Outfoxed by the Court

Prologue

“Are the two of you just going to sit there mooning at each other or are you going to help me study?” Lucy Savage smirked at the words of Lord Oliver Khone, duke of Moyar.

Oliver didn’t truly need to study. He probably knew more about Afeyran history than some of the faculty members.

But it was times like this, when the three of them were alone, when he got a little prickly about how much his two best friends flirted.

“What, Oliver, are you jealous?” Sebastian’s teasing tone made her think that his face had a matching smirk.

He tightened his grip on her and played with the ends of her scarlet curls, a reaction that would surely get a rise out of the young man he was supposed to be protecting.

Not many royal guards could get away with teasing the grand duke, but Sebastian was not just any guard. “You should have said something.”

“I’m not jealous,” Oliver said, though the reddening of the scars on his face belied his words.

He hunched in on himself slightly, a far cry from the stiff spine he revealed to his classmates.

“I’m just wondering how long it will be before you two decide you don’t want me around.

” He forced a smile, trying to force his tone into a joke.

“After all, no one needs a monster around when they’re being disgustingly cute. ”

Lucy scowled at his words. “You’re not a monster.”

Oliver shook his head. “Tell that to the members of my uncle’s court.” He sighed. “I wish I didn’t have to go back.”

Lucy felt Sebastian's wings flutter, a sure sign the fairy was anxious. “We could postpone—”

“No, we couldn’t,” Oliver sighed. “Three more students came down with the chilling lung disease. Uncle won’t risk Joanna’s safety, and if Joanna’s leaving, she’s bringing me with her.

” His lips quirked up in a semblance of a smile at the mention of his cousin, Princess Joanna.

Just as quickly as the smile had appeared, it vanished.

“I overheard the healers talking: the disease is nearly impossible to stop, even with the best magical remedies. They think it’s because the Great Exchange didn’t happen. ”

Now it was Sebastian’s turn to frown. “Wait, so, because a stupid Starkind—”

“Starkind aren’t stupid,” Lucy interrupted. “They’re the literal living embodiment of a star. That’s incredibly cool!”

Sebastian rolled his eyes, though he planted a quick kiss on Lucy’s head. “Because a Starkind didn’t come for some ceremony where they trade some of their magic for some Afeyran magic, people are getting sick?”

“No, people are dying,” Oliver corrected.

He bent back over his textbook. “And this is only the beginning. According to legend, if the Great Exchange doesn’t occur every twenty-five years, the magic that fuels the universe will gradually fade.

People will get sick, and our remedies will have no effect.

The weather will become more unpredictable, and, as such, crops will fail.

Even people will begin to change, growing more and more selfish and less compassionate.

The longer we go without a Great Exchange, the worse things will get. ”

“But that’s just a legend, right?” Lucy asked with a shiver. Sebastian looped his arm around her shoulder. “I mean, it’s not real.”

Oliver shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t find an example of a missed Exchange…not that I haven’t tried. But nearly every legend is based in reality, in some way.”

“So why doesn’t another Starkind just come and perform the Great Exchange?” Sebastian demanded.

“It doesn’t work like that,” Oliver said, running a finger over one of scars on his arms. “From what I can tell, it takes time to get a Starkind trained and brought to Afeyra. By the time we could send word and get them trained, the next Great Exchange would be over…” He trailed off, letting the end of the sentence go unsaid: if there is a ‘next’ Great Exchange.

Lucy shivered and, for a moment, she wished she was back in the glade with the rest of her pack, rather than with her suitor and her best friend. At least, then, her greatest problem would be that she still hadn’t had her first transformation. If only—

A knock at the door interrupted them. Sebastian leaped to his feet and crossed the room with unnatural speed. He cracked the door open, his hand on his sword. “Yes?”

“Pardon me, sir.” The squeak of a servant’s voice bled into the dorm room. “Lucy has a visitor.”

Lucy frowned. “I do?” That wasn’t possible. She wasn’t a student. She was just a maid.

“Yes,” the servant stammered. “He’s in the servant’s hall.”

Lucy’s frown deepened, but she nodded. “Very well.” She got up and crossed the room, dropping a kiss on Sebastian’s lips as she passed. “Stay with Oliver. I’ll be right back.” Those were the last words she spoke to the man she loved.