The blood rushes in my ears and I press myself against the side of the barn. Holding my breath, I wait.
One minute passes, two….five. I don’t dare leave where I stand.
“You can come out now, Taylan,” Caiden calls.
I wince, then relax enough to pry myself from the wall. Swallowing over a lump in my throat, I walk toward the door.
Caiden is wrapping a bandage around his knuckles, not stopping to look up at me.
“Did you get hurt?” I ask, then chide myself.That’s the question you start with?
“I lost my temper.” He tucks the end of the bandage in, then looks up at me. “How much did you hear?”
I hesitate, how do I word this response in a way that might get him to tell me more?
“Never mind, it doesn’t matter.” He runs his uninjured hand through his hair. “We should continue. You were working on controlling the movements of your shadows. I think we should also work on blacking out a room. It’s a good quick way to gain cover if needed.”
“Should I be worried about needing to gain cover?”
“No. I don’t think they’d be stupid enough to try anything,” he says. “That man…” his hands clench into fists. “That man had the audacity to demand payment for the daughter he tried to offer to the highest bidder.”
“I didn’t realize you two were close,” I say.
“We were, before…actually, I don’t want to tell you all this.” He walks over to the crate, then carries it to the center of the space.
“Someone told me she had a brother…” I shouldn’t have brought it up, but it’s so rare he talks about himself. “That he was with your first betrothed.”
He smirks. “I wondered when you’d ask about that.”
“Is it true? Did you have him killed because he slept withher?” I hate how the last word comes out with a tone that implies I’m jealous. I am not jealous of a dead woman. Or any woman Caiden might have had or will have. Still, my insides twist with unwelcome anxiety.
“Yes, I was engaged before. Insufferable woman. Someone my mother chose. I met her once, then the next morning she was dead. And so was my cousin, Vincent.”
He’s so detached in his explanation. “You weren’t close to Vincent?”
“Never. Juliette and I were the same age. We got along well. Vincent was eight years older.”
“Eight? When was this?” Caiden was hardly older than me. How did his much older cousin end up in bed with his fiancé?
“If I tell you the story, can we get back to training?” he asks.
I nod, probably too enthusiastically.
“My mother was sick. Nobody knows that. Nobody. And you will not repeat it,” he warns.
I tense but don’t say a word. I’m too worried he’ll stop speaking.
“She wanted to ensure there’d be an heir when my father—if my father ever passed. I’m not sure where the woman came from, but she was unusual. I could feel the magic vibrating from her though she and my mother swore she had none.” He looks into the distance as if trying to recall everything, then looks back at me.
“The day she arrived, I told my parents I wouldn’t marry her. She was older, though she looked my age. I suspect she was immortal somehow, though I never admitted that to anyone. My mother was, too, you know.”
My lips part but I fight back the burning questions. “I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, well, they didn’t really talk about it much, but most of her story was rumors. It changed over the years, too. I suspect to make her sound more appealing to the masses.”
“Are you immortal?” I cut in.
“No. And I’m not supposed to know any of this. I found her journals, but only got through a few before my dad had them destroyed.” He swallows hard.
