Page 83 of Elven Lies

There was no replacement for that and no immediate way she knew of to ease the pain of such a realization.

Rowan had turned from her, plain and simple. He’d chosen the Bloodshadow Court and the Tha’rossa Clans and all their prophecies and empty promises overher.

He was just like the rest of them. Rebecca just hadn’t seen it until now.

She hadn’twantedto see it until now, but a truth once seen could never be unseen.

Rowan Blackmoon could never be again who he once was.

Neither could Rebecca.

Now, she realized, she couldn’t even count on him to stick to his decision and leave the subject alone.

This must have been close to what Maxwell felt every time he and Rowan were in the same room. This suspicion and unease, wondering just how far the Blackmoon Elf would take it this time.

Rebecca could hold herself in check the way she had because she knew Rowan—or at least shehad. Maybe it was the memory of him that kept her from acting on her frustration, but Maxwell?

Well, she certainly had a greater appreciation for his capacity for self-control.

If Maxwell had joined them in this little outing, he might have been the one to holdherback from losing her cool.

How odd that a walk across Chicago with her old friend and the conversation she never wanted to have made her think of Maxwell now too.

Whatdidn’tmake her think of him these days?

She shook that thought from her mind and focused instead on putting one foot in front of the other toward the compound.It was the only thing she could focus on that didn’t come with either confusion, regret, or boiling anger.

They were ten minutes out from the old factory Shade had turned into its headquarters compound when Rowan broke the silence again. Only this time, he was somber and sulking.

That part didn’t excite her much, either.

“To be fair though,” he said, “I never imagined it would be this hard to bring you around.”

She fought back a snort. “Bring me around?”

“I expected the resistance first, of course. It’s always a push-pull game with you. Always has been. But this? It’s gone on too long,Kilda’ari. I thought you would’ve been much more eager to get started on what we need to accomplish, no matter how long you’ve been in this world, on your own…”

There he was, the Rowan she’d known—the Rowan she’d cared for and respected, the Rowan she’d trusted—reappearing beside her, just when she’d started to believe he was gone forever.

But how much longer would this version of him stick around?

She guessed it wouldn’t be for very long.

“Things are different now,” she told him gently. “Even if you can’t understand it, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s true.”

He shrugged and slipped his hands into the front pockets of his slacks. “You’ll come around, eventually.”

He seemed so sure of it, which instantly made her think he still had something else hidden up his sleeve. Some final trick or revelation he’d been saving for the very end as a last resort.

The prospect gave her no comfort, especially when now it felt like he might have planned this all along from the beginning—her resistance, his unending determination to change her mind and bring her home, plus everything else Rowan might have set into motion in his attempts to stay several moves ahead of her.

But ifherplans had gone the way they were supposed to, he never would have found her in the first place.

How could he have accounted for all her intentions going wrong somewhere along the way?

“You’ll come around, eventually.”

He really still thought she was pretending here with all this, didn’t he?

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