“You missed nothing but smoke in your face.”
His grin faded to a wary frown.
“Wasn’t one of her truth brews, was it? The kind she uses to loosen tongues?”
Amerei shook her head.
“If it was, then she wasted her firewood.” Her steps slowed. “Besides, she was too busy planning my marriage to one of your half-brother’s… friends.”
Evander scoffed, his laugh bouncing off the tavern walls.
“First off, my brother has no friends. Secondly, an elvish husband couldn’t tolerate you.”
Amerei tilted her chin, amused.
“But I’ve had so much practice with you, Lord Zrynon.”
“I suffer you for the sake of my people,” he declared, hand pressed dramatically to his heart.
She smirked. “So you’ll come with me when she marries me off?”
“I’m not leaving Rhidian,” he shot back, grin returning. “Not while sun-kissed, sea-swept human women still find me exotic.” He tipped his head toward the harbor, voice dropping to that infuriating drawl of his. “What kind of man would I be if I denied them the view?”
Amerei gave a laugh, but it softened almost at once. She slowed her step, skirts brushing the cobbles.
“Evander,” she said quietly, cutting through his posturing, “you know you’re free to live as you wish. You don’t have to chain yourself to me—or to any crown.”
For once, his smile faltered.
He looked down at her, the usual gleam dulled to something steadier, almost reverent.
“To guard the rightful heir has been my honor,” he said, words low but unyielding. “And to have gained such a friend in the bargain…” He shook his head, something rare and sincere breaking through. “That’s been my blessing. I’m not going anywhere, Ami—and neither are you, inasmuch as I can help it.”
The words warmed her—quiet and rare as they were.
But before she could answer, the night itself snarled.
A shadow peeled from the mouth of the alley, voice dripping with contempt.
“Palace scum.”
Amerei’s pulse kicked hard, breath caught in her throat.
Evander shifted in front of her, shoulders squaring, hand already on his blade. His glance at her was quick, sharp.
Silent promise.
Silent warning.
Chapter Twenty
The Cherry Tree
Beneath the cherry tree, truth split clean—and nothing would be the same again.
Evander stepped in front of her, blade drawn, steel catching the lamplight. His stance was easy, practiced—but his eyes burned sharp.
“Go back to that whorehouse you call a castle,” the man spat.
