“Shhh!” I shush through my teeth, cutting my hand through the air as if I could dismiss him as easily as we did Koa and Ashton.
My eyes skim the letter, fingers gripping the page delicately as if a harsh touch would make the page itself dissolve into thin air. I inhale. Air is caught in my chest as I hold my breath until I get to the bottom of the letter where Dalziel’s name is signed in large, lavish cursive. I exhale.
“So??” Casimir pushes.
Bramwell’s brows have risen up his forehead, nearly touching that one marring blonde strand of hair. Some sort of birthmark, we’d been told when he’d been born with it. I’d teased him often enough, as had the others, calling him a skunk. He never responded to the name, so eventually we stopped using it.
“He wants the marriage.” I smile and let out a whoop of excitement.
Casimir cheers with me, and Bramwell claps his hands together in applause. I push myself out of the seat to stand and take a dramatic bow before my brothers, sweeping my arms one way and then the next as I repeat the gesture.
“Looks like things might be looking up after all, brothers!”
“Prepare for a battle with our dear sister. It won’t be easy.” Casimir warns. Bramwell nods eagerly.
“She’ll accept it if she wishes to be safe again. I’ll talk reason into her so that she knows this is her only hope. I’m going to make everything right again.”
“So what happens next?” Bramwell asks.
“Well, it looks like I’m taking Princess Violence Starling on a trip to the Court of Winds.”
Even if I have to drag her kicking and screaming.
It’s for her own good, I tell myself.
Chapter Four
Nollix
My fingers are stretched. My elbow joints pop. Every muscle in my lower half strains as my toes point, and my legs reach away from me as if they might tear from my body. Each nerve ending is fully awakened as pain ripples through me from my feet up, to settle into a pounding headache inside my skull.
With a gasping breath, I spiral back into consciousness. White lights dance at the edges of my vision, playing back and forth across bleak darkness. A hand tenses against my shoulder, waking me fully just as a groan slips across my lips.
I tighten my arms around Violence, trying to cling to her, finding nothing but air. It’s too late. She’s gone.I’m gone.
The ghost of her is still warm against my side. If I think hard enough, I can still feel her silky blonde strands slipping through my fingers.
Carver’s eyes shift back and forth, and I try my best to wipe away the anguish that’s creasing my features.
Forever isn’t nearly as long as it seems. There’s a tense pang in my chest that echoes the sentiment. It might kill me. Or at the very least, break my heart.
“It didn’t work on me. Did it work for you? Did the herbs show you anything? Any leads at all?” He kneels until he’s level with my line of sight.
Warm sunlight tries to break through the darkness of the night, but dawn seems to still be an hour away. The white, wafting smoke of the smoldering offering holds all of my focus as it drifts into the sky. Those Reveries aren’t crazy after all.
Okay, they definitely are. But they know their shit.
Slowly, carefully, I prop myself up on my elbows. My head still throbs, and every blink is nearly too much, but I glance around our small makeshift camp. The fire that was roaring at one point in time has now diminished to glowing embers, allowing the cold to sweep in.
Who would have thought it would ever be just me and him? It’s lonely without Jeriko’s pathetic grumblings—though it would seem we are better off without her. And without Violence... There’s no one to tease and taunt. Nothing so heartbreakingly beautiful to make each day feel a little easier to manage.
Did I only imagine her?
No. I don’t believe that for an instant. I couldneverimagine her actually admitting to me that I’ve ever held her affection. Even when I’ve known that I’ve held some thread of her attention over the years. A smile threatens the corner of my mouth as I recall the first sweet words she ever said to me in the three years I’ve known her.
It only took me three years to get a compliment out of her.
“Did you see her?” His voice rises as he stares expectantly at me.
