I’d promised her I wouldn’t tell my brothers or Arim about her help with warding off the Nocumat. But I would have liked their advice on the matter. Unfortunately, with two of my siblings in Tanselm with their new brides and Cadmus looking like the walking wounded, I had to keep my secrets to myself.
“I look terrible? Look in the mirror.”
I rolled my eyes. “I apologize for stating the truth.”
He snorted.
“But as I said, I promise not to tell Arim anything.” I covered my heart in pledge, as I had when we were children.
Cadmus chuckled, his expression lightening.
So it was with no small regret that I pushed for answers I knew would send him crashing again. “My lips are sealed if you tell me what’s been bothering you lately. And don’t tell me it’s nothing. You’ve never explained how you lit into Djinn fire during our battle with Sin Garu. And you’re obviously troubled by something you don’t think I can handle.”
“It’s not that you can’t handle it —”
“You don’t trust me.”
Cadmus shook his head, frustrated. “It’s not that, it’s just that I —”
“Think I’m a pale substitute for a real sorcerer, when Arim —”
“Stop interrupting me! I can’t tell you, because then you’ll know how badly I screwed up.” Cadmus flushed as the truth poured out. “I made a mistake, a colossal one. Shit. You might as well know.” He ran a hand through his hair in agitation. “I slept with a woman. Well, with a person I thought was a woman. But I found out she’s Djinn. The enemy.”
I blinked. “A Djinn, you’re sure?”
They looked human enough, as we did. But the Djinn had an altered form, one where they lit up in pure energy, surrounded by a layer of black flame that called on the Dark—their magic.
“I’m sure.” Cadmus nodded. “You don’t know how hard it’s been to resist her, even suspecting she was more than she claimed.” He hung his head low. “I was weak, I admit. But damn it, she seduced me. I told her about us, Aerolus. About Samantha and Tessa, about our need to find our supposed affai.” Our brides.
Poor Cadmus. I could all but feel his guilt pouring out of him as he clenched his jaw.
Shame filled his gaze as he forced himself to meet my eyes. “I’ll never forgive myself for betraying our family.”
“Cadmus, you didn’t —”
“I betrayed us. By the Light. Don’t make me repeat myself.” He sounded miserable.
“It wasn’t your fault.” My brother was nothing if not loyal. “Look, I’ve been giving our battle with Sin Garu a lot of thought. I don’t think the change that came over you was a bad thing.” When he turned Djinn for a few shocked moments.
“Huh?”
“I discussed some of this with Arim. I would have talked to you about it already if you hadn’t bolted from the room anytime the subject arose.” I shot him a look filled with disappointment, pleased when he gave me an insulting hand gesture. I’d much rather deal with a snarky Cadmus than a sad one. “The fact is, you suffered almost no injury from the Nocumat. Unlike Marcus.”
“And you,” Cadmus grumbled. “Don’t think I didn’t notice your own weakness in the days following that battle.”
“Yes, well, I’m better now. But you’re not.”
I murmured a spell under my breath and watched my brother glow. He still had a faint illumination that showed the Djinn’s aura interwoven with his. Oddly, instead of subduing my brother, the Djinn’s power boosted his energy.
As I studied the glow, I could easily distinguish the difference.
“Incredible.” I stared in wonder, enthralled by the raw magic.
“What?” Cadmus asked, trying not to sound worried. “What do you see?”
“You’re stronger now than you’ve ever been. I can’t believe you don’t feel it.”
He closed his eyes. A moment later, he opened them, frustration lining the brown depths. “I don’t feel it.”
