Eternally Yours Read Online Free PDF

a tragedy. But I hadn’t made him do it. I hadn’t had any part of his madness. It had been the last thing on a very long list of Things Beyond My Control. Like beingborn into my family. Like being the only survivor the night everyone—my parents, my sisters, my brothers—had been killed by northern raiders, trying to usurp our house’s magickal power.
    Ottavio’s black eyes were hard. “Why are you here? What are you trying to pull my sister into? Who—if anyone—sent you here, and for what dark purpose?”
    I stared at him, so appalled that he was doing this in front of everyone. I tried to think of how to explain Incy and our century-long friendship. How could I describe how lost I’d felt, how inadequate, the night I’d run away? Did he know that Incy had been working magick on me for a month, so I would crack and leave River’s Edge? I felt panicky: Everyone was watching this. Was River going to ask me to leave? Did any progress I made no longer count? Maybe I could talk to her, alone—
    Wait a second. Wait. A. Second. I wasn’t ten years old. He wasn’t my father. He wasn’t my teacher or my uncle. He wasn’t the Tähti police. What was he going to do? Ground me?
    Hold on, Nastasya, my brain cautioned. Think this through, don’t do anything rash. This is River’s brot—
    “Who the hell do you think you are?” I said, smacking my palm flat on the table. Ottavio’s eyes flared, and Charles actually jumped. I stood up, pushing my plate back. “I’m not answerable to you. This is River’s place. She apparently still wants me here.” I frowned. “Are you saying you don’t trust her judgment?”
    River blinked at that, and Ottavio started to open his mouth.
    “If River asks me to answer your buttinsky inquisition, I will. But until she does, Ott—can I call you Ott? Until then,
Ott
, you can
bite
me.” I stepped over the stupid bench and got ready to stalk out the dining room door.
    Lorenz’s eyebrows arched. Ottavio went pale and stood, towering over my five-foot-three. Reyn pushed back on the bench, as if getting ready for action. River was solemn but biting her lip, and I would have sworn she was trying not to laugh. And it was right about this time that I remembered that I was still pretty fresh off my latest personal disaster, and that maybe I shouldn’t be so self-righteous. Oops. Well, too late now!
    “And you guys, sitting there like bobbleheads?” I looked at Charles, Jess, and Solis. “Are you
blanking
on your own pasts? Do you
really
think you’re in a position to
judge
me?” Jess and Charles looked down at their plates, like they were remembering,
Oh, yeah, I’m a total screwup waste myself. That slipped my mind for a sec.
Solis met my gaze, looking thoughtful.
    A smart person would have turned then and left the room with dignity. But we’re talking about me here, so that was out.
    “Do you know who I am?” Ottavio thundered. His depthless eyes were practically aflame, and two spots of anger appeared on his aristocratic cheekbones.
    Reyn stood up, maybe an inch shorter than Ottavio, but with a look of deadly calm on his face that would have stopped a lion in midleap.
    “Yes,” I said to Ottavio. “You’re River’s
brother
.”
    At the other end of the table, River gave a muffled cough behind her hand.
    Ottavio stood up even straighter.
    “I am Ottavio di Luchese della Sovrano,” he boomed. “King of the sixth house, Genoa!” He was tall and imposing, seeming to take up that whole end of the room with his dark suit and pristine white shirt. Extremely kinglike. The combination of thick, wavy silver hair and a relatively unlined face that put him in his early thirties did nothing to soften his imposing effect.
    The hoodie I was wearing had been an innocent bystander in an unfortunate laundry incident, and my jeans were, I noticed just now, streaked with dirt and something—perhaps strawberry jam. Not so kinglike.
    “That’s very special, Ott,” I said.
    Everyone