It’s only grown worse with every passing visit.
He takes a step forward to stand in my line of sight, a whimsical air to him as he nods. “When a new heir is expected, this place will flourish, finding itself on the map once again.” My brows gather in disbelief at the nonsense he’s talking, but he turns away from me before I can question it. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.” He glances back my way, making sure I’m real.
“And you’re okay? Kael mentioned you were being taken somewhere safe, but he didn’t know where.”
His eyes widen as my question lingers in the air. He blinks three times before his tongue remembers how to work. “Kael… you know Kael?”
“Yes, he?—”
He grabs my shoulders, eyes like saucers as they bore into mine. “So you know her too?”
Understanding washes over me as his fingers tremble against my biceps.
“Elodie,” I rasp, and he stumbles back, his hand clapping over his mouth as his cheeks turn pink and his lashes collect a layer of tears too afraid to fall.
“He wasn’t lying?” he clarifies, and I tilt my head at him.
“Why would he lie?”
Sniffling, he shakes his hands out. “I didn’t think he would, he just… I didn’t know how to believe him,” he admits, swiping at his face with the back of his hand, drawing my attention to the dark marking around his eye.
“Have you not been treated well?” I ask, pointing at it, and he quickly waves me off.
“Don’t worry about that. Tell me about her.”
It’s as if my mind short-circuits at the mere mention of her, one thought swirling in my head, insistent on being released into the world.
“About that,” I mutter, scrubbing a hand over the back of my neck.
“What?” he asks cautiously, eyeing me nervously as I clear my throat, trying to find the strength to speak. So I blurt it out before I change my mind.
“She’s my mate.”
My pulse rings in my ears waiting for hisresponse, but his lips don’t part before his knees buckle and he falls before me. Dust disturbs the air as he stares down at his hands, joy illuminating his features as he blinks up at me.
Quickly needing to keep the connection, I fall to my knees with him, and he reaches for my hands.
“Imagine your father knowing this,” he croaks, bewildered, and I smile back.
“I like to hope that he does,” I admit, and he exhales slowly, unshed tears lining his lashes once again.
“I’m going to see her again with my own eyes,” he whispers, and I nod.
“You’re going to have to answer some questions too. She’s curious as hell, just like Ellie,” I admit, making his smile spread wider.
“I would expect nothing less. It’s all my fault, though. We left to give her a chance in this world, when I should have known it was safer to hand it to her myself.”
28
ELODIE
Standing at the top of Institute Thirteen, a blanket draped around my shoulders, I lean against the man beside me.
Thorne.
A visit to the attic to learn of my past, while he slept, reuniting with my father, his father’s dearest friend, brings us together, looking out over the carnage we’re faced with. He wasn’t lying when he said there was a sea of students camped out waiting to attack, ready to follow Jude’s orders the second I dare to step foot outside.
With the promise of my parents waiting, and a closer connection to my magic than ever before, I feel torn. While it’s safe in the fortress Thorne has created, we have no interest in hiding out forever,but fleeing isn’t as simple as thinking the word. Instead, we must figure this out, and fast.
