Page 1 of Evermore

Prologue

THORNE 2 DAYS AGO

Kindle Readers—scroll back for the recap!

Two hours was way too fucking long. Sitting outside Alastor’s office staring at the backside of a closed door, trusting that fucker to keep every secret when there was no bargain on the table, was a godsdamn risk. But I would wait for her. I’d spent half my existence waiting for her. Battling my twin brother, just for the chance to love her.

The door swung open and Alastor walked out, unrolling his sleeves as he watched me with a smile that turned my blood to molten lava. “That which was lost was found, Keeper. So sorry about that.”

“What the fuck did you do?”

Alastor straightened his tie. “It’s really about whatshedid that made the difference. Controlling these Remnants can be so hard. I’d imagine it’s a lot like chasing your minions around and hoping they don’t fuck shit up.” He clapped a hand a little too hard on my shoulder and squeezed. “I find it’s always best to start at the beginning of a story, don’t you?”

I ground my teeth together as I flashed a feral grin back to him until he walked away, whistling Irri’s song, his Remnants trailing behind him. He was angry. Still. All these years later. But I couldn’t fight a war on two sides. And he’d walked the line so far, staying on my side of the secrets I’d built around Paesha, but I wasn’t foolish enough to believe it was for anything but his own gain into the Forgotten. He needed her and he’d figured that out. Everything always boiled down to her. To the Huntress.

I circled Alastor’s words in my mind as I waited, knowing he’d done something. Paesha had found something and—shit.

I fought every one of my dark desires to bring this place to the ground as I raced out of the Vale and up the narrow stairs into Stirling, not stopping until I rounded the corner where Paesha’d met the little boy I’d paid a sack of coins to pretend to make a bargain with her. Gods. Even in fury she was breathtaking.

She had him gripped by the collar. “It’s not nice to tell lies.”

I watched a few paces back as everything I’d built began to crumble.

“Please, miss. I don’t know you. I swear it!”

“You know exactly who I am. You stole my story, remember? In the marketplace, when I first arrived in this godforsaken city. You took my memories of being in love.”

The boy shook his head, crying because he had no idea who the hell this woman was. I’d taken that memory from him, just as I’d sat in the alley and taken her memory of Ezra upon her meeting with this boy.

“N—no, miss. I swear on the gods, I’ve never seen you before. Please, you’re hurting me!”

“Paesha, stop.”

Her head snapped up, eyes narrowing as she looked at me with so much fucking hatred, a lesser man might’ve stepped backward. Alastor had told her something. Or showed hersomething. And now all the chips would fall before I could show her why all of this was necessary.

“Don’t you fucking talk to me. You’re a liar. And I think you made a bargain with the Keeper of Memories to trap me here. You’re a monster.”

True. But I belonged to only her.

She hadn’t figured it all out yet but she would. And when she did, the weight of my sins would crush her. I should have felt guilty about that, but I didn’t. If she knew everything… “I can explain.”

Alastor stepped around the corner from behind her, no fucking smile. No facade. None of his bullshit. Good. At least his games would be on pause for this. He flexed his fingers at his sides and his Remnants rippled. “No. You’ve told enough lies.”

I had done whatever it took. Every move I’d made was to protect her. Lying was probably the least of my transgressions and Alastor needed to back off. I tried to command him to do so, but that fucking bargain mark on my neck rippled, reminding me of our most recent deal. He’d saved her life and in return, I could not interfere. I pushed beyond it, overpowering him for only a second. “This has nothing to do with you. Leave us.”

“This haseverythingto do with me. Or have youforgottenshe wouldn’t be alive if not for my help? Nor would she have been rescued if not for my spies. She owes me two more names and it’s time to collect at least one.”

Alastor was cunning. Calculating. He never did anything without purpose. I wish I knew what he was gaining from this pointless task with Paesha. Why he’d forced her to give him names. But based on the marks on her neck, the glare on her face, he’d told her something. Alastor was forcing my hand, and he’d regret that eventually. It was always a long game with these assholes. Especially where she was concerned.

I stepped forward, reaching for her arm. I could probably still stop this.

She jerked free, ever the stubborn mortal. “No. I’m not going to be a pawn in whatever game the two of you are playing.”

“No one is playing games. I’ve told you this,” I said. Another lie in the bucket.

“You will take your fucking masks off when you speak to me. No more lies.”

There was that bite. That spark of fury that would have made my cock hard in any other instance. But not this one. Because everything was about to break. She had no other name. And the only way to protect her from Alastor’s entrapment was to deliver one myself.Thatwas his fucking plan.