Page 41 of Shifting Winds
He hung from his ankles, swearing up a blue streak. The other Lords had dived from the table. Everyone except for Rowan who let out a heavy sigh.
“I’ll give it to you, Evie. You do have style.” He rubbed a hand over his face and let out a short laugh.
“Release me,” Ethan snarled, struggling against the green vines. For every one he slashed with a wicked sharp claw, two more took its place.
“Sluts don’t take instruction well,” I said, my eyes wide with innocence. “We’re too driven by the pulse of our overactive loins.”
Soren, who’d been suspiciously quiet, strode over to me. I watched him warily. He wasn’t an enemy, though I was worried about his fascination with Moira and how it might upset her life.
He held his hands up. “I just want to talk.”
“We can talk without you getting any closer.”
“Privately.”
“If you try anything funny, I won’t promise I won’t poison you.”
“Consider me duly warned.”
Soren kept walking until he was less than a foot away. Like all the Lords, Soren was tall and built for violence. His eyes, a startling blue, held mine. “Ethan is not a good man to make an enemy of,” he said in a voice meant for my ears only.
“And you think I am?”
“Caelan’s fascination with you is well warranted,” he said with an incline of his head. “He’s never gone for weak women.”
The words felt like a punch to my gut. Everyone had a past, but I likened myself to an ostrich. If I buried my head in the sand far enough, maybe I wouldn’t have to hear about it. “What will it take for you fuckers to leave me alone?”
Soren snorted. “You need to ally yourself with one of the Lords.”
“I already am.” Ethan was still trying to escape, so I commanded the vines to shake him a few times, not enough to hurt him, just to rattle his skull a bit.
The Lord’s snarling dialogue was a lullaby to my soul.
“No,” Soren said softly. “It’s not enough to sleep with him or occasionally allow Caelan to come into your life when you see fit.”
I stared at him. “You think I should marry him.” What was up with these misogynistic pricks trying to marry me off? “It’s not the 1800s.”
“Caelan has already told you why it’s in your best interest to tie yourself to him. He’s not a stupid man.”
“And what about me?” I asked. “Where’s my choice?”
“You are a threat.”
Could I punch some sense into Soren or was I bound to repeat the same thing for eternity? “And I wouldn’t be if you left me alone.”
“You know it doesn’t work like that.”
“Well it should,” I snapped. “I’m no one’s plaything.”
I took a deep breath and stepped forward, raising my voice to carry over Ethan’s commotion. “Donovan died because he fucked around and found out. I had nothing to do with his death, but the Lord was justified in his use of force. It was either him or Donovan, and the world is a better place without that piece of shit in it. Do not summon me again.”
I turned to walk out.
“Um. Evie?” Rowan called.
I stopped and turned.
“Do you mind?” He pointed at Ethan still struggling. “I think he’s close to passing out.”
