THE NEXT Cadmus game was more challenging than Andorra expected. Of course, she had missed three games in between due to the concussion, but there was something about being on top of Viir, looking at the ground, and realizing she had fallen.

Had almost died.

Again.

Of course, there had been no real repercussions to Anders. Coach kept him on the team, the school didn't seem phased, and despite Clini and Mar being on her side, it felt like the rest of the team was actively against her. Eyeing her with the sort of contempt that they usually reserved for Monday morning classes.

Andorra tried to swallow her nerves. There were only a handful of games left until they reached the playoffs, and then championships. If they got that far. It was an eight game season, which to Andorra, felt incredibly short.

But, they were undefeated. And if they got into championships, maybe her team wouldn't hate her quite so much.

"Stop fidgeting so much," Clini hissed. "You're practically telling the entire team that you're the weakest link."

Andorra flushed red just as Mar shot him a look. "Okay, Clini, tone it down. Just because you're nervous doesn't mean you should bring it out on Andy."

Clini shook his head and clenched his hands on his wyvern. "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just that... my ex is on this team. And it's stressing me the fuck out."

Andorra squinted at the other players, trying to figure out who would be Clini's ex. She scanned the group, trying to find the fae in the crowd, but no one was really looking their way. She shrugged, looking towards Clini. "It's okay. I get it."

"Who is it?"

Clini cleared his throat, and Andorra watched as the skin behind his neck went a darker shade of a green. A blush. "He's the one with the ears. Spotted skin? Don't be quite so obvious when you look." He shot Mar a look at that.

Andorra scanned the other team, and right there on the left hand side was a faerie with skin that looked a lot like the fur of a deer. The skin had a brown, fur-like texture to it, with white spots that went up his legs and arms, disappearing under his uniform. And as Andorra looked up at his face, she understood what Clini meant by ears. His were long and droopy, like the kind you would find on a deer, or a moose.

He was looking right at Clini, but Andorra wasn't sure what sort of expression he was wearing. To her, it looked neutral. To Clini, she wasn't sure what he thought.

"Why did you break up?" Andorra watched as the coaches below talked to each other about something. It was then she noticed why they were having the hold up: Anders was storming onto the field.

"We aren't in the same caste. We dated in secret for a while, until both of us knew we had to let go. It wasn't healthy for us to fall in love, only to be denied the true pleasure of being together. So I left for Hornwell, and he left for his school." Clini shrugged, but Andorra knew it was forced. "It's not a big deal."

It sounded like a big deal. Andorra could practically hear the heartbreak in his voice. "This stupid caste. Who even put it in place?" Andorra grumbled. While she was relieved that she wasn't the only one who had to suffer because of it, she hated that Clini had to go through his own heartbreak.

"I'll probably end up staying single. Or, I could marry Demry. But I really don't want to marry Demry."

Andorra looked over Clini's head to mouth, who is Demry? to Mar. Mar shrugged in response.

The coaches then blew the whistle, signaling the start of the game. The players on both teams raced into position, getting ready to start, and Andorra couldn't help but feel incredibly frustrated. So, the caste was made to keep the powerful more powerful. It still seemed like a ridiculous reason for the people of Anlithamy to suffer.

She wanted to change it. She would change it.

A second whistle rang, and the game began. Like the first game, it was fast paced. But this time, she didn't fall, and no one attempted to kill her. Both made this a successful game in her book.

By the time the game ended, Andorra had knocked at least four players off of their wyvern, and she was grinning from ear to ear at her success. As she descended towards the ground with Viir, she couldn't help but think that maybe she finally found her place at Hornwell.

"You did amazing!" Mar said when they both touched ground. The ice fae wrapped her arms around Andorra, pulling her in for a hug. "You were so good out there!"

"You too!" Andorra gushed. She pulled away from Mar with a grin. "I saw you take down two players at the same time. Unbelievable!"

Mar let out a girlish giggle. "We're pretty great at this game." Then, she looked at something behind Andorra. "Uh oh."

Andorra turned to look. Clini was talking with his ex, but they looked tense. Almost awkward. And Anders was walking up to them with a sneer.

Andorra didn't even want to know what Anders was about to say to Clini. She marched up to the three boys, slinging her arm around Clini's neck. "We have to get back to the bus." She didn't break eye contact with Anders.

"Princess!" The other teammate startled, and then he fell into a low bow. "It's an honor to meet you."

Andorra was startled as well. "Uh, same. It's nice to meet you."

When the teammate looked back up from the bow, he was smiling. "We've been eagerly awaiting your return in the Floral Clan."

Anders shot the boy a scalding glare. "I'd say the Spring Court has been doing just fine without her. Since we all know who the true leader will be."

The boy flinched away from Anders, as if just realizing his presence behind him. "P-Prince Anders." He fell into a bow. "My apologies, your highness."

"You're doing a very poor job of representing the Spring Court. I'd say it's about time you went back to the Woodland Clan, where you belong."

The boy flinched again, refusing to lift his head.

Clini snorted. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"I know that the hired help should be seen, not heard. Your mother made a mistake bringing over fae from the Autumn Court. They don't belong living in our Court. They belong with their own people."

Anders spat the words out. He towered over the Autumn fae. "Everyone knows the Autumn Court is the weakest of the four. And now with Princess Carling in charge? You will remain weak."

"Leave him alone, Anders." Andorra pushed herself into Anders' face. "Let's not forget how little power you really have."

"Defending the helpless suits you, Princess. Since you're helpless yourself."

"No, it is you that is helpless, Anders. Since you need me on the throne in order to become King yourself." She glanced back at Clini and Mar. "You rely on others to make you strong. To give you power. But guess what? When it comes down to it Anders, you're nothing but a pathetic little boy without a crumb of what I have. You'll never amount to anything."

Anders grabbed her uniform by the front, and vines shot up, wrapping their way around her limbs. But, Andorra was ready. The moment they snaked up her body, she felt her skin warm, and immediately they burned off.

Anders stepped back the moment he saw how useless his trick was against her. "You little-"

"And that's not all I can do." Andorra reached forward this time, right against his throat, and she let her hand burn him. He screamed, yanking himself away from her, and Andorra let him go. She let him wrap a hand around the burn, only to pull his hand back in pain.

There were tears in his eyes as he stumbled back another step. "You burned me. You burned me!"

"What? You thought I was useless? That I didn't know how to use my powers?" She let her skin glow, just to show off a little bit. "I'm stronger than you even know. I killed a man back home, did you know that? It took very little effort to end his life. I'm not opposed to ending yours, too."

Anders looked at her like he'd never seen her before. He tripped back on his own feet, his body hitting the ground hard as he continued to look up at her. The skin around his throat was growing redder by the minute, looking raised and painful. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Princess." Andorra smiled down at him. "Your best friend has really rubbed off on me, by the way. Thanks for letting me take him for myself."

It was true; Callum had rubbed off on her. This entire interaction reminded Andorra of him. And even if she hated being mean, it didn't matter; she had to end Anders by playing his own game. She wouldn't stop the murder attempts by being nice to him. She wouldn't stop him from being an asshole by being compliant.

"You put hands on me! I'm the Prince. I could have you thrown in a cell for that!"

Andorra cocked her head. "You put hands on me, and I'm the Princess. I could have you thrown in a cell for that."

"Andy, c'mon. The bus is about to leave. Let's forget about Anders." Clini reached for her arm to pull her away. He shot Anders one last nasty glare. "And you don't know what you're talking about, Anders. The Autumn Court is just as strong as we are. You just don't like them."

Andorra let Clini tug her away. Despite how angry she was, how much she wanted to burn Anders to a crisp, it was important that she beat him at this game fair and square. She would make him eat his words. She would make him afraid of her.

She would be Queen without him. She wouldn't take no for an answer.

* * *

"What did he mean that your ex was from the Autumn Court, but was living in the Spring Court? Are fae not allowed to move between Courts?" Andorra shifted next to Clini at the dining hall table. Clini had been silent on the bus ride home, and Andorra didn't want to disturb him. But, her mind was whirling at the thought that faeries were divided like that.

Clini shook his head as he stabbed his dinner with a fork. "It's been taboo in the past for faeries to live in a court they weren't born into. We used to be very divided in that way. But, when your parents came into rule, they were trying to get rid of that stigma by setting up a few moving programs. It made it so families could move to new courts and be set up with homes and jobs. Some embraced it, some didn't. Clearly, Anders didn't."

That was so strange to Andorra. In her mind, Anlithamy had been this mixing pot of a place, but in reality, it was very divided here. Despite the fact that children of all courts could go to Hornwell. It seemed very backwards.

"He seems to really hate Autumn Court fae."

"It's because technically, Autumn is unseelie. And yet, they aren't 'as powerful' as Winter, which is also unseelie."

Unseelie. Andorra had heard the word before, from Noah, all those months ago in the human realm. "What does that mean? Unseelie?"

"Faeries that are evil. Malicious. Have ill-intent towards others. Winter and Autumn fae are unseelie courts, which date back centuries. Maybe even when Cornomus was alive. And Spring and Summer have always been known as seelie, or good. Pure. Good-intentioned. Obviously, those classifications are not as prominent as they once were, but it still carries weight in Anlithamy."

Mar stiffened a little in her seat at the thought that perhaps she was supposed to be evil. Andorra hated that her friend even had to have that reaction; Mar didn't have an evil bone in her body. And neither did Coralia, or Hans, or Bort.

But, Prince Puck, Andorra could see how someone would consider him unseelie. And Noah... Andorra hated to admit that she could see that as well.

"So, Anders thinks that Autumn fae aren't... evil enough?"

"Anders thinks both Winter and Autumn are below him because those courts aren't pure. But he does respect the Winter Court, probably because Prince Puck is one of the strongest Court Prince's in history. There is strength in unseelie. But Autumn, well, he feels that the Autumn Court is weak and useless."

Andorra sat on that. Anders was one of the most evil fae she knew, yet he was considered pure? Good-intentioned? It didn't make sense to her. How could the Sun Clan, that kidnapped her, be considered seelie? How could Kyle be considered good? Paul? She couldn't make sense of it.

"I think those classifications aren't all that accurate."

Clini snorted. "You aren't the only one. Anyway... Anders is certainly against fae mixing. He agrees that the courts should stay separated, to keep powers strong and divided. I think it's because of a superiority complex."

Andorra had a different word for it, but she didn't say that out loud. Instead, she said, "What about soulmates being from different Courts?"

Clini shrugged, taking another bite of his dinner. "That's different. Soulmates are a blessed union. Honestly, that's probably the best argument for why Courts should be able to mingle. And like, it's not illegal to do so. People are just... weird about it."

And yet, another reason why Noah hadn't wanted to touch her with a 10 foot pole. Not only were they in different castes, they were in different Courts.

It was painfully frustrating. "And your ex, he moved to your court?"

Clini rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes. "His family did. They moved to the Spring Court and worked in my home as hired help. Well, his parents did. I ran into him a lot, and we just hit it off. Grew close. And then, had to break it off."

There was painful sorrow in his voice. The tilt of his head was heavy. Andorra felt it as well, like a draped blanket over her back. She wanted to take his pain away. Wanted to make all of these stupid societal rules go away.

She knew she couldn't take the throne and wave her hand and make it better. It would take time. But, it would take time that Andorra could give Anltihamy. That she could give Clini, and Coralia, and every other faerie in Anlithamy that felt the same way.

She opened her mouth to proclaim this, but Callum interrupted her by sitting down on the seat beside her. "How was your game?"

Win sat in the seat next to Callum. She leaned forward, grinning at Andorra. "Yeah! Tell us about your game! Did you win? Callie was worried, but I kept reassuring him that you were fine!"

Andorra returned Win's smile. "The game was good, and we won. I think I'm actually like, getting good at it. Maybe."

Mar elbowed Andorra. "She's definitely good. No maybe about it."

"See, Callie. Nothing to worry about." Win rubbed her hand down Callum's spine soothingly. "Can I have your carrots?"

Callum slid his plate to Win wordlessly. He was eyeing Mar, and then Clini with narrowed eyes. "You're a snow fae."

Mar nodded, her mouth full of food. She covered her mouth with her hand, smiling sheepishly, then swallowed. "What gave it away? The ice?" She stretched her ice sculpture arm towards him, tilting it like she was seeing it for the first time.

"How are you settling in?" He held Mar's gaze as his hand found Win's thigh. He gave it a squeeze when she stopped rubbing his back.

Andorra noticed it all. The stiffness in Callum's shoulders. The polite tone of voice. The reassuring squeeze of his girlfriend's thigh. She pressed her lips together and turned to Mar.

"Really well! Andy and Clini have been so good to me. I really like it here in Anlithamy. The human realm... it's not home. And I've always grown up wishing and missing my home, you know? Well, maybe you don't I guess. But I just knew something was missing in my life, and now it isn't. So it's been great."

Callum nodded thoughtfully, then he turned to Clini. "I'm sorry for the other day."

Clini stared at him, openmouthed. He blinked once, then he turned to Andorra. "What is he doing?"

"My face is over here." Callum's voice lost a bit of kindness, gaining back his bite. "It's not polite to address the Princess if we're the ones talking."

Clini turned back to Callum with wide eyes. "You don't like me, and you're apologizing. I'm just wondering if the world is suddenly about to explode."

Win let out a delightful laugh. "Callie is just trying to be a little nicer." She leaned up to Callum's ear and whispered something there. By the way Callum's neck turned red, Andorra could guess that he wasn't going to share her words with the table.

"Huh." Clini took another bite of his dinner. "Nicer. Interesting."

Andorra shot Clini a look to get him to stop talking. Then, she turned to Callum and Win. "After you eat, are you ready to see Vulara? I want to make sure we have enough time so I can practice my new powers when we get back to school."

"Sure thing, Princess."