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H e’s here .

I can’t believe Ever is actually here!

My relief at knowing he’s safe is like a living thing growing in my veins.

When Ever’s gaze finds mine, my breath releases with a soft woosh , my heart picking up speed until the relentless pounding is all I can hear.

Every bit of disappointment and ire melts from my bones. The drama with Trevor and Ronan no longer matters. None of it matters.

I asked Ever to come to the festival, and he did .

“Come with me.” I grab Nia’s hand, pulling her toward the riders. It’s time to allay her fears once and for all.

She tries to tug free, but my grip does not falter. “I couldn’t possibly?—”

“Please. I want you to meet him. To see what I see.”

Ever dismounts, one hand on the reins and the other patting his unicorn’s thick neck, hushing Nyx and watching us approach with an unreadable expression.

Nia stays behind me, her harsh breaths tickling the back of my neck as I come to a halt in front of him. “You came.”

His gaze never strays from mine, but there is the slightest lift to his lips that I’m calling a smile. A smile just for me. “The female who invited me was quite persuasive.”

Maddox appears from nowhere, stepping around Ever and clapping him on the shoulder. “Far be it for Ever here to turn down an invitation. I am Maddox, by the way.” He stretches his long-fingered greenish hand toward my cousin.

Nia’s hands remain pinned to her sides, her face devoid of color as she stares at him.

“This is my cousin, Nia Quill,” I say, urging her forward.

Gryffin joins us, not a hint of humor on his stony face. “Did we come to chat or are we going to do our fucking job and bring water across the canyon?”

Right. The water. Of course, Ever didn’t just come to see me.

“Would you like something to eat while you collect water?” There’s more than enough to go around.

Nia lets out a strangled, choking sound before snatching my hand and dragging me away from the well. “You can’t give him food,” she hisses.

“Why not?” I brough plenty of coin.

“Did you read the book Trevor gave you or just stare at the pictures?”

“I read some of it.” The first ten chapters, anyway. In my defense, the pictures were far more intriguing.

She presses a hand to her brow, her curls vibrating as she shakes her head. “Clearly you skipped the part that says giving an unmarried Unseelie food is akin to courting him.”

Courting him?

Is that why Ever kept asking about the biscuits?

No.

Is it?

And I brought them twice.

“I didn’t know that,” I whisper.

“Just be glad that he didn’t give you a gift as well.”

He did give me a gift. A gift I’m wearing in my hair as we speak. My stomach flutters as my gaze drifts over Ever’s strong back while he hefts a jug from the cart all by himself. “What would happen if he gave me a gift?” I force through dry lips.

“Then it means he accepts your offer of courtship.”

I gave him food. He gave me flowers.

Am I unknowingly courting an Unseelie fae?

I do not wish to be your friend.

This is not over .

Bloomin’ hell. I think I am.

What’s more, the idea of being properly courted by Ever makes me giddier than it probably should.

A hand slips around my wrist. Ronan tugs me back to where the rest of the Seelie are watching, a crimson flush painting his jaw and neck.

When I try to pull from his grip, his blunt nails bite into my skin. “Let me go, Ronan.” I might as well be talking to the bloody cobblestones for all the attention he pays me. “I said?—”

He whirls on me, his blown-out pupils reflecting the fae lights strung above us. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

I flinch at the venom in his tone. How dare he speak to me in such a vile way.

“I’ll not have my woman cavorting with some Unseelie bastard,” he grits through clenched teeth.

“I’m not your woman, and I think I’ve made that perfectly clear.” I wrench my hand, but still, he holds firm. “Let go of me.”

“After I brought you to meet the king and queen, you insist on making a mockery of me?”

“You’re making a mockery of yourself.”

His mouth opens to spew some other hateful remark, but then his head lifts and his eyes widen. I’ve never seen a ghost, but I imagine its complexion would match Ronan’s right now.

A deep voice washes over us, vibrating with barely contained rage. “If you want to keep your hand, I suggest you let the female go.”

Ronan drops me like I’m on fire, stumbling away from where not only Ever stands at my back, but also Maddox and Gryffin as well, hands on the hilts of their bone daggers and vicious smiles on their faces.

Those gathered in the square titter and gasp, retreating farther down the street.

Ever’s lips fall over his sharp teeth, and he looks down at me through solemn eyes. “Are you all right, Kerris?”

Besides the red mark on my wrist and my indignation: “I’m fine.”

“He never should have touched you without your permission.”

The others nod and then fold their hands behind their backs.

They’ve done the same thing every time, and I’ve never been able to figure out why. “Why do you always stand like that?”

“To show that we are not a threat to you,” Ever says, as if the explanation should be obvious.

While the meaning behind the gesture makes me feel all warm and gooey inside, those daggers and their hands aren’t the only weapons at their disposal. “What’s to stop you from biting me?”

His lips twitch, and he eases forward, his breath fanning against my cheek when he whispers against the shell of my ear, “If you would like me to bite you, I would prefer we did not have an audience.”

Holy heavens.

I think I might faint.

One of the men by the well whistles, and Maddox and Gryffin leave us to help unload the rest of the jugs.

Ever straightens, his sigh rife with regret. “I should get back to work.”

He’s not here for me. This is a coincidence.

No matter how many times I repeat the sentiment in my mind, it never feels true. I suppose there is one way to find out. “Why did you come to the festival?”

Ever looks past me to the emptying square. When his gaze returns, he cards a hand through his midnight hair. “I am not here for the festival,” he says slowly, and I do my best to hide my disappointment.

Of course, he didn’t come for me.

He’s here because his people need water to survive.

“I came to see your new dress,” he says, making a slow, deliberate perusal from my corset to my slippers and back again. And then he winks and walks away.

“Bloomin’ hell…” Nia murmurs.

Bloomin’ hell is right.

“He is…” Her words drift away.

He is everything I’ve ever wanted in a mate. “I told you, didn’t I?”

I didn’t think it possible to care for Ever more than I already did, but I was wrong.

So bloody wrong.

Most of the guests have abandoned the square, including the musicians. Those who remain no longer dance or laugh but sit hunched over their drinks or desserts, watching the Unseelie fill their jugs through narrowed eyes.

Ronan seethes from a bench near the fountain. Ivee joins him, but he never seems to look away from the Unseelie. When the jugs have all been loaded back into the carts, they don’t leave straightaway. Instead, they sink onto the edge of the well and the carts and stare right back.

I mill around somewhere in the middle, next to my aunt’s booth, still laden with pies. You could cut the tension in the air with a bread knife. Is this how Beltane is to end? With a bloomin’ staring contest? “This is ridiculous.”

I’m not going to stand here and let these ignorant people make our guests feel unwelcome. Enough is enough.

Giving an unmarried, Unseelie food is akin to courting him…

I grab a pie and fork, bringing them over to where Ever sits, one foot braced on the edge of the well’s low wall and his elbow resting atop his knee.

“Here.” I hold out the pie and watch his slashing brows lift toward the dark hair sweeping across his furrowed brow.

Behind me, a vicious curse echoes through the square. Ronan launches to his feet, his face contorted in fury and his hands bunched into fists.

It’s a good thing I don’t care. Let him see what it’s like to have someone ignore his requests.

Ever blinks down at the pie, then back up at me. “Did you not hear your cousin?”

“I did.” This time, I understand exactly what it means to offer him this gift.

He accepts the pie and the fork, holding my gaze as he takes a bite. The muscles in his sharp jaw flex in the most enticing way as he chews, and when he swallows, the bob of his throat makes my knees weak.

Behind him, Maddox sniggers. “Tell Nia Quill that I prefer blueberry,” he says with a flash of those sharpened teeth.

“My least favorite fruit,” Nia shoots back from a few paces behind me.

Gryffin glances up at the clock tower above the library, his scowl deepening. “It is nearly midnight.”

Meaning Wednesday is almost over.

The Unseelie seem to rise in unison—everyone except Ever. He clutches his pie plate against his chest, as if anyone who tries to pry it off him would lose their arm. Only when the plate is empty does he set it aside. When he stands, he moves with purpose, and I wait with bated breath as he reaches into his saddle bag and withdraws four silver flowers.

“Why are there so many?”

His lips twitch. “One for every day I was gone.”

My heart skips around in my chest, beating with the knowledge of exactly what this means.

I have made him an offer of courtship; one he has just accepted.

When I take the flowers from him, his gaze drops to my lips, and I know in my pounding heart that he isn’t going to kiss me in front of all these people, but oh, how I want him to.

“Come to the bridge tomorrow night?” he whispers.

All I can do is nod and watch as he mounts his horse and leads the group of Unseelie into the darkness.