Page 139 of Exiled Heir

“Why did Leon and Petrona think I was killing you?” I didn’t want to let the moment end. “They said something about me poisoning your magic.”

“You know that a mage can pour their own power into their werewolf—their consort. And I imagine you’ve put together that they can take it back if they need it.” Cade leaned into my hand, looking down at the ground.

“Yeah. Rhys uses Nia like that a lot. Isaac too. And I don’t imagine that Sonja is letting Tyson run around with an armory on his chest all the time. There’s too much of a risk that he’s going to take someone cutting him off in traffic as a reason to make their car explode.”

Cade swallowed. “If you did something to the magic that was inside you, poisoned it somehow, then when I took it back, it would mix with my own power, effectively destroying my magic.”

“But we aren’t sharing magic. You didn’t take any magic back from me. So how did someone get that poison inside you? Or was it just…” I gestured at him. “Your magic overwhelming you?”

“I don’t know. I fought so long against my magic overwhelming me, but this felt different.” Cade frowned. “I don’t know how anyone would be able to poison my magic without long-term access to me, without working their way through my mental defenses.”

“Well, someone did.” I took one look at Cade’s face and made a decision. “There’s nothing here for us to find. Let’s go back to the main house, have breakfast or lunch, or whatever meal you have when you haven’t eaten in two days, and then decide on our next step.”

Cade nodded, and before I could turn for the door, he swept his hand up, wrapping his magic around us. It flickered, and for a moment, I was sure we were going to have to walk. Then we were back at the house, Cade pale and panting against my neck.

ChapterForty-Three

The house was a shell of itself, damage everywhere. Veins of dark burns cracked the pristine white walls and marble floors. The stairs were shattered, the flooring in shards.

“You did this?” I looked around, inhaling. “You had this much magic inside of you?”

Cade’s lips tightened, and his shoulders hunched.

“Okay,” I said gently. “Let’s go find food.”

The damage was throughout the entire house. I saw an imprint of one of Cade’s tattoos spread across the white wall of a reading nook. A sword surrounded by thorns charred the paint; the edge looked sharp enough to cut.

Even the servants’ corridors looked terrifying. The carpet had burned and melted, holes in the walls opened to reveal the exterior of the house. When we finally got to the kitchen, I wasn’t sure we would even find any food. But the refrigerator still had power, and the pantry door had been torn off, but the food inside was mostly untouched. Using what was on hand, I made us both another sandwich. The one that Nia had given me had been enough to stave off desperate hunger, but my stomach still gnawed at itself. We ate another two sandwiches before my appetite slowed enough to eat a few carrots and an apple.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

“Leon sent them away for their safety.” He flicked an apple seed across the table. “The council is meeting now to decide my fate.”

I watched him, the way he seemed to curl in on himself.

“Do you want to be king?”

He raised a shoulder in a shrug. “What choice do I have?” When he sat up, I could imagine a crown on his head, silver to match his complexion or gold to bring out the warmth in his skin. “Iamking, whether or not they take it away from me.”

I reached out, clasping his shoulder. We stayed like that for a moment, and then Cade pulled away.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go examine the bedroom. There has to be something there.”

As we walked upstairs, I heard murmuring in the walls. I held up a hand, and Cade stilled, but whoever was talking stopped. I pressed my ear to the wall, but I didn’t even hear a heartbeat. Whatever it had been had disappeared, either a figment of my imagination or maybe just a bit of plaster falling away from the ceiling. The entire house looked like it was about to come down. I had no idea how it could even be fixed.

Shaking my head, I gestured for Cade to follow behind me as I led us back to his room. Just before we got to Cade’s bedroom, my foot crunched on something. When I bent down, I saw it was the same small rocks that we had found at the Jennings’ home. Cade raised an eyebrow, and I held up the pebble.

“A rock?” he asked, confused.

I pulled the ones I had found at the Jennings’ house out of my pocket and compared them. “The same ones as at the Jennings’.”

“Is it related to what’s going on?” Cade sounded doubtful, and I had to agree with him.

“I don’t know, but it’s odd, isn’t it?” I rolled the rocks around my palm with my fingertips before pocketing them.

Cade’s bedroom door lay in shards, one large piece hanging off the hinges, the rest in matchstick-sized pieces on the floor. Cade inhaled sharply, looking around at the damage.

“You said if somebody was trying to hurt your magic, they would have to be close?” I asked.