She did, thank the gods for that. At first, her body had been withered, her skin peeled off in layers, and her breath was hitched and shallow. But each day, her body recuperated. Muscle definition and color slowly returned to her sleeping form. I was far frompatient, and every hour, every minute, felt like an agonizing eternity.
“Why?” Seville asked, and I rounded my gaze on her.
“Why what?”
“Why do you care?”
It was the very question I’d been asking myself since Orin first commanded me to spy on her. Maybe it was because of how deeply she cared for her brothers—something I’d never experienced and could hardly fathom. Maybe it was because of the way she’d looked at me the day I brought her to Fernglove. Like I fucking mattered, like I was someone—something—to be marveled at. Or maybe it was her cunning mind and the way she analyzed absolutely everything at the dinner table that evening. Or maybe it was when she’d told me skirts wouldn’t stop her from stabbing me. Or the day she tried to strike me. I’d never met anyone quite like her, and I’d spent lifetimes encountering all sorts of people. She’d intrigued me from the start.
But I didn’t care to share any of that with Seville, so I settled on something tamer. “I was tired of the suffering.”
“Right.” Seville stared right through me with the same sense of knowing as our mother. I hated it. “Well, if she doesn’t eat you alive upon waking, tell her I said thanks.”
My gaze shifted back to Edira. “You won’t be here when she does?”
“Should I be? I don’t think so. One Ever lording over her while she tries to recover is plenty.” She snorted to herself before shaking her head. “After all, I doubt Edira will want much to do with us given what she just went through.”
“I wouldn’t, either,” I said as I folded my arms across my chest. “Though I’m surprised you didn’t try to save him.”
It’d always been them against me for as long as I could remember. The true heirs versus the mistake. I was the reason for ourmother’s death. Even now, Seville glowered, but she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Calculating. Her thin brows pulled together as she gathered her thoughts, and then she finally relented with a sigh.
“Lorelai was...” She pressed her lips together and shook her head, as if convincing herself it was safe to continue. “I wanted to be her heartbond. I cared for Rowena, too.”
Lorelai Starglen, one of Orin’s many former heartbonds. A hazy memory began to unfold before my eyes: Seville, all those years ago, stiff with rage and lips so thin they’d nearly disappeared, standing silent at Lorelai and Orin’s heartbond ceremony. And then the single, heart-wrenching cry I’d heard through the halls the night of Lorelai’s death. It’d been the only time in my life I’d considered knocking on Seville’s door. I’d kept walking.
And Rowena. My shoulders slackened. “I didn’t know.”
“I didn’t want anyone to know. It was safer that way. Orin still found out, though. He always did.” Ire filled her ice-green stare, and I wondered if the anger she always wielded had nothing to do with me, or our history, at all. She shuddered, hiding away whatever emotion she was too cautious to show, and allowed a smirk to claim her lips. “Though it looks like you’re the one collecting heartbonds now.”
“A means to an end.” The words burned like ash against my tongue, but they were true. I hardly knew Edira. We’d never had the chance to speak freely with each other, and now she’d never want to. Not after what I did to her brothers. I glanced past Seville to find Noam and Nohr helping Vora forage for herbs. With the collapse of the estate, the majority of her wares were destroyed, and Edira needed a constant supply to help keep her body from failing. We’d been filling them in about Edira’s work here and there, answering their questions without reservations. We owed them the truth, and we had no reason to hide it. Not anymore.
“And her end will be sooner than most.” Seville’s words were harsh, but her tone was not. The gentleness of her voice gave me pause, and I shifted my attention back to her. She watched Edira with a subtle warmth, almost as if they were friends.
When I didn’t say anything, she leveled me with a weighted look. “What are you going to do?”
“About Edira?” I asked.
“Edira, the estate, the mines.” Seville glanced at the grounds where Lydia was marking the land as if determining the layout of some new structure. Somewhere, Clesian and his daughters were helping track down the stags that had bolted in fear into the woods. They’d fallen into a routine without missing a beat when they simply could’ve left. But still, they remained.
“Fuck the mines.” I scowled at nothing as I pictured the blight-ridden earth surrounding the cavernous maws filled with tantalizing gems. “We have enough everjewels for the family and we no longer have blight. Plus, we have more money than we know what to do with. If the townsfolk want to mine them at their own risk for their own profit, then that’s on them.”
“I suppose that’s a call you could make as head of the estate,” Seville hedged.
“Not for me.” I bristled at the title. “I think Lydia and Clesian would be happy to run the place.”
“Maybe in your stead, but not permanently,” Seville said as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Shocking, I know.”
“Mystead?” It was impossible not to balk. “I don’t want this place. If not them, then certainly you.”
“I think it’s pretty clear who Mother would’ve wanted to be in charge. Lydia has already mentioned honoring her wishes.” There wasn’t an ounce of disdain in Seville’s words. If anything, there was a sliver of remorse that made her tone waver. “That aside, what do you think will happen when more Evers learn of Edira’s abilityto cure blight? Our attendants fled the moment the glamour fell. A few have started to return, but not all of them. Her talents are bound to get out.”
An involuntary snarl ripped from somewhere deep in my chest, and my canines sharpened to snag on the soft flesh of my lips. “I won’t let them touch her. She’s done enough.”
“I know, but the fact remains. They will come for her.” She loosed a heavy breath, as if she didn’t want to keep going. But she did anyway. “Especially the Embergraves.”
My pulse climbed higher, and I formed fists by my sides. Anger brewed in my gut as my lips curled. Zeverin. All these years, we’d never been able to talk about him or even whisper his name. I knew little about my real father. But all Evers knew just how bloodthirsty and horrendous the Embergraves were. They were dangerous and had sway over a multitude of smaller Ever families throughout Glaes. No one stood up against them, but I would. For Edira, I would burn their estate to the ground.
I let my glamour fall away in a ripple. Magic crackled in the space between us. “I don’t care what kind of power they possess. I don’t care about their family or how many they have under their control. I will kill them all. No one touches her.”
