Page 60 of Research with Rivals
I couldn’t help it. As with any piece of history that contradicted another, I had to know more. His words were not in line with what Evelyn had told me.
“You know her?” he asked.
I nodded.
He assessed me in a new light. “Are you her partner? Is she happy?”
This was the last thing I’d expected today. I’d woken up to the fresh scent of Evelyn’s woodsy aroma coating the pillow beside me. I’d felt the tangle of our fingers before she slipped away, knowing without a doubt that I’d reached for her and she’d welcomed it. It was intoxicating to think that some part of her wanted me. Hope from the realization burned like a flame in my chest. I just wished I knew how to alert the rest of her to that fact.
But I was a researcher. If there was one thing I could do, it was study Evelyn with a dedication that bordered on religious devotion. I would test every method to determine if there was a way to make her mine.
Mine.
It was the first time I’d thought the word. Hearing her absentee father so casually assume I was hers—that I was in her life romantically—breathed new life into the dream.
This was ridiculous. I couldn’t have this conversation with the missing fae father Evelyn had fled.
“I think it’s up to Evelyn to decide what you know about her.”
He let his head fall, but I saw the slightest nod, like he understood my response. “She doesn’t even want to see me. I wasn’t truly prepared for that outcome.”
“Maybe you should tell her why that’s unexpected to you.” I sighed, feeling bad for the male. One look at the inward curve of his shoulders, at the way his clothes hung a little too loosely from his frame, told me he hadn’t abandoned them. Whether Evelyn’s mom was correct and it was the mist plague, or some other ill tidings, it didn’t matter. The same damage had been done from Evelyn’s perspective. He needed to repair that on his own.
He looked up at me, brown eyes shining with unshed tears. “When I woke from the mist plague, they weren’t where I left them.”
My heart twisted, and I wasn’t sure if it was because Evelyn was too far away or because of the confirmation of his whereabouts. Evelyn’s mom had been right.
“You were in one of the mist plague villages?”
He nodded. “The Compass Points awoke us months ago, but when I returned to our cabin, they weren’t there. I searched the surrounding villages for news, but no one had any information. I am here to petition the Vesten Point for help finding them.” His eyes brightened. “He told me last time I attended court that hewas selecting a new Vesten historian and they’d be able to help me locate my family.”
The laugh that escaped my lips held no mirth. I had thought my and Evelyn’s situation was a mess. She had confessed one of the ways she would use the resources of the Vesten historian position, should she get it, was to find her father and demand answers from him. Of course, she claimed it was for her mom, and her magic. Never for her. Never because she wanted to.
What would she do now that she had him here? Would she listen to learn that everything her mother had feared might be true? I knew without a doubt that his story was not mine to reveal to her.
I already knew too much. There would be no winning when she asked me about this later. I needed to get out of here. “I have to go.”
“You’ll tell her?” he asked, his voice filled with too much hope.
“I don’t think I’m the one she should hear it from.”
He looked longingly into the woods where Evelyn had disappeared. “What if she won’t let me explain?”
I glanced away, unsure what to do. “Where are you staying? I’ll at least tell her that.”
“At the inn in the Vesten neighborhood.”
“I’ll make sure she knows where to find you.” I turned on my heel and took long strides down the path before he could say anything else.
25
Evelyn
It figured that on my way to the most important meeting of my professional career, my father, who had beenmissingfor twenty years, decided to appear.
Couldn’t he have remained missing for a few more hours?
Goosebumps covered my skin before I shifted. It was the human equivalent of my hackles rising. For once, my veil cat and I were in stark agreement. I needed to get away from my father.
