Page 54 of The Evernight Court

“Good morning,” I said, slowly moving closer to where she was sitting. The couch hadn’t been there last time—just a recliner and a table across from the stairs on the other side. Now she was sitting in front of the large reflective windows, and it still looked almost like daylight here.Almost.

“Sorry to come here unannounced. I’d have knocked but there is no door.”

She waved me off. “It’s fine. If I didn’t want to see you, I wouldn’t have let you through. Come. Sit.” And she patted the couch next to her.

Shivers ran up and down my body, but I swallowed the urge to tell her that I didn’t want to be so close to her, that I’d rather just stand by the stairs. Instead, I went and sat at the very edge of the couch. The soft velvet was as uncomfortable as if I were sitting on actual needles, just like I expected.

“I imagine you’re devastated about Grey,” I forced myself to say—only because she looked perfectly okay. She was smiling. Her eyes weren’t red or glistening with tears. She seemed completely peaceful, as a mothershouldn’tbe when her son gets banished. When her son is as good as dead.

The thought made my stomach twist and turn a thousand times.

“I was sad to hear about what happened, yes,” Genevieve said. “But Grey was a big boy. He made his own decisions.”

I don’t know why that felt like a fucking slap to my face. “Romin banished him because he was afraid of him. Grey did nothing wrong,” I said before I could help myself.

Her silver brows shot up. “Oh, but I heard he broke the dueling rules.”

“Who told you that—Valentine? The same guy who tried to kill me and withyourhelp?” The words kept slipping out ofme, and I was so angry so suddenly, somadthat she didn’t care about what had happened to her own son that I didn’t even want to stop myself.

She pretended to be surprised. “Of course not—what nonsense. Nobody was trying to kill you, Fall.”

Reaching for the pocket of my pants, I grabbed the ring she had sokindlygiven me. The purple stone in the middle reflected the light so beautifully when I put it on the couch between us.

“I know what you were trying to do, Genevieve. I know Valentine told you to give me this ring and he knew I’d die when I ran away, thinkingthiswould protect me. I know.” And fuck, it felt so good to finally say that out loud.

She looked down at the ring with a brow raised, then moved her cup to the side. By the time she let go of it, a small table had appeared out of thin air right by the couch, but her magic tricks didn’t impress me anymore. Nothing did.

“That’s a heavy accusation to make,” Genevieve said, and she didn’t even take the ring back.

“But you don’t mind, do you? After all, I came back. I came back because I didn’t want him to get banished.” I laughed and it was as bitter as I felt. “How silly of me, right?”

At that, she looked at me. “Not really, no. You care about Valentine. He knows it, too.”

“Icaredabout Valentine before I knew that he wanted to kill me.”

She smiled so sneakily so suddenly, it was like I was looking at a different person altogether. “You’ve come much farther than I would have thought, I’ll admit. So very unpredictable,” Genevieve said, like the fact absolutely fascinated her. “I usually foresee people’s actions and choices long before they make them, but with you, I was pleasantly surprised. For example, never for a second did I consider that you would choose Grey over Valentine, darling. Not ever.”

I shook my head at her. “You don’t care.” Her son was banished, and she didn’t fucking care.

My mother never cared about me, either, and I always thought that was a different level. Another kind of monster.

Turns out, Genevieve was the exact same, if not worse.

“I care plenty,” she told me—except notabout Grey.“However, I’ll admit I don’t really know what you’re up to, and I would like to. So, if you’d like, Fall, we could become allies. We could becomefriends,you and I. I can help you a great deal in this place, I assure you.”

Her words disgusted me. “No, thanks. I don’t make friends with snakes like you.”

But Genevieve wasn’t offended in the least. “Oh, but one needs snakes to survive, don’t you think?”

I shook my head. “I know you’re up to something, Genevieve.” Mama Si had been right—she most definitely was up to something, and the fact that she admitted to wanting to know what I was doing, just confirmed it.

“Aren’t we all?” Genevieve said with a shrug of her petite shoulders.

My God, I could hardly believe that I was looking at the same person.

“I’m going to find out what it is, and I’m going to tell Romin all about it.”

But that made her laugh. “And what do you think you’ll accomplish with that?!” She was genuinely curious when she asked.

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