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Ha. Like hell he would. Rowan might be easygoing, but he was a complete badass when pushed, and when it came to Evie, it didn’t take much to push him.
Rowan cleared his throat. “Now that you’ve greeted Moira and ignored us, may I ask what this is about?”
Ethan let out an annoyed breath. “Yes, I’m dying to know as well.”
Soren cleared his throat. “We’re here for Moira.”
I blinked. “What?” They’d requested my presence, but I assumed it was because I’d been a member of their Junior Council before my disappearance and expected they needed my help again.
Thorvin looked pained. “Before everything happened, our…Leader thought something like this—” He grimaced. “Not like this,” he clarified. “Who could expect something like this?”
Ethan gave him a sharp glance. “What are you talking about?”
Evie slowly shook her head, a look of warning on her face. “Careful,” she said softly. “The magic is volatile.”
Thorvin’s nostrils flared. “Right.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “After the events at Soren’s temporary Keep, contingency plans were put into place in case Ethan was ever out of commission.”
The Lord scoffed. “I’m sitting right here, you imbecile.”
Thorvin continued like Ethan hadn’t spoken. “In the event of a Lord being incapacitated—” Thank fuck he didn’t say Ethan specifically. We still didn’t know if the spell would trigger if we directly addressed what the magic did. “And Moira being the target of an enemy attack, the Lords have been directed to assign a protector—”
Uh. “What the fuck?” I blurted. “A protector?” I glanced at Evie. “Did you know about this?”
My friend looked as befuddled as I did. “No.” She laughed. “A protector? Did he actually say that?”
Thorvin’s lips twitched—one of the only times I’d ever seen Thorvin amused—and he nodded. “Ah yes.” He peered down at the paper he held. “Those are his exact words.”
Ethan’s brow was furrowed. His eyes glowed molten metal.
He cleared his throat. “If you’ll allow me to continue?”
Evie let out a deep-throated chuckle. “Oh, yes. Please do. I can’t wait to hear the rest of this.”
I shot her a dark look. Evie’s grin widened.
“As I was saying, we’ve been instructed to assign a protector who will stay with Moira for the duration of the time it takes to eliminate the threat.”
I froze. “What.”
Thorvin continued like I hadn’t spoken. “We put it to a vote and decided—”
“Oh, please be Soren,” Evie muttered under her breath. “Please, let the gods shine upon us and provide me some entertainment during these dark days.”
“Evie! What the fuck? Have you lost your mind?”
I glanced at Rowan. “Did you know about this?”
He held out his hands. “I can neither confirm nor deny.”
“Children,” Thorvin said mildly, “can we hold the questions until the end?”
Evie mimed zipping her lips.
“As I was saying, we put it to a vote, but before the votes could be tallied, one of the Lords volunteered for the position.”
I closed my eyes. This was a nightmare.
Evie’s laugh was bright as a sunset over the mountains.
