She felt very lonely without any word from any of her friends and isolated from the four that she had been making these months of training. Probation loomed overhead like a dark cloud threatening rain.
“Pst,” Audria said, peeking her head into Kerrigan’s bedroom one night a couple of weeks into her grounding.
Kerrigan looked up from the parchment she’d been working on for her philosophy assignment. “Hey.”
Audria pressed a finger to her lips and nodded down the hall. “Come with me.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Are we going to get in trouble?”
“No, of course not.”
But Audria had mischief in her eyes. Kerrigan recognized it because it was like looking in a mirror.
“I can’t. If I get in trouble, then I’m kicked out.”
“You won’t get in trouble,” Audria insisted. “We’d never let that happen. It’s a spot of fun.”
Kerrigan frowned and shook her head. No fun for her.
Audria huffed. “You can’t shut us all out like this.”
Shut them out? She wasn’t doing anything of the sort. “I’m not.”
“Maybe you don’t see it, but you are. You’re even shutting out Fordham.” Audria gave her a pointed look. “Just come have a fun night with us. You need it most of all.”
Kerrigan should argue. The last thing she needed was to do something that would get her in trouble. She couldn’t be kicked out of the Society. She had little else in her life, and it would mean being without Tieran forever.
But she didn’t argue. She wanted to get away from her studies and be with her friends. Audria usually had a good idea about whether or not she’d get in trouble. Not that she knew what it was like to be half-Fae. Kerrigan would take the fall even if the others were caught as well. That was how it always was.
Still, she pulled on her cloak and left her room. They met up with Fordham, Noda, and Roake a floor up, waiting together in a landing.
“See, I told you that I’d get her to come with us,” Audria said.
Fordham’s eyes were only for Kerrigan as he shot her a look that she couldn’t read. Noda cheered, and Roake just winked. She couldn’t help but grin. Kerrigan followed the lot of them through the mountain. She gathered where they were going first. Long before Audria pulled the door open and gestured behind her.
“Ta-da!” Audria said.
The others gaped at the lush greenhouse beyond. Thousands of marks’ worth of glass lined the walls and ceiling of the incredible structure. It had been the work of magnificent ancient earth Fae masters. They’d designed the building to not only produce crops year-round for the mountain, but also for medicinal use. Kerrigan had spent one or two nights here with Lyam, trying out the forbidden herbs and laughing at the ceiling all night. They’d gotten in so much trouble. She clutched at her skirt, where his compass lay in her pocket, as it always did now. A constant reminder.
But that night was gone, and what lay ahead were new friendships.
“I’ve never been in here,” Noda whispered reverently, lighting a few faerie lights to illuminate the path.
“It’s massive,” Roake added.
Audria pulled a bottle from the bag at her hip. “I thought we could loosen up a bit.”
Fordham shook his head. “Who would have guessed you were the troublemaker?”
“I am more than just a title,” Audria said indignantly, tilting her nose up.
“What kind of faerie punch is that?” Kerrigan asked, stepping inside and letting the door close behind her.
“I’ve no idea,” she said with a laugh, linking arms with Kerrigan and winding through the plant life until they came upon the small circle at its center that was used for lessons. “I filched it out of the storeroom and didn’t even bother looking.”
“And you said this wouldn’t be trouble.”
“It’s the middle of the night. No one saw me take it, and no one is going to find us.”
The words cast a spell about the greenhouse. As if by saying them aloud, they were true.
They dragged cushions into a small circle and drew their faerie lights in close, so just the five of them were brightened. Audria passed around the faerie punch. She’d apparently taken a few bottles. Not conspicuous at all.
“We’re all frazzled, and we need the break,” Audria insisted.
Roake didn’t complain as he took the first swig, passing it to Noda. She held it aloft and then shrugged, taking a drink. When it reached Kerrigan, she looked at the label, but it gave nothing away. A red bottle of faerie punch had once knocked her on her ass for two days straight. Helly refused to heal her, and nothing Darby did made it better. She’d had to suffer the consequences. Gods, she hoped this wasn’t the same stuff.
She took a drink, and the punch went down smooth. Not usually a good sign. The more potent it was, the sweeter the punch, as if it were lulling you into a false sense of security.