Chapter 9

"Look what we have here."

A woman's voice.

Every thought in my head came to a halt, together with the fear and panic. I focused on my eyes, pushing down Grey's jacket so I could see my surroundings better, and the person who'd trapped me stepped in front of me. Dark brown pants, tall leather boots, a brown shirt wrapped around her thin frame—and I saw all of it upside down.

"Who the hell are you?!" I said, moving my head to the side to see her face, but it was half covered by the hood of her shirt and I barely saw her chin.

A woman. Definitely a woman.

The Evernights weren't here. They hadn't found me.

"I think the better question is, who are you?"

Hands on my body.

Her hands were small, and she was searching my waist, the waistband of my pants. I tried to push her off me, but it was really hard to do when I was hanging upside down by a leg on a fucking branch.

I could have screamed in frustration.

"Get off me!" I demanded instead, but she didn't care. She just slapped my hands away and continued to search me until she found what she was looking for—the bag of coins in the pocket of Grey's jacket.

"Stop it!" I shouted at the top of my voice, but she was already stepping away from me.

Heat gathered in the pit of my stomach.

She dared to touch Grey's things?!

The woman finally squatted down in front of me, with the bag of coins in her hands and a huge smile on her face.

Fuck, she was young. She could be even younger than me, with chocolate brown hair hidden away under the hood, big blue eyes and glossy lips, a mischievous grin that created dimples on her cheeks as she analyzed my face.

"This belongs to the Evernights, yet you have it in your pocket," the girl said, nodding her head at the bag of coins. Then she tsk-ed me. "How did you steal it? How did you not get caught?"

I closed my eyes, releasing a long breath.

It's okay, I told myself. She just doesn't know who I am.

And once she did, I'd be free. The most important thing here is that she wasn't the Evernights. Everyone else I could handle.

"Put me down first and then we'll talk," I said, but she shook her head.

"Do I look stupid to you?" She wasn't expecting an answer. "You're capable enough to steal from the castle without getting caught, and I saw you at Mina's. You lied about what you are."

Oh, shit.

"Put. Me. Down," I spit, getting more pissed off by the second. That heat that had gathered inside me was expanding, and it wasn't just anger. I was aware enough of my own magic now that I recognized it. It was stirring inside me, even though I had no clue what to do with it nor what it could do with me.

"I will, I will, but tell me how you did it first. You're no succubi. I felt your energy when you came in, and I feel it right now, too," the woman insisted, and she sounded genuinely curious. "So, how did you do it? Is it a spell? Are you a witch? Is it a potion?"

Turns out, it's really uncomfortable to be hanging by a leg, and the more I tried to move, the more I swung to the sides, which in turn made me even more uncomfortable.

"If you don't put me down right now?—"

"I will be putting you down as soon as you tell me the truth," she cut me off.

"Yes, I'm a witch!" I said through gritted teeth, trying hard not to lose my temper but failing. "I'm a fucking witch—put me down!"

A second of silence. I watched the corners of her lips turn up and up and up into that smile again… "Liar," she said. "You're lying. Tell me the truth." She raised her hand with the bag full of coins at me. "How did you steal this?"

"I didn't steal it." God, please give me patience…

"Then why is it in your pocket? And where did you steal that jacket?"

"I didn't steal it." Please, please, please…

"Okay—so where did you get it?" She came closer, and I opened my eyes to see her face, the wide eyes, the curiosity in them. "Who are you?"

The way things were looking, I had two options here. Continue to demand she put me down while swinging from one side to the other without being able to free myself until my head fucking exploded from all the blood gathered in it.

Or—I could simply tell her the truth she so desperately wanted.

"We can do this all night. I won't—" she started, and I had already run all out of patience.

"I'm Grey Evernight's wife," I said, and fuck, it felt so good to say it out loud.

The girl stopped speaking.

Then she smiled. "You're joking."

"Look at my face," I spit. "Do I look like I'm joking?! I am Fall Hayes, Grey Evernight's wife, and I'm wearing Grey's jacket, and you have just stolen that bag of coins from me because it is mine!" Grey had given me that tower, hadn't he? That meant everything in it belonged to me, too.

The way the smile dropped from the girl's face would have been funny if I wasn't hanging upside down by the ankle. As it was, I counted backward in my mind, willing myself not to scream as she opened and closed her mouth a few times, then finally whispered, "Shit."

She believed me, at least.

"I'm not going to ask you again. Put me—" That's as far as I made it before something moved.

Something came at us with such an incredible speed that I heard it, heard the air rippling, felt it approaching as if I was looking right at it.

But what blew me completely away was how the girl moved.

One second she was shocked as she looked at me, and the next, she leaned her head back just slightly and raised her other hand in front of her face—and caught something.

An arrow.

She caught the arrow that had been coming for her head like it was nothing.

Then she jumped to her feet and turned toward where the arrow had come from, dropped the bag of coins on the ground, and she ran.

Was she running away?

Fuck, I was dying to find out, but I barely managed to turn to the right to see where she'd run off to while keeping myself from swinging to the sides—and also keeping Grey's jacket off my face at the same time.

The girl had definitely not run away.

Instead, she was fightinga man at least two heads taller than her—and winning.

"No way," I whispered to myself because there was no way I was seeing right. The way she moved was incredible. She jumped and supported herself on her hands with such ease, kicking the tall guy in the face too many times to even count. Then she was behind him, and to the side, her fists impossibly fast as the man tried to catch her with a bow in one hand, and what looked like a dagger in the other—but was far too slow.

I swung to the sides and missed most of it, but I saw the end—when she slammed her fist to his jaw, then fell back on her hands and kicked him on the chest with both feet like a damn ninja.

The man hit the ground on his back with a weak cry. I moved to the side and lost them for a second, and by the time I swung their way again, he was already running away.

The girl turned to me. "I am so sorry!"

My anger was gone, disappeared into thin air. I didn't even mind that I was hanging by the ankle anymore, too stunned by what I'd just witnessed that I hardly felt it when she strode over to me and began to cut the thick rope holding me up with a small knife.

Before the minute was over, I fell against the ground on my side, and it hurt, but I was still very much distracted by this tiny thing that had moved like that. Like gravity didn't apply to her and normal speed didn't tie her back like it did the rest of us.

Pushing myself to sit up, I took a second to look around us, to see if that man had maybe returned, but he wasn't there. Just the trees and the light coming from the town at the edge of the woods—and this girl who put the bag full of coins on the ground by my feet and slowly backed away with her hands raised as if in surrender. As if she was scared of me when she'd just kicked that man's ass masterfully all by herself.

"I apologize. I had no idea you were an Evernight bride. I had no clue—I'm so, so sorry for all of this," she said as she slowly backed away toward the darkness of the woods.

"Wife," I said, rubbing my ankle where that rope had bitten into my skin. "I'm Grey's wife."

She stopped for a second. "Same thing."

"No, it isn't." Grey said so. He said I was his wife, not his bride,and that there was a difference. So, that's what I was, even if I never technically married him.

"Right," the woman said. "Right, of course. So. Your gold is right there—I didn't take a single coin. Feel free to count. I'm just gonna be?—"

She pointed her thumb back toward the woods, moving farther away still.

"Stop," I said, and with the bag in my hand, I stood up.

I expected to be dizzy. I expected the view to at least tilt a little bit considering I'd spent a good few minutes hanging by the leg, swinging to the sides—but no. I was perfectly intact.

"Hold on a minute," I said. "What's your name?"

She swallowed hard and suddenly looked like she wanted to burst into tears. "I didn't know who you are," she whispered. "Please, okay? I had no idea?—"

Fuck, she looked absolutely terrified. I almost laughed.

She was that afraid of me?

"I'm not going to hurt you or anything. I just want to know your name." With the way she moved, I couldn't hurt her if I tried, if my life depended on it.

She raised her thin brows. "Are you going to tell on me?"

"Who would I tell?" Not like I knew anyone here.

She paused for a second. "Um…the Evernights?"

I flinched. If she only knew… "No, I won't tell the Evernights about you. I just want to know your name."

It was like I'd said the most surprising thing she'd ever heard in her life, but she recovered quickly. Straightening her shoulders, she said, "I'm Quinn Adringer. At your service." And she bowed her head to me deeply.

At your service.

So, thiswas what power really looked like. What Grey's power looked like.

All I'd had to do was say his name and people bowed their heads.

And you know what—I was going to shamelessly take advantage of it right now, simply because I might never get another chance like this.

"Okay, Quinn Adringer. I saw what you did there with that guy, how you caught the arrow." She said nothing. "You wanted this, didn't you?" I showed her the bag of coins in my hand. "Teach me how to move like that and it's yours."

Again, it was like I'd said the most absurd thing she'd ever heard in her life. "Are you…are you joking?"

"Not at all. I want to learn how to fight like that. If you teach me, I'll give you this." And again, I showed her the bag of coins.

Another loaded pause as she looked at it, and I could have sworn I read the greed in those wide blue eyes. "That's a lot of money."

And it probably was. But what the hell did I need money for in the castle? Not like I paid for food or rent or anything. And besides, there was another bag full of coins just like this in Grey's office in case I needed it.

"I know," I lied. "And it's all yours if you teach me."

She didn't want to believe me. I saw it in the way she narrowed her brows, the way she looked at me, then the bag, then at me again. So confused. "But why?"

"Because I want to learn how to protect myself."

That seemed funny to her. She smiled. "You're an Evernight bri—wife," she corrected. "Who's gonna dare try to hurt you?"

She was absolutely right. If she behaved like this in my presence, I had no doubt that everyone else in this town would do the same.

The problem was, I didn't need protection from other people. I needed protection from the Evernight brothers themselves.

Stepping closer to her, I said, "I want to learn how to fight, Quinn. You can teach me for this money, or you can walk away right now. I won't stop you. I won't tell on you. The choice is yours." My voice didn't waver.

But on the inside, I was screaming at her, begging to say yes. On the inside, I was praying with my whole being that this was the break I'd needed since my whole life turned upside down once more.

"You're serious," she finally whispered, and I swear she was half-convinced I was a damn alien.

"Yes, I am. Very serious." Because if I could fight the way she'd just fought that guy, if I was good enough to catch an arrow in my hand before it came for me, then I would be able to see the Evernights coming for me from a mile away, at least. I'd be able to fight them off me when they lost their patience with me and came to claim what they thought was theirs—which was going to happen sooner rather than later. I wasn't delusional anymore. I knew where I was, what I was dealing with, who I was up against. They were coming for me, and if I didn't use every means I could find to protect myself, I wasn't going to make it.

I sighed as Quinn continued to look at me, opened her mouth to say something, then apparently thought better of it and closed it again.

"Listen, Quinn, this isn't a fucking joke. My life depends on my ability to protect myself—quite literally. I'm offering you this job because I saw you fighting, but if you don't want to do it, I'll find someone else who will. Do you understand?" I raised the coin bag again—that had been the reason she'd set that trap for me in the first place. It should serve as her biggest motivation. "Someone else will get all this money. Not you."

Her eyes light up like fireworks went off inside her head. Before the second was over, she was in front of me, and she grabbed the bag lightning fast.

"I'm in. The money's mine. I'm in. You've got yourself a deal, Grey's wife."

Music to my fucking ears. "The name is Fall."

"Let me guess—you're the new bride," she said, but before I could correct her, she added, "Wife! I mean, you're the new wife." She grinned mischievously. "The one Grey Evernight was banished for."

Every drop of blood in my veins turned to ice.

My instinct was to shout at her. My instinct was to grab her and shake her—which was weird because I'd never been a violent person before.

Then I wanted to sit down and explain to her everything that had happened until she understood that it wasn't my fault, even though I believed that it was. But if she believed it, maybe I'd believe her? Because right now I didn't believe myself at all.

And lastly, I wanted to just turn around and go back to the castle and cry my eyes out and be mad at the universe and the fates and myself for ending up in this position.

I just wanted to give up. To hell with all of it—I give up!

Except that's not how life works. Giving up wasn't going to simply get rid of all that I was facing. Giving up wasn't going to change my future.

But I could—by learning how to protect myself from predators first. Then, I'd take it from there.

So, for the first time in my life, I forced every emotion I was feeling down, swallowed them whole until they faded away, and I looked Quinn Adringer straight in the eye.

"All you need to know is that I am who I say I am, and I want to learn how to fight."

It didn't matter what she'd heard or what the people said—this was the only important thing.

The girl squinted her eyes at me, pushing down the hood of her shirt to reveal thick wavy hair, just the ends of it braided loosely. "Why, though? I've never heard of a bride needing to fight. That's what your Evernights are for. They do the fighting, don't they?" Then her eyes moved down to the ground. "Who do you even want to fight, anyway? I guarantee nobody will fight you if you asked them."

"Nobody," I said, fisting my hands to remind myself to stay calm. "I don't want to fight anybody, but I want to learn how to defend myself if someone wants to fight me."

"But they?—"

"Just in case," I cut her off. "Just in case someone wants to fight me."

I didn't really have any hopes of fighting one of the Evernights and winning—of course not. All I was hoping for was to give myself a chance, a single chance to catch them by surprise when they came and to run. Just to make myself feel a bit less worthless in this skin. A bit less helpless.

"Right," Quinn said, looking me over up and down. "Right, right, yeah. Just in case. Sure thing, sure thing." And just when I thought that was the end of it… "But why though?!" She suddenly sounded exasperated. "I need to be making sense of this—why? Just tell me. Put me out of my misery. Why? Brides don't fight—they're practically queens of this place, and queens are protected by other people, not to mention the Evernights. So please, just—just end my suffering, woman! Tell me why."

She said all of that in a single breath and with so much facial expressions and hand movement, the performance was worthy of a standing fucking ovation.

I tried my best to stifle the smile. So damn dramatic.

Then I grabbed the bag of coins from her hand. "I'll end your suffering this way—money. You want money. This is a lot of money, and you get half of it right away." Pulling the leather tie open, I took her hand and emptied half the bag on her palm. A lot of gold coins fell to the ground, and she immediately squatted down to pick them up while I put the bag back in my jacket. "You'll get the rest when you're done training me, and then you won't have to suffer at all."

She was shaking her head, smiling when she stood up again, putting the coins away everywhere she had pockets. "You're weird. How old are you, anyway?"

"I'll turn twenty-one in a couple months." Even less than that.

"I'll turn twenty in one." She reached out a hand for me. "It's good to meet ya, Fall, wife of Grey Evernight. I'm very good at fighting and I shall teach you all that I know for that gold—but I am warning you right now: if I get caught and if the Evernights order me to walk away, I will not be returning the money you gave me today. Do you understand?"

"Deal," I said without missing a beat. "Where will we be training?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Right here's fine."

I raised my brows. "The woods?"

"Yep. It's as good a place as any."

"But don't you have a place we can go to? Like your backyard or something?"

Quinn laughed. "Good one, good one," she said, as if she really thought I'd made a joke. "We can meet here every night if you'd like. I'll find a rental close by with these coins in no time."

Well, fuck. "You're not from here?!"

"Nope. I'm actually a witch raised on Skinwalker Soil. Just passing by the Woods, but I've been here before. No worries, I know these woods around the castle," she said in a rush when she saw the look on my face.

"Oh, really. Why—did you consider breaking in and stealing from the Evernights?"

This was actually meant as a joke, but then Quinn grinned.

"I did back when I was young and naive. Merely a teenager. And I'll admit, when I saw you tonight, I thought you'd found a way and I could force you to show me. Alas…" She waved her hand off as if she was disappointed.

Impossible not to laugh. Where the hell had this woman really come from?

"How did you do it, by the way?" she asked while I was still laughing.

"Do what?" I asked, wondering what it was about her that my instincts seemed to be drawn to. Why I liked her. Why she seemed…safe.

Which was exactly the reason why I wasn't going to trust Quinn, not even for a second, simply because my instincts had constantly steered me wrong. It made sense that they were doing it again with her, didn't it?

"That, back at Mina's. I'm not just good at sensing truths. I sense energies pretty well, too," she said.

"I—wait, you sense truths?" Was she serious?

"Of course, I do. I smell it, and I haven't been been wrong a single time since I was, like, eleven," she proudly announced.

"Well, shit." That sounded like a very cool power to have.

"I'm special like that," she said, dusting off her shoulder. "C'mon, spill it. How did you make those people believe you're a succubi? Toss is a werewolf. He has a good eye. He never misses someone's nature."

I shrugged. "I'm pretty sure he was drunk. I just told him I'm a succubi and he believed me."

Quinn paused for a second, then squinted her eyes at me. "Toss doesn't drink, though."

"Probably the lights then," I said. "He said the colors of my eyes were pretty weak. I think the low lights played tricks on his or something."

Again, she was surprised. "You're telling the truth."

"Yep—told you. I just lied and he believed me. Maybe I'm a better liar than I thought." I'd always been great at lying to myself, anyway.

"Yeah," Quinn said with a nod, but she wasn't entirely convinced. "Yeah, maybe."

In the end, it didn't matter what she believed. We went our separate ways, her with half the coins from Grey's bag, and me with the other. Those coins were the reason why I knew Quinn would be there to meet me tomorrow night. She wanted the money—I'd seen it in her eyes. I didn't need to trust her as a person at all, and I wouldn't, but I could always trust people to do anything for themselves.

The guards opened the door for me without a word when I returned to the castle, and I ran through the trees until I was inside the greenhouse again. Only when I closed the door behind me did I breathe a little easier.

That night, when I lay down on the closet floor in front of Grey's portrait to sleep, I didn't cry.