Page 83 of Contested Crown

Cade looked around, but after all the other places we’d been, he couldn’t even scrunch his nose. Instead, he examined the lone remaining piece of furniture in the room—a couch with cushions that had been shredded, the metal springs inside poking out.

Then, without complaint, he slumped down on it, leaning his head back, closing his eyes.

I looked out into the hall, saw a couple of junkies shuffling to their own room, the working girl ushering her client down the stairs. This apartment still had a door, although the top hinges had come completely off, making it almost impossible to move.

Grunting, I lifted it, propping it in place and then tucking a scrap of plywood underneath it. The door wouldn’t be protection if mages or Declan found us, but we would at least have privacy.

When I got to the couch, Cade’s breathing was slow and even, but his eyes cracked open as I settled next to him. The cushions pushed us together, the uneven stuffing making it impossible to not sit touching shoulder to knee.

“What now?” Cade asked.

“The same as we were doing before,” I said. “We find Declan, we find out what he’s doing with Leon. What their plan is.”

“Tomorrow,” Cade muttered. “I’m… tired.”

“You used your magic to teleport us. Twice.” I stared at the graffitied wall, making out a few letters here and there. Someone had sprayed half of a face, the other half turning into drips of paint. I wasn’t sure if it was artistic or if they’d just run out of spray paint. Maybe half of the face was all it had taken for them to get high on the fumes.

“I did.” Cade didn’t say it like a fact but like a miracle, as though he had surprised even himself. “My magic came back. Because of you.”

He pushed back, scooting himself far enough that he could look at my face. Slowly, he reached out, and for a moment, I thought he was going to wrap his hand around my neck, the way he had when he had reminded me that he was the only person allowed to kill me. The tightening of his fingers, a reminder of who I belonged to.

Instead, he trailed his fingertips delicately over my throat, and I felt the trickle of his magic pulled from where it remained on my skin. As it flowed into him, I saw color return to his cheeks, his lips pink instead of gray.

His eyes widened again, and he stared at his hand, turning it over and watching the tattoos that formed on his skin. They were still weapons, sharp blades and vines with dangerous thorns, but I saw a flower bloom directly on the back of his palm, its delicate petals not meant for harm.

And inside myself, I felt… empty. Nothing. My wolf completely gone.

I rubbed at my chest, as though it was a physical injury, a pain in my heart.

Cade pressed his palm on top of mine, his fingers warm, the tattoos spiraling around his knuckles and up his fingers.

“What’s wrong?”

“My wolf…” I swallowed, realizing the truth immediately. “I can only access my wolf when I’m full of your magic.”

Cade stared, his eyes going wide, brows scrunching together. “What?”

Pulling back slightly, I tugged off the sweatshirt, then closed my eyes, reaching into myself, digging for the familiarity that had always been there. I could feel an echo, a howl across a vast, cavernous canyon, but my wolf couldn’t be touched.

Frustrated, I exhaled sharply, fisting my hands. I looked up, and Cade was staring, but not at my face or even the frustrated grip of my hands.

Instead, he was looking at my chest.

When I glanced down, I saw why. Basil twisted across my torso. His head nestled between my nipples, and I turned, but I couldn’t see where his tail landed on my back.

“Basil.” Cade swallowed twice before he was able to speak clearly. “You’re all right?”

The snake blinked, his tongue flicking out once, and then he spiraled upward, his head hitting my shoulder, as though he was trying to rise through my skin and become a flesh-and-blood snake again but couldn’t.

I could see distinct lines of scar crossing his body where he had been shattered into pieces. Cade reached out, pressing his hand on top of Basil’s back, and the snake twirled around again and again until he was a spiral in the center of my chest, Cade’s hand sitting in the middle of him.

“Can you hear him?” Cade asked.

Speaking is still hard, Basil hissed.Tell him not to worry. Will come back. Will be able to be flesh soon. Then I can eat you and not just his magic.

“He says it’s too hard to speak. Apparently, right now, he’s just eating the magic that you gave me.” I smiled wryly. “He’s ready to begin eating people again soon.”

Cade gave a watery smile and rubbed his nose with the back of his wrist. “Soon, my friend.”