52. Everett
Everett
Istood in front of the mirror in my room and gently twisted my left arm, trying to get it to pop back in place.
I let out a hiss as a nauseating jolt shot through my shoulder.
That one corpse had gotten a good grip on it.
I hadn’t told the others about it or my burnt hand once we got back to the palace—I still didn’t trust the High Elders, even with something as simple as healing me.
I had quietly asked the maid, Sloane, for some bandages, and tried to fix it on my own.
I flexed my right hand, making sure the bandage I’d tied around it hadn’t come undone. A soft knock had me hastily shrugging my arms through the sleeves of my shirt before padding across the room. I opened the door and paused.
“Hi,” Vera said quietly. Her eyes trailed down the front of my unbuttoned shirt, lingering on the bird tattoo on my chest.
I squeezed the door handle. She was the last person I expected to see. It looked like she hadn’t rested after the fight in the crypt—white dust still lingered in her hair, and her clothes were smeared with dirt and hints of dried blood.
“Hi.” I cleared my throat. “Do you…do you want to come in?”
“Sure.” She stepped inside, boots tracking in dust. “I wanted to check on you.”
I shut the door behind her. “I was going to do the same thing. I just didn’t know if you wanted to see me.”
She glanced at me quickly, brows pinched, then looked away. “I had to make sure you were okay.”
“I am,” I said quietly.
She took a deep breath and nodded. “That’s good.” She nodded again and looked around the room, her eyes not staying in the same place for long. An awkward pause hung in the air.
“You seem…distracted,” I finally said.
“No, no, I just…” She exhaled. “Yeah, I guess I am. I just can’t believe it was all a trick.
The fake amulet,” she added. When she shook her head in frustration, blonde hair brushed her collarbone.
A vivid memory burst into my mind of her fingers trailing down her collarbone to the water lily birthmark I knew rested beneath the fabric.
“Almost an entire day wasted on a false trail,” she continued. “I’m getting tired of these Fates.”
I dragged my gaze back to her eyes, trying to clear the image of my lips pressed to that mark. “We still have three days. You’ll find it.”
She gave me a faint smile. “And here I thought you didn’t trust any of this.”
“I said I didn’t trust the Elders. My faith in you has never wavered.”
She held my stare for a moment, her smile faltering as something else set in. When she dropped her eyes lower, they landed on my bandaged hand. “Everett, what did you do?”
“Nothing. It’s just a burn.” I shifted my hand behind my back. “It’ll heal.”
“Did you get it today?” She went to grab my arm, but I sidestepped her. “Don’t be so stubborn. Let me see it.”
I couldn’t stop my bark of laughter. “Oh, I’m the stubborn one?”
“Yes.” She feigned going left, then reached around the other side. She tilted her head to look up at me, her chest brushing mine with every inhale. “Incredibly stubborn.”
Her eyes locked with mine, her teeth slowly dragging at her lower lip. My heart stuttered like a fool. I let my guard fall, and her lithe fingers circled around my wrist and tugged it free.
“That’s not fair,” I growled. You know what you do to me, I wanted to add.
“Then you should’ve told me you were injured,” she whispered back. She unwound the bandage, exposing the red burn marks from where I’d gripped the chain. “How did this happen?”
“When I tried to grab the amulet off the corpse.”
“Fates, Everett, that was close. If it had broken your skin…” She closed her eyes. “You have to be more careful.”
I put my hand on top of hers. “That goes for you, too.”
“At least I can heal myself. You should’ve let me help you. That’s why you’re the stubborn one.” She swatted my bad arm in jest, and I winced.
She froze. Her eyes narrowed accusatorily. “Are you kidding me? Another injury?”
“We’re not all invincible Shifter savior Lightbringers.”
She crossed her arms, unamused, and pointed at my shirt. “Take it off.”
My lips twitched. “I will if you will.”
“Everett, this isn’t funny. I want to help you.”
“Really?” I leaned in, close enough to smell her smoky amber and rose scent beneath the must and dirt from the crypt. “Because last night, you wanted nothing to do with me.”
The column of her throat moved as she swallowed. “There will never be a world where I want nothing to do with you,” she murmured. “But sometimes what we want isn’t what’s best for us.”
Golden eyes burned into me, full of so many unspoken words. I wanted to peel them from her. I wanted to break down the walls she erected so high, I didn’t even know if she could get past them.
When I didn’t respond, she asked, “Will you let me heal you?” Her forehead pinched. “Please.”
After a moment, I nodded. She guided me to sit on the edge of the small bed. My legs parted, and she stepped smoothly between my thighs.
“Shoulder first,” she said, running her fingers over the joint.
They skimmed the edge of my open shirt, nails scraping the songbird tattoo on my heart.
Her eyes lingered on the ink. When her fingers pressed into my skin, my breath snagged.
Her hand drifted lower down my chest, and desire unfurled in me, sharp and dangerous.
I snatched her wrist. “Shoulder first,” I rasped.
Pink crept up her cheeks. Her gaze flicked to my lips, then my eyes. “Right.” She placed her hand on my upper arm and whispered, “Revie scurae.”
The familiar sensation of a spell taking shape pushed on my lungs before snapping into place. I barely felt it when my arm popped back into its socket. I rotated my shoulder, instantly relieved.
“Now for the hand.” Vera trailed her fingers down my right arm and to my open hand, where the charred outline of the amulet’s chain rested. Fingertips tracing the lines, she repeated, “Revie scurae.”
The burn marks faded, the skin as good as new. “Thank you.”
Her fingers lingered on my palm. “Don’t hide it from me next time. You don’t need to be in pain for that long.”
I was about to close my hand around hers when she swiftly backed away. My fingers clenched thin air. I rubbed the back of my neck instead, already missing her being so near.
“You seem to have adjusted to Alchemy without your herbs and charms,” I commented, needing to change the subject before I did something idiotic, like beg her to come back.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “The magic feels different here. Stronger. Maybe it’s because…”
She trailed off, and I raised an eyebrow. “Because, what?”
“Look, I just—I know you don’t trust this place, and I don’t want to argue about it again.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry I got upset last night.”
She shook her head. “It’s not your fault. I wasn’t any better.”
“You trusted them so easily, which isn’t like you,” I said.
“And I think…maybe you want this place to be everything you hoped it would be so badly that it’s becoming a blind spot.
” The second the words left my mouth, I regretted how harsh they sounded.
“But that doesn’t mean I think you’re wrong,” I added hastily.
“Or that I get to tell you how to feel. I know I can’t show up and make decisions for you. ”
I dragged a hand over my head. “I just worry about you, Vera. I always will. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been, or how far apart we are.”
“I know,” she murmured. “And I’m sorry I snapped at you.” She looked down at her hands. “I think there’s truth in what we both said. I do want this place to be good for me.” Her throat bobbed. “Maybe too much. But I can’t turn my back on these people. On my people.”
I blinked. “What do you—”
“Arcadia thinks I’m descended from Pyraeth. That I’m a demithe.”
I took a beat to respond. “But I thought nobody could enter or leave this kingdom. How can they have descendants somewhere else?”
“Pyraethis can leave once a century to go search for the Lightbringer, remember?” She paced the floor in front of me.
“He said it’s possible one of my ancestors from centuries ago left the kingdom and never came back.
They could’ve made their way to the Veridian Empire to start a new life, a new lineage. And…well, here I am.”
I thought through everything we’d learned the last few days, and how her magic had always been an enigma to everyone in Veridia. Her power had seemed to respond to the other demithes from the moment we arrived. And her blood had been what opened the portal, after all.
I hummed. “I’m surprised we didn’t see it before now.”
Her head cocked. “You believe them?”
“I believe you,” I said. “And the evidence supports it. There aren’t many other logical solutions, when you think about it. I guess I didn’t want to admit your connection to this place.”
“Why not?”
“Because in a way, I was…” I scratched the scruff on my chin. “I was jealous.”
“Jealous?”
“You left Veridia for this new life with your captain,” I said, cheek twitching, “and now you’ve found people who can relate to you. That’s something we both know I could never offer you, even if I tried.”
She swallowed, lips parting as if she was going to say something, then thought better of it.
Her fingers played with the bottom of her shirt, a sign of her nerves.
We were at peace for the night, at least, but with it came the uncertainty of the past few days.
I still didn’t know where this left us, or if anything would ever change.
She left Veridia for a reason, and I wasn’t quite ready to dive into that heartbreak again.
So instead, I offered a smile. “Look at us, going an entire conversation without arguing.”
“That’s my cue to leave before I say something stupid,” she said with a chuckle as she made her way to the door.
I followed to open it for her, but she paused.
“Oh, the Elders and I are going back out tomorrow to try a few more places. Starke said he would watch over Odessa this time.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Do you…do you want to come with me?”
My lips quirked. Fates, she was adorable.
It was as if she was asking me to go on a date, not fight mythical monsters.
“I do, but I was also thinking about going to the Hall of Archives to look into the glyphs that were on the mausoleum walls. Maybe there’s something in there about the third amulet. ”
“Well, maybe…” She gave a little half-shrug, her eyes straying back to me. “Maybe we can do both.”
The corner of my lip lifted. “Together?”
“Two heads are better than one, right?”
I leaned against the doorframe, unable to stop myself from getting closer to her. “That’s very logical of you.”
“I’m a very logical person,” she breathed out, gaze fluttering to my lips and up again.
Heated silence hung in the air between us, so tight it made my chest ache.
My fingers tensed with the desire to slip them through her hair, to hold her like I once had.
She made it clear she still cared for me, but something was getting in the way.
Something in that beautiful, stubborn head of hers that convinced her this wasn’t right.
Nothing had ever been more right. I just needed her to see it.
“See you in the morning, then?” she finally asked, hand resting on the door knob. I nodded, and she pulled the door open, making me take a step back.
Before she made it all the way out, she turned back with a pinched forehead. “Everett, promise me you’ll be careful tomorrow.”
“I’m always—”
“No, I mean it.” Her golden eyes pierced mine. “You got hurt today, and I didn’t even know it until now. I don’t want to put any of you in danger, but especially…” She trailed off and took a breath. “If it ever came down to protecting you or saving everyone else, it wouldn’t even be a choice.”
I clenched my hand at my side, resisting the urge to step after her. Instead, I merely nodded my agreement.
She stepped into the hallway. “Goodnight, Swift.”