Myrin shrugged.“Desperate times call for painful truths.”
“Tell me what you really think,” Trik snapped as he whirled around to stare at the damn book that he was ready to burn.
“I think you’re an idiot and you need to fix the rift between you and your Chosen.Only then will you be able to face what is coming.”
“It was a rhetorical question.”Trik heard movement behind him and then a sigh.He turned to look at the elder.“What are you doing?”
“Getting comfortable,” Myrin said as he adjusted his robes around the chair he just sat in.“I have a feeling things are about to get even more interesting than a glowing book and whispering trees.”
* * *
Cassie didn’t realizeshe was shaking until the cool air in the corridor kissed her skin.She braced one hand against the stone wall, breath hitching, half fury, half pain, all tangled and sharp inside her chest.
Trik had thrown her out.
Not physically, no.He would never lay a hand on her.But he’d used his power onher.
The memory of it still vibrated beneath her skin: the invisible force slamming into her, the doors sealing shut likeshewas the threat.Like the danger was her.Her heart clenched hard enough to blur her vision.
He hadn’t meant to hurt her.She knew that.But intention didn’t erase the ache crawling through the bond, pounding against her ribs in waves.She felt him now, felt Trik’s pain like a drumbeat beating against her spine.Not just anger.Fear.Shame.Hurt.
And still ...he wasn’t calling for her.
Cassie pressed her fist to her mouth and swallowed a broken sound.“Okay,” she whispered.“Okay, no.We’re not doing this.We are not falling apart in the hallway.”
She pushed off the wall and walked, quick, stiff steps down the corridor and into the moonlit courtyard.The world felt tilted, off-balance.Even the magic in the air hummed differently, like it was listening to her heartbeat and trying to match it.
She found Elora near the rose hedges, pacing like she was trying to outrun her own shadows.Sweat slicked her temple; her braid was coming undone.She looked like she’d been punching things all evening.
“Elora.”
Elora spun, eyes flashing.“Remember how we always told each other that if ever one of us needed to bury a body, there would be no questions asked?We’d just get a shovel, grab a couple of bottles of water–because digging graves has got to be thirst inducing–and open up the trunk for transport of said carcass.Remember that?”
Cassie tried to laugh.It came out wrong.
Elora’s expression shifted instantly.“Cass, what happened?Is there actually a body?Because I was being facetious, in a mostly not serious, but sort of serious fashion.But, if there’s really a body, I’ll bury it for you.”
Cassie opened her mouth, but the words tangled, knotted, burned.Anger and humiliation surged, tight and hot behind her ribs.
“He threw me out,” she finally choked.“Trik.He—pushed me out of his study.”
Elora’s jaw dropped.“Hewhat?”She fisted her hands at her side as her jaw clenched.“That piece of dark elf scum put his dirty, blood covered assassin hands on you and you didn’t cut them off?”She threw a hand in the air as her body grew more tense.“I mean, I realize that after all those years of killing he couldn’t be right in the head, but I never thought he’d be crazy enough to touch you in a violent way.Does he realize how crazy I am?I wasn’t an assassin, but I’m low key totally fine with becoming one.Cush has taught me a lot of ways to kill a person, I know I could take Trik.I mean probably, like if I surprised him and he wasn’t expecting it.I could absolutely slit his man-handling throat.That son of bitch!”
Cassie wrapped her arms around herself.“Calm down, psycho,” she hurried.“Trik would never put his hands on me in a violent way.He used his magic.He barely even looked at me, Elora.It was more like he was looking through me.The Book, something about that damn Book, he was scared and he just ...reacted.”
Elora stepped forward, hands fluttering uselessly before she gripped Cassie’s arms.“I don’t care what he used, I will take him out.Are you hurt?”
“No.”Yes.But not the kind Elora could see.
Elora’s features hardened.“He’s pulling that ‘I must protect you from the world and myself’ crap.Except the fool didn’t consider that pushing you away, whether physically or using magic,ishurting you.”
The bond pulsed hard, and punishing.Cassie winced.The pain wasn’t only Trik’s fault.She played a part in creating this tension between them because she wasn’t letting him in either.
Elora reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder.“Cass?”
“It’s the bond,” Cassie whispered.“He’s ...hurting.And so am I.But he won’t let me help him.And that has pissed me off, so I’m shutting him out, too.He won’t even let me near him.”The pain of being separated from Trik was worse than anything she’d ever experienced.It was as if the encounter with him had left shrapnel inside of her heart and every movement caused it to tear into the beating muscle.
“I swear,” Elora growled, “the men in this realm are allergic to common sense.And I’m still reserving the right to kick his royal ass for tossing you out.I don’t care if he thought he was protecting you.He and Cush can get a two-for-one special.”
