Deianira quickly retired to her bedroom, ignoring the looks from servants, bystanders, and even her sentinel.
Slamming her door shut behind her, she walked over to her desk and placed both hands on the surface, taking several steadying breaths. What the hell was that? Why did he look at her like that? Why did she look at him like that? He wasn’t even scared. Usually, the absence of fear might have sparked anger in her but he didn’t look arrogant. There was something else behind those eyes. And she didn’t like it one bit. Her door opening interrupted her effort to ease her mind, but she didn’t bother turning around.
“What was that?”
“There’s something off about him, Salem,” she replied.
“I agree, but if you keep this behavior up, people are going to talk. Your interest in him is far from discreet.”
Deianira turned abruptly. “Interest?”
Salem didn’t even need to find her words. She just spoke from her mind.
“Deianira, I supported your decision to spare him. You don’t just execute people without grounds, even outsiders, but I remember standing next to you in the city center while you watched him. That was even before Finch tried to get a read on him. If there is something more going on, I advise you to tell me. I can’t help you if you don’t let me.”
Deianira watched Salem for a while. It was true, there was something more. But Deianira didn’t know what it was either. If she knew, perhaps she wouldn’t be so twisted up over it.
Nodding, she said to Salem “I have no interest in him. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way.” That was partially a lie. “Tell Hewn to find out what he can about him. I will review the data personally.” At her sentinel’s unsatisfied breath, she amended. “We will review it.”
Cade
“Hey.”
Cade jumped and quickly turned to look behind him. There stood Devin, naked as the day he was born.
“You okay?”
Cade narrowed his eyes. “Seriously? You couldn’t wait until I was done?” He gestured to himself, just as bare.
“Ah. Sorry about that. But for real, are you good? That cut looks real nasty.” He reached out a finger to poke the gash above Cade’s eyebrow.
Cade stepped back, his lips parted in disbelief at Devin’s lack of social awareness. Shaking his head, he turned off the shower and reached for his towel, wrapping it around his waist.
“I’m fine.”
He wasn’t fine. He didn’t know what he was, but it certainly wasn’t fine. After that display in the arena, he should have been furious. Honestly, a small part of him was, but above all, he was confused. He didn’t understand the Queen’s actions towards him. One second livid, the next concerned. But even more than that, he couldn’t understand his need to figure her out rather than despise her. She had attacked him but instead of sulking or being embarrassed, he felt the strangest inclination to get closer to her.
Those eyes. There was so much behind them. Looking into her eyes earlier, he had felt more at ease than he had since his arrival, which was odd because she looked at him like she wanted him dead. He needed to get inside her head. His abilities as an empath only allowed him to know what she was feeling in the moment, but her thoughts and motives were still a mystery to him.
That line of thought struck a question in Cade’s head. Flicking his head back to Devin while dressing, Cade looked around before speaking.
“What are you, anyway?” Devin cocked his head at him, confusion written all over his face. Lowering his voice, as if telling him a secret, Cade adjusted his question. “Your gift, I mean. What are you?”
“Oh. I’m a warlock. But don’t ask me to do any tricks, I didn’t grow up very rich and I have like a hundred siblings so my parents didn’t have enough money to send me to a school that catered to my specific ability.”
He wondered whether he should tell Devin about his gift but he hadn’t known him for long and the fewer people that knew he was gifted, the better. It was his only advantage.
“Oh, cool.”
Both dressed, Cade gathered his commissary and started towards his bunk. Of course, Devin followed.
“I mean, I learned a few spells here and there so I’m not completely useless, but I’m not that good. If I was, I wouldn’t be here.”
That made Cade pause. He knew that everyone in the program was here for a reason, but Devin’s childlike nature made him overlook the fact that he was a criminal too.
“Why are you here?” Cade asked carefully.
Devin burst into a fit of laughter, clumsily swinging his body up onto his bunk.
“You know when people say ‘love makes you crazy’?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Well, my girlfriend’s a baker and her old boss was a premium asshole. One day she told me that he’d made some remarks about her food.” Devin’s eyes darkened momentarily before shining with amusement once again. “So I told her to get a new job and when she did, I set his house on fire.” His humor only seemed to increase. “I tried to use a cloaking spell to conceal myself when I was leaving. Emphasis on the word ‘tried’,” he smirked. “He wasn’t in the house though.” He sighed regretfully as if that was a hiccup in his plan.
Cade looked at him. Blinked. Before, he would never have thought that Devin could commit such a crime but he was beginning to see a slight edge to him. It was the way he laughed while recounting the story casually as if it was a funny, nostalgic anecdote that concerned Cade. Not knowing what to say, he simply nodded and slowly continued tucking his things under his bunk.
The sound of the door sliding had everyone turning toward the entrance. As Hewn stood in the doorway, Cade remembered the way that everyone had reacted when he was first brought into the dorms and made quick work of dropping his things and moving to stand next to Devin in front of his bunk. Hewn’s boots were the only sound heard in the room as he walked down the aisle and stopped directly in front of Cade.
What did I do now?
“Hands,” was the only thing Hewn said.
Instinctively, Cade put his hands out in front of him before a thick pair of handcuffs were slapped onto his wrists. Hewn said nothing as he gripped Cade’s upper arm and began walking him toward the entrance.
He looked back at Devin who stared at him along with the rest of the inmates, just as confused.
Considering that he had been in a constant state of confusion since his arrival at the Dome, Cade just went with it and hoped for the best. That didn’t do much to ease his anxiety though as the Queen’s words replayed in his mind.
It can and will get worse.
As Cade let his eyes drift around the sterile, white room that he had been escorted to only minutes ago, he began to wonder if the whole thing was some sort of test. On arrival, he was instructed to sit on the low table, one of the only pieces of furniture in the room, and he had been sitting there ever since. Looking up into the corner of the room, he noticed a small white box with a black circle in it and a little red light, blinking at him. He’d seen all types of weird things since arriving at the Dome so he let his eyes pass over it without much interest. No one had come in or out and his anxiety rose by the second. Was he supposed to do something, say something, escape?
Just as Cade went to rise from where he had been sitting, the door slid open revealing a beautiful blonde woman with a beaming smile.
“Hi, I’m Octavia.” She gave him a small wave as she entered the room.
After a few seconds of her looking at him expectantly, he responded. “Cade.”
Her smile seemed to get even bigger. “Oh, I know,” she said, eyeing him. Refocusing herself, she went on. “Well, Cade, I’m here to check injuries. I’m a witch. Healer in training.” She giggled. “Usually I would assist my father but he’s not available at the moment.” She moved to the other side of the room and opened a drawer, seemingly trying to keep herself busy. Turning to look over her shoulder at Cade, she said, “If you could just take off your shirt, I’ll have a look and see what I can do.”
He was reluctant.
“Don’t worry, I’ve done this before.”
That wasn’t his concern but still, Cade obeyed slowly, warily. Lifting his right arm to get his shirt over his head, he winced as he felt that familiar throbbing pain in his rib, prompting Octavia to rush over to help him.
“Thank you,” he mumbled.
She looked into his eyes, their faces only inches apart. “No problem. Just doing my job.”
Cade looked away first. Stepping back to survey the damage, Octavia grimaced.
“Okay, so I don’t think that your nose is broken and most of your facial wounds are superficial but I can still offer some pain relief for that.”
She stepped closer again and gently placed her hand on Cade’s side.
“You definitely have a broken rib or two so I’ll speed up the healing process and you should be back to normal in no time.”
Cade only nodded. She took a deep breath and began muttering words under her breath while moving her hands over his skin.
While she worked, Cade couldn’t help but notice the way her eyes kept finding his as the tension slowly began to build in the room. He didn’t need to look too deep to get a read off of her. Her lust was palpable. Cade knew lust.
A number of women in his sector had made advances toward him but he almost always found himself uninterested. Not that there was anything wrong with them, he just didn’t like new people, they made him feel uncomfortable.
Emotions were often relative and the intensity of them varied from person to person, so he preferred to stick to those whom he had already acclimated to. Besides, as the Head Councilman’s son, he knew that a great deal of them were only interested in his name, in rolling around with ‘the rebellious son of the Head Councilman’, so he found himself going back to the same particular few who were genuine enough.
Octavia, however, seemed genuine. The type of girl he might have gone for in his back sector, but he’d only been in the Dome for a few days and that was ignoring the fact that he was essentially in prison. Now wasn’t the time.
“All done!”
Cade took note of how her hands lingered on his chest for a few seconds longer than necessary before she removed them.
Giving her a quick ‘thank you’, Cade rotated and picked up his shirt when quickly noticed that the pain in his side was gone. He began moving his arms and twisting from side to side in awe of how his aches had instantly subsided.
Octavia giggled when she saw his face. “Pretty cool, huh?”
For the first time since he’d been brought to the Dome, Cade felt a genuine smile touch his lips.
“Yeah, it is.” He didn’t expect it to work that quickly.
“Don’t go getting yourself hurt again,” she said conversationally. “I doubt Her Majesty would feel so generous next time.”
That had Cade looking up. “What do you mean?” he asked, on edge all of a sudden.
Octavia blanched. “Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. I just meant that she put in a request for you to be seen by my father. I’m sure that if you got hurt again she’d allow you to be treated.” She nodded reassuringly. “Besides, even if my father couldn’t, I’d be more than happy to see you.” She emphasized the last sentence with a smirk.
Cade absently smiled back at her while trying to order his thoughts.
So the Queen had been concerned about how he got his injuries, then strangled him, and now she was requesting for him to be seen by a healer.
Now more than ever, he wanted to know what was going through her mind.
Cade resolved in himself that he would thank her when he next got the chance, and hopefully get close enough to get a better reading.
