CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX #2
He brought the knife down with a dramatic thunk against the wooden board, like he was determined to demonstrate the exact technique that had led to him needing the bandage in the first place.
“At least your aim is improving,” she quipped, but instantly regretted her pathetic attempt at humor when it went completely unacknowledged. This was not the time for jokes, but the heaviness between them was making her itch.
“Who was that on the phone?” she tried, taking a tentative step toward him.
“Seth.”
If he kept answering her like this, it was going to be a very long night.
“What did he—”
Elias set the knife down with a metallic thud. “Do you want to tell me what you were doing at the Rite of Dedication tonight?”
And there it was. Cadi swallowed hard, her throat going dry at the sharpness in his tone. But beneath the bite, she heard his fear.
“Priest or Sera?” she asked.
He turned to look at her, the tightness in his eyes telling her he was in no mood for whatever she was trying to do. She lifted a shoulder. “I figure it had to be one of—”
Elias let out a fierce sound of frustration before pushing off the counter to turn toward the living room. “That doesn’t matter, Cadi. You promised me you’d get out, but instead you end up assisting in the one rite that puts you directly into Oneirios’s path.”
“I know,” she said, moving to follow him. “I know, and I’m sorry, but if you really want to talk about honesty—”
Elias held up a hand to stop her. “Cadi … please. Why?”
Her throat grew tight at his harsh reprimand, and she fought the urge to meet it with a condemnation of her own.
Yes, she had promised him. Yes, she had broken that promise even if she hadn’t meant to.
But he had some nerve to come at her like that after everything.
She opened her mouth to tell him her exact thoughts on the matter, but stopped short at the pain she found in his eyes.
Pain that she had caused him. Picking another fight wouldn’t help anything, so instead, she pulled in a deep breath, and nodded.
“I was about to leave, but then Polly came rushing up to me, and the poor woman looked like she was about to have a heart attack telling me how much she needed me because the attendant for the rite called in. Something about her kid and a virus—that’s not important.
But, Elias, if you had seen her poor desperate face I—I couldn’t just abandon her, and by the time I remembered that Oneirios would even be there it was already too late and I—I’m so sorry. ”
For a moment, Elias didn’t move. Didn’t speak.
He just stood there looking at her with his arms crossed over his chest. Then his face began to soften, and the corner of his mouth lifted the smallest bit before he let out a long breath.
Stepping forward, he reached out to catch the back of her neck, pulling her in close and pressing his lips hard to her forehead.
“That big heart of yours is going to land me in an early grave, you know that?” he muttered.
Cadi thought her knees may give out as every muscle in her body seemed to go slack with relief. She wrapped her arms around his back and leaned closer, tilting her face to look up at him. “I really am sorry. I didn’t mean to go back on my word.”
Elias nodded, brushing his hand over her cheek. “I know, love. I just … that was too close.”
Cadi let out a dry laugh. “Agreed.”
Elias searched her face a moment longer, as if taking in every piece of her in quiet confirmation that she was safe. “Did he say anything to you? React in any way?”
Cadi hesitated as she stared up into the deep concern that consumed his features.
She knew she should tell him about the way Oneirios had smiled at her, about the creeping feeling that had raced along her spine as he’d passed her on the way out of the main hall, but she couldn’t.
Her mere presence at the temple that night had nearly pushed Elias to the edge, she could only imagine what would happen when he found out that the god they were moving against seemed uncomfortably interested in her.
She would tell him, just not now. Not tonight.
Cadi shook her head, trying to shove away the guilt that surged at her hypocrisy. “But I did manage to find something while I was there.”
A crooked grin slid over his lips as he guided her to the couch. “Oh yeah?” he said, pulling her onto his lap.
“Mmmhm,” she replied, letting out a soft sound when his hands found her hips and he began to massage the tired muscles at her joints.
“A door that looks like it leads to what may be an office …” Her words bled into a groan when he found a particularly stubborn knot.
One that she’d been trying to stretch out for weeks with zero success.
Gods, he was making talking extremely difficult.
She pulled in a breath to clear her mind just enough to finish her thought.
“If I had to guess. My sigil works on it, so I’ll check it out next time I’m there.”
Elias went still, and Cadi felt the shift immediately, his warmth and playfulness disappearing like her words had flipped a switch. His eyes searched hers for a long moment before he gave her a tight smile. “Be careful.”
She brushed her thumb against the nape of his neck. “I will.”
Cadi’s eyes slipped closed while Elias’s hands began to move across her back, tracing slow circles that were damn near close to putting her to sleep, but her mind had other plans.
She couldn’t stop thinking about the rite.
The smells, the sounds. The screams. She moved her hand to Elias’s chest, resting it just above his heart.
Right over the place where an invisible binding they never spoke of still lay.
“Did it hurt for you, too?” she asked, her voice hushed.
Elias tilted his head in question, lifting his hand to brush her still-damp hair over her shoulder.
“When you were bound,” she clarified.
His hand stilled, and the confusion in his eyes shifted to something dark and guarded as he gave her a small nod. “At first.”
“What do you mean?”
He pulled her earlobe between his thumb and finger.
“The pain doesn’t last. Not usually. The binding actually gives Oneirios the power to sort of …
connect with his followers. To influence their emotions and indirectly, their actions.
He can make them feel what he wants them to feel.
Pain, pleasure, calm, scared. Or like they really want to do or say something. ”
Cadi shuddered. Just being close to him in the hallway tonight had been enough to make her skin crawl. The thought of having him in her head, making her feel whatever he wanted her to …
Suddenly she needed another shower.
“Does he ever … influence you?” she asked. Her stomach dipped when he lowered his chin again.
“For a while he did, yeah. But I learned how to resist it. It wasn’t easy, and it gave me one hell of a headache. Luckily, he hasn’t had much reason to try pulling my strings for a while.”
Cadi smirked, crinkling her nose at him. “Even as public enemy number one?”
Elias let out a full laugh, the rich sound settling behind her ribs and bringing the tiny flutter back to life.
“That grudge is held more by members than Oneirios. Once it became apparent that no one was going to listen to what I was trying to say, he stopped seeing me as a threat and more as an annoyance.”
He shrugged, playing with her curls and letting them cascade across his fingers. “He’s too arrogant to believe that anything would be going on without him knowing about it so … I let him think that.”
Cadi let her hand fall, her fingers brushing against his stomach. She saw the fabric of his t-shirt shift with the hitch in his breath, the tiny reaction bringing a satisfied grin to her lips.
“Is that all the binding does?” she asked.
Elias shook his head, his eyes growing heavy as his hands shifted back to her waist to grip her tight. He leaned forward, but Cadi moved back, just out of his reach.