Word Count: 2170

~Aesira

I step from the transport, my mind heavy.

Returning to Everin's manor feels strange, like I am stepping into another world after the conversation I just had with Malakai.

Right now, all I want to do is bury my head under my pillow, never to emerge again.

"What a rotten, no good evening," I mutter under my breath, crossing the driveway toward the house, only to stop short when I notice another transport not far from me.

Edwin stands next to it, watching staff load bags into the trunk. His shoulders are stiff and his head is bowed.

I pause to watch him for a moment, contemplating what to do.

I know I shouldn't instigate a fight after what happened the other night, but I'm broody this evening. Malakai really plucked at my nerves.

Plastering a saccharine smile on my face, I practically skip over to him. Surely he will be sober this time, and what could he really do with so many staff around, anyway?

"Off to go torment a sorry unit of soldiers?" I ask lightly.

His jaw is tight as his gaze sweeps to me.

"Everin pulled rank," he grits out.

I stop short, like someone shoved me back. If Everin pulled rank, that means Edwin is no longer his second in command.

"What?" I whisper.

"I'm done," he growls, glaring down at one of the maids packing the trunk. She takes a wide, wary arc around him. "I'm nothing more than a lowly solider now, because of you."

I should be taking pleasure from this, from seeing everything stripped from him. Yet, I'm disappointed.

"I didn't...I mean, I told him I could handle you myself," I say, more to myself than him.

I wanted the satisfaction of stripping everything from Edwin, or at least I think that is what I wanted. Or maybe it is more so that I never thought Everin would be willing to oust Edwin so easily, especially on my behalf.

Edwin's lip curls as he regards me with barely reigned in disgust.

"You ran to him like an animal seeking its master," he hisses. "I thought better of you."

"I can speak to him. I mean, you don't deserve to be his commander, but this...it's too much." It's so sudden. I doubt Everin gave him any chance to defend himself.

Edwin is pure evil — I knew that long before I came here. The fact that the incident that led to me rushing to Everin's room was what turned the Alpha against his second is unbelievable.

His dark eyes flicker with ire. "Don't act like this doesn't please you."

"I don't like you, no, but I was actually hoping you would stick around for a bit longer," I admit. Mostly so I could make him suffer at my own hand.

Edwin's face slackens, his brows pressing together. It is as if I've revealed something to him that he didn't expect.

"I knew you wanted me," he breathes, before he advances on me.

He moves so quickly, my stumble back isn't enough to evade him. He grabs my wrist, yanking me  toward him until our chests brush. All at once, he clasps my shoulders in his hands, bringing his mouth down to mine.

Revulsion spills through me, hot and laced with anger. I shove Edwin off me with my strength, and for a moment, he has the gall to look confused.

He might have misconstrued my words for interest in him, but he isn't going to in a second—

"Edwin." A loud, commanding voice rents the air, making Edwin and I both turn.

Everin stalks from the entrance to the manor toward us, gaze pinned on the male beside me. His expression is hard and impassive, but beneath, I sense the quiet rage gathering force within him.

"Alpha." Edwin speaks back warily, suddenly terrified.

The weight of Everin's presence is both soothing to me and utterly terrifying. I might have been able to convince him not to go after Edwin the other night, but there is nothing protecting the male anymore.

"Kissing my wife, I see." His voice is lethally smooth and laced with wrath.

"I'm sorry, sir." Edwin glances at me, seeing a target he can pin everything on. "She practically begged for it."

My eyes widen. He's dead.

"Oh you mother fucker," I growl, launching myself at him.

My fingers barely grasp his shirt before I'm pulled back by Everin. I try to push off his hold, wanting to sink my nails, my teeth, anything into Edwin to make him hurt, but Everin doesn't relent.

Edwin stares at me with muted surprise, taking yet another step back.

"Enough of that," Everin murmurs, letting go of my arm once I've calmed down enough.

"Come on, he deserves it," I insists, sending a scathing glare in Edwin's direction.

Everin looks down at me grimly.

"I know," he says, before he turns to Edwin.

He moves lethally fast, grabbing Edwin's collar before the male can slip away. In the same move he pulls him toward himself, Everin draws his arm up and punches him square across the face.

The impact of the hit sends Edwin's face whipping to the side, the sound of knuckles hitting the sturdiness of his face making my stomach turn.

"That's for kissing my wife," Everin snaps, his grip on Edwin's shirt keeping him from collapsing over.

Again, he hits him. This time, Edwin coughs blood from his mouth, stumbling onto his knees when Everin lets him go.

"That's for doing it without her consent." Everin sounds breathless, his anger having got the better of him.

I stare between the pair, my jaw slack. What the fuck.

Edwin braces one hand on the ground, trying to keep himself from collapsing further. Brilliant scarlet blood dribbles from his nose and from a cut on his lip, trailing down his quivering chin.

Just like that, a male of strength and high power has been reduced to nothing at my feet.

"I'm sorry," he forces out, risking a look up at Everin.

The Alpha towers over him, disgust and disappointment spread across his face. I can only imagine how much training on Everin's behalf has gone into him, that is not entirely wasted.

"Get off my property and never return. You shall never see another lick of power again," Everin demands coolly.

When his attention shifts to me, his eyes soften.

"Come inside Aesira." He holds his hand out to me.

I look down at Edwin, but he's staring at the ground, yet to pick himself up off it. He's resigned himself to his failure — he knows he will never be forgiven.

I take Everin's hand, letting him walk me inside. I can't help but stare at the faint bruising on his knuckles, which will deepen in colour by the end of the day.

I stop him in the main hall. "You really didn't—"

"Are you okay?" he asks insistently, looking over my person for any further injury.

I feel shaken, a little disgusted, but not surprised by Edwin's behaviour in the slightest. The only thing that has shocked me is that he thought, even for a moment, that I would ever reciprocate his interest.

"Me?" I clear my throat. "Oh, yeah I'm fine. I would have liked to hit him myself, but you know..."

Something like relief edges the tension from Everin's face. "I am sorry I took that from you. In truth, I couldn't help myself. I wanted him to hurt."

I nod, understanding. I felt the same thing.

"How was your evening?" He asks.

I smother the urge to grimace. The drama of the last ten minutes distracted me from what Malakai proposed to me earlier.

Everin pulled rank because Edwin chased me in his own drunken stupor. What would he do to Malakai if he knew he was plotting to help free me in exchange for my help eliminating Silas?

"It was a pleasant evening," I say, forcing a smile. "Maven showed me her garden and we had dinner together."

"You met Malakai?"

"Her husband? Yes I suppose I did." I brush a hand through my frizzy hair, trying to appear unbothered. "Briefly, before he left. He didn't speak much to me."

A knot of guilt suddenly forms in the pit of my stomach. All I do is lie to Everin...a male who just defended me, who has been nothing but kind to me.

What am I doing?

"Well, there was something I wish to speak to you about," he says.

"Go ahead..."

He looks away, a frown forming between his brows. Is he...nervous?

"There are these two people in my life, and they are incredibly insistent about meeting you," he says in one breathing, rolling his eyes like the topic exasperates him. Underneath it all, though, I sense uncertainty, and a little bit of embarrassment.

More people want to meet me? I hardly feel interesting enough for all this attention.

"Who?"

I swallows. "My friends."

My brows raise, and I almost laugh.

"You have friends?"

He scowls at me as I laugh breathily. Everin does disappear most mornings, and has yet to tell me why. Could it have something to do with these elusive friends of him?

"Believe it or not," he mutters. "Their names are Ana and Marko, and they are desperate to meet you."

I've heard those names before form Maven and Mason. I never bothered to ask more about them, assuming they weren't that important in Everin's life.

I had no idea he was so close to them. Now I most definitely want to meet them.

"Why do they wish to meet me?" I ask.

Everin shifts. "You're my wife."

I bite down another smile. Everin wants me to meet his friends, which feels like a step a real couple take together.

All this time, I've been well aware that he's been keeping private aspects of his life from me. He hasn't wanted to risk me returning to my father to tell him all about his weaknesses.

What has changed?

"We're hardly a traditional couple," I remind him.

"You can tell them that yourself, for they believe I'm hiding you from them." He sighs deeply. "Will you do this?"

It's more intimate than I ever expected to get with him, but my curiosity is too much to bear. I need to see what kind of people he has attracted into his life.

"I mean, I guess so. Sure."

He exhales slowly, relieved. He really wants this...

"Ana will be especially ecstatic to hear it." He smiles a little. He's fond of these people.

It is another reminder of why I must leave soon. Everin and I are growing closer, but eventually, we will be torn apart. If I leave now, I can save us both the heartache.

"Is my room booked at the inn for the date I asked for?" I ask.
 
"Yes, it is all ready for you. What will you do during your night of freedom?"

Knock your guard unconscious, sneak away to the warden's private residence where I will free Lincoln, and him and I will run away together in one of your transports.

"I imagine I'll eat plenty of nice food, I'll get a little drunk, and maybe I'll bring a handsome male back to my room for some fun," I say instead.

He gives me a flat look. "You can't be serious."

"Not with the last part, don't worry." I laugh a little. "I'm just going to enjoy myself. That is all."

He nods, satisfied, before a silence shifts between us.

His gaze traces over my face. "Perhaps you will take the time to consider what you want your future to look like here."

I wet my lips. "What do you think it should look like?"

"I think you should settle here more. You clearly fit in," he says. "With Maven and Mason especially."

My heart aches, because I could see myself enjoying a life here. If I knew for certain Everin would never find his mate and have me sent away, or if the risk of him finding out about my true intentions for being here wasn't looming over my head at all times, I could be happy here.

But that is not our reality.

"What if you find your mate?"

He shrugs with one shoulder, like that wasn't his primary concern mere months ago. "We'll deal with that as the time comes, I suppose."

"And if I find mine?"

Something flickers in his eyes.

"It will be your choice how you proceed," he murmurs, voice heavy with the weight of so many meanings.

Once again, I have so much to think about...

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~Midika 💜🐈‍⬛