Page 72 of The Evernight Court

“In the gardens,” Vinny said. “They’re all in the gardens, settling a dispute.”

Settling a dispute.

An alarm rang in my head instantly, like my body already knew what was happening before I did.

I needed to get to the gardens right now.

Once again, I ran like a lunatic, the fear of getting caught or running into someone foreign to me now. I ran to the nearest room that would give me a view of the gardens behind the castle, just so I could breathe for a minute. Just so I could see that Valentine was still there, that he hadn’t done anything to fuck this whole thing up even more than it already was.

That room was one of the brides’ lounging areas, and theyallseemed to be in there when I pushed the doors open and ran in.

Screams. Shouts. Curse words thrown at me, but I couldn’t even be bothered to turn my eyes their way. I just ran for the large windows that took up most of the left wall of the room, one of the few on the ground floor of the castle that actually hadwindows.

The gardens came into view—the large space of the courtyard divided into several sections with trees and rose bushes and benches and fountains—and there, on the easternmost side of the yard were the brothers, all four of them.

They weren’t alone. Flying in circles over them was Balthazar, Romin’s dragon.

My heart fell all the way to my heels when I realized that Emil and Tristian were standing with their arms to the sides, ready to jump into attack, and Romin was looking down at Valentine, shouting something at him with his wings spread wide at his back.

Meanwhile Valentine had his head down and there was no sign of Shadow anywhere.

“No,”I whispered, slamming my fists onto the glass with all my strength, hoping to break it. “Valentine, no!”

“Get out of here, you whore!”

“You are not welcome!”

“How dare you barge into our room!”

“Have you no shame? Why don’t you kill yourself already?!”

The brides went on and on behind me, screaming their guts out while I called for Valentine and slammed my fists on the window that refused to break. And the brothers didn’t even glance my way, even though they could probably hear me.

I had to get out there. I had to get out of the castle and to the gardens and stop them before it was too late.

Once again, I was running. The brides called me all kinds of names as I shot out the door and didn’t bother to close it. Valentine was still here. There was still time. I could reach them, and I could talk to them. I could uncover this whole fucking mess once and for all.

Iwouldfigure out why Valentine wanted to get banished, knowing he would die,once and for all.

Except the moment I pulled open one of the back doors of the castle that led to the main rose garden, I heard it.

The lightning strike that made the ground groan, and the roar of the sky like it was a mighty beast that had suddenly awakened.

“Valentine!” I shouted at the top of my voice as I ran because I knew that sound. I knew what it was even before I saw the sky, the dark clouds that had gathered over us, moving in a circle, a vortex opening in the middle of them.

It was over. It was done.

Romin was banishing Valentine.

“No, no, no, no, please no…”

Even knowing it was too late, I ran like my life depended on it. The wind started, picking up leaves and broken pieces of wood and spinning them around, just like it had that morning in the clearing. The brothers came into view and I pushed my body to move even faster.

“Valentine, no!” I shouted at the top of my voice, and finally, they turned to look at me. Finally, they saw I was running toward them, jumping over benches and roses and the maze of bushes to get to them faster.

Too late, Sunshine,his voice whispered in my ear.

And Valentine smiled at me now.

---