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“I am not jealous!” she said, her voice shrill with exasperation. Evelyn turned, readying herself to mount Bleu.

“Why do you do that?”

She stopped, facing Cyrus again. “Do what?”

“Hide your emotions. Pretend like you feel nothing.” He threw out his hand as if the idea exhausted him.

“You don’t know me, Huntsman. We met only two—“

“Yes, only two days ago. And you told me you were solving this murder for money, but someone who does this for the money doesn’t go spending it all on some family they barely know.”

Evelyn’s heart skipped. Not only did he recognize her mask, but he saw through it too, and it terrified her. She should run. She should stop working with him and walk away and solve the murder by herself. Getting close to someone, allowing him to get close to her, wasn’t worth the risk.

And yet, it’d been so long since she’d been seen. Truly seen.

Cyrus took a step toward her, the air near the stables zapping with his energy. They came toe to toe, his eyes searching her face. “Saige, why are you doing this?”

“I don’t understand why it matters.”

“If we’re going to work together, I want to get to know you.”

Evelyn scoffed and shook her head. She couldn’t afford to get close to anyone. Not when she planned to leave right after she solved the murder and killed the vampyr.

“You have to choose,” she said.

Cyrus narrowed his gaze. “Choose what?”

“Knowing me or working with me. You can’t have both.”

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated.”

Cyrus sighed. “All right. Answer this one question, since we both already know you originally lied, and I won’t ever ask another.”

Evelyn bit her lip and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She walked on dangerous ground admitting this out loud, revealing her true intentions. Yet, she wanted to say it, to be heard.

“I know what it’s like to lose loved ones to vampyrs.” The words tumbled out of her. “The heartache and sadness, all because of these wretched creatures. I’m doing it so no one else in Callum has to feel what I or the McCarthys did.”

Cyrus stared at her, really stared at her, like he was seeing her for the first time.

She swallowed, waiting for any response at all. Nerves pricked at her skin like the tickling promise of rain still vibrant in the air.

Finally, Cyrus nodded. “Let’s go, then,” he said. “For those who have lost someone to the vampyr.”

His eyes bored into hers, and his absolute tone reached her heart.

Being seen, being heard... No one back home in Nua had noticed the difference after she lost her flame. No one had seen her pain, not a single coven member, not even her own sisters, and no one ever asked why she did what she did—trained on the Guard, went to tutoring. They assumed she did it all because she was the Daughter of the Goddess and never asked what her own reasons were, whether she had her own reasons. But Cyrus had asked and accepted her answers with no judgment. Not an ounce. It was refreshing, wild, and unlike anything she’d experienced.

Evelyn’s chest swelled as they rode to Castle Connacht and felt as light as the slow morning breeze.

Chapter Fifteen

Evelyn

The crumbled walls of Castle Connacht flanked the outside perimeter of a single tower. Structurally intact, the tower stretched toward the sky like a stone beacon in the sprawling valley.

Time had left its mark, though.