32. Chapter Thirty-Two
~Felix~
Trying to explain myself to Evalina felt like fighting for my life. When she accused me of being like Tarron, every nerve in my body bristled in response to the insult. I still didn’t know what that guy wanted from her, but I knew what I wanted: to love and worship her every day for the rest of her life.
I sincerely doubted those were his intentions.
But despite my revulsion at the comparison, I could understand why she made it. She didn’t really know me yet, and I did lie to her, no matter how well-intentioned it might have been.
With that in mind, I did my best to lay out my reasoning and hoped with all my might that my mate, the woman who, despite coming from a literal different world, was destined for me, would understand the truth of my heart even if she had to take a leap of faith to do it.
And to my great relief, after thinking over everything I said, she smiled. Actually smiled at me.
“I think you’re kind of amazing too. But don’t lie to me again, ever. Understood?”
She pointed her finger at me, her little feet planted firmly on the ground, and she looked so adorable as she tried to appear stern that it took all my self-control not to burst out laughing or pick her up and cradle her in my arms. The only thing that stopped me was that she wouldn’t appreciate either of those things, at least not at that exact moment.
“I understand,” I promised. “Now, let me put my clothes back on, and can you please tell me what you mean about Tarron? What does he want from you?”
With a sigh, Evalina sank down onto a tree trunk next to the portal, as if the prospect of talking about Tarron left her too weary to stand. With her back turned, I quickly pulled my clothes back on, and when I stepped back into her line of vision, she began talking.
“He wants me as his amorta. I have no idea why. He made my life miserable growing up and I’m a servant. I have nothing that would benefit him. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Taking a seat on the ground in front of her, I cast my mind back to our conversation about fae relationships and what ‘amorta’ meant. All that she’d said was that the ruler chose his amorta, and we compared it to a mistress. It would be a sexual relationship, then, that much seemed clear, and my blood boiled at the thought of him touching her. Had he already? She certainly didn’t seem to have any fondness for him. Had he forced her? Bile rose in my throat at the thought, but I needed to know.
“Start at the beginning, please,” I managed to force out in a calm tone that concealed my inner turmoil. “How long have you known him?”
Her shoulders lifted in a casual shrug. “All my life. As the crown prince, everyone in Etta knows who he is, but since my mother worked in the royal kitchen, I saw him up-close more than most people did. He ignored me when we were young, until he caught me one day in his room, looking through his possessions. I didn’t take anything, I simply got curious while helping to clean and he found me there. After that, he went out of his way to make my life as difficult as possible. I would have sworn he hated me.”
“What kind of possessions were you looking at?” Any detail might be important so I wanted to know as many of them as she remembered.
“He had this box beneath his bed, and inside it were scribblings on paper and some dried flowers, unusual things but not of any particular value. But one of the papers had a drawing on it, a drawing of a large man and a strange animal that I now know was a wolf. The man was a werewolf. It looked like you.”
That certainly seemed significant but I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. “Did you have stories about werewolves and other beings from this world, the same as I grew up with stories of fairies and elves?”
Evalina shook her head. “No. I’d never heard of a werewolf before then, nor after. My father knew about them, apparently, but I only found that out later, after his death. It’s interesting, actually: Tarron seems to have a fascination with this world. Aside from the things in his box, he went through the portal to get the silver, and he seemed almost nervous when he realized I knew he’d been using it. I don’t think he wanted people to know, but I’m not sure why not.”
That was interesting, but like her, I couldn’t be sure what it all meant, especially without knowing the political situation in her world. But a prince curious about werewolves who took an unhealthy interest in my mate? That didn’t seem like a coincidence to me, not at all.
Unable to sit still any longer, I stood back up and began pacing as I turned over everything I knew in my head. “So, he treated you badly once he found you snooping, but at some point, he changed his mind?”
Her pretty head bobbed in agreement. “A little over a year ago, he stopped persecuting me and began pursuing me instead. I’ve managed to fend him off while still giving him hope that I may change my mind. If I rejected him outright, I would have lost my job or worse.”
Her having to lie to that arrogant bastard did nothing to ease the anger bubbling in the pit of my stomach, but I kept my focus on the narrative as much as possible. “Did anything in particular happen a year ago that might have led to this change?”
Her lips pursed as she gave my question some careful consideration. “I can’t think of anything. It was around my birthday, I suppose, but that didn’t involve him.”
The hairs on the back of my neck began to prickle. “Your eighteenth birthday, by any chance?”
She hadn’t told me her age yet, but I would have placed her around twenty, a few years younger than me. When she nodded in confirmation, my mouth pressed into a firm line.
“Eighteen is the age at which werewolves can recognize their mates. It’s the age when our wolves come to us.”
She followed each word carefully, but didn’t catch my point. “What does that have to do with my eighteenth birthday?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but I think something about you must have changed on that day too, something related to being my mate, so that if I came upon you after that date, I would recognize you exactly as I ended up doing.”
Now she got it. “And you think Tarron recognized this change? How?”
“I have no idea, but the elf saw the connection between us. Maybe Tarron sensed something too. Maybe it made you more desirable to him.”
“That actually makes some sense,” she admitted. “I could never understand why he suddenly found me attractive after torturing me for so long. My appearance didn’t change that much.”
It made sense to me too, but I still had a lot of unanswered questions. “We should go back to the pack house and tell the others what we’ve found. We can check on your mother too.”
I offered my hand to her, helping her back to her feet, and when the sparks of our bond flared to life between us again, Evalina’s gaze dropped to our joined hands. “Is that because you’re my mate?”
“You can feel it?” I hadn’t been sure she would, so when she nodded, my chest swelled with happiness. “We call it mate sparks. It happens between a mated pair whenever their skin connects.”
“It feels… nice.”
She flushed with those words, and once again, the desire to pull her into my arms nearly overwhelmed me.
First, we had to talk to Vaughan and Calista about the portal, the elf we met, and about Tarron’s interest in werewolves. Then, I planned to take my mate somewhere private and truly get to know her, in every way she’d let me.
Now that she knew what she meant to me, I didn’t want to hold back any longer.