Page 3 of The Evernight Court

I never thought I’d feel the way I felt about Mama Si for anyone ever again. I never thought I could quitehateanotherbeing the way I’d hated her. I never thought I’d think anyone else so fucking vile and disgusting that I didn’t want to be in the same room or country or the damn planet as them—but here we were.

Romin didn’t smile. He simply opened the doors to his office and stepped back, tucking his hands in the pockets of his pants. His wings were gone. He wore a black shirt again, hair washed and combed back, not a sign of what had happened that morning anywhere on him.

He looked perfectly okay.

“You’re a goddamnprick!”

The words left my mouth before I even knew I could speak. Maybe because I had a death wish and I was hoping he’d finish me off quickly?

Unfortunately for me, Romin only raised a brow. “Want to come in, Fall?”

It was difficult to get my shit together, but I closed my eyes and I forced myself to breathe. This was inevitable—Romin needed to bring Grey back. I had to go in there and talk to him and evenbeghim if I had to, and I’d do it. By God, I’d do anything I could if it meant I undid this catastrophic injustice.

So, I stepped into his office, and the doors behind me closed without anybody touching them.

“Care for some wine? You know, to take the edge off. It was a rough morning.”

The fucker was playing with me.

I looked him dead in the eye. “What I care for is that you bring Grey back.Now.” My voice sounded strong, like I was okay. Like I hadn’t broken into a million pieces, and I wasn’t still falling into the abyss of my own mind.

Romin rolled his eyes.

He rolled his fucking eyes at me, then continued to his round table with the map of Ennaris engraved on the surface. He’d been sitting there with several books spread open in frontof him, a bottle of wine and a glass half full in front of his throne-like chair. With a wave of his hand, he made the books disappear and grabbed his wine, then sat down and crossed his legs.

“Don’t be a brat, Fall. I understand you are distraught right now,” he said as he slowly took a sip. “But do remember who you are talking to.”

I smiled and it was so unexpected it felt like someone else was in charge of my body for real.

My God, he was so much worse than I could have even imagined.

“You saw,” I whispered, because he did. Of course, he did—he was Romin Evernight, the eldest brother, the ruler. He saweverything.

“Yes, I saw. I was there,” he said. “Come closer, Fall. Sit down. You don’t look so well.”

I moved but only because I needed to be doing something with my body. I went closer, shaking my head, smiling still. “You saw Shadow coming for me.”

“I saw Shadow approaching you, yes,” he said.

“No—notapproachingme. He wascomingfor me!” Even now, when I closed my eyes, I could see the small dragon as he flew for me like a goddamn arrow, wings wrapped around his tiny body, long tail pin straight as it came to eat my fucking heart out.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Fall. It’sShadow,” he said, taking another sip. I gripped the back of the chair closest to him, the very same chair I’d sat on the first time he forced me to hang out with them.

“He was trying to kill me. You knowhe was trying to kill me,” I said through gritted teeth. It was ridiculous that he even needed me to point that out for him.

His eyes darkened even though he forced a smile on his face before he spoke. “WhatI know,Fall, is that you yourselfnamed that dragon. What I know is that he sat on your shoulder for hours right here in this very room, and I saw it with my own eyes. What I know is that you were on your knees, and that dragon, who followed you around everywhere you went, wasapproachingyou to check on you,” he said slowly, each word separately. “That’swhat I know.”

It took all I had not to start screaming my guts out in frustration. “He was coming to kill me, Romin. He was coming to kill me the same way he attacked Storm!” I couldn’t keep from shouting even if I tried.

The asshole was on his feet, facing me the next second, moving so fast his body turned to a blur.

If he thought he scared me, he was in for a surprise.

“Then Grey should have let him get close enough. He should have let him prove his intention.”

Call me crazy—and in those moments I really did feel insane—but I laughed. I burst out laughing like a lunatic right to his face, but Romin only brought his wine to his lips and drank slowly, watching me curiously like I was a goddamn circus animal.

“He should have let himkill mefirst?!” Was he serious?

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