Page 93

Not until Adira.

The moment the door closed at our backs, I kicked the leg of a table meant for morning meals.

“Did you see the way she looked at me? Like I would bring her here for ulterior reasons.”

Gwyn approached with caution. “Do you have other reasons, Kage?”

“No. I do not want to fade, Gwyn. I don’t, but . . . it matters more to me if she is free.”

“Even if she risks degeneration?”

I closed my eyes. “I cannot explain it, but the moment the thought of the Well came to me, I knew it was a way to set her free.That is all I want—her free, my parents restored, and the lot of you safe from all this. You know with the bond at the gates she cannot be harmed within these walls.”

Gwyn smiled. The fading sunlight cast her cheeks in a peaceful glow. “I know, you fool. I wanted you to declare it out loud, so you would not forget why we are here and start bemoaning your brother.”

I went to one window and pressed my brow against the glass. “Why would she fear me? What is Destin telling her?”

“You know how the prince feels about Soturi,” Asger said. “We’re valued in battle, but outside of war we are the troubled mages, always dangerous, always causing mischief.”

It was more. There’d been fear in Adira’s eyes. Like she dared not come close to me again.

How strange life was, how quickly it could change. Weeks ago, I would declare what I hated most might’ve been the curse over Magiaria or unseasoned fish. Today, what I despised more than all of it was the thought that Adira Ravenwood feared the very sight of me.

CHAPTER 31

Adira

“These were oncethe chambers used by all of House Ravenwood.” Destin beamed at the arched eaves.

The chambers were more a full wing than anything. Five doors leading to multiple rooms and wash chambers. A massive gathering room with a tall hearth and extravagant sofas that smelled of misuse and old smoke.

“Look here.” Destin gleefully led me to a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. “All the histories and writings on blood mages, but penned by your own people.”

The way he looked back at me, clearly, the prince expected some sort of overjoyed response. I forced a grin and dragged a finger down the spine of one book. “That’s incredible.”

There was no passion in my words.

I opened the binding of the book. It was not anything on magic—from the painting inside the front cover, it was a fairy tale of a stalwart knight with a golden sword and a warrior maiden with an iron shield.

Words were scrawled at the bottom, a personal note:

My heart is burned with your name. Mysoul is owned by you. Through brightest days, through darkest nights, I am yours.

A memory of such words needled through my mind like a permanent brand on my brain. My heart felt as though it might crack in two.

Why had I turned away from Kage so easily? Almost straightaway a strange kind of barrier had shifted between us. The spell naming Kage as my escort still burned, a weak rope keeping us tethered, but whatever unease had tugged me away kept sawing against it.

Like it might snap at any moment.

The more distance built between us, the weaker my spine felt for turning away from him. All he’d done, time and again, was care for those he loved most while caring little for himself.

He’d kissed me, touched me, with such tenderness it drew a tear to my eye. Then—no hesitation—he defended me against those creatures. If he cared only about his own life, he would’ve barricaded himself in the cottage instead of seeing to it his mother and stepfather and I were safe.

One life. I was not here for one life. Why, then, did it seem as though only one life mattered to me in this moment?

I needed to speak to him. There were answers to be found, and call it a gut feeling, but I knew they would be found at the side of Kage Wilder.

I spun around to Destin, feigning a yawn. “Oh, forgive me. It’s been such a long few days.”