Chapter 11
The distant sound of excited screams from the haunted house drifted in from the courtyard and mixed with the beat of the music from the ball currently in full swing as I found Ryder standing by the ballroom entrance, his posture rigid with a tension that immediately put me on alert.
His blue eyes were fixed on something across the courtyard, and when I followed his gaze, I saw her.
Cadence stood at the entrance to the haunted house, her red dress a splash of blood against the gothic black and gold decorations, talking to Hannah and Harrison.
Even from this distance, I could see the way she held herself, shoulders pulled tight, spine straight as a blade, like she was fighting to keep herself together through sheer force of will.
The sight of her looking so fragile, so breakable, yet so fucking beautiful, sent something dark and possessive clawing through my chest.
"What's wrong?" I asked, moving to stand beside him. Ryder's jaw was clenched so tight I could see the muscle jumping beneath his skin.
"Something's off with her, Logan." His voice was barely above a whisper, rough with emotion. "She looked like she was about to collapse in there, pale, shaky, couldn't catch her breath. I think she had a panic attack."
The words hit me like a physical blow. I'd noticed she'd been more withdrawn lately, more defiant in that desperate way that spoke of someone being pushed to their breaking point.
And with good reason. We had stepped up our resolve to break her.
The pressure was there for us to hold her in line.
But a panic attack? That suggested we were doing more damage than I'd realised, that wouldn’t be good.
Broken right and we could make her shine, but done wrong, and well…
Ryder could be visiting more than his mother in Lexington.
"Maybe we're pushing her too hard," Ryder continued, his voice barely audible above the music and laughter. "Maybe we're breaking her in all the wrong ways."
I studied his profile, seeing the genuine anguish etched across his features.
Ryder was in deep, deeper than either Cole or I had fully grasped.
The way he looked at Cadence, the way he said her name like a prayer and a curse rolled into one, it was all too familiar.
Too dangerous. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't heading down that same treacherous path myself, but at least I was still fighting it.
Ryder had already surrendered to whatever this was between us and her.
"She's stronger than you think," I said, though the words felt hollow even to me. "She has to be, to survive in our world."
“But she isn’t from this world,” Ryder spat out. “We dragged her in, for our own selfish reasons.” He said we, but I knew what he meant. It was me. I was the one with the point to prove. I was the one who turned her world upside down.
“What do you want me to do Ryder?” I asked, not even wanting to know his answer.
But before he could respond, Cole appeared at my shoulder, his expression thunderous.
The mismatched eyes that usually held such calculated calm were stormy with frustration and something that looked suspiciously like fear.
His dark blond hair was dishevelled, as if he'd been running his hands through it, and there was a tension in his shoulders that spoke of barely leashed violence.
“Has she come this way?” he asked, searching the ballroom.
I nodded out into the courtyard where Cadence was clearly in some disagreement with Hannah.
That bitch had been getting on my nerves so much of late.
I had a feeling that I was going to have to have a word with her Regents again.
Cole looked in the same direction and scoffed.
“I found her in the hallway by the east wing,” he said, his voice low in almost a growl. “She was with someone, but whoever it was got away before I could see who.”
"Damien?" I asked, though I already knew the answer from the way Cole's hands clenched into fists, knuckles white with strain.
"Had to be. Who else would she be hiding from us?" Cole's voice was tight with barely controlled anger, each word bitten off like he was tasting something bitter. "We need to keep a closer eye on her. I swear she's planning something, and that bastard is helping her."
The three of us moved out into the courtyard, positioning ourselves where we could watch Cadence's interaction with Hannah and Harrison.
The Halloween decorations cast everything in an eerie glow, jack-o'-lanterns grinning with malevolent faces, shadows dancing across the faces of the students milling about in their costumes and masks.
The smell of autumn leaves and artificial fog hung heavy in the air, mixing with the scent of expensive perfume and underlying tension.
"Maybe we should just let her go." The words came from Ryder, so quietly I almost didn't hear them over the ambient noise of the party.
But the shock that followed was immediate and visceral, like being doused with ice water.
Cole and I both turned to stare at him, and I saw my own disbelief reflected in Cole's expression, his eyes wide with something approaching horror.
"What did you just say?" Cole's voice was dangerously low. Ryder's eyes were fixed on Cadence, watching as she gestured animatedly at Hannah, her purple hair catching the light like dark silk.
"If she's trying so hard to get away that she'd risk everything to see McIntyre, maybe we should just let her go.
Maybe this isn't... maybe we're not what she needs.
" The pain in his voice was unmistakable, raw and bleeding, and I felt something twist in my chest like a knife between the ribs.
This was exactly what I'd been afraid of.
Ryder was willing to risk losing everything to protect one person.
I caught Cole's eye, seeing the same concern reflected there, the same understanding of what this meant. We both knew what had happened the last time Ryder had let his emotions rule his decisions. The last time he'd fallen for someone who used his fragile mentality against him. That situation had ended in blood and screams and Ryder locked in a high security wing at Lexington. He hadn’t been the same since he’d come from there.
"You don't mean that," I said carefully, watching his face for any sign that he was just talking through his fear, that this was just a momentary weakness brought on by seeing her so fragile. But Ryder's expression remained serious, pained.
"Don't I? Look at her, Logan. She's terrified of us. She runs from us every chance she gets. She's meeting with other men behind our backs, fuck, McIntyre of all people, risking punishment just to feel like she has some control over her own life. What kind of monsters does that make us?"
"The kind that survives," Cole said flatly, his voice cutting through the night air like a blade. "The kind that does what it takes to protect what's ours."
"But she isn’t ours," Ryder shot back, his voice cracking slightly. "Not really. All we did was steal her from her life."
“What fucking life,” Cole hissed, “She was nobody, going nowhere. We gave her status and meaning.”
“Did we?” Ryder asked. “How much better off are any of us in this fucked up world?”
The question hung in the air between us, heavy with implications I didn't want to examine too closely.
Because the truth was, part of me had been wondering the same thing.
Part of me had been questioning whether Killingham's suggestion about Julia Latters might not be the better option for everyone involved.
The easier option. The one that wouldn't tear us apart from the inside. We were all trapped in this fuck fest, but Cadence hadn’t been.
And if we let her go, then she could probably just go back to the meaningless existence she seemed to be clawing to achieve.
But before I could voice any of those doubts, something else caught my attention.
A familiar figure standing with a small group of men to one side of the courtyard, their expensive suits and understated masks marking them as distinctly different from the university crowd.
James Killingham, looking every inch the distinguished gentleman in his tailored suit and silver mask.
But it wasn't just Killingham that made my blood run cold, it was the men with him.
Lucas Harrison, another High Lord of the Trivium, Marcus Devlin one of the Inner Circle members, and Jonathan McGregor who headed up the HOLE, a black site prison that didn’t exist on paper. Men who wielded power like weapons, who had no business being here unless they had a very specific reason.
"Gentlemen," I said quietly, nodding toward the group. "Interesting guest list tonight." Cole followed my gaze and swore under his breath, a string of profanity that would have made a sailor blush. "What the fuck are they all doing here?"
"Lucas Harrison makes sense," Ryder said, though he sounded uncertain, like he was trying to convince himself.
"The actors for the haunted house came from Fairfax Academy.
That's his territory." I shook my head, watching as the group of distinguished gentlemen seemed to track something across the courtyard with predatory focus.
"Look at them. They're not here for tonight's events. They're watching something. Or someone."
As if to prove my point, the entire group of men turned their attention toward the haunted house entrance just as Cadence disappeared inside, their conversation pausing as they followed her movement.
The moment she was out of sight, their interest seemed to wane, conversation resuming as if nothing had happened.
But I'd seen the way their eyes had tracked her.
"They're watching Cadence," Cole said, his voice tight with realisation, the analytical part of his mind already working through the implications.