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“Your point?” Evelyn asked, her tone flat and unamused. The wind wisped her hair in the wind, but she faced forward, leaving her expression a mystery.

“We have no idea why they’re choosing these women. What’s to say they won’t take you instead of Tessa?”

Evelyn shivered, and she reached for her neck. She shook her head. “I knew when I took this job, there would be risks.”

Kade sighed. He couldn’t argue with that. Any fight against the vampyr held risks, and this was no different.

Bleu slowed without instruction, pausing on a hill overlooking a tangle of gray trees that stretched for miles.

Kade and Evelyn dismounted. Evelyn unfastened her cloak, as did Kade, and they readied themselves for the trek into the wood. Bleu eyed them with narrowed eyes—you’re both fools, they seemed to say—and started grazing the pasture.

Kade would be wasting his energy if he continued to convince Evelyn to stay behind. She wanted to fight, to save Tessa, and he couldn’t fault her. If they’d been back home at the Void, he’d never ask the Daughter of the Goddess to sit out a fight. This was no different. Instead, he gazed at her with admiration as she folded up her tunic’s sleeves.

The leather bracelet she wore dangled from her wrist, a single stone at the clasp. He smelled the wolfsbane intercepting his wolf’s senses, the herbs masking her magic.

“Why did you tell them you were a witch?”

Wind whirled over the hills, and Evelyn gazed at the horizon before she answered. The light of the sun hit her gray eyes, and they appeared like liquid silver.

“I’ve been hiding for some time now, burying away parts of me. And that part of me is desperate to solve these murders as if it were my responsibility . . . my duty, even. When Aaron Collins thought to doubt me . . .” She shook her head, holding back something.

Evelyn crossed her arms, met his stare and her gaze as strong as steel. “I have to do what I can to stop this vampyr, to protect those in Callum, but how can I if I keep parts of myself buried?”

She started down the hill, the light of the sun seeming to follow her as she shined bright and warm and proud.

Responsibility. Duty. Conviction.

Evelyn was so different from what he’d thought she would be like. The spoiled brat he’d imagined who’d run from her duty because she had no respect for it didn’t stand before him. He heard her words, felt her conviction behind them.

I’ve been hiding for some time now, burying away parts of me.

He still wanted answers. Why would someone with such courage, such resolve as he’d seen, leave her people? Why would she abandon her duty?

Except a young woman’s life loomed in the balance in the Gray Wood below. They didn’t have the time, and Kade had already decided he would not reveal who he was. The longer he waited, the harder it was to be truthful.

He swore, though, that he’d shift during this fight if it ensured Evelyn’s safety.

Chapter Thirty

Evelyn

Evelyn had never seen trees like the Gray Wood. Squat and twisted, the ash-colored branches extended no more than seven feet, creating a low canopy. Coniferous leaves sprouted at the top of the trees, leaving the trunks pale like crooked bones. In some sections, bark peeled to reveal a foxy-colored flesh underneath. At the center, like the Byrne family had promised, the trees formed into an opening path leading into the forest.

Yet, despite the Byrnes’s description, Evelyn’s magic did not sense darkness from the wood. In fact, compared to Castle Connacht and Lake Glenn, the Gray Wood was alive, buzzing with energy, but not full of dark magic. Evelyn’s magic detected pain instead, as if something harmed it from within.

Cyrus joined her, his head almost brushing the trees’ canopy. He crossed his arms and gritted his teeth, eyeing the Gray Wood with annoyance. “Why do I have a terrible feeling about this?”

“Probably because you’re a beast of a man,” Evelyn said.

Cyrus smirked. “I do love your compliments, Princess.”

“Actually, come to think of it, it might be best if you sit this one out.” Evelyn bit her lip, fighting a smile.

“Not happening.” Cyrus stepped around her, peering down with a scowl.

“What? Don’t like being left out?” She raised a brow, crossing her arms.

”Sa—”