Chapter Nineteen
Shadows in the Alley
Evander’s wit had always been quick. But the growl in the alley was quicker.
Evander swung his legs through the narrow window first, dropping into the grass with the ease of long practice. He turned, bracing his arms to steady Amerei as she slipped after him. Her boots sank into damp earth, the cool press of night air sweeping over them both.
For a second, it felt as if they had outrun the queen’s gaze.
Then movement flickered across the courtyard. A guard—lantern swaying—turned their way.
Amerei’s breath caught.
Too loud. Too sharp in the hush.
Evander didn’t hesitate.
His hand closed around a stone from the garden wall, testing its weight. In the same motion, he drew back and hurled it. The rock cut the air with uncanny force, slamming into a post across the yard with a crack loud enough to turn the guard’s head.
Amerei stared. He had thrown it the same way Viktor had driven off the dragon in Glaston’s forest—effortless, precise, as if the air itself had carried it farther than it should.
The guard muttered, adjusting his lantern toward the noise, and trudged off without looking back.
Amerei exhaled, slow and quiet. “You do have quite an arm.”
Evander brushed dirt from his hands with an exaggerated flourish, flashing her a grin as if he’d meant to impress her all along.
“Quite an arm?” he echoed. “Say it louder, Ami. The whole harbor should hear.”
Amerei rolled her eyes, tugging her cloak tighter as they slipped into the narrow lane of portside taverns.
The air was thick with brine and spilled ale, lantern smoke curling between wooden eaves.
From every doorway came the clash of dice, the scrape of fiddles, the calls of sailors already deep in their cups.
Evander ducked beneath a low eave, glancing sideways at her.
“So what was so important she couldn’t say it with me in the room?”
Amerei’s mouth twisted.
“You missed nothing but smoke in your face.”
His grin faded to a wary frown.
“Wasn’t one of her truth brews, was it? The kind she uses to loosen tongues?”
Amerei shook her head.
“If it was, then she wasted her firewood.” Her steps slowed. “Besides, she was too busy planning my marriage to one of your half-brother’s… friends.”
Evander scoffed, his laugh bouncing off the tavern walls.
“First off, my brother has no friends. Secondly, an elvish husband couldn’t tolerate you.”
Amerei tilted her chin, amused.
“But I’ve had so much practice with you, Lord Zrynon.”
“I suffer you for the sake of my people,” he declared, hand pressed dramatically to his heart.
She smirked. “So you’ll come with me when she marries me off?”
“I’m not leaving Rhidian,” he shot back, grin returning. “Not while sun-kissed, sea-swept human women still find me exotic.” He tipped his head toward the harbor, voice dropping to that infuriating drawl of his. “What kind of man would I be if I denied them the view?”
Amerei gave a laugh, but it softened almost at once. She slowed her step, skirts brushing the cobbles.
“Evander,” she said quietly, cutting through his posturing, “you know you’re free to live as you wish. You don’t have to chain yourself to me—or to any crown.”
For once, his smile faltered.
He looked down at her, the usual gleam dulled to something steadier, almost reverent.
“To guard the rightful heir has been my honor,” he said, words low but unyielding.
“And to have gained such a friend in the bargain…” He shook his head, something rare and sincere breaking through.
“That’s been my blessing. I’m not going anywhere, Ami—and neither are you, inasmuch as I can help it. ”
The words warmed her—quiet and rare as they were.
But before she could answer, the night itself snarled.
A shadow peeled from the mouth of the alley, voice dripping with contempt.
“Palace scum.”
Amerei’s pulse kicked hard, breath caught in her throat.
Evander shifted in front of her, shoulders squaring, hand already on his blade. His glance at her was quick, sharp.
Silent promise.
Silent warning.