Evermore Academy (Evermore Academy #3) - Audrey Grey Page 0,16
need to confirm her identity and where she is now. But if she left his old academy under the same mysterious circumstance, and we can trace her to a clinic . . . perhaps we can tie Hellebore to Evelyn.
That plus the Bloodstar flower comment would surely be enough in the council’s eyes to warrant an investigation.
At the very least, it would put my engagement to him in serious jeopardy.
I’ve gone over my contract a billion times. The one line seared into my brain states my engagement to Hellebore can be severed if he is caught in any scandals large enough to risk the Summer Court’s honor.
And nothing says scandal like being caught in a scam involving pregnant mortal students-turned-darkling. I can only imagine the tabloid sensation.
Spring Court Heir involved in missing academy students’ case.
My legs are shaky with adrenaline as we snap pics of the image. If this photo ties him to the pregnant students and clinics, I might not even need to expose his involvement with the Darken to be free of him.
This could be my way out.
Free. Never has a word been more beautiful.
7
After the party, I can’t get Valerian out of my mind. I spend every stupid waking minute remembering Inara’s kiss. The way she touched him. The way he flinched.
I’ve never been violent, but the molten fury that follows makes me feel like I could rip Inara and the rest of the Six apart with my bare hands.
When I’m not planning mass murder, I’m fantasizing what I’ll say the next time I see Valerian.
I miss you.
I love you.
Let’s run away and have ten million babies and damn everyone else to the depths of the Fae Hells.
What runs through my mind after our imagined conversations would convince Aunt Vi I’m going to the Baptist hell, which is an entirely worse fate.
And I don’t care. At this point, nothing could feel worse than being ripped away from Valerian. My mating bond is like an open wound festering inside me. Growing more painful every second away from him.
Shimmer save me, this is torture.
Seeing him only made my agony worse. I’m agitated, constantly pacing the balcony despite the sweltering heat, never able to sit still. Even in sleep I thrash and cry, and last night, I nearly burned down my poor bed.
If not for Ruby, the entire apartment would have been ashes.
It doesn’t matter that the last week before school is filled with packing, double-checking forms, and learning what’s expected of me as an Evermore—which is a lot. I’ve spent the last five nights studying the material I should have learned first and second year. I’ve read every study guide Eclipsa made me this summer. I’ve reread every textbook my tutor provided.
I’m supposed to be freaking out because the academy is days away, and I am not ready.
But my heart, mind, and soul belong to the torment that is Valerian Sylverfrost.
At least by the Friday before school starts, my nerves manage to eclipse my heartache. All Evermore arrive early to campus to settle in before the shadows arrive. The entire staff of my mother’s household wakes up early to help me prepare. When I’m suitably dressed in a timeless emerald green frock, I dutifully follow my mother into a black chauffeured town car.
She’s quiet on the way. No words of motherly advice or affection.
Leaning back against the immaculate leather seat, I check my phone for a return call from Zinnia. Nothing.
The shadow of the Larkspur and Associates high-rise falls over the tinted windows all too soon.
The recently installed portal in the top floor of my mother’s office smells of lilies and copper. My mother is all business as two lesser Faerie servants meet us by the private elevator. They catalogue my new Louis Vuitton luggage set while my mother finishes up a business call.
The luggage set is supposedly a gift from the Summer King.
Of course my mother bought them. The understated but obscenely expensive bags have her signature scrawled all over the monogrammed cowhide leather.
Sweat slicks my phone’s screen as I check my group chat labeled Fam. Nothing from Zinnia, Jane, or Vi. My last few texts to them sit unanswered, and the lonely feeling constricting my chest tightens.
They’re busy. This time of year in the Tainted Zone can make or break a family. They’ll be canning the last of the produce from the garden. What they don’t store Aunt Vi will barter at the markets for winter supplies. Coats, boots, frozen meat.