Chapter 45
CHAPTER 45
NORTH CAROLINA
T he sunlight warmed Adria’s skin, and the hot summer air carried the scent of marigolds lining her sundeck. She relaxed into her lounge chair.
“Can I ask you something?” Kaydon said.
She opened her eyes, glancing down. Kaydon’s broad frame was crouched at her feet, red nail polish in hand.
“Have you finished?” she asked, wiggling her toes.
“Hey, keep still, this is hard enough as it is without you moving everywhere,” Kaydon said.
She closed her eyes again, trying to enjoy the feeling of a powerful man serving her.
Kaydon’s large hands were warm against her skin. His careful, precise touch should have been enough to put her at ease.
But her mind kept wandering.
Loretta’s advice.
Talk to them.
It sounded so easy. And perhaps, for some people, it would be.
For Adria, it felt impossible.
So, instead of confronting it, she had chosen to ignore the situation entirely .
It was working.
Mostly.
And yet, here she was.
Kaydon at her feet, his presence effortlessly magnetic. His energy pulling at her even when she tried to resist.
Adria sighed. “Ask me.”
She kept her eyes closed, but she could hear the way his smile curled into his voice.
Ridiculously, it made her want to smile, too.
“Are we going to the Summit this year?”
Her eyes snapped open.
That was not the question she had been expecting. She sat up, removing her sunglasses, studying him.
“Why do you ask?” she said, not ready to answer.
Kaydon didn’t look at her. His focus remaining on his work, carefully painting her big toe. The nail polish brush looked tiny in his large hands.
She hadn’t expected him to be so delicate.
“Callen never lets me go,” he said simply.
There was something in his tone. A hint of bitterness. A small fracture in his usual carefree mask.
She slid her sunglasses back on, laying back down.
“No, you aren’t coming.”
She tried not to care that she knew it would hurt him.
Why should she feel guilty?
But when he didn’t say more, when he just continued painting, the silence ate at her.
“It wasn’t my decision. The Triune feels that Bryson should stay home this year. When Mar’s opposition hits, you three will be at your new home. Considering the circumstances…” she trailed off.
His hands were warm on her feet.
“What is it like?”
“We all get naked and dance in the collected blood of our enemies,” she said.
He pinched her calf .
“Ow,” she said, slapping him away. “Do I need to put you over my knee?”
“As fun as that sounds, unless you want half your toes painted, that’ll need to wait,” he said, his voice husky.
She opened her eyes and stared up into the sun-filtered tree.
“It starts at an office,” she said, having no idea why she felt like sharing.
“The building looks new, but in the back of the underground parking garage, behind a rusty door, is an elevator. An old one,” Adria said, remembering her first time.
“One of those elevators from the movies, with the pull gate and everything.”
She was seven. Her father had put in a special key, and the box groaned and creaked all the way down to the caverns below.
“Legend has it that the caverns used to house an ancient race called the Nine.” Adria laughed at the ridiculousness of it. “So, when you think about it, our ancestors stole the idea from thousand-year-old legends.”
Kaydon chuckled, “Sounds about right.”
“The stone cavern winds down, and there are a lot of twists and turns that lead to dead ends and traps. Eventually, if you know where you are going, it opens up, and there is a giant archway filled with ancient carvings.”
Adria remembered her first time. She had stood in stunned silence, just taking it in, until her father forced her to continue.
Adria frowned.
“What is it?” Kaydon asked.
“It’s just crazy how different we see things when we are children.”
“How do you see it now?”
Adria stared at the clouds, watching them move with ease in the sky .
“The sounds of running water, the musty smell of being underground. Everything about it fascinated me. When we finally made it to the main cavern, the first thing I saw was the pool.”
Kaydon’s hand was hot on her calf.
“The initiation pool?” he asked.
She nodded. “I thought it was fascinating. The water was so black, like an ancient mystery.”
Her first time hadn’t been scary. Adria might even say her first time at the council was fun.
“Two years later I saw a man slashed and burned in that cavern. And after they dumped his body in the pool, the mystery was gone,” Adria said, flatly.
She could hear Kaydon set down the nail brush. Feel his hands on her ankles. Slowly, he pulled her left leg into him as he massaged her calf.
“I heard about that,” Kaydon said, his fingers rubbing at all the tension in her leg.
When he moved to her right, Adria felt warmth between her legs. It was hard to believe she was turned on while talking about a summit meeting, but somehow Kaydon had managed it. Sunglasses on, she peeked down at him.
Watched him diligently touch her skin, his eyes focused on his task. Adria could watch him touch her for hours and still it wouldn’t be enough.
“But you don’t want to hear about archways and torture,” she said, lust creeping into her voice.
Kaydon knew what happened down there. Anyone close to an ascended or heir knew.
“Just seeing it won’t assuage your doubts,” Adria said, and Kaydon’s hands froze.
“You were seventeen?” Kaydon said, and she looked down at him.
Lowering her sunglasses, she took in his face. “Bryson is the most stubborn person I have ever met. He’ll make it,” she said, before putting her glasses back on.
Ascension was hard. The further she swam the darker it got, which was amazing considering how dark the water was to start with. The pressure on her ears and head pounded into her, and she felt like the blood was pouring from her veins faster.
All the bodies, all the dead that had been dumped into that pool, they all waited for her. They wanted to greet her. She didn’t see any of them, but she knew they were there. Where else would they be?
But Bryson wouldn’t be one of them, Adria was sure.
Kaydon spread her legs apart and sat on the lounge chair. His thighs rubbing against hers. He was flushed from the heat, and Adria noticed his eyes watching her mouth.
“I just hate that he has to do it alone. We are supposed to be a family,” Kaydon said, his hand moving to rest on her thigh.
“Alessandro was there with me,” Adria said, remembering the kind words he had spoken to her just before her dive.
Kaydon’s eyes darkened as he said, “I don’t trust that guy.”
Shocked at his candor, Adria sat up, taking off her sunglasses. “You don’t trust Alessandro? Why?”
They were close now.
Adria expected him to lean away. To give her space.
But he didn’t.
“I just don’t.”
Kaydon’s words lingered between them, thick with unspoken meaning. Adria stared at him, dumbfounded. Alessandro was the nicest member of the Triune. He always had her back. Always spoke on her behalf when she needed it.
And yet, Kaydon’s distrust was written across his face .
A flicker of doubt itched at the back of her mind.
She shook it off.
“Did you finish my toes?” she asked, shifting, wanting some distance.
Kaydon didn’t answer right away. Instead, he leaned closer.
Between her legs.
His fingers tracing along her thigh, leaving electric tingles in their wake.
Adria’s breath hitched.
Then, he reached for her wrist. Encircling it in his firm grip.
She didn’t pull away.
He lifted her arm, bringing it to his lips.
A kiss landed on the scar.
Soft. Reverent.
Then, the other wrist. Another kiss. Another moment of wordless devotion.
And then, just like that, he was back in his original position.
Like nothing had happened.
Adria laid down, trying to relax. But a nagging feeling gnawed at her.
Images of dark water surfaced in her mind. Cold. Deep. Unforgiving.
Kaydon didn’t trust Alessandro. That much was clear.
But it wasn’t his opinion that troubled her.
It was the fact that his thoughts mattered to her at all.