16. Chapter Sixteen
~Evalina~
Of all the strange things I’d seen in my life, nothing came close to this.
Not just seeing Felix turn into an animal, although that had certainly registered high on the crazy scale, but the whole encounter with him. The way he made me feel safe and comfortable despite his size and unfamiliarity. The way I blurted out things to him, like my mother’s illness, that I hardly told anyone else. The way my body lit up when his hand touched mine and the tingles that zipped straight to my core when his lips pressed against my skin. He seemed to see right through every wall I’d ever built, straight to my heart.
It felt like something out of a dream.
Did all werewolves cause that kind of a reaction, or was it unique to him? Since I’d never met another one, I couldn’t be certain, but more than ever before, I wanted to know about his species. I wanted to know about his world, and his life, and every single thing about him .
Unfortunately, all of that would have to wait. Pushing away those thoughts as the furry, four-legged version of him disappeared into the forest, I found a spot on the ground not far from Jermyn’s prone body and lay down, doing my best to mimic his unconscious state. I had no idea how long it would take until he woke up or we were discovered, but it ended up not being very long at all. No more than five minutes passed before the ground bounced beneath me from the pounding of approaching footsteps.
“Over there,” a man yelled. “Check the pens!”
Voices drew nearer as another man shouted back. “Empty! He’s gone!”
“Jermyn? Wake up, sir,” another voice said from nearer to me, and a few seconds later, someone poked at my shoulder.
“Miss? Are you alright?”
Squeezing my eyes tight, I raised my hand to my head and did my best to look disoriented as I slowly blinked. “What… what happened?”
“You were assaulted,” the young man at my side said grimly. “Are you hurt?”
Every ounce of me wanted to say that Felix hadn’t assaulted me, would never assault me, but that wouldn’t accomplish anything. Instead, I forced myself not to argue and focused on the soldier’s question instead. “I’m okay. Where’s Jermyn?”
He glanced over his shoulder to where the older man had started to get to his feet too. “He’s alright. We’ll take you both back to the prince.”
My hand went to my chest, not part of the act that time. Tarron was the last person I wanted to see. “Actually, I’m a little dizzy. Maybe I should go home.”
“After you speak to the prince.”
His tone, though kind, left no room for argument, and reluctantly, I allowed them to lead me back to the residence.
Tarron sat in his formal reception room, on his large armchair that resembled a throne as much as it could without actually being one. Suspicion clouded his eyes when he saw me come in, but he focused his attention on Jermyn first.
“What. Happened.”
He bit the words out, each a complete sentence and barely even a question. He must have already known that Felix escaped, he just wanted to know how.
Jermyn’s face had bruised where Felix punched him, and he hung his head in shame. “We were trying to get the prisoner to eat, as you ordered, Your Highness. He said Evalina’s food didn’t smell good, which couldn’t be right, so we thought the magical shield might be affecting the smell. I lowered it to see if that made a difference but I don’t know how he got out. The door should have still been locked.”
Tarron’s lavender eyes slid over to me and I held my breath while doing my best to give nothing away. Would he connect the dots between his locked box that I’d opened all those years ago and the locked door?
When he spoke, his words were measured. “It seems that every time I turn around lately, I see you, Evalina.”
It felt that way to me too, and I didn’t consider it a good thing. Holding his gaze, I answered as politely as possible. “You ordered food to be taken to the prisoner, Your Highness. I followed your orders.”
I should have left it there, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking a follow-up question.
“Did the prisoner get away?”
Since neither Jermyn nor I had alerted him to what happened at the pens, something else must have tipped him off about Felix’s escape. I hope that didn’t mean he’d been spotted or recaptured.
Tarron didn’t answer me. He turned back to Jermyn with a sneer. “Five days in the pens for your stupidity, with only Etta juice for sustenance.”
Jermyn’s jaw fell slack as he blinked at his prince, and guilt stabbed at my chest. He’d only been trying to help me, and now he had to suffer for five days without food. Etta juice would keep him alive, but wouldn’t help with the hunger pangs. The pens were a cold, damp circle of misery, not to mention the shame incarceration would bring.
What would my fate be if Tarron suspected I’d purposefully let Felix go?
Apparently, he didn’t want to announce it in front of the others. “You can all go,” he dismissed everyone else before crooking an elegant finger at me and beckoning me towards him. “Evalina, you stay.”
With no other choice, I remained still while the room emptied until only Tarron and I were left. The click of the door closing behind us sent a chill down my spine.
For a long minute, he simply looked at me, his eyes roaming over me before resting on my face, and repeating the action when I didn’t speak. He seemed to think that I would eventually find the silence unbearable and start talking, but he didn’t understand that I would happily stand there for hours in the quiet rather than say a word to him that I didn’t have to.
He didn’t understand me at all.
Finally, he spoke, the words sounding louder than they should after the forced silence. “Strange how the prisoner escaped through a locked door.”
My heart thudding was the only reaction I allowed myself to have. Externally, I betrayed nothing. “Very strange, Your Highness.”
“Did you speak with him?”
My fingers tried to curl into fists at my side but I resisted it, not wanting to make any move that would suggest anything other than open honesty. “As Jermyn explained, I offered him the food and he said it didn’t smell good. I went to Jermyn for help since I was told the prisoner needed to eat.”
“That’s all you spoke about?”
I stuck to my lie, hoping it would convince him. “Yes, Your Highness.”
“Hmmm.”
Did that mean he believed me or not? Since I couldn’t tell, I fell silent again, waiting for him to say something else.
That time, I didn’t have to wait long. Tarron suddenly changed the subject to something I wanted to discuss even less than I wanted to talk about Felix.
“Have you considered my offer to cure your mother?”
“I have considered it,” I answered carefully. “But I have another treatment option I would like to try first.”
“Why would you waste time on that when I told you I have the cure?”
“I would prefer not to bother you with my personal problems. You’re a busy man.”
Tarron’s expression darkened to a scowl. The air in the room thickened and my palms grew damp against my skirt. Outside, a bird called out, sharp and sudden, sounding a warning.
“Don’t toy with me, Evalina. It’s a simple proposition: agree to be my amorta and your mother’s life is saved. It will be hard for you to cure her yourself from prison.”
A gasp flew out of me before I could stop it. “Prison?”
“Jermyn just got five days,” he reminded me, gesturing towards the door the others had gone through. “Do you think you’re immune from punishment?”
“No, but…”
“But nothing,” he cut me off. “Make up your mind. The pens are waiting, or you can accept my offer and be the envy of every woman in Etta. Honestly, I’m beginning to think there’s something wrong with you if you consider this a difficult choice.”
In his words, I caught a hint of the old condescension he used to show me, and I couldn’t help wondering: if that distaste for me still lingered, why did he care so much about having me at his side? The contradiction gnawed at me.
Even if I knew the reason, meeting Felix had made the prospect of binding myself to Tarron even less appealing than before, and I wouldn’t have thought that possible. I couldn’t agree, but how could I leave my mother alone either?
Wavering between both sides of an impossible choice, I took too long and Tarron’s scowl turned stony. “One night in the pens should make things a lot clearer for you.”
“No, please, Your Highness…”
If I had to spend the night in prison, not only would my mother be on her own but I wouldn’t be able to meet Felix as I promised and get the silver I needed. That assumed he had even made it safely back to his world at all.
Tarron sprang to his feet, coming to stand right in front of me, his eyes intense as they stared down into mine. Behind the lavender, something darker flickered, a hunger that went beyond any interest he’d ever shown me. “Say the word and I’ll have you and your mother moved into the residence tonight. She’ll start her treatment and you’ll never have to work again. We’ll both have what we want.”
He made it sound so simple, but it wasn’t simple at all. My stomach twisted at his words and I clenched my fists at my sides, forcing myself to meet his gaze. He wanted me to feel powerless, to break under his scrutiny, but I refused to give him that satisfaction even if I had no other power in this situation.
“I…”
I tried to think of something to say, anything that would change his mind and give me more time, but when no further words came, Tarron turned away and stormed out of the room, calling over his shoulder.
“Think hard about your answer before tomorrow, Evalina. I won’t wait forever.”
Outside, I heard him order one of the guards to take me to the pens to join Jermyn, and my shoulders slumped in defeat. I had absolutely no idea what to do next. Tarron expected my answer in the morning and I could only hope that hours alone in the pens would provide some inspiration.