Before I Let Go (Skyland #1)(10)

My spine went rigid as I stared at them.

It was just one more lie that had fallen from Evren’s lips. He told me that he had never fed from a Starblessed before. He had told me many things that I had no business believing.

A fool. I was such a damn fool.

Evren took her hands in his and held her out in front of him. “Thalia, I would like for you to meet someone.”

He turned toward me then, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. And then she finally looked at me.

I could see the surprise in her wide eyes, the bewilderment as she looked back and forth between us. Her lips parted, but no sound escaped them.

“This is my Adara. Adara, this is Thalia.”

“I’m not his,” I quickly corrected him as I dismounted the horse, and this made her smile.

“Aren’t you?” She cocked her head to the side as she studied me. “I can smell his magic all over you.”

“You’re familiar with his magic?” I snapped.

Her smile turned into a full grin.

“I like her.” She chuckled and looked back to Evren, but his attention was on me. Watching, assessing, seeing far more than I wanted him to.

“Thalia is one of my oldest friends in this world.”

“As I can see.” I tried to push down the jealousy, but it was flowing from me like blood from an open wound.

Evren stepped closer to me, but I took a small step back.

“Are you jealous of my friend, princess?”

“Of course not.” I swallowed and tried to make my words sound believable even to my own ears. “I don’t care what you do.”

“Are you sure?” His mouth cocked into the slightest grin, and my stomach flipped.

“Why would I care?”

“Because I’m your fucking mate,” he growled for only me to hear, but she heard him. Her gaze met mine, and I held it. I let her feel the truth of his words even while I was trying to deny it myself.

“I am your prisoner just as I was to your brother.”

Evren jolted back as if I had slapped him. He studied me, calculating what to say, and I hated this game between us. “Thalia will be with you here in the Blood Court, and she will help you adjust to your life here. Allow me to show you to your room.” His words were clipped and full of anger.

He started to turn from me, but my own anger rose. I didn’t want his lover catering to me while I was here. I didn’t want anyone near me. “What? Are you too busy to see to me yourself?”

His shoulders stiffened, and he drew in a short breath. “I must return to the Fae Court within the coming days, princess.”





CHAPTER 4





My vision blurred, and I couldn’t see Thalia anymore.

I couldn’t see or think about anything other than the words that had just passed his lips. He was going back. He brought me here, away from his brother, and now he was going back.

My hands shook as Jorah walked up and wrapped Thalia in his arms. He looked as genuinely happy to see her as Evren did, but it didn’t matter.

He was leaving.

“I’m going to take Adara to her room,” Evren spoke to them, but he was still looking at me.

And I couldn’t hide a single bit of my distress.

He reached forward, gripping my elbow in his hand, and he said something under his breath, but I couldn’t make it out. My heartbeat was rushing in my ears, hammering away every bit of composure I had managed to hold on to.

He was leaving.

Evren led me up the steps to the front of the palace, and I followed behind him wordlessly as two guards opened the doors for us and let us inside. Both bowed their heads in respect to my mate, and I wondered if they knew.

Did they all know they were going to be sending their prince back into the hands of their enemies?

Did they care for him at all or did they only care about what he could do for them? He was their prince but also their spy and their traitor.

I couldn’t decide if he was as much a pawn in their game as I was or if that was just what he’d have me believe. Was he the master who got off on the thought that he could fool me into believing any part of him belonged to me. My chest ached as we walked into the palace. The windows were made of mosaic glass that caused the sunlight to bounce about the room, and along the furniture made of warm, aging wood. The palace was grand, but it still somehow felt like a home. We stepped into a large great room, and the smell of smoky hearths, fresh flowers, and aged books hit me. Memories of the small home I shared with my mother flooded me.

“I’ll give you a tour once you’re settled.” Evren ran his fingers through his hair, and I watched the way the sun shined in through the windows and brought out the blaring darkness of it.

I didn’t answer him because I didn’t know what to say. The same thought was choking me, and I feared nothing else would escape my lips.

He was leaving.

We walked through a long hallway, the same aged stone greeting me inside the palace, but there was so much sunlight. When I had thought of the Sidra Palace, I had imagined an eerie castle that housed blood-thirsty vampyres. It was the image my mother and those in my village had painted in my mind. It was hard to wade through all the lies. They slipped through my fingers as easily as the truth, and I couldn’t recognize one from the other.

“This is your room.” Evren stopped in front of a large wooden door with an ornate golden handle, and his hesitation hammered in my chest like the ghost of what we could have been. But he didn’t say another word. He simply reached forward and opened it, and I followed him inside.