Page 57 of Ascendant King

“Take your pick,” I said.

“I have to. The elder isn’t pointing to an easy culprit, but everything she said only raises more questions.” Cade swallowed. “What if my fatherdidhave something to do with this? What if hisdeathwasn’t the cause of all this but something he was doing when he wasalive?”

When I hesitated too long, Cade pulled away, striding past Siobhan without even a greeting. My stomach rolled over in hunger as soon as I stepped into the kitchen, the sight of the pots on the stove and the scent of food reminding me of my appetite.

I started to follow Cade, wanting to finish whatever we had started together. I felt as though the wall of ice between us had begun to show cracks. We weren’t as close as we had once been, but now that he knew the truth, I thought it might be impossible to ever be that close again.

Still, part of me yearned for his touch, for his trust. I wanted him.

“Consort Bartlett?” Siobhan shook her head. “I mean, Alpha?”

I turned to her. I remembered how hesitant she had been to talk to me at all, and it seemed as though, after everything that had happened, we were back to that uncomfortable place.

“You can just call me Miles.” I waited, finally leaning against the cabinet as she fussed over one of the pots, stirring it with a wooden spoon, tapping the spoon on the edge.

“Miles.” Finally, she looked up at me. “You haven’t told him?”

My stomach clenched. Her prophecy still rang in my head.When he finds out who you are, he’s going to kill you.

But despite everything bad that had gone down once Cade found out who I was, he hadn’t killed me.

“He found out.” I crossed my arms. “I’m still alive.”

Siobhan swallowed, shaking her head. “You don’t believe me. Just like your parents.”

Her words were a gut punch, and I couldn’t tell if she had meant them like that, a parting shot to throw me off my game. It made something angry tighten inside of me, a fury growing.

“Or maybe you’re full of it. You can’t tell me anything about Leon’s future. You were wrong about what happened when Cade found out.” I swallowed, acid almost eating my words, but I forced them out. “And I only have your word that that’s what you told my parents. For all I know, you don’t know the future any more than I do.”

Siobhan’s face paled, her skin waxen, her red hair standing out brilliantly, like flames in the distance. For a long beat, she didn’t say anything, and then her eyes went blank, a white iridescence eating away her iris and pupil, leaving sightless marbles behind.

“You are wrong. Leon will become the most powerful mage in the world, and through him, House Bartlett will ascend.” She turned to me, her sightless eyes locking on to something inside of me, something beneath the skin. “Cade Bartlett will kill you because of who you are and what your parents did.”

She froze, standing unblinking, the bubbling of the food on the stove the only sound in the kitchen. Something inside of me was frozen too. A low, subliminal terror that I couldn’t shake, even though I knew at least one of her prophecies hadn’t come true.

She blinked, her eyes fading back to brown. Staring at me, she shook her head. “I can’t tell you what Leon wants. Just the outcome.”

Swallowing, I looked at the food on the stove. “Is that enough for all of us?”

“Some of the other families in town are bringing by dishes as well. All of us want you to win.” She looked at me. “Will you listen this time?”

I had that unsettled feeling again. She couldn’t be right, she couldn’t be telling the truth, but something waswrong, and the idea of it choked me, made it impossible for me even to take a step back and insist that it was wrong.

“He won’t kill me. Not when he needs me.” I said the words like they were true, but part of me wondered. We were going up against his cousin now. He wouldn’t need me after that.

Siobhan was shaking her head. “You have tolisten.”

“Boss?” Gabe came up the hall, his eyes moving between me and Siobhan. “Everything good?”

“Yeah.” I straightened but couldn’t help myself. “You said he’d do it when he found out. He knows. He tried. He couldn’t do it.”

Siobhan looked at me, her gaze so tired that I had to look away. “No one ever listens.”

I turned back to Gabe. Everything was fine. She was a crackpot or a liar, and it didn’t matter. I had to get my head on straight.

The next day, we were going after the king of House Bartlett, and losing wasn’t an option.

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