Evermore Academy (Evermore Academy #3) - Audrey Grey Page 0,66
a sick feeling comes over me as I realize it is alive. Thousands of monarch butterflies are pinned to the fabric, their beautiful orange and black wings fluttering in desperation as they try to escape.
“Well, fudge,” I mutter, running my gaze over the rest of the tables. Everyone is here. The Winter King and his young wife. Inara’s parents. I recognize Rhaegar’s father and siblings right away, next to . . .
I haven’t seen the Summer King since my identity was revealed. Nothing about him was familiar then, but now, a pang of recognition spikes through my core. Fear follows. Fear and anger. As if a part of me remembers what it was like to watch my father, the man who’s supposed to protect me and love me, plunge a knife into my heart.
He’s sitting with a Summer Fae not much older than I am. “Who is that?”
Eclipsa follows my stare. “His mistress.”
“What about my mom?”
Eclipsa’s lips tilt in amusement. “Have you never noticed the gorgeous Fae males that visit her office?”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Now that you mention it . . .”
All Fae are attractive by design, but there were several unusually attractive Fae males who would visit her office, usually late afternoon. Sometimes more than one—
Nope, not going there. Desperate to change the subject, I’m about to suggest another drink when Eclipsa’s gaze catches on something just behind me. Whatever she sees causes pain to darken her face before she hides it behind a furious mask.
I spin around to face Hellebore. For a moment, before I remember that I loathe him with every cell in my body, I’m caught off guard by his beauty. He wears a neatly tailored dark purple Armani suit and crisp white dress shirt. His pale honey-colored hair has been tamed to fall over his left brow, leaving the shaved sides visible.
For a moment, I forget that I hate him. That is, until I spy the spiderweb peeking from his partially unbuttoned shirt and I remember he’s literally the GQ version of Lucifer.
He gives me an approving once over, locks eyes with Eclipsa, and flashes an arrogant grin. “I’m taking her. My aunt said we need photos together, and what my aunt wants, she gets.”
Eclipsa’s eyes never leave Hellebore as she finishes off her drink in one gulp. “I see you’re still missing your balls, Hell.”
He laughs. “I think we both know that’s not true.” He drags his focus down her body and then back up. “You’re still supremely fuckable. Find me later if you want a repeat of last time.”
Eclipsa goes unnaturally quiet, the way she does right before attacking. “That will never happen again.”
“Knock back a few more of those and we’ll see.” His grin just begs to be slapped from his mouth, but that’s probably what he wants, the psycho.
“Enough.” I grab his arm before Eclipsa decides to castrate the idiot, making sure to only touch his suit and not his flesh. “I’ll catch you guys later?”
Hellebore strides toward the door so fast that I have to run to keep up, my heels clicking loudly. I halt right before we enter the next room. “Wait. Do you promise me Inara isn’t waiting on the other side with a bucket of pig’s blood or something?”
“Pig’s blood?” Amusement flickers in his unnaturally blue eyes. “When Inara finally gets her hands on you, the only blood will be yours.”
“And when will that be?”
“After the wedding. Can’t have you looking injured before the ceremony, now can we?” He winks as if discussing the timeline of my probable dismemberment and death is a shared joke. “Now let’s go. I promised my aunt thirty minutes of smiles and affection with my loving fiancé. Afterward, you can do whatever the hell you like. Get wasted with Eclipsa. Find your mate and cry about how much you miss him. I don’t care.”
“Since when do you not care if I’m around the Winter Prince?” I’m pretty sure there’s an entire page in my contract dedicated to that specifically.
“Why would I prevent you from being together when your very presence causes him agonizing pain?” He smiles, a flat, dead thing that is incongruous with his beauty. “I’ve heard that living with the Bloodstar poison feels like acid searing your veins, but that’s nothing to what you do to him every time he has to see you but can’t claim you.” He rakes his stare down my dress like a weapon. “You may actually kill him looking like that. Every male that