Page 2 of Ascendant King

“Midnight,” I confirmed. “Are you sure you want to come?”

“You said you would need proof,” Cade said.

“I can take one of the other wolves. That would be enough. The alphas don’t know any of them, but Gabe’s word would be good.” I tightened my grip on the metal water bottle. Trying to make that pressure be enough to ground me, be what I needed to come back to myself.

The wolf in my head still wanted to howl, still wanted to pounce on Cade and press my body against his.

“Better than the word of the prodigal mage prince?” Cade raised a single eyebrow, and I tilted my head, having to give him that.

“You should get some sleep, then.” The windows in the training room let in a brilliant white light, catching on the dust motes in the air.

“I’ll see you at dinner,” Cade said coolly, barely acknowledging what I said.

Then I was alone, the air colder, the room quieter. Turning, I saw the results of our fight: shattered wood flooring, a cracked window, wood paneling burned.

Sighing, I picked up my clothes where they were abandoned in the middle of the room. Rhys needed to go into business selling their unbreakable cloth. They’d make a killing from werewolves who wanted something they wouldn’t tear through when they shifted. I pulled them on and squinted at some movement in the room.

There was a dark shadow near the table, and my eyebrows went up. Basil struggled, still tied where I had knotted him on the table leg.

As I approached, he hissed at me sharply.Do not touch me.

Crouching, I raised both eyebrows. “All right.”

Cade must have been distracted to leave Basil behind. More than distracted, because the snake hadn’t left his skin since he’d returned to sentience.

Basil hissed again, his head twisting and his tongue flicking out, a line of darkness in the bright sunlight-filled room. Then reality began to twist and warp, everything in the room coming into sharp focus.

Watching it was like watching something that short-circuited my brain. My eyes agreed it was happening, but my brain kept insisting it wasn’t real. Basil came to life.

The spilled ink filled in with flesh and substance. The lines of tattoo became complicated, repeating patterns on his scales.

It didn’t help him get free.

One dark eye examined me.Fine.

It was all he would admit to, all he would possibly say to indicate he did need help.

“Fine,” I said, agreeing. I reached out, his dark scales cool to the touch, and untangled him from the table leg.

When he was free, he hissed, swirling around one of my legs.

When Cade kills you, I am going to enjoy eating you. I’m going to enjoy digesting every part of you.

“Look, Cade and I are allies now. Allies don’t eat each other.”

Are you?

Basil hissed again, the sound eating into my ear, eating into my subconscious, the potential of it.

He hates you. He thinks all the time about how the one person he trusted more than anyone, the one person he thought he’d be with forever, was the person who betrayed him the most severely. You are the reason he still has nightmares. You are the reason that?—

“Hey, boss?” Gabe ducked his head in the training room, his eyes going wide when he saw the damage. He whistled, coming into the room and spinning in a slow circle. “So, Good King Bartlett is at his full abilities again?”

I let my lips twist. “Don’t let him hear you call him that.”

Gabe danced away as Basil raced past him, hissing sharply and slapping against him as he left the room.

“Yeah, yeah.” Gabe winced, rubbing at his ankle. “Anyway, I got a text from Heather, and she was hoping for a call.”