Page 29 of The Evernight Court

I clamped my mouth shut.

The urge to tell them that those men wouldrapeme ifthey were free to come into my bedroom anytime they pleased was strong, but suddenly I realized that these women didn’t care. To them, the idea ofnotwanting to be with the Evernights was completely incomprehensible. If I even said that word, they were just going to laugh harder.

“Let them through,” Amita spit. “You will let them into this tower whenever they please. This isourtower, too!”

My palms were already sweaty. Fuck, I really didn’t want to do this…

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Amita. I’m sorry.”

Pause.

They looked at me like I’d spoken Faeish.

“You can’t just keep them out,” Cynthia whispered, shaking her head slowly. “You…youcan’t."

“You come here and you think youownthis entire place,” Amita spit. “Who the hell do you think you are?! This tower doesn’t belong to you!” she then shouted, fists shaking at her sides.

Their rage was basicallyheatcoming at me in waves. And I realized that there was no way I could avoid being utterlyhatedby these women, not if I wanted to keep myself safe, at least for the time being. As much as it sucked, I took it. After all, Grey was gone, and I was all alone here. It couldn’t really get any worse than this, could it?

“Icankeep them out, and I will, Cynthia,” I said, forcing myself to raise my chin. “And yes, Amita, this tower belongs to me. Like I said, Grey gave it to me—which is why Romin and the others can’t come through those doors without my say-so. And they’re not going to, not for as long as I can help it.” The way they cringed at my words was almost comical. “I’m really sorry, but I won’t change my mind.”

A second ticked by. I had no doubt that these women would burn me at the stake if they were given the chance.

They gave each other a knowing look, and Amita said, “Then we are no longer part of this tower, either. We are leaving.”

Oh, damn.

I tried not to be relieved. I tried not to behappy.I really tried.

“As is your right,” I said with a nod.

“Youwillregret this, Fall,” Cynthia whispered, her eyes full of tears again, but she was angry now. More angry than desperate.

I shrugged. “I already do.” And I should have, right? I should have regretted getting on that boat with Mama Si and becoming a part of this mad, fucked up world.

I should have, but I couldn’t find it in me to wish I’d never met Grey, that I’d never been with him the way I had. It might have only been a couple of days, but in those couple of days with him I found everything I never knew I missed in my life.

So, in the end,no, I didn’t really regret being here at all. The only thing I’d have done differently knowing what I knew now was to tell Grey to banish Valentine and Shadow when he won the duel.

Amita and Cynthia turned on their heels and walked away with their heads up, their heeled feet slamming against the wooden floor hard as if they wanted me to know exactly how mad they were. Meanwhile I leaned against the hallway wall and allowed myself to justsmilefor a moment. Be glad. Not that Amita or Cynthia would have bothered me in any way, but it was better they weren’t in here where they could watch me, keeping tabs on me and spying on me for the brothers. To be honest, I wouldn’t put it past them at all. They would do anything for the Evernights, same as all the other brides.

And they were free to do so—outside of this tower.

But until they left, I decided to go back to my room, the one Grey had built for me, and hide in there while they packedtheir things and left. The birds needed to be fed, anyway, and I could listen to their song and let it ease my pain a little bit.

That’s exactly what I did.

I had no idea where Cynthia and Amita lived within the tower—we hadn’t really talked about it, Grey and I. But I didn’t see or hear them leaving while I fed the birds and spent time in my room, looking over the books Grey had brought for me, romance books in English that were exactly the kind I liked to read. I smiled by myself as I read the spines and decided which ones I was going to start on first.

Then I went to the instruments and the record player with a vinyl already inside it. It seemed to be plugged in and ready, so I pressed the old play button, not really expecting it to start.

It did.

The record began to spin, and the needle scratched the surface, the sound of it picking me up and pulling me all the way out of the Whispering Woods. I didn’t recognize the song at first, but then I realized it was Sinatra, a song I’d heard before but had no clue where.

Here, though, it sounded infinitely more beautiful. Here, it made sure that I would never forget it again.

As the music played, I touched the flute, the violin, the guitar and tambourine, the cello and the old clarinet placed on the floor near the low armchair in front of the record player.

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