“Easy. Peck’s already had to stitch you up twice. Turns out you’re an active sleeper.”
I couldn’t miss the glimmer of amusement in his tone. Still, I took it slow. Once I was facing him, I tucked my sheets up to my neck and shot him the nastiest glare I could muster.
He’d propped himself on his elbow, his bronze hair disheveled and falling across his brow. “Right. You’re wondering why I’m in your bed. Well, I figured since we only have a few weeks before we’re married, we should take it slow. Wouldn’t want to blow your mind on the wedding night or anything. So I figured we could start with spooning. Then maybe next week I can hold your hand. Oh, wait, we already did that. Excellent. I’m hoping by the wedding, I’ll have you adequately warmed up for a kiss, but—” His words faltered as his gaze dipped to my mouth. I tensed, readying myself for whatever mortifyingly inappropriate innuendo was about to come out of his mouth, but his voice only softened. “It’s really good to see you awake.”
I stiffened, and he smiled, shrugging as he supported his weight on his elbow. He looked more sheepish now, his tanned cheeks slightly tinted. “You had a really nasty fever. Peck was having a hard time breaking it with his drafts. Blaise has been keeping you warm most of the time, but to be honest, she was getting to where she stunk, so she went to bathe and get you some more books.” He rolled his eyes, and I shot him a questioning look. “Oh, don’t tell me I suffered through the Encyclopedia of Glass, and you didn’t hear a word of it.”
I chuckled, which was a mistake, because it hurt like crap to laugh. Evander frowned, having caught my wince. He opened his mouth slightly for a moment, but then he shut it and swallowed. In an instant, the vulnerable expression was gone, replaced by a familiar cocky smirk.
“Well, it seems your fever finally broke.” He pulled down the blankets, gesturing to his shirt. Which happened to be soaked through. Mortification blistered underneath my cheeks. Evander just winked. “It’s okay. You’re cute when you’re sweaty.”
I threw a pillow at him.
The pain that rippled through my stomach and had me choking back a sob was worth it.
Evander visited me what felt like once an hour for the next few days. At first, the castle healer, Peck, a birdlike fae with the looks of a human except for the feathers that covered his skin, put up a good fight against Evander’s visits, claiming that I needed the rest. But eventually Evander won out, as, I assumed, he was fairly used to doing by this point in his life.
I always pretended to be asleep during his visits, which I think was the only thing that kept Peck at bay. It wasn’t that I didn’t want him there by my side. In fact, I relished his company, just knowing that he was sitting next to me in the rocking chair he’d carried up to my bedroom. Sometimes he’d stroke my hand, and I’d try not to let myself tense up as the motion sent a crackling sensation up my arm. I was pretty sure I wasn’t fooling him. Surely, with his fae senses and nothing else in the room to distract him, he could tell that I was faking sleep. But if that was the case, he didn’t push it. Instead, he allowed me to pretend.
Maybe because he knew what I was really avoiding.
Maybe because he wanted to avoid it, too.
If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t want to talk about how the love of my life had just attempted to murder my betrothed.
The more I considered it, and, truly, I had nothing else to consider as I lay in bed all day pretending to be asleep, the more I convinced myself it was her, the more I remembered that flash of envy in her blue eyes and knew, deep down, that she’d tried to murder me because I had taken her prince.
Well, she had taken my shoes, so…
“Ellie.” Evander’s voice summoned me from my irritable thoughts.
I tried not to stir. I wasn’t ready for this conversation yet.
Besides, my stomach still ached, and stirring, rather, moving at all, would have only irritated it further.
“What? Are you just going to pretend you’ve fallen into an eternal slumber?”
“Mm. Peck says I need rest.”
“Peck says you need to eat something. Don’t you, Peck?” Evander asked pleasantly.
“As much as it pains me to do so, I agree, your Highness,” Peck said without looking up from the salve he was mixing on my desk.
“Great, because I ordered that lunch be delivered at noon.”
“Thank you, but I’m really not hungry,” I said.
“Just try it.” He smiled. “And we can talk while you do.”
“I’m too tired to—”
“Okay, no. We’re going to talk about who did this to you,” Evander said.
“Why are you pushing me about it when you already know the answer?” I asked through gritted teeth. I wasn’t sure why I was so angry all of a sudden, but I was. And for some reason, my heart seemed to think that Evander was to blame for it.
“Ellie,” he said, taking my hand. My heart lurched at the feel of his soft caress as his thumb stroked the back of my hand. “Please. Just tell me who it was.”
I sighed. “She looked to be about my age, maybe a little older. She had really pale skin and hair to match.”
Evander swallowed. “How pale?”
“She could have disappeared into the moonlight easier than trying to hide in the shadows.”
I watched his face, searching for any hint of recognition. Of admission.
“Did she say anything to you?”
I shuddered. “Just that I wasn’t supposed to wake up. Then she disappeared.”
Evander let out a slow, controlled breath. I waited. I wasn’t going to be the one to say it out loud. Not when it would make me sound like a jealous lunatic.
And I wasn’t a lunatic.
“Anything else about her?”
“Her eyes were blue.”
“Are you sure you’re getting all the details right? I know you must have been so terrified, and it was dark in your room…”
