“Stop calling me that.”

Evander’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.

“You know what the worst part is?” I asked. “You can say that because you actually believe it to be true.”

“It is true,” he breathed.

“Get out.”

“El. Ellie—”

“Get. Out.”

He did. And when I stayed up for hours, weeping into my pillow, he didn’t return.

I told myself I hadn’t wanted him to.

CHAPTER 46

EVANDER

My feet traced the familiar path back toward the South Gate, past the guard whose summer homes I paid for, yet I hardly noticed him when he waved at me.

I made it all the way to the seedy tavern just to stand in front of the wretched building, unable to make myself go inside.

There was drink in there. Strong drink that would make the past few hours dissipate into nothingness if I let it.

But that would only last me a few hours.

Then the truth would assault me again, except this time I’d have a pounding headache.

The morning would come, my body would purge itself of the alcohol, and I’d still be left with the memory of what I’d done.

I’d chosen Cinderella over Ellie.

That hadn’t been the plan.

The moment I’d sensed the dread in Ellie’s voice, that quavering timbre humans had such a difficult time masking, I’d determined to put an end to the woman I’d once thought I loved.

But then I burst through the door, and I’d seen the adoration in her blue eyes, scented that familiar smell of lilac and rosebuds, heard the longing in her voice…

That Fates-cursed mating bond had sunk its hooks into my beating flesh, and my heart had faltered.

My love for Ellie had faltered.

And I wasn’t sure if I could live with myself knowing that.

So I left the seedy bar and wandered into the woods.

It was first light by the time I arrived, the glowing sun making its appearance, the silvery moon finally slipping past the horizon.

My father hadn’t wanted to bury him here, not initially. No, my father had wanted pomp and circumstance in the gravestone that would honor my brother, honor his heir.

I’d convinced him otherwise.

It was the first request he’d ever granted me.

I’d been shocked when he agreed, thinking the grief of my brother’s loss must have altered something ancient in him.

It hadn’t in the end, unless you counted being more irritable, but that didn’t matter so much.

I’d asked him to bury Jerad back here, and he’d let me.

In the center of the castle grounds, there was a casket in a tomb large enough to pass for the resting place of a Fate, but the casket was empty.

My brother lay here, far away from tourists and prying eyes and citizens who liked to gossip and speculate about just how exactly my brother had died.

My father had granted me few gifts in my life.

If I had to pick just one, this would have been it.

His gravestone was simple, only his familial nickname carved into its face, lest someone stumble upon in and realize who was buried there.

Jed

A Son, A Brother, A Friend

I settled into the earth and dug my fingers into the soil. Something about the feel of earth between my fingers made me feel connected to him, like he’d returned to being part of the earth and was sitting here with me, just with another form, another purpose.

I could work with that.

“I keep messing up, Jerad.”

Is that anything new? I could imagine his voice, the low timbre that never let anything provoke it. Could hear it like he was speaking to me now.

It was why I liked this place.

I laughed. “No, but at least when you were around, you could fix it for me.”

Perhaps it’s for the best that I left, then. You always need a bit of prodding to grow up.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call your death a prodding. More like a staking, but okay.”

Let’s hear it then. What have you done this time?

“I fell in love with the wrong woman.”

Also not a first. Surely we could sift through some of our old talks and get a head start on figuring this out.