Page 85 of Contested Crown

The wooden box had fallen loose from the pocket, and he held it in his hands, flipping the lid open. The picture was on top.

I froze, my body going unnaturally still, but Cade didn’t seem to notice. I waited for the full-body flinch, for him to see my mother and father, the people who had killed his parents, with their arms around each other, behind a couch full of their children.

“Which one are you?” Cade asked.

I couldn’t speak, pointing to my younger self.

Cade frowned at the picture, drawing it closer, squinting. There was something in his gaze, but when he spoke, his voice was flat. “This is your family? Your parents?”

I swallowed. Did he know? He’d always said he’d seen my parents. Hehadto know who they were. But… he wasn’t reacting.

Which meant this wasn’t news to him. How long had he known?

“Yeah. That’s my family. Nina’s the baby, then Albert. I was in the middle. Carlos, Miriam.” I forced myself to say her name normally, to not spit or say it with the anger I felt. “Batel and Jorge.”

“Twins?” Cade asked, looking at my two older brothers.

I shook my head. “People used to think all of us were twins. Me and Albert, or me and Carlos.”

Then there were the people who used to laugh and ask my mother if she had a litter because she was a werewolf. They were never joking, even though they were smiling when they said it.

I pointed at my parents at the top, staring at Cade’s face. They had been older when he had met them, but not by much. Was thatrecognitionin his gaze?Why wasn’t he saying anything?“And my parents.”

He stared, examining the picture, and there wassomethingwhen he looked at them. Heknew. I told myself he had to have known before now, because why else wasn’t he reacting?

He looked down, picking up the heavy signet ring. “What’s this?”

“I found it in that cell we were in. It’s the ring for the Werewolf Emperor.” I forced myself to breathe normally. Cade knew.

I had spent all of this time so anxious, my stomach curled at the idea of him finding out who I was, and this entire time, he hadknown?

“Is that what you want?” Cade asked, twisting the ring back and forth between his fingers. “To be the Emperor Wolf?”

“I want what’s best for werewolves. I want to keep us safe.” I wanted more than that, but I wasn’t sure how to explain it to Cade, not with his expression so tight, his brow furrowed.

Carefully, he handed the ring to me, and I hesitated before putting it in my pocket.

“I don’t know why my magic gives you back your wolf. But if it has to do with whatever drug Leon gave you, I don’t like it.” Cade handed the box back to me, his expression neutral.

I tucked the box back behind me and nodded. “Neither do I. Hopefully, if it’s just the drug, it will wear off.”

“And when it wears off, will you still want to be…” Cade didn’t finish the sentence, but I could hear it.

Yes. Yes I did still want to be his, his consort, his partner, whatever we called it. I licked my lips.

“I said I did. Do you want to back out?” I stared at him, certain, relaxed in the knowledge that he knew. I didn’t have to hide. He knew who I was, who my parents were.

Cade shook his head. “No. I don’t. I trust you, Miles.”

I let myself exhale. It was enough. “Okay.”

The rest of the afternoon, we drowsed, and at every creak of the floor, every argument out of the hall, I was immediately awake. By the time Cade woke for real nearly at dinnertime, I had a plan.

“We’re going to need a car,” I told him. “And we’re going to need your magic.”

ChapterTwenty-Eight

“Are you sure?” I asked again.