Chapter 31 #2
Guilt pricked the back of her throat. She hadn’t meant to draw Stellan into this.
But there had been no one else she could confide in.
There was no one else who knew what the bond really meant.
What it could do. What it cost. And now, Cade, with his eyes narrowed in quiet accusation…
The gap between them felt wider than it had in days.
Stellan opened his mouth to respond, but before he could speak, a cry cut through the smoke-laced air.
“Over here!” one of the soldiers shouted, voice cracking with alarm.
Cade was already moving. He kicked his horse into a gallop toward the sound. Bridget followed without thinking, Stellan thundering close behind. The others snapped to attention and followed as the company veered sharply off the rocky path and into a copse of brittle, frost-scorched trees.
They didn’t have to search long.
Bridget’s stomach dropped at the sight.
Finn was slumped against a gnarled tree, arms bound tightly behind his back, blood caked around a gash at his temple.
His head lolled to the side, unconscious but alive.
The bark behind him was blackened in a perfect circle, burned with residual magic.
His cloak had been torn and his boots were missing.
“No one cut his binds,” Deckard barked, holding up a hand. “Not yet.”
Cade threw himself off his horse and knelt beside him. “Finn?” he asked, urgency flaring in his voice. “Hey—Finn, look at me.”
Bridget dismounted, her fingers trembling. The bark behind Finn was charred black in a perfect ring. The ground at his feet was cracked, as though drained by the kind of magic Vega channeled. And Nylah wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Her stomach twisted.
He looked like Finn.
But it didn’t mean it was.
“Wait,” she said as Cade reached to cut his restraints. “Don’t.”
Cade paused, blade in hand. “What?”
“There’s a chance Vega is still controlling him,” Bridget said, gaze fixed on Finn’s eerily still form. “This was too easy. There’s no way Vega just let him go.”
“He’s barely conscious,” Delphine murmured behind her. “Wouldn’t she need more strength to keep control?”
“If she lost control, wouldn’t Nylah be here? She’s had time to adjust the blood spell. And she’s done it before. I’d bet anything she’s still in there.” Bridget turned to Cade, heart pounding. “We have to test him first. Ask him something only Finn would know.”
Cade’s jaw ticked. “I don’t feel anyone else in his mind.”
“You didn’t feel anything with me,” Bridget reminded him. “Or Quinn.”
Cade didn’t respond. His blade dropped slightly, but the tension in his shoulders didn’t ease.
“As much as I don’t want to agree with her…” Deckard’s gravelly voice cut through the air like a stamp of judgment. “She’s right.”
For a moment, no one moved.
Finn stirred. Just slightly. Then his head slowly lifted.
“Cade?” he rasped. “I am sure glad as hell to see you. I feel like I’ve been walking through a nightmare. My head is pounding.”
Bridget’s heart stuttered. The voice was right. The confusion in his eyes looked real. But Vega was a master manipulator.
Castor stepped forward. “What happened?”
Finn let out a ragged breath. “It’s like… I could see everything, but I couldn’t control anything. Like I was sleepwalking. No matter how hard I tried to fight, I couldn’t wake up.” His eyes flicked from face to face. “There was a man. We met him on the road.”
Cade crouched lower. “Did he take Nylah?”
Finn nodded slowly. “He took her… after I—after I cut his neck. Then everything went black.”
Cassia’s breath caught behind Bridget.
“If he was fighting her, maybe she was starting to lose control,” Castor said cautiously. “And then found someone else to possess.”
Or maybe she wants us to think that.
Bridget’s thoughts spiraled. Something still felt off. Vega was meticulous. She never made mistakes like this… unless they served her.
Cade hesitated. “How do we know it’s really you?”
Finn’s eyes met his, and for the first time, something familiar sparked there.
“Okay,” Finn said, lifting his chin. “There was one time I went out for coffee in New York. When I came back, I walked in on you and Bridget—”
“Okay, it’s him,” Cade interrupted, voice tight.
Bridget blinked. A muscle jumped in Cade’s jaw as he quickly bent and sliced through the ropes binding Finn’s wrists. Finn groaned, slumping forward, and Cade caught him before he hit the ground.
But Bridget’s eyes didn’t leave him. Relief warred with suspicion inside her, and the knot in her stomach didn’t loosen. She swallowed hard and stepped forward, voice steady but firm. “We still need to keep him restrained.”
Cade looked like he wanted to argue. Deckard just raised his brow at her.
Finn’s eyes flickered, but there was no fight in them. Just exhaustion. “I get it,” he whispered. “You don’t know what’s real anymore. Neither do I.”
She reached out carefully, pulling the loose ends of the ropes taut again, her hands trembling despite herself. “It’s not just about trust. It’s about keeping Nylah safe. And all of us.”
Finn nodded, his gaze heavy with a mix of gratitude and sorrow. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. Especially Nylah.”
A silence settled between them, thick and uneasy. Bridget wanted so badly to believe him, but the memory of Vega’s cold smile and the way she could slip into someone’s mind like water made her fists clench at her sides.
Cade stepped back, watching the exchange silently, his eyes unreadable.
Bridget met Finn’s gaze one last time. “We’re going to get her back. But until we’re sure—”
“Keep me tied up,” Finn interrupted softly. “I want that too.”
She watched silently as the soldiers handed him a pair of worn boots and secured him to one of the horses.
At least this way, every twitch, every glance would be under her scrutiny.
If anything about him felt off, if even a shadow of Vega stirred within him, she would be the first to raise the alarm.
Beside her, Cade’s unease was unmistakable. He didn’t have to say a word. His conflicted gaze spoke volumes, torn between loyalty to his friend and the reality of their situation.
“She left him,” Bridget whispered, her voice barely more than breath, the weight of it sinking deep into her chest. “She wanted us to find him.”
Cade looked up sharply. “You think it’s a trap.”
“I know it is.”
Because Vega always left a message.
And this time, Bridget feared, it had only just begun.