Chapter 48 Eviana
EVIANA
Ahand covered her mouth, and her eyes went wide as she was dragged into a hall bathroom. Then she went still when the door closed, and she came face-to-face with Lange.
“By the gods, bellana,” Lange muttered. “Does he only let you piss once a day? We’ve been waiting forever.”
Corbin had removed his hand from her mouth, but he still had an arm wound around her. She wriggled from his hold, facing them both now.
“What the fuck are you doing here? And how?” she hissed, knowing she didn’t have much time.
She had been allowed to go to the bathroom, but she also had to return with a new bottle of scotch for Valter. If she took too long, there would be consequences.
“We’re here to get you,” Lange answered. “Tessa is here, along with Theon, Luka, and Axel. They’re with Theon’s mother. Did you know she was here?”
“Of course I knew she was here,” Eviana snapped. “I helped put her here.”
“And you never told him?” She stared back at him. “Right,” Lange muttered, rubbing at his nape. “I suppose you couldn’t.”
“We don’t have a lot of time,” Corbin stated.
“Obviously. What’s the plan?” she retorted.
This time they stared back at her.
“You came here without a fucking plan?” she demanded. “Did I teach you fools nothing?”
“We sort of have a plan,” Lange countered. “Theon and Axel are here to kill their father. So once that’s done, we’re good to go, right?”
“They are here to kill him?”
“Well, I’m guessing he’s not going to let them simply walk out the nonexistent front door with their mother,” Lange drawled. “Speaking of, why the fuck isn’t there a door?”
“Oh my gods,” Eviana muttered, going over all this new information and trying to pull together a plan. Priya wasn’t just going to go with them. She was too enamored by Valter.
“I have to get back or he’s going to come looking for me,” she said. “Come back with Tessa, Theon, and Axel, but first…”
She faltered, clasping her hands in front of her. Out of habit, yes, but also out of nerves. She felt the most in control when she was doing something she was used to. Something that came as naturally as breathing.
“What is it, nightmare?” Corbin asked, clearly trying to lighten the mood.
“Have you met the Shifters?” she asked suddenly.
His eyes widened in confusion. “Yes,” he answered slowly. “Tessa took me to them shortly after we caught up with her at the Acropolis.”
“They were kind? Kylian can be abrasive,” she said.
Corbin studied her for a moment. “They were more than kind. My…mother especially.”
She nodded once, squeezing her fingers. “When this is all over, will you stay with them?”
He exchanged a look with Lange. “We haven’t decided where we will settle down,” he answered. “I suppose it will depend on what the world looks like when this is all over.”
That made sense, she supposed.
“Eviana?” Corbin prodded gently when she remained silent.
She straightened her spine, dropping her hands to her sides. “If you can only leave with one of us, promise me you’ll take Priya.”
“What?” Lange scoffed. “No. You’re both coming with us.”
She sighed. “Lange—”
“No,” he interrupted, stepping closer and crowding her against the wall.
“You’re both coming with us. Do you understand me?
You didn’t drag us across half the fucking kingdoms, through the Dreamlock Woods, and make us godsdamn care, for us to leave you behind.
You and Priya are both leaving here with us. ”
“Swear it,” she breathed, looking up into sky-blue eyes. “Swear that you will leave here with both of us. That when this is all said and done, you will take us both from here. That you will…help me with her. Is it an accord?”
His head tilted as if listening to something, and she swore to the gods, if those winds fucked her over right now…
“I swear to you that you will both leave here with us,” Lange said, holding her stare. “I swear that when this is all said and done, you will not be alone. You and Priya? You’ll be part of our family. That is the accord I make with you.”
“Agreed,” she breathed, fighting back the emotion trying to claw up her throat. She didn’t get emotional. Emotions were pointless.
But she felt the tingling of the bargain Mark on her skin just below her shoulder blade. Then she pushed off the wall, shoving him aside. “I have to go. He will come looking soon. I am already taking too long.”
She slipped from the bathroom, rushing to the kitchens and retrieving the liquor and a fresh ice bucket before hurrying back to his study. He looked up when she entered, his hazel eyes hard.
“That took longer than it should have,” he said coldly.
“My apologies, my Lord,” she answered, dropping her gaze to the floor. “I have been unwell with my power so low.”
“And who’s to blame for that, Eve?”
“Me, my Lord,” she said immediately. Lifting the liquor bottle, she dared to look at him, finding him with a slight smirk. “Would you like a glass now or later?”
“Now.”
She nodded, moving to the liquor cart and pulling out a tumbler. She filled it with a few ice cubes and the liquor, trying to calm her racing heart and steady her breathing before she carried it to him.
His fingers brushed hers as he took the glass, and then he stood, forcing her to stumble back a step. He leaned against his desk, studying her while he took a sip.
“How long have you been mine, Eviana?” he mused, swirling the contents of his glass.
“For decades, my Lord,” she answered, her mind racing as she tried to figure out where this was going.
He hummed in response, setting the glass down with a faint clunk. Then he reached over, a fingertip trailing along her collarbone. “Decades of training. Decades of investing my time and energy into you.”
She stayed silent, his fingers still skating down to her cleavage. It was only then she realized Priya wasn’t in the room anymore. She had been here when she’d left to fetch the liquor, but now she was gone.
“And I was studying you all that time too,” he went on. “Clearly not well enough. You still managed to hide your thoughts and emotions from me. Not that I’m surprised. You are clever, but your mannerisms…” His fingers dragged back up. “You’ve never once lied directly to my face. Until now.”
Her eyes went wide, and she tried to lurch back. But he was faster because she was too weak right now. His fingers clamped around her throat, keeping her close.
“I did not think I could be more disappointed in you,” he snarled into her ear. “Yet you continue to prove me wrong at every turn. Tell me how, after fucking decades, this is how you treat me, Eviana?”
But she couldn’t speak because he was squeezing her throat. Then she couldn’t speak as the door opened and Corbin and Lange were shoved into the room by two of the three servants that were here, one of whom was an Arius Legacy.
No!
“Tell me,” Valter said, twisting so he stood behind her now. He tugged her back into his chest, adjusting his grip on her neck. “Tell me why a seven-year-old child is more loyal to me than my godsdamn Source.”
Corbin and Lange were staring at her wide-eyed, clearly not knowing what to do or say.
Then she was trying to scream around that grip on her throat as shadows sprang forward and wrapped around the males.
They both cried out in agony, those shadows biting and twisting and coiling.
They fell to their knees, items in the room being thrown about as Lange fought back with his wind.
Corbin shifted, but the magic didn’t care.
It wrapped around the feline as much as it did Lange. Strangling and drawing blood.
No! No, no, no!
She could do nothing. They were here because of her. They’d come for her. To help her. And now they would be dead because of her.
It had been decades since she’d felt anything, but now she felt guilt and regret. She wished she’d never met them. Never coerced them. Never dragged them with her on this pointless quest to do what? Find her daughter just to watch her slowly become what she was?
Those were tears on her face, and she thrashed against Valter’s hold. He only tightened his grip on her throat, murmuring in her ear how she had caused this. This was her fault. She was the reason they were being tortured.
As if she didn’t already know those truths.
“What are you doing?”
Valter stilled at the small, horrified voice.
His grip on Eviana’s throat loosened the smallest amount, and she turned her head to find Priya standing just inside the door.
If her voice was horrified, it was nothing compared to the look on her small face as she took in a scene no child should ever have to see.
“These Fae are here to hurt you, Priya,” Valter ground out. “I am protecting you. Just like I promised I always would.”
Her turquoise eyes bounced from Valter to the Fae to Eviana and back, fear pouring off her.
“Leave, Priya,” Valter said, his voice getting firmer. Gruffer. “Let me handle this. Go with Benson.” Snapping at the Arius guard, he added, “Where the fuck is Annis?”
“I don’t want to go back to Annis,” Priya said, backing away as Benson approached her.
“Sometimes we don’t get to choose what we want to do,” Valter gritted out, losing all semblance of patience. “Go with Benson. Now!”
“Don’t touch her!” Eviana gasped, Valter’s grip loosening more as his attention was split between her, Priya, and keeping Lange and Corbin tied down with his shadows.
Lange had stopped fighting back, instead using his magic to get air to himself and Corbin as Valter’s shadows squeezed tighter. Blood marred them everywhere, that magic burning and branding.
“I will restore your obedience if it is the last thing I do,” Valter snarled, his hand leaving her throat and grabbing her hair. He yanked her back, throwing her into the bookshelf behind the desk, and she crumpled to the floor. Too weak to fight back. Too drained from these godsdamn bands.
“Stop! Let me go!” Priya was crying, screaming, and Eviana grabbed onto the desk to pull herself back to her feet.