Page 141 of Exiled Heir

The windowpane was covered in dust but let in enough light for me to see that even if the door had been replaced, the room still looked like the aftermath of a fight.

All my years with Declan had taught me how to read the bloody story in front of me quickly.

The closet door was almost destroyed, just as Cade remembered. Outside, there was a pool of blood that had seeped into the carpet and browned with age. Another large pool of blood had dried near the foot of the bed.

One thing most people didn’t understand was that blood spreads. A small wound could provide enough blood to make a bedsheet look like a murder. But thiswasa murder. The blood here dried thick on the carpet, matting it, stiffening the fibers.

Even eleven years later, you could tell someone had been mauled to death here. Magical imprints covered the walls. Silver swirls were emblazoned on one wall, like the afterimages of Cade’s magic downstairs. On the other side, hunter-green leaves seemed to be burned into the paint.

I looked over the room again: one body in front of the bed, one body in front of the closet. Only two people had bled to death here. That didn’t answer how my parents had died.

I walked toward the closet, peeking inside. Lines of black magic coated the back—Cade’s color, even if the shape of the spells was unfamiliar. None of the lines were weapons. They swirled like delicate plants, decorative leaves and flowers permanently imprinted on the closet wall.

Shaking my head, I began searching the room. Cobwebs hung in lacy lines from the bed frame, except…

Huh. There was one clean area of wood, almost as though someone had sat on the mattress, dusting it with their clothes accidentally. So, someone had come in… teleported in, most likely, and then sat down. I approached where they’d sat, and my foot crunched on something. Immediately, I bent low, feeling through the thick carpet until I found more of the pebbles.

I dug the ones I’d already acquired out of my pocket, holding them in my palm. I picked up the handful that had been spread on the carpet, and when I brought them all together, they turned orange and spun in a circle.

They spun through my fingers when I tried to grab hold of them, widening their circumference until one dragged across my face, slicing open my cheek.

Swearing, I backed away, moving to the doorway and calling down the stairs. “Cade, something is happening.”

Cade walked up the stairs, and the pebbles circled wider and wider. Something cracked the window, more of the rocks coming in from outside.

“What did you do?” Cade demanded.

“Nothing. I just brought the rocks together,” I said.

Cade’s eyes were so wide I could see the whites of them. His gray skin was even paler, and he gasped uneven breaths, just at the edge of a panic attack.

“I—” he panted again, then reached out, digging his fingers into my arm. His nails bit my skin.

Someone pounded up the stairs, and I turned to see Sonja with Tyson right behind her. She was glaring at me, the set of her mouth telling me I was about to get hurt.

Then her eyes caught on the magic. The circle was tearing up the walls, spiraling even wider.

Cade walked forward, his grip on my arm dragging me with him, not that I could have left him. He was walking into a nightmare, and I couldn’t let him do that alone.

The rocks froze as soon as he entered the room, going still. His breath was fast, and I reached out, gripping his shoulder with my free hand.

“You can do this.”

I followed his gaze to where he stared at the blood in front of the closet.

“That’s where my mother died,” he murmured.

I stepped in front of him, dragging my other arm from his grip so that I could cup his face between two hands and tilt his eyes up to mine. “You are here with me. Can you feel my hands on your face?”

He nodded.

“Focus on me,” I directed.

Slowly, his breathing evened out.

“Good. Now, what do you need to do about the magic?” I glanced away from him, turning to the rocks.

They vibrated in place, glowing bright orange. The trembling made it seem like they were a moment away from exploding. The part of me that had always crossed the street to avoid a mage wanted to run.