“Let’s see how the tour goes,” Elana interjected, playing peacekeeper yet again. “Then we can decide where she might want to reside. And for tonight, Claire will remain here. Is that all right, dear?”
Claire blinked. “I, uh, okay.” She glanced at me. “Are you staying, too?”
“Uh.” I glanced at Exos, who nodded. “Yes. I can stay.”
“The two of you can work on control,” he added. “Might as well start now. I would hate for Claire to blow up a building on campus the way she did earlier.” He pushed away from the table. “I need to phone an update to my brother, so if you all will excuse me.”
“Is he always this abrupt?” Claire asked as the Spirit Fae left the room.
“I don’t know. I hardly know him,” I admitted.
“You’re not friends?”
I snorted. “He’s a royal. He doesn’t befriend fae like me.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“It’d be like the Queen of England befriending a peasant,” River interjected helpfully. “That’d be rare, right?”
“I, well, yes.” She frowned. “So he’s, like, important?”
“He’s the most powerful Spirit Fae in existence,” I confirmed. “And heir to the Spirit Kingdom.”
“He’s, like, thirty,” she replied.
“Appearances can be deceiving,” Elana chimed in, reminding me that she still sat with us. “Well, I’ll leave you to your sleeping arrangements. River, you’re welcome to stay as well, if your curiosity continues to get the best of you.” She winked as she stood. “I require a bit of sleep after all the festivities of today.” She paused on the threshold, her eyes going to Claire. “It is lovely to have you with us, dear. I hope you enjoy your tour tomorrow.”
Claire
River stood, shuffling from foot to foot while nibbling his lip. “I, uh…”
“You don’t have to stay,” Titus told him, a smile in his voice. “You can go back to your dorm.”
Relief flooded the Water Fae’s gaze. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, man. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”
“Thank you.” He started away from the table, then paused to glance back at me. “It, uh, was good to meet you, Claire.” He immediately dropped his focus to the ground and shuffled some more.
“You, too,” I replied, confused by his bashfulness.
He gave a little wave and practically ran out of the room.
I frowned after him. “Is he afraid of me?” I asked, a little hurt. It wasn’t like I meant to keep setting shit on fire.
Titus chuckled. “No. It’s being in the Chancellor’s place. It’s, uh, sort of a big deal. She might not be royalty like Exos, but she’s very important in our society. And her affinity for water is probably teasing his a bit, you know, since he’s a Water Fae.”
“Wait, so she has two elements?” Didn’t they just say it wasn’t normal to mingle elements? Or did I misunderstand what that meant?
“All Spirit Fae do,” he replied. “Exos has spirit and fire, Elana has water and spirit. You, it seems, have access to all the elements.”
“And that’s not normal.” It was a guess—an educated one base
d on the last twenty-four hours or however long I’d been here.
“No. It’s, uh, unique.”
“How unique?”