldn't use magic on her.

So I forced myself to be calm, cold, and cruel. "I am still fae," I reminded her. "Lying is one thing I cannot do."

"No, but you can twist the truth enough to still count," she shot back. "Sure, you want to hurt people when they attack the ones you care about. Yeah, I'm sure you want to make them all pay. Know what? So do I. That's called caring, Torian. It's pretty fucking normal, but the difference? Good people only think it. They don't do it, and you haven't done a single thing wrong."

"Iamwrong."

Her eyes narrowed, and her head shifted sideways slightly as if she was trying to reject that. "How?"

"You know how! I'm the heir to two thrones. I'm cursed, Rain! As long as I'm alive, my mother still has her fingers reaching for the Winter Crown! That was her plan: kill the monarch, put me on the Winter Throne, and then take everything for herself. To use me."

"Then don't let her."

"They will fucking kill Aspen to make sure of it!" I screamed.

She tensed at the volume, but still didn't step back. "They won't be able to touch her."

"And that's where you're wrong." Slinging a hand up in frustration, I turned to storm across my room, needing to move before I did something stupid. "Rain, they keep trying new things. First, it was attacking Winter users to test the waters. They fucking came at Wilder in his room!"

"And we stopped them," she pointed out. "Hawke was there."

"They just had seven simultaneous attacks!"

"And you - yes you, Torian - have convinced enough people your plan is worth fighting for that they were stopped. Regular students, including the sentinels, jumped in to stop it. Teachers are watching the halls now. Ms. Rhodes is doing everything she can to find them, kick them out or limit their magic, and to fix this."

"Hate can't be fixed," I said softly.

And her breath rushed out. "What?"

"This!" I said, gesturing around us. "The bullshit about Summer and Winter? It's based on hate. All of this was my mother's plan, don't you see that? If she could make us hate each other, she could easily get others to do her dirty work for her. She locked the Wild Hunt on this world, adding to the fear and paranoia. In desperation, some want to capitulate to her, convinced she'll somehow know. In the end, they're all working on fear and hate, and those two things are more dangerous than any magic in either of our worlds!"

"So why have people been so excited about the idea of one court?" she asked, lifting a brow.

I waved that off, refusing to allow her to derail me. "I need you to take my power."

"And I'm not going to."

"But you have to!" Groaning, I shoved my hair back. "You have to do it now, because they've realized I'm tied to the Winter Crown!"

Rain simply looked over to the crow, who was silently watching us, his head snapping from her to me each time we spoke. "Jack?" she asked.

"Court..." he murmured.

"Yeah." She lifted her arm, a clear sign for him to come closer.

Jack flew the short distance, landing so he could face her. For a moment, the pair simply looked at each other, then Rain turned for my door.

"What are you doing?" I asked, thinking she was going to just leave me here.

But she opened the door and told him, "Find Aspen."

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