Before I can react, he spins on his heel and gestures to me with both hands.
“The owner of my body is standing right here. Don’t disrespect her like that, ladies.”
I choke on a laugh, startled once again at his uncanny ability to cut through my fear. “Sylvin–”
He grins at me, far too pleased with himself. Suddenly their gazes move over me with singular focus, and the weight of their stares is like a stone tossed into my stomach.
“Yes, just what I wanted…their undivided attention,” I breathe out, patting Sylvin’s arm. “Amazing job, oh great one.”
Then everything shifts. The air drifting along my exposed arms causes the skin to pebble as the fog thickens near the far end of the street, curling around the edges of a figure that emerges from the shadows without a sound.
Riven.
He steps into the open, showing off his black pants and deep-red buttoned shirt. His hair is a little damp, the dark waves slightly tousled, and his eyes lock onto Sylvin with immediate irritation.
A gust of wind hits me, and in the time it takes me to blink, he’s before us.
“Oh good,” he drawls, voice dry as bone. “You’ve riled the nest.”
Sylvin shrugs. “I was told I’m quite good at livening up a room.”
Riven doesn’t take the bait. His gaze shifts to me and softens instantly.
Nerves erupt within me and I twine my fingers in front of my body, suddenly unsure what to do with them.
“You came faster than expected,” he murmurs before glancing back at Sylvin and arching a brow. “What happened to all that talk of her being fae? Of the courts being her only true fit? I feel like she would still be there if that were the case.”
For a breath, Sylvin doesn’t answer, but I see a flicker behind the dramatic mask.
Not wounded pride. Not irritation.
Sadness.
I want to reach for him, to offer comfort, but he quickly smooths a hand down his front and clears his throat.
“Just because she isn’t ours,” he murmurs quietly, “doesn’t mean she’s yours.”
The silence that follows is heavy, but it doesn’t last long.
Sylvin turns to me, gaze softening with that familiar glint of affection beneath it. He lifts his hand and brushes his knuckles gently along my jaw before leaning down to press a kiss to my cheek.
I can’t help the smile that instantly curls across my lips.
“You were always more than a guest in my court,” he whispers in my ear before standing back up.
I swallow hard at that admission and nod at him in understanding. As he steps back, my body moves without permission, rushing forward to wrap my arms around his torso. My head rests against his chest, listening to the quickening beat of his heart as his arms envelop me.
“Finally I get a hug,” he murmurs cheekily, rubbing a hand on my upper back. “I can rest my head on my pillow and sleep well tonight, now.”
My body shakes with laughter as I let him go and he steps backward into a ribbon of silver-blue light, the portal already curling open behind him.
And just like that, he’s gone.
The portal seals shut with a whisper of light, leaving behind only the lingering scent of winter frost and the memory of his hand at my jaw.
The stillness stretches, heavier than I expected to feel with his absence. My eyes linger where he vanished for a long moment as I try to make peace with not just my own growing feelings for Torryn and Sylvin, but the ones they freely offer me. Should it feel like my gut is sinking when I say goodbye to them?
There’s no response from the earth to confirm or deny, and I inhale deeply, focusing back on the knowledge that I had to leave them behind here for a taskmore important than whatever it is budding between us.
