The click of a lock sent his pulse racing. The cellar door opened—and his stomach dropped.
Zev stood in the doorway, his eyes bright yellow with his wolf. Cassiel wasn’t sure what startled him the most. Zev’s arrival or the indifference on his face. Not the anger, Cassiel expected that. It was a shock that they all clearly remembered him.
Dyna had broken his compulsion over everyone.
Cassiel couldn’t help but feel astonished. But of course she repelled his power. The question of how was irrelevant. She had always been a wonder.
As he looked at his old friend, Cassiel braced himself for what would come next. “It’s good to see you … Zev.”
The Lycan didn’t answer. In his hand was a set of keys, and he used one to open the cage. At the motion of his chin, relief washed through Cassiel’s stiff body. This must mean they were notified that his uncle was freed. He slowly stepped past the door into the hall. Zev walked on in silence, and he followed.
“How have you been?” he asked hesitantly.
“Be quiet,” Zev rumbled. “I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t even want to look at you.”
Well, he couldn’t expect things to be the same. Yet it still stung.
As Cassiel watched his once friend walk away from him, something tightened in his throat.I’m sorry.He wanted to say so but knew it wouldn’t be accepted. If anything, apologizing now would only provoke Zev.
Cassiel followed behind him in silence. They went up the stairs through another dusty storeroom, then through a set of heavy doors that opened to the side of a courtyard framed by trees. Storm clouds shrouded the sky and the fading light.
Their footsteps filled the silence as they continued around a massive building of white stone layered in green vines. From there, Zev took a path through the gardens until they finally reached the anterior of the estate.
But they didn’t go to the front door. Zev turned his back to it, taking the wide gravel path to the wrought-iron gates. They were guarded by elves wearing the sigil of House Norrlen on their chest plates.
Beyond the gates, Yelrakel and a squadron waited for him.
“Wait,” Cassiel slowed. “Where is Dyna? I wanted to?—”
Pivoting back sharply, Zev grabbed his arm and hauled him away for the gates. The guards opened them, and Zev shoved him outside. “Go,” he snarled through his bared fangs. “She relieves you of your service. You are a Guardian no more.”
Cassiel shook his head, feeling a surge of panic. “But I?—”
Zev turned away. “She has nothing to say to you.”
“Wait!” Cassiel took his shoulder. “I can’t go without seeing her first.” Zev spun around with a feral growl. The Valkyrie rushed forward to defend him. At the raise of Cassiel’s hand, they halted in their attack. “I know you’re furious with what I did to her?—”
“It wasn’t only her, Cassiel. You betrayed all of us. You said you would be there. And you weren’t.” As they stared at each other, the angerwavered enough to see the hurt in Zev’s yellow eyes. “We don’t need you here now.”
Cassiel lowered his gaze, knowing very clearly Dyna wasn’t the only one he had hurt. “Please, can I see her?”
“No. You made a choice to turn your back on all of us. Onher!” Zev jabbed a clawed finger at the estate. “Isaw what it did to her.Iwitnessed her pain.Iheld her hand every night when she woke up screaming from the nightmares of you tossing her away!” Cassiel winced at each roaring accusation. Chest heaving with a harsh breath, Zev spoke evenly through his clenched teeth. “You broke her. You are too late to pick up the pieces. We did that.”
Those words settled like bitter poison in Cassiel’s stomach. He closed his eyes, because he couldn’t withstand the disgust on his friend’s face. “Please. I only need to speak to her.”
“I don’t care what you need.” Zev’s voice deepened with the rise of his wolf, and his claws grew. “Leave now, or you won’t leave at all.”
The threat was real.
Cassiel felt the force of his words and the anger seeping from his pores. The wolf was out, fangs bared. From the way Zev shook, he was seconds from tearing out his throat.
“I am not going anywhere,” Cassiel said softly. “Hate me. I deserve it. Tear me apart if you wish. But I will leave when she commands it.”
He stormed away. “Go. I won’t repeat myself again.”
“No.”
Halting, Zev expelled a short, dry laugh at the sky. “Thank you,” he said. “I was waiting for an excuse to keepmypromise to you, after all.”
