“That,” Elora says, her back still facing me, “is Cade.”
It takes a moment before I fully understand who she’s talking about. Then it hits me square in the chest. My breathing falters as I step forward and take her arm. “Cade?”
She looks at me, and while I expected sorrow or confusion, I’m met with only rage. Her gold eyes flare so brightly, as if they’re made from the sun, and I know there’s more to this story than I’ve been told.
“What do you want to do, Elora?” Sorin wraps his arm around her. His tense shoulders and pinched brows tell me exactly what he wants to do. I glance at his bruised knuckles before looking back at the man in the greenhouse.
He can’t be more than a year older than Elora. His blonde hair is much too long and his face much too thin. Tallulah is perched before him, her arms crossed. Cade begins to speak and with one swish of her wrist, Tallulah sends a strand of ivy over his mouth.
Not just a Florecas, I see.
“Should she be using magick?” I ask Evren who is just to my right.
“I wouldn’t think to tell her otherwise,” he says, a smile twitching at the corners of his lips.
“Let the hunters come,” Elora says.
The hair on my arms raises, the magick I’m slowly growing familiar with sends a rush of energy to my fingertips.
“Let them come and let them see what happens when they do.” Elora takes a steadying breath as she turns to Sorin. “I want to speak to him.”
Thirty-Four
Elora
Sorin’s handburns against mine as we close the greenhouse door behind us.
Cade glances up from where he’s tied with the ivy. My heart falters but only for a moment.
Tallulah turns to me, a look in her blue eyes I haven’t seen before. Something darker swirls in them, and I realize that she, too, must have her own demons. Magick is thick in the air and my heart races knowing the risk she’s taken to use it, and yet I can’t find it in myself to feel any fear. I meant what I told Sam. If hunters come, they’ll see firsthand the magick they’ve been hired to hunt.
I almost welcome it.
“If you need anything,” Tallulah whispers as she passes by, “we’ll be right on the other side of the door.”
I nod, but I don’t take my eyes off of Cade. His skin is pale, a sheen of sweat coating his upper lip and brows. His eyes dart between me and Sorin, their hazel color the only thing about him that’s familiar.
I used to love those eyes.
We stare at each other for a moment longer before he opens his mouth?—
“Why are you here, officer?” Sorin speaks first, drawing Cade’s attention.
“Was sent here to find you, mate.” Cade straightens his shoulders to the best of his ability, the ivy pressing tighter around his chest as he moves. I glance over my shoulder. They’re all there, waiting to help if needed. Tallulah hasn’t lowered her wrists, her blue eyes like ice through the window.
“And are you here alone?” Sorin’s hand tightens around mine, so I return my gaze to the two of them.
Cade’s lips turn up in a cruel smile, igniting the fury slowly rising in my chest.
“Just going to stand there, Elora?” Cade eyes me from top to bottom, and I fight to shrink away from him.
Don’t be afraid,Alaric whispers through our bond.
I need one of you to check the wards.
The wolves don’t answer but I feel in my body as Hati and Alaric leave the keep.
“You’re awfully confident for someone tied to a chair.” I release Sorin’s hand and take a step closer.
