Page 17 of The Evernight Court

Which was comical, wasn’t it? This place had not only stripped me of everything I thought I had, or everything I gained in my time here as a prisoner; it had also taken away the thing I’d always craved most in my whole life.

And unfortunately, it wasn’t done with me yet.

One of the fairies sitting at a table in the middle of the big room eventually got up, went to the band, grabbed a microphone and sang her heart out in an angelic voice, with words I couldn’t understand but felt deep in my heart. Faeish. She wassinging in Faeish, and her song reminded me of those two words Grey had told me about:een aeva. My life. My essence.

Right now, I lacked both.

An ugly voice in my head kept whispering to me while I listened to her sing,why bother? Why am I trying when I know how this ends? Why am I being stubborn when I know there is no way out, nobody to turn to, nobody I can trust?

Grey was gone. What the hell was I still doing here? Why hadn’t I jumped out of that window in his bedroom yet?Why, why, why?!

It took all of my will to silence that ugly voice, but the words remained in my mind through another song, and through the meal the waiters served us that people seemed to be enjoying, and through the many nods and head shakes I gave to Romin and Tristian and Emil any time they thought to ask me something. The brides only looked at me. None said a single word and I was glad for it. It was clear to see how much they hated me, especially Cynthia and Amita, Grey’s brides.

That word still made bile rise up my throat, even though I wasn’t eating. Wouldn’t dream of it with the way my stomach was twisted into a million knots. I was sitting in a den of monsters, in the middle of them. They all looked impeccable, dressed in beautiful dresses, their hair and makeup flawless, just like I imagined mine were.

But they all felt so comfortable in their skin, unlike me, and for a moment there, I wished I could be them—any of them. I wished I could breathe easy without it feeling so wrong to exist.

It went on and on for a long time, that struggle inside me, but the night wasn’t done torturing me yet.

Because after dinner came the gifts.

Five

“No.”

My voice echoed in my head.

Romin raised a brow. “It’s not a request.”

I fisted my hands so tightly my palms were bleeding. No way was this happening, no way. Was it not enough that I was forced to dress up and show up here—but now I had to go sit at the table of each Isle to receive my gifts?

No.“I can’t do it. I just…I can’t.” My legs wouldn’t hold me. My stomach couldn’t handle it.

“Yes, you can. It’s tradition, Fall. You can, and you will,” said Romin, his words heavy, as if to remind me that if I made him say that again, he wasn’t going to hesitate to use his magic on me. He wasn’t going to hesitate to threaten me withpunishmentif I didn’t obey like a good little lamb.

Tears in my eyes again.

“I’ll help you get there if you can’t walk,” said Tristian from my side, grinning ear to ear. “Our beautiful Fall is shaking, brothers.”

Wrong, wrong, wrong!

I shot to my feet so fast the room spun. “I am notyours,” I said breathlessly. “And I can walk by myself.”

“Very well,” Romin said. “The sirens are first. Then the witches, the skinwalkers, the dragon riders, the faeries—and the Blood Burrow is last. Think you can remember that?”

I was walking.

Somehow, I was moving all around the table, behind Romin and Emil and Valentine and the brides to get to the other side, closer to the table where the sirens sat at our right.

Valentine looked up at me as I passed him, but I refused to meet his eyes. I refused to acknowledge him at all. He wasn’t going to try anything funny in front of all these people, so for tonight, at least, I was safe from his wrath.

But he would be coming for me. I had no doubt in my mind that he would be coming for me the first chance he got.

Until then, I focused on the guests, on getting whatever gifts they’d brought here for me so I could get the hell out of this fucking inferno and be by myself again.

The sirens all rose to their feet when I approached them, fake smiles on their beautiful faces—but it was all an illusion. I could see it now, could see the magic hanging about them as if it was color, and they’d drenched themselves with it to look the way they did. Absolutely breathtaking—with hair that reached their hips and sharp eyes in blues and greens and rich browns, full lips and flawless skins, the illusion of them otherworldly.

Still, it was easy not to get caught up in them because I saw the magic that shielded their true selves. I saw it as clear as day and for once I was thankful for the damn Blood Call, for the magic running in my veins now. Because that day when I first saw the siren in the water, I’d been completely caught up in her beauty. I hadn’t noticed the magic then, not even a little bit, and I’d been about to fall on my face at the sight of the illusion of her.

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