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Everett

“Murder has its merits.”

Everett Gathin, An Observation

“I should have killed him.” Should’ve cut that Seelie bastard down right there in the city square. Painted the cobbles red with his blood. Impaled him on one of those strange poles with all the ribbons.

Gryffin pats his mount’s head, scanning the fog for signs of trouble as the rest of our group disappears into the thick layer of gray, making the slow, painstaking trek back to camp. “You never should have gotten involved in the first place.”

“And that pig never should have laid a hand on Kerris without her consent.” If that had happened on our side of The Divide, any witness would have been honor-bound to take the male’s hand. Instead, I was forced to stand by and do nothing but make threats.

Gryff’s head swings toward me. “And if he laid a hand on her with her consent?”

Then I still would have killed him, but in secret. Nice and slow. Bled him within an inch of his life, then healed him with water from the well and gutted him like the animal he is, feeding his entrails to the beasts that roam these woods.

Maddox nudges his mount closer to mine. “Do you even know who he is?”

No, and I do not care either. “All their males look the same to me.” Soft middles, round faces, and tiny, flat teeth.

“That, my friend, was Prince Ronan Reve.”

Gryffin curses and folds a hand over his forehead with an exasperated huff.

It would be my luck that the Prince of Willowhaven set his eyes on the only female I have ever truly wanted. My only solace comes from the fact that, if Kerris were interested in him, she would not have given me that disgusting pie after her cousin explained what it meant.

“I do not care if it was the king himself.” No one should be allowed to get away with treating a female like that.

Gryff snorts. “You do realize that all they have to do is destroy the bridge and be done with us, right?”

That is exactly what I said to those fae who left their posts all those nights ago. How quickly I forgot myself…

Maddox shakes his head. “They would not dare. We have a treaty.”

A treaty that is nothing more than ink on paper, easily destroyed, much like the bridge connecting our world to theirs.

“If it is all the same to you, I would rather not find out,” Gryff shoots back.

Even if I had known he was the prince, I still would have intervened. Having a crown does not give him the right to put his hands on a female whenever he wants, especially when she expressly forbids it.

Kerris looked so small against him, so helpless.

If anything, tonight should have proven that I have no business even entertaining the notion of her.

Tell that to my stubborn heart.

I can feel Gryff’s gaze boring into the side of my head, no doubt judging me for all that has happened. “Did you know the two of them were involved?”

“No.” Although it should not surprise me. Kerris is a rare beauty, and her heart has no malice. Any male would be a fool to look past her and not at least consider her as a mate.

“This complicates matters,” he goes on. “Kerris Dawn is not just some random Seelie female. She is being courted by the heir to the throne. One day she might be queen. What can you offer her?”

I try to ignore his question, but the truth in his words pulses through my ears like a drumbeat.

“He makes a good point,” Maddox chimes in, still smiling but not quite as widely. “Your cock will only get you so far.”

What do I have to offer Kerris besides a life in exile from her friends and family? She would never survive on our side of the canyon, and I would never be welcome on hers.

The reality of our situation has never seemed so bleak.

* * *

I am too keyed up to return home, offering instead to take over guarding the bridge from River and Rynan. They gawk at me as if I ordered them to eat rocks. Although I would rather be left alone with my thoughts, Maddox and Gryff insist on keeping me company. Maybe their bickering will help take my mind off the hopeless situation with Kerris.

I toss another log onto the fire, and sparks shoot into the sky while the gray smoke curls toward the layer of mist hanging above us. Maddox holds out his hands, offering me a giant flat rock. “I have baked a pie for you, Ever. Here. Take a bite. You know you want to.”

I shove Maddox back, and his “pie” goes flying. “You are one to talk. ‘Oh, Nia, blueberries are my favorite.’”

He shrugs, not the least bit irritated by my retort. “What is so wrong with that? She is beautiful.”

“She hates you.”

“She only hates me because she does not know me.”

Gryff shakes his head, unstrapping his dagger to stoke the coals beneath the fresh log. “And if she ever has the misfortune of getting to know you, she will hate you even more.”

“Fuck off. You do not know that. Kerris Dawn is smitten. Maybe her cousin wants to cross the bridge for a taste as well.” The way Maddox rubs his hands together makes it look as if he is plotting something terrible. May the fates help whatever female has the misfortune of choosing him as a mate. “Just wait till Leah Locke finds out.”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

In my elation, I completely forgot about Leah.

I will have to be on alert in case she tries to cross The Divide. There is no telling what Leah would do to Kerris if she found her. This situation is becoming more complicated by the minute.

The thump of hooves echoes in the distance, growing louder with each passing breath. Whoever approaches is in a hurry.

The three of us stand to greet them.

Our chieftain arrives in a cloud of dust, leaping from his mount with the energy of a youngling. “There’s no need to stand on my behalf. I only came to speak to my new son.”

He has a daughter, not a son.

Perhaps his mind is not as keen as it once was.

He stalks over to where I stand, grips both sides of my face, and presses a dry kiss to my cheek. “Leah told me the good news, and I was waiting for you to return from the hunt to congratulate you.”

Now I know he is confused. “Congratulate me for what?” I have done nothing of note that I can recall.

“Accepting my daughter’s proposal of course! She showed me the skillet you gave her. Why did you not tell me when we last spoke?”

Accept her proposal? Skillet?

“I…” I do not have a fucking clue what he is talking about.

He claps me on the back once more, sending me stumbling a step forward. “Tell me, how was the hunt?”

How does he expect me to speak about the hunt when I am still trying to figure out why he thinks Leah and I are to be mated.

“We took down two bears, five elk, and a handful of foxes,” Gryffin clips. I can feel his glower but cannot bring myself to face him.

Our chieftain beams with pride. “Well done. That should feed our people for weeks. Any sign of the wolves?”

“No.” Not so much as a track.

“Excellent. After you have rested, I expect you to come to my home for a celebratory drink.”

All I can do is stare as he slaps my shoulder once more and then stomps back to his mount and rides away.

Maddox and Gryffin turn toward me, their jaws hanging open.

Gryffin’s eyes blaze when he shakes his head. “Tell me you did not accept Leah’s proposal.”

Maddox’s hands flex at his sides. “What the fuck, Ever? You cannot have a mate at home and court another across the canyon.”

I do not have a mate. “I never accepted Leah’s proposal. I swear it.” The chieftain said she showed everyone my skillet, but all my cookware is locked in my barrel-top. Unless she broke in there is no way?—

Wait. There is one skillet that was not in my house. “Gryffin? What did you do with the skillet I gave you?”

His faces twists into a grimace. “ Shit .”

“Did you give it to Leah?”

A nod. “She asked if she could use it while I was gone. We were not going to be here, so I thought nothing of it.”

I drag my hands through my hair. We were supposed to be friends. How could she do this to me? “I must set the record straight.”

Gryffin scrubs a hand down his face, his scowl deeper than I have ever seen before. “If you break it off, her father will lose his mind. He is not known for his forgiveness. You are liable to end up exiled.”

“Maybe it is for the best,” Maddox chimes in. “It is not as if it would have worked out with the Seelie anyway. What were you going to do? Move to Rosehill and start farming goats?”

I do not know how or even if Kerris and I would have made a relationship work, but at least it would have been our decision to end things instead of having someone else force our hands.

There is only one way to make this right.

Bones crunch beneath my boots as I stalk toward Nyx.

“Where are you going?” Maddox calls.

I am going to make this right.

I am going to clear things up once and for all.

“I am going to speak to Leah.”

* * *

My fist threatens to break through Leah’s unpainted door. I do not care who hears the deafening rattle. This is a conversation that cannot wait until morning.

She answers with a coy smile that sets my teeth on edge. Does she not realize what her lies have done?

“Hello, Ever.”

“You will call me Everett Gathin.” Only my closest friends call me Ever, and she has proven that she is no longer among them. I duck beneath the doorframe into her barrel-top. Her home is as stark as my feelings this night, without adornment or personalization. Unlike some females, Leah Locke has never been one to fuss over decorations. To my knowledge, she has never fussed over anything.

She closes the door behind me and leans a slender hip against the lone chair next to her table. “You have heard the happy news, then.”

More like tragic news. “Your father came to the outpost to congratulate me. What were you thinking?”

Her chin lifts with defiance. “I was thinking the male I chose has strung me along for long enough. Everyone in the camp was laughing at me.”

“They were not.”

“How would you know? You are barely here. Only to sleep and then leave again on your hunts and to guard the bridge. You do not have to face their scorn.”

She is hurting, and I should feel more sympathetic. Maybe I would if she had not put me into such a hopeless position. “I am sorry for making you wait so long. I can see now that my hesitance to give you an answer put you in a terrible position. In truth, I did not know my own mind, but now I do.”

My mother’s words ring true in my ears as clearly as the day she spoke them to me.

I will not settle for anything less than love.

Love that I feel for a Seelie fae with the sweetest face and kindest heart.

“I reject your proposal.”

Leah’s smile fades like the light at the end of every day. “How dare you turn me down. Your father was a disgrace, and your mother was a whore, yet I chose to look past your inferior parentage to see the man you have become, and you reject my proposal? I am the chieftain’s daughter. I could have anyone?—”

“Then choose someone else. Someone more deserving than me. Someone whose parentage is not so beneath you.” I knew others in our clan felt that way about me but never Leah.

How could she think I would want to tie myself to her now that the truth has been revealed?

“And become the laughingstock of camp once more? Absolutely not. You and I will be mated.”

I was hoping to appeal to her rational nature, but it would appear as though Leah Locke has forgotten all reason. “Then I will go to the chieftain and tell him the truth.”

She jerks back, ramming into the cupboard. The skillet she claimed was from me clatters to the floor, barely missing her toes. “You wish to tell my father that you revoke your acceptance of his only daughter’s proposal?”

“I never accepted!”

She rips the skillet from the floor, waving it in my face. “The skillet on my stove says otherwise. Who do you think my father will believe, Ever? You or me?”

Our chieftain might like me well enough, but no amount of affection could compare to the way he feels about his only daughter.

If Leah refuses the truth…

Then I am deep in the shit.