Rhys is breathing down my neck and it makes me want to snap his.We're in my room, seated on the floor and I'm bent over a map."Move away Rhys."The words come out through gritted teeth and like he doesn't hear them Rhys moves in even closer. I turn to glare at him and he smiles before he moves away a bit.''"You draw so well that I just wanted to see more.""You wanted to see more of the map?"He looks away and I sigh."You want to say something don't you?"He nods and I go back to sketching a map of Rafie's capital, Raleigh.Lyros wants information on everything and it's already hard enough to do this without having someone breathing down my neck."I want us to talk about Adelaide, Cain."My pencil stops and I straighten my seating posture."What for?"Rhys fixes his eyes on me and I let myself become fully aware of his presence for once. He might as well be Lycan nobility himself. He's larger than me though we generally have the same body build and he looks the same way prime Lyca
Rhys is looking at me weirdly.Safira lunges at me with a bit more speed this time so I take my eyes off him and place more attention on her. There's a feeling creeping down my back that tells me Rhys is here for something, maybe he's here to distract me, I can't tell, but the way he looks at me makes me feel strange. Like he's observing me closely and it only makes me super conscious of myself.I haven't seen Cain for the past two days now and I would have loved to say the same for Lyros but that would be a lie. The Lycan king has been around, more than Cain has been around, and I'm left to wonder if that's something Lyros has caused or if Cain just doesn't want to see me."Focus Adelaide!"Safira's voice comes out angrier than I imagined and my attention snaps to her immediately. Clang!Her sword hits mine and I feel the force of it go into my arm. I spend the next few minutes dodging thrusts, deflecting jabs, repeating her words over and over in my mind as I master the art of the
Rhys blinks at my request but he nods all the same and that is when the confusion sets in. I know I'm not famed for having second thoughts but I have them now. If I'm to kiss Rhys....... if I'm to egg him on and have him take me right here and right now, what would it mean for the both of us? The answer comes to me in the form of a sound, the sound of cracking bones, and a shudder runs through me. I pull back. Rhys cocks an eyebrow up at me and when I look away, he chuckles. "You know it's wrong to give one hope and rip it away so brutally right?" I let out a frustrated sigh and flop back onto the hard floor. He's right, I do know that, but I have to stop myself before I hurt us both. "Lyros would kill us if he found out anything like that happened. He hates werewolves and he doesn't need a reason to punish me, he'd probably punish you for fucking werewolf scum though." Rhys chuckles deeply and I feel desire flare up in me again. "Who says he has to find out?" Rhys closes th
"Tomorrow, you both head off on your next mission. I expect nothing but the best from both of you, and remember, crossing me is death. Whatever plans you have better be thought over carefully. I don't handle betrayal well, there's nowhere you would run to that I wouldn't find you."Lyros's words ring in my ears like bells and sink into my mind. I can tell he's not lying. It's a creeping at the base of my spine and a tingling at my fingertips. I can tell he's not joking, and somehow that makes me feel even sadder than I already do.Cain is refusing to look at meHe's standing beside Lyros, one hand at his back and the other holding his cane. He's as still as a statue and it hurts my heart. It breaks me deep into my soul that he's acting like this to me, but I guess if were in his shoes I'd have done the sameHeck, I was angry at him for not paying me attention after he kissed me. How mad would I have been if I had caught him doing something like kissing Safira or one of the maids?"Ade
"I don't want to ride with Adelaide." Lyros looks up from the documents in his hand and cocks an eyebrow at me. "Why?" The question is simple enough. A simple question that should warrant a simple answer but I can't feel that answer coming forth. "I just don't want to ride with her. Can she ride with one of the other warriors instead?" "The ones who hate her or the ones who want to fuck her?" I want to control the emotion that surges up in me, I try to, but I can't and soon my eyes are glowing again. My surroundings melt and become the forest while I sit up in a tree, watching as flowers bloom, and butterflies flap their wings and move in lazy yet contented motions. I watch as the skies fill with rain and when it pours it's ice cold against my skin, yet there's a fire burning in my heart. A heat raging within me. A flame I cannot deny. "Cain?" I hiss and step back before Lyros can place his palm on me because his presence burns. He frowns and regards me suspiciously. "Are yo
"I'm sorry, but have you seen Cain?"Raina stares at me like she's seeing me for the first time and she doesn't like what she's seeing.I noticed her giving me this same look when she served me in the dining hall and now she's doing it again.I'm confused but I don't have the time to fully inquire about why she's acting this way. I need to see Cain.Raina keeps on staring at me and I realize that maybe I do have the time to ask why she's acting this way. She's my only female friend here and it's hard to know that she's angry when I don't know why."Is something wrong Raina?"She blinks and looks away but I know she has something she wants to say. Maybe she's scared of what will happen if she says it here."Can we talk outside?"Almost like I read her mind or she reads mine she suggests what I had been about to suggest and I nod.I might have not noticed it before but the threat of that strange wolf still hangs heavy in the air. The security around the building is still tight and there
The guards refuse to let me in and for a moment I wonder if I'm just being paranoid.Lyros wouldn't be that wicked would he?I had to watch as he broke almost every bone in Cain's body and even now I can still imagine the amount of utter cruelty that must have gone into making himself able to do that.The feeling of him breaking my fingers is like a faint memory now, but Cain's pain is recent. Lyros wouldn't hurt him so soon after that, would he?The guard with light brown hair shoots me a sneer and I sneer back at him. They're the reason I can't go in to see for myself what's happening, yet they still manage to make me feel like I'm the problem.I pick myself up from the floor and dust my hands by hitting them together. There are grains of sand on the floor and I know there will be more. I look up and put on my most complacent smile."Please, can I just go in to see Miss Leah?""No one goes in to see the healer. You can wait a day or two."They sound like they haven't even broken a s
"You'll be riding with Rhys today, Cain will catch up with both of you later on the first ship."Lyro doesn't even wait to finish speaking before he walks away, leaving me in front of the enormous jeep with countless bags in front of me.He knows I'll speak to him about Cain. He knows I care about Cain and so he's keeping me in suspense, making me wait and want and try to get something he knows I must have.I have tried to see Leah, despite Safira's warning. When she told me something major was being done to Cain, I asked her if it was part of the plan. I already know Lyros has her in his inner circle or whatever he calls it. She's been summoned to his chambers regularly and I can see she's also getting ready to embark on this trip with us.She seemed to know more than I did yesterday, so despite her warnings not to go near the infirmary and the healer, I still went anyway and now I don't know what to think.I felt magic pulsing out of Leah's room. It was her magic, her healing,