Page 14 of Devoured

A few seconds of silence tick by. Evie rests her head on the wall behind her. Her eyes close, and her pulse thrums evenly in her veins. The abruptness of it, the sight of her so peaceful and youthful and small, almost undoes me. I spent an entire season loathing Evelyn Lee, blaming her for Celeste’s death, blaming her for my every misery, when all she’d done was just exist.

“I’m sorry,” I say quietly, not wanting to disrupt her sudden peace. “I shouldn’t have choked you that hard.”

She doesn’t open her eyes. “I almost tore your hair out. Consider us even.”

Her words are honest, but they shouldn’t be. In the last three months, I broke into her room, cut her hair with my claws, beat her to a pulp on more than one occasion, and stole her fiancé from her—regardless of her not being romantically interested in Sin. “You should have hated me more.”

A dry laugh. “Who’s to say I still don’t?” She peers out of one half-opened eye. “And besides, we have bigger things to worry about now.”

“Cora,” I say.

“Revenge.” Licking her lips, she adds, “Every single one of those bastards’ heads strung on a garland above the throne. Though, I must admit, the fire was a fantastic idea for now. I don’t want Cora to feel safe in this shithole.”

When I’m silent, she sighs. “They deserve it, Vanessa. They deserve every single thing coming to them.”

I don’t ask her about what will come after we’re done with them, because she never says. Our plotting always ends at Cora’s death. No sooner and no later. Once Cora is removed from this court, it’s clear Evie and I will go our separate ways. But for now—

“Cora says she needs me. She says I’m a key to all of this. It shouldn’t be too difficult to convince her that she’s won me over. She wants me loyal and subservient.”

“Unsurprising.”

“Terrifying,” I want to say. But I don’t. “And sharing a wing with Sin should only help our cause.”

Evie’s eyes open. She stares at me. “You’ll be able to handle that?”

“Yes.”

She arches a brow.

“Yes. We aren’t going to be sharing a r-room,” I argue. “It’s just a wing. I’ll hold Sin’s hand and tell him he’s pretty and… and…” “Want to rip out his heart every time I hear it beat.”

“You might want to work on saying his name without looking like you want to vomit.”

I grind my teeth. “I hate him.”

She doesn’t respond at first. For a moment, I think she might not. But then she whispers, “I do too.” And I catch a glimpse of Nettie beside her. Beautiful and sad.

“How are you feeling—”

Evie straightens and shoves her hands into her pants’ pockets. “No small talk, Hart.” She pulls two emerald bottles loose and throws them at me. I barely manage to catch the potions before they hit the floor. Dark amber liquid sloshes inside them. It smells like oak and musk.

“Only two?” My nose wrinkles. I frown.

“Yes, only two. You’re not supposed to drink them every day. Sleepless draughts have nasty side effects.”

The ghost of Nettie winks at me, laughs, and then vanishes into the stone. Internally, I cringe. “I know.”

Evie ignores me, however. With each step forward, she lists off another possible consequence. “Losing your sense of smell, hallucinating, hearing voices—”

“I get it,” I snap. She moves to grab one of the potions from me, but I slap her hand away. “As one of the world’s greatest Alchemists, couldn’t you make a sleepless draught that lasts longer and won’t ruin my life?” My fingers tighten around the small bottles. I’ll have to beg her for more in a few days, and until then I’ll need to ration them. I’ll drink half tonight. Save the other half for tomorrow. I’ll try to go a few days without it, if I can manage, and then—

“You’ll make more, right?” I glance up at her with wide, pleading eyes.

She watches me silently, head tilted like a cat marking its prey. “Vanessa,” she says slowly, “these sorts of draughts can be addicting.”

My heart races. I clutch the bottles to my chest. I don’t care how addicting they are. I don’t even care about the side effects. Sin infiltrated my dreams. Almost every night in this castle, he was there—rummaging through my mind. I can’t fall asleep. Not now, not as long as he and his mother still live. Bile stings my tongue at the thought of the potions running out.

“I need them,” I whisper. “If I sleep, he’ll be there. His mother too. And—and us working together will be for nothing. We’ll never win if they’re inside my brain, Evie.”