She brought her hand to her chest, pressing lightly. “Here. I know it as well as I know my name. I may not remember falling, but my heart remembers loving you.”
A tear trailed down her cheek, and he leaned forward to kiss it away. “Don’t cry. I will find my way back to you,” he vowed as the room shimmered. Smoothing her hair back, he kissed her forehead. “Time to wake up.”
Lying in bed,Caius stared at nothing and rehashed every word Rory said in their soulscape. He knew she was on the verge of remembering, and he needed to give her the extra push.But how?
When he looked back on all the poor decisions leading to their current situation, he hated himself. Everyone ostracized him for his choices, but had they been in his shoes, would they have followed their own advice?
Love blinds your brain and binds your will, and once it takes hold, you become a slave to it.He’d read that in a book somewhere but never understood it until now.
Getting up, he prepared for the day and took the corridor to hisoffice, determined to learn tocreate. Without access to Erdikoa, he didn’t know if he possessed enough power, but he had to try.
He needed Sam, but the commander wasn’t due back for another couple of days. Caius would send Lauren to Erdikoa early to switch places, and he needed to assign an enforcer to finish her work.
It took a lot to run and maintain an efficient town, let alone a prison town. And despite it being relatively peaceful, there were those who teetered on the edge and required close monitoring. Lauren took daily reports from every legion member to know which prisoners to watch. She barely had time to do her work as it was.
Sam, too.
Caius didn’t trust anyone else to do their jobs, nor did anyone else possess their power. All the legion enforcers wereAatxewith honest souls, but evenAatxecould unknowingly be manipulated by others.
A few weeks ago, a legion guard stopped Lauren to report a disturbance. She detected no lies from the guard because the guard herself believed her story to be true, but they later learned she had been poisoned by Nina’s back-alley potion, allowing Nina to manipulate her mind with falsities.
Thinking back to the day when Nina’s henchmen attacked Rory in the banquet room made Caius’ rage seep into the air.
Seeing her bloody on the ground was an image he’d never forget, and the men deserved to suffer far longer than they did. Shadows crawled over his skin, mimicking the black veins from days prior.
As he flexed his hands, the shadows retreated. Since learning he’d sent Rory into danger, his anger had been harder to control, and the darkness crept into his heart like a poisonous spider ready to inject its deadly venom.
A quick knock sounded, and Lauren waltzed in. “It’s like you read my mind,” Caius said in way of a greeting. “I need to speak with you about something.”
She handed him a paper. “Here is yesterday’s report.” Caius set it on his desk as she sat down. “What do you need?”
“I need you to go to Erdikoa tonight and switch places with Sam.”
Her long nails drummed on the arms of the chair. “Why?”
“I need to train using the shadows tocreatea way through the magic.”
She flicked her long hair over her shoulder. “I think that’s smart.”
Caius expected pushback about her leaving early. “Thank you. Is there a trusted enforcer that can do your job in your absence?”
“I’ll hand in today’s report before I leave, along with the name of someone who can handle the rest while I’m gone,” she replied and stood to leave.
“Lauren,” Caius called out, stopping her retreat. “Thank you.”
“I will do anything if it means saving Rory,” she said and slipped out of the room without a backward glance.
There was another knock, much softer than Lauren’s, and Caius called upon the shadows to open the door. Lenora stood on the other side with a bag and drink carrier. “May I come in?”
“Always,” he said with a demure smile. “Is something wrong?”
She loomed over his desk and opened the bag. He watched as she pulled out napkins, placing one in front of him and keeping one for herself, followed by two travel mugs. “I don’t need a reason to see my son-in-law,” she chided and pulled cookies out of the bag, laying them on the napkins. “Rumor is you love sweets, and the bakery downtown has the best macadamia nut cookies in both realms.”
She called Caiusson-in-lawas though she knew Rory would give him a second chance. If only he were as confident. He knew Rory, and if she regained her memories, she would try to kill him for sending her to Erdikoa.
“You didn’t have to do that,” he said. “I know you’re still adjusting to life here.”
She harrumphed and set down one of the cups. “I have adjusted fine. Eat and relax.”
