Evander wrapped a hand around my arm and led me toward his carriage, which had appeared on the small road near the tent during the time I was not saying goodbye to Theo.
He certainly wasn’t wasting any time in claiming his debt and leaving the Summit. My pulse pounded in my ears, but I was desperate not to give him a reaction. He would enjoy that too much.
Two more guards appeared, carrying the trunks that Mila had given me, loading them onto the carriage. They wore matching black livery with a white outline of a bear stitched onto the upper right arm, identical to the one on Evander’s long coat.
Inessa followed just behind them, her face pinched with worry until her eyes met mine. Whatever she saw in them changed her expression to grief.
In an uncharacteristic display of emotion, she moved toward me. Evander dropped his hand, stepping back, and Inessa enveloped me in her embrace. She didn’t say anything for the several seconds she held me, nor when she moved away to stand next to her husband.
Iiro only gave me a grim nod, his features tight as he looked between his brother’s despairing face and mine. I returned his nod, forcibly wrenching my gaze from where Theo was openly glaring at Evander.
Turning back toward the carriage, I took a deep breath as one of the guards opened the door, waiting for me to enter. My legs didn’t want to carry me forward, my chest rising and falling in time with my rapid breaths.
But there was no part of me that would let Evander drag me away kicking and screaming.
I had just taken a single, tiny step forward when a panicked voice shouted my name from down the road.
Mila’s eyes were red and she was running toward me, calling for me to wait.
Evander groaned behind me, and I narrowly resisted the urge to grab Theo’s sword and stab him myself. Only the fact that it was a fight I couldn’t win stayed my temper.
Mila crashed into me, wrapping me in a fierce hug that nearly knocked me to the ground.
“No. He can’t do this.” Her raspy voice broke. “You can’t do this!” She yelled at Evander who stood there silently.
“Mila.” I pulled away from her, looking up into her tear-strewn face. “It’s all right,” I lied.
She wrapped her arms around me again and leaned down to whisper in my ear.
“I will come to you as soon as I can. Just…” She took a breath. “Stay safe until then. Please.”
I nodded wordlessly. What could I really say to that?
Mila finally pulled herself away, and the only face left in my line of vision was Theo’s.
My breathing hitched as I watched the turmoil in his eyes. I didn’t say goodbye, and true to his word, neither did he. He just watched with a pained expression as I turned to Evander.
My new owner.
Evander gestured toward the carriage door and I clambered in without another word. He climbed into the seat next to me, his expression as cold as everything else about him.
A footman closed the door behind him, shutting us inside the carriage. It was enormous, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of being sealed inside a tomb.
Because there was no escaping this.
I belonged to Evander to do with as he wished.
My fists clenched around my skirts, and my heart galloped within my chest. Somehow, I had found myself in a far worse situation than the one before, headed toward a future that whispered promises of pain and death.
All for a couple of bottles of stars-damned vodka.
