Chapter 17

Maeve’s POV

This was really bad.

Draven’s furious gaze locked onto me, his eyes ablaze with hatred and disbelief. My heart pounded in my chest as I watched Mason step forward, cradling Draven’s crossbow in one hand and a single arrow in the other. Confusion and terror warred inside me while Draven examined the bolt, his unfeeling eyes drifting back to mine.

“It’s poisoned,” he said quietly, his lids half-closed in that cold, derisive way of his.

I swallowed, voice trembling. “And it isn’t mine. It belongs to someone else—a man. He had his face covered so that I couldn’t see him properly. I walked in on him while he was shooting this—”

My words faltered as every pair of eyes in the clearing swivelled toward me, incredulous. They couldn’t seriously believe I would try to murder Draven, could they? True, had it been Thea, suspicion might have fallen on me—but Draven? Never.

The silence stretched unbearably before I forced out, “Even though I