Page 23 of Shifting Winds
“I spotted one tossed across your couch.”
“It’s so heavy.”
Cernunnos pressed a burning kiss to my forehead. “Only the best for my child.” He took my chin in his fingers and lifted my face. “Be careful, Evangeline. Violence swirls around you.”
Before I could respond, he was gone in a wisp of golden light.
Chapter
Eight
CAELAN
Evie looked like a fae princess. I sank to my haunches and watched through a dense patch of forest. Her dark hair spiraled down her shoulders, and a glittering crown sat perched atop her head.
Wasn’t that curious? It wasn’t far-fetched for Evie to be considered a princess of the fae realm. Cernunnos was her father. But if she wore a crown, had she accepted that part of her heritage? And if she had, what did it mean for us?
She was hiding things from me, things I needed to know if we were to keep moving forward. Was it this?
Or something worse?
Their voices were too low for me to catch without giving myself away. Cernunnos bent to press a kiss to Evie’s forehead, then disappeared. She waited for a moment before going inside, the gown dragging heavily behind her.
I could have gone home, put myself to sleep with a dozen questions swirling in my mind, but I was past that.
We were past that.
I dipped my head and let the go bag fall to the ground. A few moments later, dressed and angry, I slipped inside her home.
A vine reached out and slapped me in the face. “Caelan! I told you to knock!”
Evie had one hand in the air and the other planted over her chest. Her eyes were wide and her hair disheveled. She’d taken off the ballgown and wore a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top. Bare feet and bare legs.
Yum.
I grinned and wound the vine around my finger. “It’s more fun when you attack me with plants.”
She relinquished her magic, allowing the vine to slip back into its pot. But she didn’t come to me. Instead, her eyes narrowed, and she watched me for a moment.
“You were spying on me, weren’t you?”
I didn’t deny it. “You’ve been acting weird.”
She opened her mouth to argue but snapped it shut at my look.
Evie crossed her arms over her chest, the action boosting her cleavage and almost making me lose my train of thought.
“Cernunnos is being weird,” she said after a moment. “He invited me to dinner tonight.”
I thought about mentioning the crown but decided not to. This was Evie. She’d bring it up when she was ready, even if it was killing me to stay silent.
We stood several feet apart, the distance feeling like miles. “In the fae realm?”
She nodded. “They don’t eat enough,” she grumbled.
Her stomach chose to growl—loudly—just at that moment.
“Want me to make you something?”
