Page 56 of The Evernight Court

There was no proof. All I had was Mama Si’s warning, and that talk with Genevieve where she’d basically admitted to my face that she was planning something—but Romin needed to know. If he put aside his obsession with having me, he’d want to know this. He was still the ruler, and he’d want to know what was going on in his very castle.

More importantly, he was possibly the only one who could stop Genevieve if things got out of hand, even though…what was it that she’d said to me the first time I went to her?

I could kill all five of them easily if I wished.

But again, Romin was the ruler. He would know what to do if he wasn’t caught by surprise. And unfortunately for me, I was the only one who could warn him.

It took me a good couple of hours to decide to go see him. I consulted Grey’s portrait in the closet about it, too, as insane as that made me feel, and I had the feeling that Grey would really approve of this decision. He’d have wanted Romin to know, too, if something was off, no matter that Romin had banished him.

So, in the end, logic won over the feelings in my chest, and I forced myself to come out of the tower for the second time that day and go searching for Romin in his.

My skin was crawling as I turned corners, eyes open and ears sharp as I listened to that slow sound of wings beating, coming from behind me. I no longer even turned to look because I knew that I wouldn’t see him at all. Shadow didn’t want to be seen, even if he knew I knew he was there, following me.

But then another sound caught my ears just as I was about to cross the hall to the first tower, and it was coming from around the corner of the hallway that led to the second.

I stopped.

Laughter.Someone was laughing, not crying like I first thought. It was a woman, and she was giggling her heart out.

I couldn’t help myself. Before I knew it, I found myself tiptoeing toward the corner, slowly, all my being focused onnotmaking a single sound.

And then I saw.

Both my hands came up to my mouth just to make sure I wouldn’t let out even a sigh. Emil was there in front of the doors to his tower, and none other than Amita was in his arms, back pressed against the wall, legs spread wide open, and Emil’s hand was under her dress.

She was laughing as he bit her neck and played with her, shaking her, slamming her against the wall while he no doubt thrust his fingers inside her. A moan came out ofher after a second, and she thought to bite on his shoulder to keep quiet, but it was too late. I heard it.

And I was forever scarred.

Now Iwishedthey saw me. I wished they knew I was there so they could stop what they were doing and just disappear behind closed doors. Get a fucking room!

Then Emil let go of her neck and turned his head toward me.

Our eyes locked. I froze in place completely for a good moment, and Emil was surprised to see me there at first, like he really hadn’t heard me approaching at all. Like he really didn’t know I was there, spying on them. But he recovered quickly, and then a wide grin spread on his lips. Though Amita had no clue I was watching, he began to move his hand under her dress faster, harder, until she cried out at the top of her voice.

Move!a voice shouted in my head, and I did.

I moved back and I tried to blink away the image of Emil smiling at me like that, and I practically slammed my fists on the doors of the first tower as fast as I could, hoping he didn’t come after me. Hoping he didn’t come tomakeme watch what he was doing to Amita.

Amita—Grey’s bride.Fucking Grey’s bride being finger-fucked by Emil in the middle of the hallway.

I saw red when the guards pulled the doors of the tower open from the inside, and they let me through. They didn’t stop me, didn’t ask me questions, didn’t tell me if Romin was even there. They just let me through to his office, and I didn’t even look in their direction or wait for instructions when I stopped in front of the doors and knocked with all my strength.

The doors opened before I’d slammed my fist on the wood the second time. Romin was sitting at the head of hisround table with a bunch of papers in front of him, a pen in his hand, and a glass of red wine near a full bottle close by.

When he saw me, he leaned back in his chair and smiled, shaking his head. “I didn’t even want to believe it when I heard you coming.”

Putting the pen down, he waved his hand and the doors behind me closed on their own as the heat of his magic passed by me.

“At last, you’ve changed your mind. Come in, come in!”

I flinched hard and I didn’t try to hide it. “I haven’t changed my mind, Romin. I’m here to talk.” But I went closer to him anyway, reminding myself of all the reasons why I’d decided to do this. Reminding myself that I’d thought it all through and this was my best option because the alternative was doing nothing and then regretting it when the shit hit the fan.

No, I refused to stand by and let Genevieve do whatever she was planning. If I had to swallow my pride to be here and talk to this man, then I would.

I just didn’t think I’d be so pissed off when I came in here.

“Talk about what? Please, have a seat,” he said, and a new glass had already appeared in front of the chair next to his, and he poured wine in it while he held my eyes.

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