Page 75 of The Evernight Court

My fault-my fault-my fault—the thought got so loud so suddenly in my head that I had to stop and take a breath.

“So, he sent Shadow after me, pretending he was going to attack me, knowing Storm would see it. Knowing Grey would see it. Knowingyouwould see it, too, and banish him right then and there.” I looked up at his wide dark eyes. “But you banished Grey instead.” Because he was a goddamn coward.

With a sigh, I shook my head, smiling bitterly. “And I have no idea what the hell he did this time around to get you toactually do it, but whatever it was, Romin, he planned it. He planned all of it.”

“Nonsense,” he said through gritted teeth, his knuckles white with how tightly he was holding his glass.

“He wassmilingas the sky pulled him up—or did you miss that, too?!” I said, my voice rising with each word. “He was smiling, Romin. What the hell does that tell you?!”

Romin didn’t speak for a long, long time. It gave me the chance to eat that entire piece of bread and then a piece of meat, too. Just a little so I didn’t pass out, but not so much that I would throw it back up.

It’s okay,I kept whispering to myself, needing to get that food in my system.It’s okay, we’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it all out. It’s fine.

Except it wasn’t—and Romin knew it, too.

“He stole from me,” he said reluctantly, then closed his eyes.

“He didn’t steal from you,” I said, my mouth still half full. And I was still trying to process my own words, too.

“Are you calling me a liar, Fall?” he demanded, leaning closer to the table again. “He stole from me. I caught him. I have proof. I’ve found all the paperwork. He was fucking stealing from me, from his own home, and paying common swindlers to build himself weapons—weapons,and for what?!”

I moved farther back on my seat with each new word he spoke. His voice turned low, almost robotic, and I couldfeelthe energy coming off him, the raw magic his skin let out, I’m sure involuntarily. He put the glass on the table, too, because he knew he’d break it if he kept tightening his grip around it for a second longer.

“I found it. I have the proof. He was going behind my back. That is one of the six crimes punishable by instant banishment,” he ended, visibly trying to calm himself down now.

But I was about to piss him off again.

“You found proof because hewantedyou to find proof, Romin.”

His eyes turned bloodshot so suddenly I was literally expecting him to jump on my neck. “I found proof because Icaughthim.”

“Valentine is smarter than you’ll ever be,” I said in a broken whisper. “If you found proof of something he did, it’s because hewantedyou to find it.” Valentine washisbrother, and he knew him better than I did.

His fisted hands over the table turned completely white.

“Listen to me, Romin. It is done. He’s already gone, but you need to figure outwhyhe did what he did. Why would a vampire want to get banished? Think about it—what could be his reasoning?”

By some miracle, my words seemed to redirect his thoughts like I’d had little hope they would. “There is no reasoning,” he finally said. “Banishment means certain death for a vampire. There is no way he can survive the curse taking back its magic. No way.”

We both stared at nothing for a good, long moment.

“Where do they go?”

My voice echoed in the tall ceiling of his office.

Romin met my eyes. It could very well have been my imagination, but he suddenly looked…afraid.

If not afraid, more uncomfortable than I’d ever seen him before. “Nobody knows. The dragons go to Mount Agva—Shadow is halfway there already. The rest…nobody knows.”

Liar.He was a goddamn liar because he knew.

“You don’t have to tell me. I don’t need to know,” I forced myself to say. “But is there a way—anyway to see into that place? To see Valentine? To send someone after him?—”

“Impossible,” he cut me off. “It’s impossible to send anyone afterhim.”

I flinched. “There has to be a spell. Something—someonewho could tell you where he is and what he is doing. Because he’s doing something, Romin. If Valentine wanted to get banished, there was a reason behind it. A very good reason.”

“Death! That’s all there is to banishment—certain death. Don’t you understand that?!”

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