Page 72 of Invidia

“You’re such a disgusting little man,” Meera said, smooth and damning all at once. Between her and Astrid, they kept him solidly pinned between them as Soren and I guided the three of them back to the shadow realm, where a struggling Lochan was promptly grabbed by the guards.

The moment my form solidified, Tallulah was crashing into me, and I scooped her up off the ground, her legs wrapping tightly around my waist.

“You came back,” she whispered against my neck, the scent of her tears mingling with her lingering fear and her overwhelming relief.

“Of course. I’ll always come back for you, Tallulah. I love you.”

I held her a little tighter as her tears got noisier, but for once, I was confident that I hadn’t said the wrong thing.

“I love you too. I was so scared, Evrin.”

“You’re safe now. I’m going to take you home and keep you safe.” I gently set her back down on her feet. “But I need to finish dealing with this first.”

I looked to Selene, who had a tight grip on a smiling Austin. “What now?”

“I have to go update the king and get medical attention for Meera,” Soren said, already heading away, giving me a pointed look.

“Your brothers returned with Aither,” Selene said, tugging Austin away. “I’ll be taking a contingent of the Guard with me to supervise his journey to the Pit.”

Austin grinned. “We’re not citizens of your realm. No need to bother with trials for us.”

I nodded in understanding as the crowd cleared out, my shadows coming to wrap around Lochan, holding him in place.

“Are you going to kill me?” Lochan rasped.

“Were you going to kill her?” I countered, not needing a verbal response since his scent so thoroughly gave his answer away.

“Don’t look, my love,” I told Tallulah calmly, not taking my eyes off Lochan for a second. I’d do far worse than this to keep her safe, but I didn’t want her to have to witness it. I didn’t want to risk that she wouldn’t be able to see me the same way afterward.

“Okay,” Tallulah agreed, turning away.

Unfortunately, it didn’t protect her from the fleshy, bloody sound my claws made as they pierced Lochan’s chest, punching through bone to get to his still-beating heart. I held it in my fist for a moment, watching as he gurgled, mouth open in a silent scream, eyes unseeing.

It only seemed fair. He’d held my heart in his hands when he’d snatched my love and my child away from me. Now we were even.

Red blood soaked my hand and forearm, dripping down my claws as I pulled away, leaving his body to collapse to the ground.

Tallulah sighed, not in disgust as I expected, but almost in relief. “I don’t know if it’s over forever, but at least it’s over for now.”

I wrapped my nonbloody arm around her shoulders, leading her out of the in-between and back toward the palace.

“You’re not afraid of me?” I checked, horrified by the prospect.

“No. Feel free to do that to anyone who kidnaps me.”

I smiled in spite of myself, squeezing her shoulders. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here and get cleaned up. Do you need food? Water? Medical attention? I’ll arrange it. Just tell me what you need, Tallulah.”

“I don’t think I need medical attention, but I’m not going back to Elverston House by myself right now, so you need to find somewhere we can stay together.”

“Done.”

Chapter 27

In the end, I didn’t have to make any demands.

Damen met us at the palace steps, ushering us in and leading us to one of the grand, empty apartments in the palace, leaving us at the door with the promise of delivering food and supplies later. I barely heard him. The moment Tallulah was inside, I did a sweep of the four small, elegant rooms before securing the front lock with my shadows.

She followed me quietly as I strode into the bathroom, using the pump to fill the small wash basin first and submerging my bloody arm to the elbow. Tallulah stepped up beside me, unwrapping a bar of gray soap streaked with silver from the thin paper it was packaged in, and holding it out of my reach when I went to grab it.

---