Page 10 of The Evernight Court

But that only made Romin smile wider.

I took a quick look around—where were Emil and Tristian? Were they waiting for me behind corners I couldn’t see?

Nobody was there, but I moved toward the doors of the third tower anyway.

“That’s no way to speak to your master,” said Romin, but he was grinning ear to ear. “I’ll admit, I was considering you might try to starve yourself in there.” And he laughed.

The image I’d constructed in my mind of Storm inside a cave, refusing to eat as he waited for death, came before my eyes. God, I hated this man so much…

With my head up, I continued to walk toward the doors, but my focus was on him. That’s why I saw it when he moved, lightning fast, and stopped in front of me, blocking my way.

“Enough with this nonsense, Fall. You’re a bride. You have a duty to this Court,” he had the audacity to say.

“And you had a duty to rule this Court fairly, not to let your fear of your own brother get in your way of making the right decisions.”

Oh, the way his smile dropped. Even if he sucked me dry right now, it would have been totally worth it.

“I amnotafraid of anyone,” he said, but he was full of shit.

“Oh, I believe you now.” Grey was gone. None of the others were as powerful. He had no reason to be afraid…yet.

“It seems you’re still in mourning, which is beyond me, but okay,” he said with a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment. “But your welcoming party is tomorrow night, and I order you as your ruler to leavethisattitude in the tower when you attend.”

For a moment I considered I heard him wrong, but no. He said those words. He actually said those words.

He must have been out of his fucking mind.

“Aparty.” Did he seriously think that I would attend a party tomorrow or any other day that I had to spend on this God forsaken Isle?

“Yes, your party. All the Isles will be here to honor you.”

I blinked and waited for a good minute, thinking,he’s gonna start laughing soon.He was going to start laughing soon and tell me he had me because no way this wasn’t a joke.

He didn’t.

“I really hope you and all the Isles have the best time, and—because you seem to need me to actually say this—Iwon’tbe attending a party tomorrow night. Or ever.”

He smiled and it was like tires screeching in my brain. My instincts could pick up on his magic like it was heat coming off him, even clearer than before.

“But you will. I order you, Fall Hayes, to be at your party tomorrow night. It’s not really a choice. Not a request—anorder,” he said slowly.

“I don’t care about your orders,” I spit and moved around him to get to the doors. If he wanted to grab me, I couldn’t stop him, anyway, so might as well give it a try and hope for the best.

But as soon as I opened the doors, Romin said, “Fine with me. I think you should want to, though. You should really care about disobeying my direct order because you won’t like the consequences if you do.”

I stopped. I turned to him again. “What consequences?”

“Your punishment,” he said, hands behind him as he looked down at me. “I will be entitled to punish you—and deliver that punishment myself. Which means I’ll be well within my rights to enter your tower to reach you, and take you out of there, and even chain you to the walls of mybedroom if I wanted to. The magic of this castle would no longer stand in my way.”

Goose bumps rose on every inch of my skin. My God, his every word rang true.

“So, think about it, then, Fall.” With that, he turned around and made for the other side of the hallway. “To be honest, I’d prefer it if you choose not to attend. That idea of chaining you to my bedroom wall?” Bile rose up my throat. “I just might put my very best efforts into making it a reality.”

My heart skipped so many beats it was a wonder it hadn’t shut down completely yet. I turned for the doors, swallowed the bile down as Romin laughed, and the echo of it slipped into my ears and fuckinginvadedmy mind. The doors of the tower closed behind me, cutting him and the rest of the castle off, but I still heard him when I made it back to my bedroom. I still heard his words, and my imagination was eager to come up with a visual of them, too—of myself chained to a wall in Romin’s bedroom, completely helpless while he did to me whatever the fuck went on in his twisted mind.

In my imagination, I could do nothing but take it.

“No,” I said to the room, putting the basket full of food on the bed. “No. No.No.”

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