Page 59 of The Evernight Court

Turning back now was out of the question. I just took in a deep breath and waited for them to get a little farther away before I followed, my focus on my feet, on my breathing, on trying not to make a single sound until I knew where the hell they were going.

It could have been the longest ten minutes of my life.

Valentine didn’t rush. He didn’t even look to the sides as he went, and Shadow remained mostly on his shoulder, though he flew in circles over his head every now and again. When he did, I stopped and hid behind trees just to make sure he didn’t spot me, then continued to follow again, perfectly silently.

The lake.

I could have sworn that they were going to the lake and my heart all but burst out of my ribcage.

Was it possible that Valentine knew what Sedelis was doing with that person she’d been speaking to by the lake? Could it be that Valentine was part of it—or even that it had beenhimshe’d talked to that night?

Fuck me, I was terrified suddenly. I was terrified and anxious and excited and?—

Snap.

A twig snapped in half right under my foot.

The entire world came to a halt as Valentine stopped walking, too.

He heard. My God, he heard, and I’d been too distracted to watch where I was going, and I’d made a fatal,fatalmistake.

I moved.

Pressing my back to the nearest tree trunk, I became one with it and I controlled my breathing, controlled my heartbeat as well as I could.Please, please, please,I begged whoever would listen. I didn’t want to die, damn it. Not tonight. Not without at least finding out what Valentine was up to.

And then…

“You can come out now, Sunshine. I don’t bite.”

My eyes closed. Valentine’s voice came from the other side of the tree, way,waytoo close to me—and he already knew I was there.

I bit my tongue hard to keep from sighing or screaming or whatever else my body wanted to automatically do at the idea of death.

Over,said a voice in my head. It was over. He’d caught me.

But if I was going to die soon, I would not cower behind trees and wait for him to attack. No, I would face him straight on, no matter how much it cost me.

A strange calm came over me as I stepped to the side to face Valentine Evernight. My heart beat steady, and my hands didn’t shake, and my legs were numb, but I wasn’t afraid. Not anymore—what would be the point? There was nothing I could do to stop him when he came for me, though I’d try. With the few moves Quinn had taught me, I would go down fighting at the very least.

A part of me was actually glad that this happened. It was happily waiting for death. I’d said it before—I was tired. So fucking tired already, and despite how senseless it seemed to me still, none of this mattered without Grey.

“Were you following me?”

His voice sent shivers down my back. I looked in his dark eyes and it sucked that I recognized him, recognized the emotions on his face—or I thought I did. I thought I had back then, too, when I considered him a friend.

“Yes.” There was no point in lying. “Where are you going, Valentine?”

His brow raised. “Nowhere.”

Since I was going to probably die soon, anyway, I said, “Maybe you’re on your way to the lake?”

He wasn’t even surprised. “No, actually. I’m delivering a message for Romin on the other side of town. What are you doing out here, Sunshine?” His every word rang true, but that didn’t mean I believed him. Valentine might be the best liar I’d ever come across. I had no illusion that I could detect truths on him.

“You know very well what I’m doing. Don’t pretend you don’t follow me around.”

This definitely surprised him, but he recovered quickly. “How is it going, then? Are you getting stronger?”

I smiled, shaking my head. Of course, he knew I was training with Quinn. For all I knew Shadow was in the woods with us while I trained every single night. “Ask Romin’s balls.”

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