Page 23 of The Evernight Court

Every hair on my body stood at attention by the time she was done. I believed her. I really did, except how could I ever dream of forcing myself to lay with Romin or Tristian or Emil—because Valentine I couldn’t even imagine. Not for a single second. How could I ever hope to not be so disgusted by them that I didn’t even want to see them across the room, let alone let them touch me?

No.It was never going to happen. No matter what price I had to pay for it, even if it was my life, I could not do it.

“I appreciate the gift,” I said and stood up, holding onto the table. Reeva looked at me like she knew exactly what was going on in my head, and she was disappointed.

All she said was, “Of course.”

Before I could leave, though, my curiosity about something she said got the best of me, as usual. I couldn’t help but ask, “What’s the exception?”

She said that nothing lasts forever, and that the rule only had one exception. I wanted to know what it was.

Reeva smiled so brightly it transformed her whole face again. “Love, young one,” she said. “Love is always the exception.”

I had no idea if I believed her, but I thanked her for the gift again, and I thanked the other witch sisters, too. Then I somehow got my legs to carry me to the next table, to the skinwalkers, while the entire room had their eyes on me.

Six

The skinwalkers gaveme a real fur coat made out of one of the strongest wolverines that had ever prowled Skinwalker Soil. Men led the skinwalkers, and their wives sitting by their sides openly showed me how much they hated me when the leader, Micah Bachian, expressed his condolences for Grey.

Not dead-not dead-not dead!

I swallowed the words once more and kept my mouth shut.

The coat was a light grey in color, and it reminded me so much of Grey’s eyes that I couldn’t help the flinch when Micah pulled it out of his bag. It had leather ties, and it was definitely something I’d consider if I were to ever visit the North Pole.

As it was, I left it with them, and somebody would take it to my bedroom, I guessed, after the party. That coat, though it was small and would only cover my shoulders down to my waist, looked heavy, anyway.

Then I stopped by the table of the dragon riders, all redheads, and to see me sitting among them would have youthinking we were the same kind. They, too, were men and women, most couples sitting around the main table. Their leaders were John and Flakka Dailis, a beautiful couple with orange eyes and brown freckles dotting their faces. I tried to focus on them as much as I could, as they were the only ones who didn’t look like they despised me for breathing the same air.

“We were sorry to hear about Master Grey,” John said with a deep nod. “Such an unfortunate event.”

“A true tragedy,” said Flakka. “If only we didn’t resort to such primitive ways of solving conflict.”

“Grey wasn’t banished because of the duel,” I said, despite my better judgment. Reeva said that the people were sent a detailed report, but I knew Romin wouldn’t have mentioned anywhere that Shadow had been about to kill me, and that’s why Storm had attacked him afterGrey spared the both of them from death and banishment.

If only I could go back in time now. If only I could jump back to that morning, to the moment when Grey turned to look at me, and I begged him in silence to spare them.

Kill them,I would have said this time. I would have screamed it at the top of my lungs—kill them both!

But life didn’t work that way, unfortunately. Nobody got a redo button, so I was stuck here, sitting among dragon riders who couldn’t really care less about what had happened or how Grey came to be banished. They cared about themselves. About the curse. About power.

So, even though they gave me a good long pause, waiting for me to continue, to finish that thought, I didn’t. Because Romin would know, and I didn’t want to give him a reason topunishme.

“This is the tooth of Kayandra, the dragoness who laid the egg from which Storm hatched,” Flakka then said, reaching for something in the pocket of her red dress. A black leathertie wrapped around a white tooth bigger than my middle finger, sharp as a knife.

My stomach fell. My heart broke all over again.

To remember Storm, how he had saved me, how he’d wailed in despair after Grey was gone, biting himself, trying to kill himself…

“We bring a token of the dragon parent to each bride, in hopes to aid them to better connect to their master’s dragon, to appeal to them and be accepted by them sooner. But since Storm is no longer here…” Flakka shrugged her shoulders, looking down at the tooth in wonder, like she couldn’t decide what to do with it.

I didn’t want it. Fuck, I didn’t want any of it. I didn’t want the tooth of Storm’s mother—another reminder of the guilt crushing my ribcage more every second.

“Thank you.” I jumped to my feet the next second, ready to get away. “If you’ll excuse me.”

With a deep bow, I turned to the next table, the faeries.

And after them, all I had to endure was Mama Si.

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