“I’m Darby Fitzgerald,” she said, introducing herself. “I wanted to ask you, do you practice any weapons? My family has a beautiful spear that’s been passed down for generations. It’s between the length of a jo and a bo, and I believe my great great aunt used to wield it.”
“Nice,” Ragna said. “Do you have a picture of it?”
“I do, actually,” Darby said with a smile. Because I took a picture before coming, she thought to herself. She whipped out her phone, clicking to the image. “I don’t have it in my household for this trip because it was too valuable to leave for several weeks. But I’ll probably bring it to the start of the term.”
Ragna took her phone to get a closer look. “Rad shit. Does it have any magical properties?”
“Not a clue,” Darby said honestly. “Probably. But whatever they were, they’ve been lost to years of no one using it. I know my great great aunt was known specifically for using rainbow and light manipulation against her enemies. Maybe the spear helped her with that.”
“Sounds dangerous.” Ragna’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Bring it by my office when you get it here. I’ll take a look, in case you want to train with it.”
“That would be great,” Darby said, grinning. “I definitely want to train with it.”
“Rad shit,” Ragna said. It appeared to be her catchphrase. “Not a lot of princesses see value in learning self-defense. They all have too many guards and duties to be much bothered with it.”
“Agreed,” Darby said. “But fighting runs in my veins. I’m all for being able to save myself.”
Ragna grinned. “Atta girl. You’re taking my class, right?”
“Yes, of course,” Darby said, brightening. “I love animals, especially ones that serve a use. My family has stables on our property.”
“Horses?”
“Yep. But I’m very excited to learn to ride a pegasus too.”
“It’s similar to a horse, but much better. Taking flight is incredible, especially back in Iceland… well, you know the beautiful landscapes, you’re not far from us.” In a lower voice, she said, “Don’t let the word out about this, but you’ll have a chance to visit the stables later this week.”
Darby leaned in conspiratorially. “My lips are sealed.”
To herself, she thought, two out of two, sealed. Now she only needed to get Professor Wu on her side.
She noticed several other students hovering near Ragna, and saw Wu Lei attempting to make his way to the door.
“I should probably let others meet you,” she said, with just the right amount of reluctance mixed with politeness.
“Yep, duty calls,” Ragna said. “I’ll see you throughout the week though. We can talk more about weapons at some point.”
“Sounds good,” she said. She politely excused herself through the crowd, beelining toward Professor Wu, who had gotten stopped again and was talking intensely to another student.
The professor spotted her before she could introduce herself.
“Her royal highness, Darby Fitzgerald,” Professor Wu said, bowing to her. “We were just discussing you.” The student with him turned around, and she found herself standing in front of Flynn Cormac.
“Were you?” she asked lightly, though her eyes fixed inadvertently on Flynn’s. What had he said about her?
“Yes, we were,” Flynn said. “Professor Wu is from Shanghai. I was just sharing with him how I spent most of my childhood in Beijing, thanks to your family.”
“You mean thanks to your mogwai supporters,” Darby corrected.
Professor Wu nodded. “Yes, he said he and his sister lived with Ming Mei Li’s household. She’s a cousin of the heir apparent mogwai prince. Too far down the line of succession to have much influence over him now, but I can only assume that with hard work, she will end up one of his top political advisors.”
“Ah,” Darby said, this time less successfully trying to keep her voice light. She thought of the beautiful Asian girl who had smirked at her when the Cormacs took the stage. “We haven’t had a chance to meet.”
“She’s a true delight,” Professor Wu said. “I’ve seen many royals come through this institution, and few have the potential she does. Unfortunately, the crown does not fall to the head of those most deserving.”
“Yes,” Flynn agreed. “It’s unfortunate that Mei won’t be queen someday. That is, unless she marries.”
The way he said it struck at Darby’s deepest insecurities. Was he implying that he intended to marry Ming Mei Li himself, and make her his queen when he took Darby’s throne from her?
Professor Wu turned to Flynn. “If I’m understanding the situation correctly, Darby’s parents murdered yours and stole the leprechaun throne from you and your sister.” He said this so calmly, as if he were stating a simple fact.
“No,” she protested. “That’s not at all how—”
“Yes, that’s correct,” Flynn said, matching Professor Wu’s politeness. “The Fitzgeralds were close to my parents. They betrayed them.”
Darby glared at him. “Professor,” she said, turning to Professor Wu, “I’m sure you understand better than anyone that shifts in power are complicated.”
“Yes, I do,” he replied calmly, though she heard an edge to his tone. “Seeing as you’ve both entered this school, so openly rivals to each other, I can only assume that there is the potential for another shift in power.”
“Of course not,” Darby said, at the same time Flynn said, “Time will tell.”
She glared at him again, appalled by his open hostility. Was he declaring war on her and her family right in front of their new professor?!
“I look forward to seeing how the two of you resolve this issue,” Professor Wu said, smiling gently. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have several people I must greet before the event’s end.”
Darby fumed as she watched Professor Wu walk away. She hadn’t even gotten to talk with him about her summer visit to China like she had planned. And now, he thought she came from a family of criminals who betrayed their loved ones to gain power.
Flynn looked at her, clear pain and disgust in his eyes, and turned away without a word. He followed a group of faeries out the nearest door of the auditorium.
Darby fumed, stepping purposely after him. He had outshined her in every way in front of Professor Wu, and now he thought he could just disappear, walk away from her as he did?
“Flynn!” she called out to him, leaving the auditorium and chasing after him down the hallway.
He turned around, looking warily at her.
“I did not dismiss you,” she said.
Confusion spread across his face.
“Whatever blood you may have, you are a leprechaun,” she continued, holding her head high, her back straight. “You are my subject, and under my protection. And I did not dismiss you.”
He stared at her, nonplussed. “You are not a queen yet.”
“But I will be your queen,” she said, unphased. “And you will be my subject. And I will extend my protection to you and your sister. In exchange, you will end these games your playing and swear loyalty to your King and Queen.”
He examined her carefully. “Games,” he said softly, as if he were turning the phrase over in his head. “You think this is a game, do you?”
He stepped closer to her, looking murderous. She steeled herself.
“This is not a game to me, Darby Fitzgerald. I was ripped from my bed with my little sister when I was four years old. We were stolen away in the middle of the night without even a goodbye from our parents, and shipped halfway across the world—”
“To Mei Li?” Darby asked, sounding more like a jealous girlfriend than she had intended. “To Beijing, where you’ve been hiding all these years?”
“Mei’s family took us in, yes,” he said. “And I will be grateful for them until the end of my days. They are the reason my sister and I are able to fight for our lives today.”
Darby shook her head. “There is not
hing to fight for, if you’ll just give up whatever this is—whatever reason you came here.”
He thought for a minute, then scoffed. “You don’t get it, do you? There is no safety for me or my sister. There are only two possible endings for us: power or death.”
He turned away from her, but she still wasn’t satisfied with his answers.
“Then why did you toy with me at PYGmalion?” she called out.
He spun around slowly.
“You had me alone,” she said. “You could have killed me, and no one would have ever known it was you. But you didn’t. What is that, but a game? Why did you let me come here? Why did you choose to embarrass me in front of everyone instead of ending it right then, when you clearly had the chance?”
He walked toward her until he was only a handful of centimeters from her face. She stood her ground, glaring at him.
“I didn’t know it was you,” he said quietly. “You had black hair, different features… but I was stupid. You weren’t so disguised that I shouldn’t have recognized you. That was a mistake.” His eyes met hers, and she felt herself softening to him. His lips were so close to hers…
“You really didn’t know?” she asked softly. “You didn’t come to the club to find me?”
He looked away. “If I had known,” he said more harshly, “I would have never laid a hand on you.”
She cringed at his words. He didn’t seem to be able to make eye contact with her anymore. And she had no words for him. She could hear the loathing in his tone, could feel the anger radiating from his skin. Her parents had killed his, and she had taken his throne.
She couldn’t stand the tension between them. “I suppose I’ll see you around then, Flynn.”
He took a deep breath and, without looking at her, turned in the opposite direction.
Kerr was right, of course. She could not resolve this by asking him to bow to her in exchange for protection.
The only protection he would ever truly have would be reclaiming his throne, and ending her family in totality, just as her father and mother had tried to end his.
She pursed her lips, scowling as he walked away. In truth, she understood him. The only protection she would ever have was protecting her throne from him.
“Darby, finally!”
She turned around to find Brielle and Quinn rushing toward her. Quinn reached her first. “We found Fiona. She’s okay, but they’ve taken her to the hospital ward.”
Brielle placed her hands on Darby’s forearms, holding her. “Someone attacked her.”
“We don’t know—” Quinn interjected.
“I can feel it,” Brielle insisted. Her wide eyes showed hints of both frenzy over the drama and gossip, and feverishness for all of their lives and well-being. “She was attacked, Darby, I know it. Probably by that wannabe prince and his awful sister.”
“He is not a prince,” Darby said calmly. “He is nothing, because I say he is nothing.”
Quinn stared hard at her, nodding in full agreement. “I agree. They are nothing and they have nothing.”
Brielle nodded as well. “We stand by you, Darby. Always.” She squeezed Darby’s forearm affectionately, before roping her other arm around Quinn’s neck and pulling them both into a hug.
Darby held the other two, though she felt unease as she did so. She burned with anger at Flynn, who had challenged her in front of everyone. She had seen what had just happened with Professor Wu, and she had no doubt that Flynn would continue to turn her potential allies into enemies.
And what would stop him from attempting it on her own household?
He had created this distrust in her, against her own best friends, both of whom she had known since childhood. She hated him for that.
She knew what she had to do. She would take him out and protect what was hers, no matter what it took…
She saw Griffin coming up behind the other two girls and pulled away from Brielle. “When can I see Fiona?”
“She’ll be up in a few days,” Griffin said. We found her alone and unconscious, but she should make a full recovery. “Once we’re able to talk to her, we’ll find out who was behind this.”
Darby nodded at him, remembering Kerr’s warning. Griffin was the only one she should trust, according to Kerr. And Kerr had been right about everything so far.
“Good,” she said clearly. “It’s business as usual, then. If anyone asks about Fiona, tell them that she’s ill but will be joining the fold shortly. Griffin, I need to speak to you privately.” She turned to her ladies. “The two of you should go back to our household. It’s safer there.”
“But don’t you want to know—” Brielle started.
“—You can tell me if you saw anything suspicious later,” Darby said. “Good night.”
She walked away from her ladies without another word, Griffin following behind her.
When they were out of sight and earshot, Griffin grabbed her arm. “Darby, slow down. What is it?”
She met his intense eyes that told her everything she needed to know. This was exactly what he had warned her about the night before. You have to be more careful, Darby. Your family has enemies, real enemies. More enemies than you can possibly know.
But he didn’t take pleasure in being right, she could tell.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I think you’re the only person I can trust right now.”
He nodded, a twinkle coming to his softening eyes. “Darby,” he said quietly. “I stood by as your brother self-destructed under the pressure of the crown. He faced many challenges during his time here and it weighed on him. I won’t let that happen to you.”
She grabbed his hand, squeezing it. She knew it surprised him, and also that it was probably inappropriate, but she didn’t care. “Thank you.”
“Let me escort you back to your household,” he said softly, squeezing her hand once before letting go. “We can talk about your security there.” He seemed pleased, though within seconds, he was back to business, escorting her as her bodyguard rather than her confidante.
As they walked back to her household, she realized with a pang in her heart that with Flynn presenting himself to the Alliance of Faeries as a royal rival, that this was the new normal—that from now on, there were only two possible endings for her.
Power or death.
4
The next day, Darby woke and dressed as if everything were normal, though nothing felt normal anymore.
Fiona’s parents had contacted her in the late hours of the night to check on their daughter. Unfortunately, she knew little about what happened, except that Fiona had most likely ingested a lower-end brew that she had a bad reaction to. Griffin had stated many times that she had no visible damage externally—no blood, no signs of struggle, no signs of attack. He theorized that Fiona was accidentally poisoned, and that perhaps the brew was actually meant for her.
She shuddered. In their first 24 hours of orientation week at Alanza, someone had already tried to poison one of her ladies. They had no suspects, aside from the obvious—the Cormacs—and not enough proof to tie anyone to the attack. She had spoken to the Dean in the wee hours of the morning, demanding an investigation, but all he could say was that the brew they suspected she ingested was something of a prank, rather than a serious attempt to harm someone.
Of course, if the brew had been meant for her, it would have been a serious attempt to take her out before the presenting ceremony, leaving only the Cormacs to represent the leprechauns. That could have been seriously damaging to her politically, but the Dean would hear none of her concerns.
She felt like she had let her family and her people down already. She could practically hear the King’s voice scolding her. She had been warned over and over again, that Alanza would be a testing ground for the ruthlessness and high-stakes game of ruling over all the leprechauns.
She understood now. And she knew she could not look to authority figures to find her justice for whomever attacked her household and tried so blatant
ly to sabotage her. She would have to take control of the situation herself.
Griffin had taken full control of her household’s security, beginning with food and drink. Another wave of guards had come to Alanza and each of her ladies-in-waiting, including Fiona in the hospital ward, would have a guard at all times for the rest of orientation.
She knew they were doing all they could to protect her and her people, but she still felt uneasy going into assessments.
All students, including those attending the school as part of a household, had to complete a series of assessments to determine what subjects they could take.
She had studied as much as she could ahead of time and felt confident that she could nail her general faerie assessment, as well as her specialized earth faerie assessment. Each of the five elementals—earth, air, fire, water, and spirit—had different natural gifts and as such were tested for different things.
The following days would be brutal, with various assessments each day, but all she could think about was getting through day one.
She, Quinn, and Brielle completed the general faerie assessment early in the morning before going their own separate ways.
Darby then went to her earth faerie assessment, which was much more involved, and, as the students got shuffled around, found herself standing next to none other than Teagan Cormac.
“Hi, Teagan,” Darby said through gritted teeth. She figured she might as well confront the situation head on. “I don’t believe we’ve formally met.”
“My brother told me what happened between you,” Teagan replied as she stretched her hands above her head.
“Which part?” she asked. The part where he groped me in a nightclub, she thought, or the part where he told me the only way he could survive was to take my throne?
Teagan frowned. “How you tried to offer us your protection in exchange for our fealty.”
Oh, that. She sighed, glancing around the room. She spotted Flynn on the other side with some of the older students who were starting in their year. She then saw Griffin not far from him, behind him, almost disappearing into the crowd.
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