Page 48 of The Evernight Court

My eyes closed and I bit my tongue until the urge to scream passed. I knew that voice. I’d heard it in my nightmares semi-regularly since Mama Si first brought me to the Whispering Woods.

It was Sedelis.

Then the other spoke, but their voice was too hushed, and I couldn’t understand the words they were saying, couldn’t even tell if they were a man or a woman. It must have been the hooded figure kneeling near the edge, and curiosity got the best of me instantly. I had no choice but to move to the side of the tree and take a look.

Right there. They were both right there.

“Yes, yes, yes—all very heartbreaking,” Sedelis said. It washer, though I only saw half of her face through the silhouette of the hooded person. It was definitely her—and she sounded pissed off. “Spare me the theatrics. Tell the mistress that I’ve spoken to the red fairy. They’re ready to march into the Woods at our call. All we need is foryouto get there. That’s it—onlyyouneed to do your fucking job.”

My stomach twisted and turned a million times as the other person spoke again—and I was sixty percent sure it was a man—but he was much calmer than Sedelis. He was whispering while she couldn’t care less how loud her voice, so I didn’t catch a single word he said. His magic was perfectly invisible to my senses, too, compared to that of hers, and I couldn’t focus harder for the life of me.

“I have, yes. I’ve uncovered the counter-spell for the Great White. Listen to it for I will only tell you once. Remember it because your life will depend on it,” she said, and she wasn’t just pissed off—she was irritated, too. “Tara een onya verdinis—to call for his awakening should you need it.Tara een yoris verdinis—to call for his surrender.” The man said nothing. “Remember it, or else you’re doomed.”

I didn’t even blink as I tried to take in as much detail as possible. Fuck, I wanted to see who that person was so badly, if he even was a man. But he refused to move even now as he whispered something to Sedelis, so low it was impossible to catch it.

If I went just a little closer, I could hear him. If I went just by the tree line behind which was the edge of the lake, I’d surely see his face, too.

I must have had a fucking death wish because I didn’t think about the consequences of getting caught, about the fact that there wasa sirenin the water, the most powerful being in Ennaris, and she could kill me with a wave of her hand. Or pull me in that lake and drown me slowly…

No, I didn’t think of that at all. I just wanted to see whothat person she spoke to was, and I wanted to understand what the hell they were talking about, so I stepped to the side of the tree, about to get closer.

Then something moved behind me.

I turned with my heart in my throat, expecting fangs to come for my neck.

Instead, big brown eyes filled my vision, and Quinn said, “What the hell are you doing out here?!”

Every inch of my body was covered in goose bumps. I put my hand over her mouth automatically, thinking,this was it.They’d heard us. They were going to come for us and kill us both right here in the woods, and nobody would even know about it. They were going to fucking throw our bodies in the lake when they were done, and our bones would swim with the sirens for the rest of eternity—UGH!

I turned back again as my mind raced, sure I’d find that hooded person coming for me, but…

He was gone.

The lake was perfectly silent, the edge of it empty. No siren on the surface, and nobody kneeling close by.Nobody.

They were gone.

Moving back, I let go of Quinn’s mouth and stepped a bit closer, searching the darkness as well as I could, sure that they were right there, but I just couldn’t see them. Somehow, I was just missing them because they wereright there. They had to be.

“Fall, what are you doing?”

I went closer to the tree line. Sedelis, or even that man or woman she’d been talking to, had probably heard Quinn by now, so what the hell did it matter? I went all the way to the tree line and stepped into the opening, the lake right there, the surface quiet, undisrupted.Empty.

“Are you seriously going to just ignore me right now? Hey—I’m talking to you!”

Quinn stepped in front of me, and she looked concerned.

She didn’t need to be, though. Sedelis was gone, and her hooded friend had disappeared, too.

“Sorry,” I muttered, taking another look around. “I just…I thought I saw someone.”

She spun around slowly, too, looking at the lake and the trees to its sides. “Nope. Nobody’s here. Why are you out of the castle so early? It’s still not even ten.”

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath.

Had I imagined that whole scene? Had my isolation in the tower finally gotten to me? Had I made it all up?

But, no, I’d heard them. I’d heard Sedelis. Her voice was unmistakable, even if I hadn’t seen her face, and her words echoed in my head even now. They echoed and filled me with a million questions.Who’s the mistress? Who’s the red fairy? Who’s marching into the Woods and why?

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