Page 9 of The Evernight Court

I remained in that recliner curled up in a ball with my hands around my head, trying to think of every possible scenario, every option I really had, while my tears slowed down, then dried completely.

Magic. That’s all I had now. The only thing that could keep me safe from these monsters until I figured out a way to get out of the Whispering Woods. There had to be a way, and I was going to find it even if it took me a hundred years. Just like Syra was a hundred percent convinced that she could find another way to supply Ennaris with magic instead of eating human flesh, I was convinced that there was a way out of this trap of an Isle.

And I swore to myself that no matter what I had to do, no matter how long it took, I was going to find it.

Three

I missedhim so much it hurt me physically.

How was it possible to get used to a man so quickly when I’d been with him two nights?

They had been the best nights—and mornings—of my life, but still, only two. How could I become so connected to a stranger and feel like I’d known him since the moment he was born?

No idea but there I was, biting my tongue to keep the tears at bay because I’d cried enough. Now, I focused ahead, on growing stronger, on keeping myself protected—for once taking my own self, my own safety and well-being, into my own hands. For once not looking for someone else to save me, to protect me—just me. A Fall Hayes strong enough, smart enough to withstand the Evernight brothers. Strong enough to save herself from this fucked up world.

I slept sitting in the recliner that day.

When I woke up and I made my way back to the bedroom, I found a tray full of cold food on the floor in front of the door. I didn’t really taste it, but I ate anyway just to give myself some energy.

Then, I slept some more.

For almost two days, all I did was sleep and think and toss and turn, with only that cold food that had been brought to my door by probably Aster or Vinny. The thought of going to the kitchen to grab something else made me want to break something, or dry heave, so I didn’t bother. I just stayed in this state of paralysis of the mind, with the same things running through it over and over, but I didn’t cry again.

It occurred to me that in a way, Brandon washalf right about what he’d said.

It wasn’t easier for me. The pain wasn’tlessbecause of what I’d gone through, but I knew that I would get used to living with it. It would eventually become part of me, no matter how much it hurt. I knew that I was capable ofsurviving, that I could get fucking used to everything—and maybethat’swhat made it a bit easier.

Right now, I’d think of that as my superpower.

By the end of the second day, my body was too weak, my headache about to split my skull wide open because I needed food. There was no way I could go to bed and actually sleep in the state I was in, even though I was very aware that I wasn’t in any condition to keep myself safe from anyone at all.

So, I waited for midnight, and then I forced myself to stumble out of the silent, dark tower and into the ground floor of the castle.

Empty. The hall was empty, but that didn’t mean much. Lucky for me, I had become a bit delirious with hunger and with my own messed up thoughts, so I hardly stopped to look and see if someone was coming for me as I made my way to the dining room, and then into the kitchen. It was empty, but that didn’t stop me from seeing Grey in my mind’s eye standing in front of the open fridges while his leg bled because he’d captured a cougar without hurting her. I saw the whole thingas I had that night, and it was like I was living in those moments all over again.

The urge to want to go back in time was so strong it doubled me over. I’d give up everything to be there again. To go to that night, to talk to him, to clean his leg and then stick to his side every second after. Every fucking second of every day for the rest of eternity.

But reality was a cruel bitch and soon I had no choice but to accept that Grey wasn’t here. He wasn’t looking for rabbit meat in the fridge. He wasn’t bleeding all over the kitchen floor.

He was gone.

So, I forced myself to move, grabbed a basket from the cabinets and put in it every food I could find that would last without a fridge because I wasn’t planning to come out here again in a long time. I would just camp in the third tower and let the rest of the castle fucking burn for all I cared.

Bananas and apples and oranges and bread and cheese and dried meat—I got all of it until I could hardly carry that basket, and then I turned to leave. Go back to my tower. Eat. Think. Sleep.

Wake up tomorrow and do the same all over again.

Except I still hadn’t made it to the doors of it when I noticed movement on my right, and it was a damn miracle the basket’s handle remained in my hand.

Romin was resting a shoulder against a pillar near one of the many corners around me, watching me with a smile on his face.

“Look who finally crawled out of her hole.”

His voice was cheerful, excited, sharp enough to fucking pierce right through me. I froze, unsure whether to believe my eyes at all. The state I had been in the past two days made everything…questionable.

“You don’t look so good, Fall. My, my,” he whispered as heslowly moved away from the pillar and came toward me. “You don’t look good at all.”

“What do you want?” I spit with as much bite as I had energy to put in my voice.

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