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“I should give this to Fiona,” she said, holding out the bracelet in her open palm.
I shook my head. “Not now,” I said. “Maybe later. Right now, I should get you back to Lydbury. I have things I’ll need to do here.”
“Oh,” she said. “If that’s what you want.” She looked down at her hand and ran her thumb over the smooth metal.
“You really want to stay?” I asked Evelyn. A hand touched my arm, and I turned my head to find Arabella standing next to me.
“Not now,” I growled at her.
“Please,” she said. Tears glistened in her eyes. “Talk to me.” Her fingers dug into my arm.
I released Evelyn and spun to face Arabella, shaking her fingers from my arm in the process. “Now is really not a good time.”
“You think I don’t know that? Flida was like a mother to me. Don’t shut me out. You’re all I have left. You’re allwehave left. We need you.” She stared me down with her hands on her hips.
“Edric’s gone. Mother’s gone. I owe you nothing.” I started to turn away, but she grabbed me again. I growled low in my throat, but she didn’t release me.
“We’re family. And we need you,” she said.
I grabbed her hand and pried it off me. “Maybe you should have thought of that before you nearly killed her,” I said, taking a step closer and stabbing my finger into her breastbone. “You had no right.”
She winced and backed up. “Be reasonable. How was I supposed to know?”
“It wasn’t your call to make.”
“Fine. I’m sorry I nearly killed your human. Are you happy now?” She threw her hands up.
I shook my head. “You’re not sorry. You’re just like my sire. You hate them. Do you really expect me to believe you care?”
“Don’t be a fool.” She glared at me.
I laughed. “I knew it. You’d do it again if you had half a reason.” My fists clenched, and I burned to transform and resume the fight we’d had on the lawn just a few days ago.
“Stop it,” Fiona’s voice cut across the lawn. Arabella and I froze. “Stop it before either of you say something you’ll regret.”
Arabella took a step backward, toward the cottage.
“Go,” I said.
She opened her mouth to respond, but Fiona cut her off.
“Arabella, inside, now.”
Arabella snapped her jaw shut, and I could hear her grinding her teeth. But she obeyed, turning her back on me and pushing past Fiona and into the darkness of the cottage. Fiona held my gaze for a long moment, then disappeared inside.
I turned toward Evelyn and found her staring at me, eyes wide. “Explain,” she said, biting off the word.
“It was a mistake,” I said, trying to shake off the adrenaline rushing through my body.
“That’s not what you just said. You said she tried to kill me.” She pointed toward the cottage.
“But she didn’t.” I reached for her.
She twisted away from my hand and took a step back. “Tell me what happened.”
I jammed my fingers into my hair and dug the tips into my scalp. This was not going well. “Ari was there when we returned through the tunnel after escaping from the dungeons. She attacked you.”
“When were you going to tell me this?”
