Page 10 of The Panther's Price

That stopped him cold.

“Ev, fear’s not a weakness,” he said quietly. “It’s what keeps you breathing.”

She leaned her head back against the wall, staring at the cracks in the ceiling. “He didn’t feel like the others. Not like those rogues.”

“And how exactly did he feel?”

“Like a storm in a cage. Like the world gave up on him, but he’s still standing anyway.”

Eamon didn’t speak.

Evryn closed her eyes. “He saw me, Eamon. Like reallysawme. Not like I’m broken or dangerous or weird. Just… me. I could feel it.”

Silence stretched between them.

“Girl,” Eamon said after a long while, “ain’t nothing scarier than someone whoseesyou.”

That night, the dreams returned. Only this time, the shadow wasn’t a monster.

It had silver eyes.

And when it reached for her, she didn’t flinch. She reached back.

Morning came with a sickly light, the kind that made everything look older and more tired than it already was. Evrynstood on the rusted fire escape, sipping lukewarm tea, watching the fog slither through the alley like it was hunting something.

Shefelthim again.

Not close. But not far. Like a cord tied between them, stretching just tight enough to notice.

“Still watching, huh?” she whispered.

She didn’t know who he was. Didn’t knowwhathe was. But she knew he was out there.

Since she could remember, she didn’t feel like prey.

She felt like something else.

Evryn went out again that afternoon.

Eamon argued, of course.

“You got a death wish?”

“I’ve got groceries to get.”

“You’ve gotmefor that.”

“I’ve gotlegs.” She smirked. “And trust issues.”

He grumbled the whole time but didn’t stop her.

She took the long way around the market. Avoided the alley where the rogues had cornered her. But she kept her senses sharp, shoulders loose, jaw set.

She caught no scent of him. No movement above. But the feeling remained.

That invisible tether. Tension in the air like before a thunderclap.

She didn’t speak to it. Didn’t look up. Just kept moving.

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