Page 49 of Lore of the Wicked Wood
Everinne nodded, remembering Atlas’s warning from the other night. She’d jokingly asked if he was worried about her, but he hadn’t returned a smile in jest.
Zoryana shivered then, though whether it was from the sun dipping beyond reach of the city streets or the more ominous matter at hand, Everinne couldn’t be sure. “It’s been suggested that we—that I—lie low for a while until the threat passes.”
“I completely agree.”
Zoryana’s lashes fluttered back in shock. “You do?”
“Yes.” Everinne placed her hands upon her shoulders. “You’re my best friend, Zory. Of course I want to see you safe, especially if there’s any truth in these rumors. And if that means we have to hide out in my apartment all day, eating lemon berry tarts and drinking honeyfire, then that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
Everinne grinned, and quite honestly couldn’t imagine anything better.
But Zoryana’s shoulders dropped, and a crestfallen, ghost of a smile graced her lips.
This time, Everinne’s frown deepened. “What’s wrong?”
Zoryana shrugged free, shaking her head slightly. She lifted her gaze to Everinne, and her eyes were filled with glimmers of remorse. “I’ll be going into hiding by myself, Everinne.”
Everinne blinked, her arms falling to her side. Surely she didn’t intend to leave Prava, to leave her here…alone. Again. “But can’t I?—”
Zoryana lifted one hand, cutting her off. “The coven has made it clear that I’m to disassociate from you until they deem it safe for me to return to the city again.”
It was as though a blade skewered with white-hot spikes had been driven right into Everinne’s gut. She sucked in a harsh breath, struggling to process the words that left her blood rushing so loudly she could hardly hear herself think.
“Disassociate?” Everinne tossed back, and a gnawing sense of dread clawed up the back of her throat. “What, like we can’t be friends anymore? Are they forbidding you to speak to me?”
A beat of tense silence passed between them, filled with everything Zoryana didn’t say. When she never voiced the denial of the claim, Everinne’s lungs seized tight, and the sting of unbidden tears left her sight blurry.
“You’re too reckless, Everinne.” Though Zoryana’s tone was gentle, it was inflected with cemented accusation. “You make rash decisions with little to no regard for the consequences.”
“That’s not true.” Her words fell flat, ringing in her ears with mocking ridicule. She knew she was hasty and inattentive, that her wild behavior usually ended with Veros attempting to drag her out of a mess of her own making. But hearing Zoryana voice such a truth shook the foundation of the protective wall Everinne had so carefully built around herself.
“Really?” Zoryana crossed her arms, cocking one hip to the side. “Name a time when you weighed the good versus the bad before diving headfirst into a situation.”
Everinne opened her mouth, then snapped it shut.
There had to be a time when she’d taken more care, she wasn’talwaysimpulsive.
“Think about it, Everinne.” Zoryana’s face softened and the line of disappointment crinkling her brow smoothed away. She reached out, gently cupping the side of Everinne’s face. Her touch was warm, save for the cool press of the moonstone rings she wore against Everinne’s cheek. “It’s been seventeen years since you killed Callum. And not once have you tried to regain control of your magic since then. You let it own your thoughts and dreams. Your emotions feed it because you never use enough of your power to keep the magic inside of you satisfied.”
Zoryana’s hand fell away, and with it went Everinne’s last scrap of composure.
“Oh, forgive me if I don’t want to go around hurting people all day for practice.” She bit the words off as a violent chill scraped down her spine.
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. There are other ways.” Zoryana tilted her head, assessing her, and for the first time in the course of their friendship, Everinne felt the keen intensity of her disapproval. “You’re just scared.”
“Of course I’m scared!” Everinne shouted in a rasping whisper. She glanced beyond Zoryana, down the emptying streets of the shopping district, to where shadows lengthened. She could’ve sworn she saw someone lurking, watching, but there was only the shuffle of merchants and vendors as they closed up their carts for the day.
She returned her attention to her friend, unable to prevent the sliver of pain splintering through her.
“I killed a man I loved, Zory. Ilovedhim. And I turned his mind to ash and dust. I watched him wither into nothing right in front of me.” Everinne’s chest heaved, her lungs suddenly too tight. Each breath was pinched while her heart hammered, despair crippling her resolve. She hadn’t spoken those words out loud in years. “Ikilledhim.”
Zoryana shook her head, the dangling beaded earrings she wore glinting like droplets of moonlight. “He was a human, Ever. And he washuntingyou.”
The memory of what she’d done shattered Everinne’s soul into a thousand broken fragments, weakening her. “A life is still a life.”
Zoryana grabbed her hand and squeezed. “You own your magic, it doesn’t own you.”
But that was where Zoryana was wrong.
