Evie


    The Viin flicked a switch, and the room was illuminated.


    Even in the dim light, he homed in on her face, which was surely puffy and streaked with tears. “What’s happened? My gold ink led me to believe you were in some sort of danger.” Ah, the link between them. He couldn’t help but worry for her; it was a bond between them that forced him to answer every moment of her distress. It wasn’t a choice. She wasn’t his choice.


    “I’m fine. I need to get these notes to re. Move aside, please.” She pulled away from his arms, despite her body’s screaming protests, and reached to open the closet door. She only made it one step before he gripped her wrist.


    “Sage. Talk to me. I don’t like the look on your face.”


    She turned and yanked down her hand, and he released her immediately. “Then perhaps you shouldn’t have put it there. Leave me alone, Trystan. I’m tired.” Her use of his name threw him for a moment before he continued his pursuit to undo her.


    “Kingsley is lucid again.”


    She halted but didn’t look at him. “I’m d.”


    He was too close, the space too small, his front almost near enough to brush against her back. She couldn’t think, couldn’t take a full breath.


    “The magic fading back to the earth,” he added. “I think it’s…beginning to affect Kingsley’s curse. We’re running out of time.”


    “That’s not news,” she said, hating the weakness of her voice.


    “Evangelina, won’t you look at me?”


    She shut her eyes. Oh, that was just ying dirty.


    Evie didn’t hate her full name; it was simply a mouthful and felt clunkying from others’ lips. But from his, it sounded gritted and angry. It sounded like it meant something more than just a name.


    “No. I can’t be trusted to look at you.”


    He chuckled. The sound was so rare she couldn’t help but spin around to see— “HA! Dimple!” she shouted and grinned, faltering when she realized she was meant to be dramatically angry. He smirked in satisfaction, and she shoved his chest until he stumbled against the wall. His cheeks deepened in color from the fall. “You can’tugh when I’m angry. It’s not fair.”


    “Neither was you shoving me against a wall,” he barked, righting himself.


    She rolled her eyes but then hummed for a moment, tilting her head and looking up in contemtion. “I love being shoved against a wall.”


    His mouth fell open so fast Evie thought he’dbust right then and there. Very well. She was ready and waiting with the matches. “You— Who is shoving you against walls?”


    She bit her lip and was satisfied when his eyes tracked it. “No one yet. I’m waiting for the right man to give it a go.” She winked at him, needing to distract herself, nearly vibrating with unspent emotion from the confrontation with her mother. It made her reckless. It made her bold.


    It made her head hurt, in all honesty.


    “Well, I wish you luck in that endeavor.” He sounded as if he wished for her luck about as much as he’d wish for him and King Benedict to hold hands. “If we’re to break Kingsley’s curse, we need to find that magic wand immediately.”


    Evie reeled. “Wait a minute—”


    “Pack lightly. We’ll be gone only a few days.”


    “Wait a minute!” She waved her hands around frantically, and Trystan dodged them just in time. “You’re letting mee with you?”


    Trystan sighed, looking younger as he ran both hands through his hair and down his face. “It’s time you take the next step and learn what it means.”


    Her nose scrunched. “What it means…?”


    He sighed. “To be a viin’s apprentice.”