chapter nineteen
ELYSIA
Cole smiles, wide and boyish. “Ah, I see. Secrets. Have you been spying again, Sparks?”
I roll my eyes and swat his arm lightly. “I’ve been uncovering information, if that’s what you mean.” I pause. “Wait, where are you staying while you’re here?”
He stands, slinging his duffel bag over his shoulder with ease. “The Council agreed I could stay with you in your assigned suite. Think you can handle a week bunking with me?”
“I’ve survived my whole life bunking with you, Cole. I’m sure I can suffer through one more week.”
He laughs, ruffling my hair as we walk out of the common. “Please. If anyone’s going to suffer, it’s me. You kick like a wild bull in your sleep, and don’t get me started on your blanket hogging.”
“Oh, that is so not true!” I jab him in the ribs, grinning. “You’re the blanket hog, always have been, always will be.”
“Sure, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night.” He smirks. “But if you steal them tonight, I am kicking you off the bed.”
I flip him my middle finger, earning a laugh, the kind of laugh that makes the world seem a little less cruel.
Our steps echo softly as we round the corner toward the suite.
“Is Kaden going to be in there?” Cole nods toward the door, eyebrow arched in mild curiosity.
The bond hums instantly with a low, dark pulse beneath my skin.
Frustration, concern, and the faint edge of guilt bleed through, thick and heavy.
His thoughts are fleeting and sharp, fragments of his earlier meeting flashing across my mind like quicksilver.
I can’t make sense of them, but the tension in my chest says enough.
I pause, my ears pricking up, listening. Then I hear it, the pop of a wine cork followed by the steady pour of liquid into a glass.
“Yes,” I murmur. “He’s in there.”
Cole raises a brow. “You can tell that how, exactly?”
I smile softly. “His emotions are sharper when he’s close.”
He slings an arm over my shoulders, pulling me in. “So, what’s the mood? Do I need to brace myself for a brooding shadow, or is he feeling sociable tonight?”
“He’s frustrated,” I say, flicking my wrist, the lock clicks open with a whisper of telekinetic energy. “So yes, prepare for scowling.”
Warmth from the fireplace greets us as we step over the threshold, the room glows in amber light, and the scent of cedar wood and smoke curls in the air. Cole follows, closing the door behind us.
Kaden rounds the corner from the kitchen with a glass in hand, red wine staining his lips. His shirt is half undone, collar loose, his mismatched irises dark and glazed.
“Who the fuck is this?” he growls, voice deep and laced with something I’ve become far too familiar with… possessiveness.
I roll my eyes, “This is Cole, he’s staying with me for the week.”
Kaden swirls his wine slowly, his gaze burning through me as the tether between us thrums with irritation, jealousy and something else I can’t name.
“If Ronan isn’t doing it for you…” He drawls, voice smooth as sin, “You could’ve just said so. This seems… unnecessary.”
His lips curve in that wicked, knowing way as he brings the wine to his lips.
Cole laughs beside me, low and amused. He leans in close enough for only me to hear.
“So this is the infamous Kaden Reinheart, huh?”
I shoot him a warning look, but he’s already grinning wider. “Man, I thought all of you were exaggerating. But no, he’s definitely got the broody, possessive thing down. I can feel the scowling.”
Kaden’s eyes snap to him, cold and unreadable. “It would serve you well to keep your mouth shut, cadet.”
Cole snorts in response, which earns him a look sharper than blades from Kaden. Shadows subtly twist around his boots as he advances on us, the bond buzzing with restrained irritation and the faintest flicker of warning.
“Cole’s an old friend,” I interject quickly, feeling the pulse of Kaden’s magic settle just slightly under my skin. “We grew up together.”
I shove a wave of calm through the tether, a push for him to stand down. His eyes flicker, a muscle ticking in his jaw, but the tension in the air softens.
Cole smirks, utterly unbothered. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to steal your bonded, although I can see why Ronan’s trying his luck. You must be a fun one to compete with.”
Kaden’s glare could probably peel skin, but Cole just laughs, throwing himself onto the sofa like he owns the place. “Relax, man. I’m only here for a week; you won’t even notice me.”
“Oh, I already do,” Kaden says flatly, draining his glass.
The bond vibrates with irritation and reluctant understanding. He doesn’t like it, but he’s accepting it… for now.
Cole winks at me as Kaden stalks back toward the kitchen, “I like him, he’s fun to mess with.”
I groan, flopping onto the couch beside him. “Don’t start, you’ll make it worse.”
Cole throws his hands up in mock surrender but lets the subject drop, stretching out on the couch and kicking his boots up onto the coffee table with a low groan.
“So…” he says, tilting his head toward me, “are you going to tell me what’s had you wound up all afternoon?”
I glance over my shoulder toward the kitchen. Kaden’s there, pulling the cork from another bottle of wine, two extra glasses already in hand.
I sigh and turn back to Cole. “Remember my father’s theory about the plague?”
Cole sits up instantly, interest lighting his eyes. “Yeah, that The Council engineered it, right?”
Kaden sets the bottle and glasses down on the coffee table, a deliberate and measured gesture. I catch the flicker of warning in his expression, but push past it. There’s no reason Cole shouldn’t hear this.
“Right.” I continue carefully. “Well, I found a tome about a week ago, hidden in my father’s personal archive—”
“No.” The word cuts through the room like a blade. Kaden’s voice is low, his eyes burning into me in a silent warning.
“Cole is my family.” I bite out, voice rising despite myself. “My only constant, if we can trust anyone with this information, it’s him.”
Cole looks between us, the confusion on his face softening into something closer to intrigue. He picks up his wine glass slowly, studying the tension like it’s his favourite show.
Kaden’s gaze flicks briefly to him, then back to me.
“If he runs his mouth, we all die. You’d have risked not only our lives, but his too.” His hand gestures toward Cole, who takes a slow sip of wine, completely unbothered. “Is that something you’re willing to gamble with?”
I stand, anger sparking bright and sharp, and close the small distance between us until I’m right in front of him. My chin tilted up, defiant as ever, though I barely reach his shoulders.
“Cole wouldn’t tell a soul.” I seethe between gritted teeth. “I would trust him with my life, which is more than I can say for you, Reinheart.”
The bond pulls taut as rage tangled with frustration pulses through in violent waves, and beneath it, something raw and fleeting. Hurt, guilt maybe? It flashes through for half a heartbeat before he buries it deep.
We glare at each other, the air between us heavy until Cole’s voice cuts clean through the silence.
“If it’s any consolation…” he says, taking another slow sip, “I would never do or say anything to endanger Elysia. Her safety comes above everything, it always has and it always will.”
Kaden’s head turns toward him, eyes narrowed. They hold each other’s gaze for a long moment. Then Kaden exhales sharply through his nose, jaw so tight I can almost hear it crack.
“If this gets outside of this room…” he says finally, voice low and clipped, “it’s on you.”
He strides off toward my room without another word, and a few seconds later, he returns with the tome in hand.
He tosses the book onto the sofa beside Cole, and I sink back down next to him as the fabric rustles beneath my weight. Cole’s hands slowly wrap around the leather-bound book, his fingers running over the ink on its cover.
“A month ago, Elysia snuck into the restricted archives.” Kaden begins, reluctantly settling into the armchair opposite us. “This tome was in her father’s personal collection.”
Cole shoots me a knowing look, though he doesn’t seem remotely surprised. After years of my dragging him into trouble, he probably expected nothing less.
“So…” he says, flicking through the brittle pages. “What’s in it that makes it so strictly confidential?”
“This tome holds records of what was supposedly the first cure,” I explain, leaning forward to flip to a page I’ve nearly memorised. “But the dates show it was shipped to specific bloodlines two weeks before the first outbreak.”
Cole’s eyes widen as he traces the Emberfall bloodline on the page. “So your mum… she received a dose of the cure before she was even infected?”
“Exactly. It makes no sense, does it?”
Kaden runs a hand through his hair, leaning back against the couch with a heavy sigh. “We think it wasn’t a cure but the plague.”
I nod. “The first outbreak started two weeks after the shipment left, and what do we know about the plague?”
“It takes about two weeks for symptoms to show,” Cole says quietly, piecing it together. “Or at least, it used to. It’s been more volatile lately.”
“Right,” I reply, tapping the open page. “So, it’s not a coincidence that every name listed here fell ill two weeks later, and every single one of them died within a year.”
Kaden cracks his neck, exhaling slowly. “It’s still a theory. We don’t have proof beyond this tome, but it’s a start.” He leans forward, elbows braced on his knees. “If this leaves this room, it’s all our heads. Got it?”
Cole nods, eyes still scanning the ancient script. Then, his signature crooked grin begins tugging at his lips. “Can we just rewind to the part where you said ‘we’? As in, you two? Working together? By choice?”
I huff a laugh, reaching up to undo my plait. The dark curls tumble free, cascading down my back and hips like liquid moonlight.
“It was less of a choice and more that he caught me sneaking into the archives.”
Kaden’s eyes flick toward me, trailing a lazy path down my unbound hair. A subtle, hungry look glazes over his eyes, lingering just long enough to send warmth crawling up my neck. The bond hums faintly, and whatever emotion crosses through is gone before I can name it.
He swallows hard, jaw tightening, then looks back at Cole. “It doesn’t matter how it started,” he says evenly. “What matters is that we keep this between us before we have concrete proof; otherwise, we all risk execution.”
Cole and I nod in tandem as he finishes flicking through the tome, tossing it aside before refilling his glass. I stand, collecting the book as I do, and slip into my personal quarters to return it.
I’d initially kept the tome hidden in a compartment inside my armoire, clearly not a good enough spot if Kaden found it so easily.
Stepping out onto my balcony, I lift one of my plant pots.
The top separates cleanly from the base, revealing the small, concealed box within.
I place the tome inside, reposition the pot, and smooth the soil until the glowing flowers sit naturally again.
The night air smells of sea salt and my florals, and I revel in it for a second before standing to turn.
My heart plummets.
Kaden leans against my closed door, shadows curling lazily at his feet.
“On Noctis, Reinheart. You scared me half to death!” I rasp, breath catching.
A small smirk tugs at his lips as he steps closer, shadows moving with him. “I wanted to make sure you’d hidden it appropriately this time. It was far too easy to find earlier.” His voice is deep, threaded with exhaustion, and the warm shiver it sends through me is sharp and entirely unwanted.
“It’s hidden somewhere much more deceiving now, I assure you,” I whisper, forcing my voice steady.
He nods once. “Good.”
I hold his gaze for a moment longer before trying to slip past him, but before I can, his hand closes around my upper arm, stopping me cold.
“No one else can know about this; we can’t risk it getting back to The Council.” His voice is low, but beneath that steel edge, there’s something else… concern maybe, faint and buried under layers of indifference.
I think of my day in the archives with Sirena, of her continued search for a link between the plague and the bloodlines.
“What about Sirena?” I ask quietly. “She’s been helping me look into the bloodline connections.”
He exhales, frustration spilling off him and into me through the bond.
“I’ll speak with Sirena. You are not to say another word about this to anyone.” He leans in then, his breath brushing my ear. “So be a good girl for me and keep that pretty mouth of yours shut.”
My breath catches, and my pulse stumbles as heat floods my veins. I should be furious at his words, at the command in them… but gods, they sound far too pretty coming from him.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
A knowing smirk curves his lips as he releases my wrist and turns for the door, pausing with his hand on the handle and then glancing over his shoulder. “Goodnight, Elysia darling.”