The man ignored her. “Isn’t this place wonderful? Much better than our dirty little village. Coming here was quite a trial, but I suppose you missed it all, as usual.”
Evie pointed to her very obvious crown.
He looked it up and down and laughed. “Did you steal it?”
Her nails dug into my forearm and I stepped forward. “Go enjoy the party, fish face.”
Evie choked on a laugh. I had to hand it to him. Abner didn’t back up. It was a mistake, but brave. The man looked me up and down as he had the crown and with even less interest. “Is this who you’re with now, Evening? He looks a little beastly for you.”
I’ll show him beastly,Evie yelled down our bond. Her dragon came into her eyes, light leaking from her mouth. The last thing we all needed was for her to shift in a crowded hall. She would crush everyone here.
Don’t shift. Don’t touch him,I warned her, stepping more firmly between them.
“Don’t be like that, Evening.” The man actually reached out to put his hand on her and I lost all control of my bear. We both lunged at him, pinning him beneath claws and fur as his high wail of terror brought a halt to the festivities.
“Shake him like a leaf, teddy bear!” Evie said.
I could hear Noth talking to Evie as he guarded my back. “Godds above the man had a death wish, or he was a complete nitwit.”
“Both, I think,” Evie responded.
Clamping the man in my jaws, I didn’t worry about the assembly for the first time in forever. It felt too right that my mate’s offense was in my teeth. Her joy at my display was the only thing keeping me from making sure he never touched her again. It surged hope in my heart that she would accept I would only ever kill those putting her in danger. This dick waffle didn’t even merit a bruise.
Everyone gave me plenty of space as I lumbered out of the hall and chucked fish face into the place where fish belonged—the moat.
Chapter23
Evie
Idon’t think I had ever been happier than when I watched Abner fall face first into a very questionable moat. It made up for the following days of peppered questions from Maggie, Noora, Fallon, but especially Ruby. My favorite flowers, my favorite fabric, my favorite color, my second favorite color. We already had the party for our return. Surely one was enough. They were constantly pulling me away from my conversations with Ward to ask yet another stupid question. I just wanted to figure out how I was supposed to move my collections carefully into Ward’s keep and how much of a room we were going to have left to actually sleep together. Not that I was very far from on top of him when we were in bed.
As lovely as that was, it was still a touch uncomfortable. I hadn’t told him that if I ingested the last relic, I would become a Goddess. It seemed like a thing a mate should know. Not that I would do it, but that didn’t mean he didn’t deserve my secret. I would get to it. I promised myself I would.
At dinner, I saw a feral delight come into my sister’s eye as she walked into the dining hall. Her preoccupation with something made her withdrawn lately but she wouldn’t tell me what it was even when I caught her glooming about the keep. We managed one “real talk” about what happened with Abner, and she shut down again. Her trying to throat punch my ex at a royal celebration went a long way in my book, but we would never truly be sisters again without her opening up.
Could I avoid her and find Ward? The hall wasn’t that large, and he was nowhere in sight. I turned left, and Fallon stood by the fire, an equally terrifying look in her eye. I felt a reenactment of my illicit birthday coming on. Not that I minded too much about how that night turned out. I looked for Ward again.
Then Ruby walked in with Emrys, the other bartender. Weren’t they supposed to be in the bar, barring things? There was only so much room in the dining hall to hide in, so I did the next best thing and took a seat at the head of the table where I hoped I looked queenly enough for people not to bother me.
My sister plunked down next to me, anyway. “So about cake…”
Now that was a topic to get behind. “Tell me you didn’t convince Fallon to try another sugar-free cake? I told you chocolate, chocolate fudge is the only acceptable cake for anyone to eat.”
“We can worry about cake later,” Fallon said as she sat down, too. “Her birthday is still an entire year away.” Fallon elbowed Mags in the ribs rather hard.
“How do you feel about lake side bowers?” Ruby asked as she joined the table.
These random topics were stressing me the hell out. I shoveled food in my face, hoping that would be the hint to leave me in peace, but the girls started talking amongst themselves about flowers I would like without my participation. I was about to go full dragon on those boneheads when Ward leaned over and plucked the spoon I’d been using right out of my mouth.
“You’re not eating here,” he told me, tossing away the bent spoon. In one graceful move, he scooped me out of my seat and into his arms. “I have a surprise for you.”
“E hates surprises,” Fallon pointed out.
I did, but not from Ward.
“I would do nothing she didn’t beg for,” he said and winked at all the ladies.
“Take me anywhere but next to these harassers and you can surprise me all you want.” I buried my face in his massive shoulder and let him carry me out of the keep, out into the woods, over the hills to the den where he first brought me. This time I appreciated the scenery a lot more. Heather and gorse bush peppered with weathered rocks might not have looked like a dreamy location to some, but I was quite nostalgic by the time Ward set me down.
