Chapter 32
Chapter
Thirty-Two
CAELAN
Ihad no idea how long I sat on the ground staring at the place where Evie sank into the earth and disappeared.
The sun had peeked above the clouds some time ago, casting a cheerful pink light across the sky.
And still I sat, hoping against all hope she’d appear and tell me this was all some horrible joke.
She was unhinged enough to pull something like that off, and it only made me love her more.
But when the sun finally rose, and the temperatures warmed slightly, and the only sign Evie had ever been there was the depression of where her body had been absorbed into the ground, I knew this nightmare was real.
I bowed my head and buried my face in my hands, a mournful howl tearing from my throat to shatter the quiet morning.
It wasn’t long before a heavy hand dropped onto my shoulder, and Rowan sat down beside me.
“I can’t go back,” I rasped. “Evie—she’s—”
“I know,” Rowan said. “The tree has…changed.”
I turned a hopeful look his way, but the other Lord shook his head. “There’s no sign of her, but I feel her magic soaking the area.”
“How did this happen?” I turned my eyes to the heavens and fought for a semblance of understanding, a moment of clarity in this madness. And even though no answers came from above, I found one in my heart.
Power. Wasn’t that what it all came down to? Humans fought and climbed over each other to reach the pinnacle of their careers. I’d done the same thing, scrambling over others who might have wanted this position, killing them to take the title of Lord. And what had it gotten me?
A depression in the earth and a bright light extinguished like she’d never existed.
Except this horrible hollow feeling in my heart knew her, loved her, grieved her.
“Fuck,” I said, my voice breaking. “You were right. As much as I hate to admit it, I should have done a million things differently. Why was I so—”
“Wolfish?” Rowan said with a chuckle. “Possessiveness is in your nature, but Evie is not something to be owned.”
“I’ve fucked it all up, and it’s too late to fix it.”
Rowan didn’t say anything for a long time. He inhaled and exhaled a heavy breath and finally shook his head. “If there’s anyone who can get out of this, it’s her. Don’t count her out yet.”
“Do you know something I don’t?”
He shook his head. “No. But we both know her well. The only thing we can do right now is believe she will find her way back.”
He clapped a hand on my back and rose, holding his hand out for me to rise.
As much as I wanted to curl into a ball and let the earth take me so I could be next to her, Rowan was right. Evie was a fighter. I could not believe she was gone. If I believed that, I would have no purpose.
“Let’s go back to the Keep,” Rowan said. “I posted a guard of our most trusted people around the tree. Some of the fae have shown up asking for access, but I denied them and will continue to do so.”
“Moira and Ash?”
Rowan’s jaw tightened. “Devastated. Tess hasn’t been seen since…”
“Yeah,” I said with a heavy sigh.
“Her shop will be closed for a while.”
“Understandably so.”
The ride to the Keep felt like it took no time at all while simultaneously taking forever. When Rowan pulled up to the front, I didn’t wait for the vehicle to stop all the way before I was out and running to the back.
The tree stood, a glowing beacon of power, but all I could feel was hatred toward it and what it had taken from me.
But where the leaves had once been a vivid green, a red and gold thread ran through the bark and the leaves now, giving the tree a slightly sinister look. My lips twitched.
It was just like Evie to give the thing one final fuck you as she died.
Tears filled my eyes, and I had to turn away lest I tear the goddamned thing down with my two bare hands.
She would come back to me.
It was the only thing keeping me going.