CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CADI
Cadi’s tennis shoes clattered to the floor, and she quickly stooped down to place them near the still present, yet slightly more controlled, cluster of footwear by her door.
Two full weeks had passed since Elias’s snark about being the cleaner of the two of them and since then, Cadi had been determined to make him eat his words.
Still, she kept her eyes fixed in front of her as she crossed to her bedroom in an attempt to strategically avoid the rest of her cluttered apartment. It was a process, but she could proudly say she had a few things under control. The rest would fall into place. Eventually.
At least her place was small, and having a task to focus on during the week made it a little easier to be away from Elias.
Cadi pressed the heel of her palm to her sternum, the small flutter in her chest that always showed up when she thought of him announcing its arrival with what felt like a playful tug.
Since the night of the storm, weekends had become their time to simply exist in the sanctity of his apartment before he inevitably had to slip off to The Crow or a meeting at the club in the early evening, then curled up next to her around 3 a.m. when he got home.
Weekdays, however, were less predictable, which meant she was going on day three of withdrawals from his touch, and her heart was determined to remind her of that.
She quickly stripped out of her scrubs and tossed them into the pile of dirty clothes before sifting through the clean pile that sat next to it, tugging free a pair of jean shorts and a baggy t-shirt.
It was safe to say that tackling her habit of leaving her laundry unfolded indefinitely remained at the bottom of the priority list.
A long sigh escaped her as she flopped down onto her bed and stretched out her limbs to each corner like a starfish.
As much as she adored staying with Elias, his height often resulted in him lying diagonally across the mattress, which forced her to keep her own arms and legs in check to avoid maiming him in his sleep.
It was nice to be able to spread out when she was at home.
With a grunt, she rolled onto her stomach, inching her body to the nightstand to retrieve her phone, where it still lay plugged in from the night before.
She had somehow shut off her alarm in her sleep and left her phone behind in the morning rush.
After the initial panic of realizing it was gone, the day without it had been strangely peaceful.
She’d briefly considered making it a habit to leave home without it more often, but decided maybe she should focus on controlling the chaos in her apartment first.
Unsurprisingly, she had very few missed messages, considering she only really texted two people.
She scrolled through the collection of funny animal pictures Sera insisted on sending to her in lieu of any real conversation, still apparently set on avoiding anything that might accidentally morph into an interrogation.
It wasn’t exactly what Cadi had hoped for when their communication had rekindled, but at least she was responding again.
She switched the screen back to the main message hub and was about to tap the one from Elias when the phone buzzed in her hand, and her stomach dropped at the name that appeared at the top of her screen.
Polly.
Her hands shook as she opened the message from the head attendant, her eyes skimming over the words of the woman’s desperate plea.
Apparently, the bulk of her attendant stock had opted to go through the Rite of Dedication that month, leaving her painfully shorthanded.
Her tone was professional, but Cadi could sense the urgency in the way she once again was offering her the freedom to select any schedule with the heavy suggestion of added perks to her role should she decide to come back.
She blew out a breath and quickly backed out of the message, pushing it from her mind.
Acid churned in her gut. She hated that even after cutting ties, the Order was still trying to worm its way back into her life.
Obviously, that was completely out of the question.
Even if she wasn’t with Elias, the Order’s biggest challenger, she had no interest in associating herself with that organization on any level.
Her stomach settled slightly when she tapped on the message from Elias, the small reminder of his presence easing her nerves. Along with his cheeky words, he had also sent a picture, though the image struggled to load across her apartment’s cheap internet connection.
You know you don’t have to leave things behind for an excuse to come over, right?
Cadi’s brows pinched as she thought through every possible thing she could have forgotten when she’d left on Sunday. When the image finally populated, she swore.
There on her screen was a picture of Elias’s hand holding her most recent library book.
The one that, of course, was due back tomorrow, meaning she would have to make the trek across town that evening if she had any hope of avoiding a fee.
Sure, it was only a few cents per day, but the sphinxes that work as the city’s librarians also made sure she paid in shame every time a book was returned late.
She typed out a response to let him know she was on her way over, then pushed up off her bed and trudged back out the door.
Her stomach fluttered as she approached his apartment.
All she could think about was how good it would feel when his arms wrapped around her.
She had been fully prepared, albeit begrudgingly, to go the next couple of days without seeing him, making this impromptu visit a welcome interlude.
Maybe forgetting her library book was an act of divine intervention.
She looked down at her phone and felt the slightest hiccup in her excitement when she saw that he still hadn’t responded to her message about coming by.
Odd. He bordered on religious when it came to his replies, even on nights when he was working. She slipped her phone back into her pocket and shoved down the unease that tried to work its way in.
Her knuckles tapped against the door, the echo fading to silence as she waited. And waited.
Even her breath felt loud as she stood alone in the noiseless hallway, picking at her nails and counting every second that slipped by without a response.
Maybe he was out, dealing with some bar-related emergency that needed his full attention.
But even if that were the case, she felt confident he would have at least told her so she didn’t drive across the city at rush hour for nothing.
Something felt off, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on why. All she knew was that an old voice that had been blissfully silent for weeks was now lifting its head to whisper “told you so.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose and blew out a breath. There had to be a reasonable explanation, it was just that the pit slowly forming in her stomach wouldn’t let her think of it right now.
Anxiety bled into frustration, and just as she began to accept that she would have to take her chances with the clawed librarians, the lock clicked.
The door in front of her inched open, and Elias’s brown eyes peered out through the small crack. They went wide when he saw her, and in a swift motion, he slipped out into the hall, quickly pulling the door closed behind him.
“Cadi!” he said, surprised. “What are you doing here?”
Irritation flashed beneath her skin, peppered with a familiar sting. So much for her theory about a bar emergency.
“I got your text about my book, so I came by to get it. I told you I was coming …”
“Shit.” He sighed, his features softening. “I haven’t looked at my phone for hours, I’m sorry. One sec.”
He slipped back into the apartment, and Cadi stepped forward to follow him, only to stop short when the door clicked shut in her face. She stood frozen, her jaw hanging open as she stared at the closed door.
What the actual fuck?
There wasn’t even enough time for her to fully recover before Elias reappeared, blocking the inside of his apartment from view with his body as he did.
“Here you go,” he said, handing her the plastic-wrapped book with a nervous smile that made him look like he was in pain.
“Thanks …” she replied as she drummed her fingers against the cover, not entirely sure how to process what was happening. He didn’t seem to want her there, but she couldn’t think of a single reason why that didn’t make her feel like she was going to vomit.
“I’ll call you later, okay?” Elias said, rubbing his hand against the back of his neck and casting a nervous glance over his shoulder.
Cadi cleared her throat. For some reason, swallowing had become extremely difficult.
“Yeah,” she said with a small nod, trying to push a smile to her face to cover the hurt. The instinct to retreat, to let whatever this was go, began to slide back into place so effortlessly it nearly made her head spin.
But she knew that if she walked away now, everything between them would shift, and her unresolved anxieties would poison every interaction until it tore her, and them, apart. And she didn’t want to be that woman anymore.
“Elias,” she began, planting her feet on the plush carpet. “What’s going on?”
He froze, but quickly covered his surprise with a look of forced confusion so transparent that Cadi might have laughed if she hadn’t been on the edge of a spiral.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Cadi’s eyebrows shot up, and she gestured to the closed door behind him. “You won’t even let me inside …”
Elias huffed a tense laugh, waving a hand as if nothing about the way he was acting was even remotely weird. “Oh, I’m just in the middle of something. The place is a mess. Just bar stuff. Boring.”
She folded her arms over her chest and lifted a single eyebrow in a silent offer for him to try again. He was lucky he hadn’t dreamed of a career in politics because the man couldn’t lie for shit.
Elias shifted his weight, the look in his eyes becoming more desperate the longer Cadi held the silence, but she wasn’t about to cave. Something was up with him, and she wasn’t leaving until he either told her what it was or had the doorman drag her out.
His mouth was moving as if searching for the right words, or the right story, to explain away his behavior when the door behind him swung open. Elias flinched at the sudden movement, then spun around to reveal Sera standing behind him, her presence somehow strengthening Cadi’s resolve.
“E … that’s enough,” she said, fixing him with a solemn stare that seemed far beyond her years. “You’ve had your time. Let her in.”
A knot twisted in Cadi’s stomach at the authority in Sera’s voice. It was not unlike a mother telling her child something he didn’t want to hear. Elias’s head moved from Sera, to Cadi, then back before his shoulders slumped forward in defeat.
“Yeah, you’re right,” he said, running a hand down his face and stepping back to let Cadi inside, only for her to freeze just past the threshold when she realized it wasn’t just Sera and Elias in the apartment.
Despite having only seen their backs, Cadi knew immediately that the two men staring at her were the same ones she had seen leaving Elias’s office a few months ago.
The man with golden skin and a neatly trimmed black beard lounged on the sofa, a crystal lowball glass clutched loosely in his hand.
His all-white suit and shirt glowed against his complexion in what seemed to be a deliberate contrast that made him look carved from sunlight itself.
A soft smile curved his lips as his gaze met Cadi’s, and something about his presence soothed a small piece of her apprehension.
The other man leaned casually against the granite island, swirling his drink in lazy circles.
His black suit and crisp white collar sharpened the look of his sun-kissed skin.
Dark waves flowed back from his face, and a single gold hoop glistened in his ear, his entire being giving off the air of power and quiet command.
Something about him sparked a memory that had nothing to do with The Crow, but with the multitude of thoughts racing through her mind, Cadi couldn’t quite sort one thing from the other. So she didn’t try.
The pressure of Elias’s hand against her back reminded her that she was there for a reason, and staring at these two men was getting her no closer to the answers she sought.
“Why don’t you sit down, love,” Elias offered, beginning to guide her to the love seat. Cadi planted her feet and shook her head.
“No, I think I want to stand,” she said.
Her gaze darted between the four other people in the room, and her pulse began to race when she realized why they must all be gathered there. She voiced her thought before she could second-guess it. “Does this have something to do with those sigils?”
Elias stiffened beside her as the other two men exchanged shocked glances.
“Yes,” Elias replied, letting out a long sigh before he gestured to the man seated on the couch. “Cadi, this is Seth Amanti. He runs a private security firm that has contracts all over the city.”
Cadi lifted her hand in a small wave, and noticed that another tiny pulse of calm coursed through her when he dipped his head in a respectful bow.
“And this,” Elias continued, shifting her attention to the man in the kitchen, “is Kai Aurelian.”
Cadi straightened, the name solidifying the foggy memories she hadn’t quite been able to reach before. Flashes of news reports and magazine covers flew through her mind, and she realized why Kai had looked so familiar.
“Wait, like the Kai Aurelian?” she asked, her gaze darting between him and Elias. “As in Aurelian Shipping?”
Kai gave her a smug grin and lifted his glass in salute. “One and the same.”
Cadi pressed her fingers to her temples, a dull ache starting behind her eyes.
She had come in here wanting answers but somehow only ended up finding more questions.
Sure, now she knew who these men were, but that didn’t help her to understand why the head of a private security firm and the owner of the region’s most prolific shipping company were plotting a ritual with stolen sigils in her boyfriend’s apartment.
Maybe she should have sat down.
Silence hung heavy, and Cadi could feel the curious stares of everyone around her. Taking a deep breath, she pressed forward. There was no way she could stop now.
“Okay,” she said slowly, turning to look at Elias, “now, what do they have to do with the temple sigils?”
He let out another long sigh as he ran a hand down his face, his expression strained.
“It’s … complicated.”
Cadi’s jaw tensed, his continued deflections only serving to feed her growing irritation. “Then uncomplicate it.”
His face drew tight, and his eyes never left hers as he reached for her with a steady hand. “What do you know about the gods?”