Chapter 11 #2
“Only my pride,” he mumbles, picking up the fallen bread. He dusts off the dirt before placing it back in the basket for later. No food can go to waste, even stale bread.
A heavy silence falls over the room, thick with dread and unanswered questions.
It presses down on everyone like a storm about to break.
Evangeline clutches the worn blanket tighter around her shoulders, shrinking into herself, her eyes wide with unease.
She looks fragile—out of place and out of time. Probably because she is.
“Why am I here?” she whispers, her voice barely audible, as if speaking the words aloud might solidify the nightmare around her.
The question hangs in the air like smoke, dangerous and inescapable.
“I made this deal to leave Grym Hollow, just like my parents always dreamed for me. We wanted to cook around the world. Try different cuisines. That’s…
that’s the deal I thought I made. For an adventure, not… this.”
It appears Ender wasn’t forthcoming with my human.
She speaks of her parents in the past tense and with longing. It’s clear they are no longer with us. This human—Evangeline—is completely alone. Is that what Ender preys on? The women who have nothing else? Feel so desperate, they have no choice but to take his bargain and ask no questions?
She will never be alone again, not with us as her family.
It’s a promise I intend to keep until my last breath.
Evangeline is here now, just as I asked.
I need her to save my kingdom, as humans have done for the other kings before me.
And in return, I will make certain she is never left to face this world on her own.
“You’re here because we are to be married. I need you, Evangeline. My kingdom is at war.” There’s no point in sugarcoating it. She’s seen it with her own eyes. This is her life, and no matter how much she wishes it wasn’t, she can’t go back.
Still, she looks confused. Her gaze moves between Zephyr and me, taking note of our close proximity, the familiarity that comes when you give another your whole heart. “I don’t understand,” she says at last. “You’re already married.”
My brows draw together. “And?”
“And,” she blushes as she fidgets with her hands, “just that! You’re married. To each other. I’m not breaking up a marriage.”
Zephyr snorts, and I elbow him in the side.
I need him to not be a dick for just a moment while I try to explain our way of life to the human.
It’s clear that, where she came from, monogamy was the standard.
“I don’t plan to unbind myself from Zephyr.
He’s my husband. It’s not uncommon to be bound and mated to several people. ”
Evangeline’s eyes widen. “You mean…like polyamory? Ender mentioned that… I guess I didn’t fully comprehend what that meant.”
“Precisely.” I nod.
“So, I would be married to both of you?” I can’t help but notice the way her gaze drifts to Zephyr. Is that longing in her expression?
Before I can answer, Zephyr beats me to it. “You will be married to Niko and Niko alone. Niko and I’ve discussed this. I have no plans to marry you, Evangeline.”
His voice is gentle, but the weight of his words lands like a blow.
Evangeline flinches, visibly recoiling from the sting of his rejection.
This subject has always been a fault line between Zephyr and me.
I want to share Evangeline with him, to forge something unbreakable between the three of us—a mating bond.
But Zephyr refuses, steadfast and unmoving in his decision.
I know his past haunts him, that it colors everything he sees. But we are not his parents. Their mistakes are not ours to repeat. I’ve told him this again and again, but the words never seem to reach him.
Still, each time I push, I feel him withdraw just a little more, like he’s building a wall I may never be able to climb. And that’s what I fear most: one day, he’ll stop letting me in.
Because my fight with him isn’t done. Just on hold. In time, I hope he can see what this human could add to our relationship. If our pairing is a match, and I’ve no reason to doubt Ender in that at least, then Evangeline will make us all stronger.
There’s still so much I wish to tell Evangeline, but the hour grows late, and her lids grow heavy. She yawns, and I know she needs sleep. “We can talk more in the morning,” I promise her. “I’ll answer your questions then.”
Evangeline doesn’t resist—a clear sign of how drained she is. She simply lies back on the narrow cot, curling in on herself as she pulls the threadbare blanket up to her chin, seeking what little comfort it can offer.
Finnick drifts over to her side, his wings barely making a sound as he lands delicately on the small patch of space left at the edge of the cot. “Mind if I bunk with you?” he asks, voice light and playful as he lets out an exaggerated yawn, stretching his limbs like he’s settling in for a long nap.
Evangeline nods, and he tucks himself in beside her. I feel the cot shift under me and turn to see Zephyr lying down on his side, leaving me as much space as he can. “You sleep too, mate. No staying awake.”
He knows me too well.
Sleep remains just out of reach, teasing me with its promise but never coming.
My mind won’t quiet, not with everything weighing on us.
The image of the dead fae, their bodies being prepared for return to their grieving families in the morning, keeps replaying in my thoughts.
Each face feels like a personal failure.
Our safety teeters on the edge of a blade, and the only hope we have is Evangeline. A stranger. A woman thrown into this chaos, expected to fix what generations before her could not.
I shift on the cot, the mattress creaking beneath me. Every time I close my eyes, the silence feels louder, the weight of responsibility heavier. Sleep isn’t coming. Not tonight.
So I lie there, next to Zephyr, and wait for morning.