Page 71 of The Evernight Court

I would never hurt you.

I didn’t believe him—of course, I didn’t. Shadow had been coming for me. He’d been fucking coming for my head, even though Valentine knew that Storm would stop him. Even though the duel had proved that despite their sizes, Storm was still faster than Shadow. Storm still moved much better than Shadow.

ValentineknewShadow would be stopped.

“My God, Grey…” It made sense that Valentine knew. He wasn’t trying to kill me—if he had been, he wouldn’t have made that mistake, not in front of Grey and Storm.

It wasn’t an act of anger, either. Valentine was too much in control of himself to let anger dictate his actions. “No, he’s too smart for that,” I whispered. He hadn’t acted on anger at all.

“So then why?” Why would he do it? Why would he start something he knew he couldn’t win—why?!

Words he said to me that night in the woods came back to me like a slap to my face, like my own mind was trying to mock me for not seeing it yet.

Don’t be silly, Sunshine. The only way out of this place is by banishment.

Every hair on my body stood at attention as the pieces of the puzzle clicked in place.

Valentine wantedto get banished.

I was running again,though I wasn’t sure where I was even headed. Maybe the fifth tower?

No idea, but I needed to find Valentine. I needed to talk to him, find out what the hell he was thinking—why did he want to get banished?!

Because it all made sense to me now—everything from the very beginning.

When he sent me to Faeries’ Aerie, he was hoping I didn’t return. He planned to admit to what he did in front of everyone because he knew he’d get banished for it.

But then I came back.

When he challenged Grey to a duel—fucking hell, Valentine!—he did it knowing he’d lose. He fucking knew he’d lose, and he also knew Grey wouldn’t kill him. He thought Grey would ask for his banishment instead.

But then Grey let him stay.

So, he made a decision right then and there.

He sent Shadow after me because to threaten a bride in any way means instant banishment. He sent Shadow after me knowing Romin would have no choice but to banish him.

Except Romin saw the chance to get rid of Grey instead, and he took it—so Valentine remained.

My own laughter echoed in my head as I ran down the hall toward the fifth tower. How had I not seen it before when it was right in front of my eyes? How had I not put two and two together since the fucking duel?

“Valentine!”

My fists slammed on the doors to his tower so hard the entire castle shook. The doors that were locked, that I was going tobreakif he didn’t let me through soon. The asshole had some explaining to do. The asshole hada lotof explaining to do.

“Valentine, open the fucking door!” I shouted over and over again, slamming the tips of my boots to the door, too, with all my strength.

But the doors remained closed.

Then…

“Miss Hayes, I’m afraid Master Valentine is not in his tower.”

I turned, ready to attack whoever was behind me that I hadn’t even noticed approaching.

Then Vinny’s face came into view, and the words he said finally made sense to me.

“Where…where is he then?” I asked, chest moving up and down fast—I must have been attackingthose doors for longer than I’d realized.

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