Page 79 of Exiled Heir

“I thought you had house business,” I said. “Is it over already?”

Cade turned to me, and I saw that flash again. If he was a wolf, I would have said that he was going to shift. Instead, a sharp line of magic spilled from his fingers, lancing across the room and piercing the window.

We both turned to stare at it, Cade blinking rapidly. The glass began to crack, a single line that quickly split again and again, until the entire window was fissured.

“Did you… Did you just lose control?” I kept the tremor out of my voice with effort. I couldn’t afford to be afraid.

Cade swallowed, then turned to me. “I need you to come with me.”

His throat bobbed, and his wide eyes kept returning to the shattered window.

Cool air came in through the broken glass. A soft tinkle was the only warning before the entire window came down with a crash onto the soft carpet.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

Cade turned to the window, his shoes crunching across the broken glass. He pressed a hand down, and a seething mass of tattoos left his fingers, moving like shadows come to life. They gathered all the broken pieces of glass, and the scent of the burning wool carpet made me sneeze.

Cade held the shadows in his hands, and in the center of them, the shadows cradled a perfect orb of glass, heated so hot it was bright orange. Gently, he pushed the glass forward, and it smoothed out, taking the shape of the window. It was opaque, the red-hot coloring making it impossible to see outside. As it cooled, flakes of char came off, until we could see outside. Except for the round, blackened mark on the carpet where the shadows had superheated the glass, it was as if he had never broken anything.

When he turned to me, his face was still, every hint of emotion wiped clean.

“The council will understand I’m serious.” He turned to the window, reaching up with his thumb to wipe away the last streak of black, leaving it pristine. “And if they don’t believe me, then it’s your job to convince them.”

ChapterTwenty-Six

“This is creepy. You understand this is creepy, right?” I raised an eyebrow at Cade.

Cade looked at me out of the corner of his eyes. “Are you serious?”

“I’m serious that I have seen episodes ofLaw & Orderthat start like this.” I gestured to the library wall.

A stone archway was built into the drywall, the bookshelves on either side filled with ancient leather tomes. The rocks of the archway looked old, covered with a thin layer of moss. Runes were carved into them in some language I couldn’t read.

Inside the archway, instead of the pale peach of the rest of the wall, the surface was dark, something between the darkest green and blue, depending on the angle I looked at it. It fluttered, undulating like water in a sharp breeze. The archway went all the way up to the ceiling, and when I got closer, squinting at it, I could see the wear from age.

“Where does it go?” I asked. “Somewhere else on the property?”

“It’s hard to explain. Think of it as a separate realm created by my magic. Step back,” Cade said.

I took a few steps away, standing just behind him. He raised his hands, and the familiar black ink dripped off his fingers, flying through the air until I saw patterns emerge on the moving wall. Black on top of black on top of black layered until the entire wall under the archway was covered in ink. Cade walked forward.

He paused, half his body consumed by the black. “Are you coming?”

“Do I have a choice?” I muttered.

“I’m not paying you to have a choice,” Cade said.

I snorted but followed him through.

The last time I had traveled via Cade’s magic, it had felt like physical assault. This felt the same. Every centimeter of my skin burned. It felt as though someone was peeling my skin off with a dull knife. I wanted to scream, but I had no voice.

I stumbled out on the other side. Cade was standing a few steps ahead of me. He turned, his expression annoyed.

“Get up,” he said.

“What iswiththat? It doesn’t hurt you?” I stood, dusting off my pants.

“No,” Cade said shortly. His own breath was coming short, and I could see the twitch of muscles in his arms.