Page 50 of Drama Queen

Worse still, Ivy and her awful mates won’t go easy on Z, either. As strong as he might be, I don’t want to see three-on-one. He’s the best in our court, but her mates are also guards.

No, I have to do this, for me, for him, for the whole damn miserable realm.

Thankfully, it’s not hard to let the Summer realm steal my attention and clear my mind.

If I thought the sun was beating down before, it’s almost blinding now, without the trees for shelter. I blink away the tears that gather from the harsh light as I stare out at the open field full of flowers and delicious-looking fruit-bearing trees. A soft breeze swirls through the air, making the grass sway and ruffling my hair almost playfully. It’s nothing like the bitter chill that cuts through our winter court.

The sky is bright, with only a few clouds that look so fluffy that I wouldn’t be shocked if they were fake.

One realm, yet the two courts are so different.

The Seelie Court houses both the Summer and Spring Kingdoms, while the Unseelie houses the Winter and Autumn Kingdoms. While I might be a mix of both, I’ve only ever resided in the Unseelie…

Well, mostly, I was actually born in the Seelie court, and Ivy was born in the Unseelie court, but even before the night of our birth was over, we were switched. We might both be half-breeds, but our appearances were enough that it would have raised questions, something neither kingdom wanted.

Regardless, I remember nothing besides the cold, snowy, dark nights, and the color of the leaves as they die. It’s all I’ve ever known, and while I enjoy my home, I can’t deny that something about this one calls to me the same way, even if I only admit it to myself in the quiet of my mind.

“The sun really makes your skin shine.”

I blink open my eyes, looking up at Zephyr, who stares down at me with so much emotion that I have to look away. I hadn’t realized I’d closed my eyes as I stood soaking up the sun like a weirdo.

I’m not as pale as most Unseelie-born. I have some color, but when I blush, that shit lights up my face like a beacon. It’s something Zephyr loves to tease me about.

“Well, it makes you look like a ghost,” I sass, sticking out my tongue to try and hide my embarrassment.

“Come on, let's get you to the damn door before I change my mind about sharing you and fuck you in this field to see all the ways you light up in the sun,” he says with a smirk before turning and once again walking away, leaving me standing there with my mouth open and my panties wet.

Damn him.

I shake myself from the shock of his words and the images my brain conjured up at them. It’s difficult; as much as he might be teasing me, I can’t deny I wouldn’t like that. Hell, it’s just made it onto my list of places to be fucked now. But it’s also strange to hear him talk like that out in the open. We’re best friends and mates, but mostly, we keep that part of our relationship to ourselves, behind closed doors or hidden away in deserted halls and closets. The Unseelie court is full of people who would love nothing more than to tear us apart and use us against one another, including my stepmother. I need to keep him safe from her, from all of them.

“Do you remember how to get back?” he asks, and I frown at him as he makes his way through the tall grass as if it’s nothing. Not two minutes ago, he was talking about fucking me, and now he’s back to business. I swear he could give me whiplash going from one extreme to the other like that. I can’t complain much, though; this topic is much safer.

Even still, I can’t help but roll my eyes at the question as I slowly pick my way through the grass after him. I wouldn’t mind being a bit taller right now, if only to see where I’m going better.

“Yes,” I huff as some grass I’d pushed aside comes back to smack me in the face. I’ve never been so ready to fight nature asI am right now. Why must everything be so damn complicated? Go to the academy, find your mates, survive, and rule the kingdom. The list is never-ending, and with every new thing added, another seems to pop up and find a way to try to stop me. If I put more stock in the universe, I’d say someone wanted me to fail. Good thing I don’t give a shit about destiny, not really. If it weren’t for me needing my mates to survive, I wouldn’t be going after them to begin with. I would have happily stayed with Zephyr regardless of what the nameless power said, and he would have stayed with me.

We promised as children that we would always be together, regardless of our future. It’s part of the reason I was so upset about our bond. It’s not that I didn’t want him forever; I did, and I still do. But we didn’t need fate for that. We already made our choice; damn the consequences.

“Come on,” Zephyr chuckles, coming out of nowhere and dropping to his knees with his back to me. I purse my lips, debating what to do. Everything inside me tells me to take the help if only to be close to him, but I’m pretty sure that's because he’s my mate more than my logical brain. No, I'm almost positive the logical part of my brain is the part that’s screaming at me to shove him down and take off, leaving him to search for me. I don’t need his help with this. It’s only grass; if I can’t handle this, we might as well roll over and die now because there’s no way we’ll survive inside the walls of Ironcrest.

“Stop being so damn stubborn and let me help you. The faster we get there, the faster you can find them and come back to me. With any luck, you might be able to do it before your wonderful ‘mother’ realizes what exactly you're up to.”

Damn him and his solid logic. With a groan of annoyance, I step forward, all but collapsing onto his back, pinching him for his comment about my stepmother.

The asshole doesn’t even flinch.

He wraps his arms back around my legs, grabbing a handful of my ass before moving down to grip my thighs and pulling them around him. He pushes up as if I weigh nothing, and I’m sure to him it probably isn’t shit, not when he’s so used to walking around wearing pounds of armor most of the time.

Neither of us says anything as he makes his way through the field and into yet another forest opposite the one we came from. The leaves on the trees here are green with life instead of in the midst of decay, like the autumn forest. It’s beautiful, and I can’t help but soak it in, knowing some part of me is as connected to this land as the others. I take everything in, knowing I should probably get down and walk on my own now, but Z doesn’t say anything, so I don’t either.

It’s not until we stop and I feel his grip on me loosen that I realize how much I enjoyed being so close to him, how at ease I’d been. He might be a pain in the ass, but he’smypain in the ass, the one person I can count on, always. Slowly, I let my legs fall from his hips, releasing my hold from his shoulders so that I slide down his back until my feet hit the forest floor.

Zephyr doesn’t move, and I step around him, coming face to face with a red door that appears carved into the tree as if it were a part of it. I’ve heard stories about this door for years, but something about being here, knowing what I’m about to do, is unnerving.

There’s no way my stepmother won’t know what I’ve done when I come back, hopefully with another mate or two in tow. Not to mention my absence. I know Zephyr will try to cover for me, but he can only do that for so long, and I have no idea how long it will take to find them. I’ve never been to the mortal realm before, but from what I’ve heard, it’s enormous.

Swallowing down my panic, I push aside my worries for the future. One thing at a time, first I have to go through the damn door.

---