A loud snore woke Cade.
Blinking his eyes sleepily, he tried to get up but quickly noticed the foot laying over his chest. Leaning up on his elbows, he looked down at the owner of the leg. They had each been given a room but chose to stay in Cade’s last night. After the time spent apart, they didn’t want to leave each other’s sight. Lia lay with her head on the opposite end of the bed, her thick hair draped over her face, mouth open, snoring loud enough to wake the palace. Cade couldn’t contain his smile.
Lia had walked for almost two weeks through the forest with his little brother to get to him. Then on arrival, she managed to convince Deianira, Queen of the Dome, to let his brother walk free. She was truly amazing.
A noise from the bathroom drew Cade’s attention from Lia. Cassian.
He hadn’t managed to talk to his brother much since his arrival and felt like there was so much more to be said. Removing her leg as carefully as possible, so as not to wake her, Cade rolled off the bed and headed to the bathroom.
As he opened the door, Cassian’s head turned to him from where he’d been standing at the sink. He wore the same plain black shirt and trousers that they were all given when assigned their rooms. Cade held his fingers to his lips until he closed the door behind himself.
“Are you okay?” Cade started.
“Yeah,” was all Cassian said.
Cade watched his brother. He wasn’t doing anything. Just standing in front of the mirror. He looked pained.
“Thank you,” Cade whispered. “For keeping her safe.”
Cassian snorted. “It was the other way around.” As soon as the words left his lips, the smile slowly slid off his face. “The word ‘sorry’ doesn’t seem to cover it,” he said quietly.
Cade’s brows lowered in confusion. “For what?”
Cassian seemed just as confused now. “Are you serious, Cade?” When Cade only cocked his head at him, he carried on. “You’re here because of me. You were minding your business and I dragged you into this shit…”
“You didn’t ask me to do that.” Cade cut him off. “And I’m here because I didn’t mind my business.” He laughed quietly before sobering. “I spoke up. That was my decision, and I’d do it again,” he said earnestly.
“But I didn’t say anything either.” Cassian shook his head. “I should’ve.”
“So we could both get locked up? ‘Cause that would’ve been real smart.”
Lowering his voice, Cade started again. “My point is, you don’t need to ask me to protect you. I would do it anyway. And as you can see, I’m very much alive so you don’t need to be sorry either.”
Cassian’s eyes glistened as he met Cade’s. A knock at the door had them both turning.
“Once you guys are done kissing and making up, we need to talk!” Lia called through the door.
Cade huffed out a laugh and shook his head.
“I didn’t see his face, I only know that it’s a guy. You were in so much pain, I could practically feel it.”
Cade nodded, taking it in. He’d already assumed that whoever poisoned Devin would try again since he failed the first time. He just couldn’t work out what they stood to gain from his death. Lia said that they were trying to get information out of him, but the attempt was aiming to kill him. It didn’t add up.
“Okay, I know you’re emotionally constipated but you are taking this a lot better than you should be. What’s going on?”
Cassian hid a laugh behind his fist.
“Emotionally constipated?” Cade looked at his best friend, offended.
Lia rolled her eyes. “Let’s be honest, you don’t have a very wide range, but don’t try to distract me. What aren’t you telling me?”
Under his breath, Cade rushed his next words out. “They already tried to kill me.”
Cassian’s humor faded and Lia stopped fiddling with the bedsheet.
“Excuse you?” she said, her head cocked back.
Sighing, Cade went on. “Last week, someone tried to poison me. I don’t know who and I don’t know why, but they tampered with my drink. I didn’t get hurt though, a friend did.” Lowering his voice, he continued carefully, eyes down to the bed. “He died actually. Deianira had to restore him.”
Both of them paled before speaking at the same time.
“What?”
“He died?”
“Poison?!”
“What do you mean ‘restore’?”
“What the fuck is wrong with you, Cade?!” The last question was Lia’s.
Brows drawn together, he tilted his head at his friend.
“I tell you that someone tried to kill me and you ask what’s wrong with me?”
“Yes, what is wrong with you?” She stood. “Someone is actively trying to murder you and you’re sitting around like it’s an everyday occurrence!” she snapped, arms thrown out. “Your friend actually died! That could’ve been you, you should be ten sectors away right now!”
Cade held his hand up defensively. “First of all, he’s completely fine now.” He corrected himself. “Okay, not completely fine but that’s beside the point. We’re both alive. And, why would I run? As you said earlier, whoever it was is really determined, so running would only delay it and put me in more danger because I’d be alone. Right now, the safest place for me is right here.”
Lia watched him for a few moments before rolling her eyes and flopping back onto the bed.
“Whatever, you’re right. I miss the old Cade that didn’t argue with me.”
“Too bad.” He grinned.
Cassian held a hand up. “So no one’s gonna answer my question? What the hell does restore mean?”
Oh yeah. He should probably fill him in.
Walking into the cafeteria, Cade found himself watching the entrances for any sign of Deianira. It felt like he was seeing her less and less. The last time he’d gone this long without seeing her, he wasn’t so sure, but she had to be avoiding him now. He’d even taken different routes around the palace to get everywhere, hoping to run into her, but she was nowhere to be found. She didn’t want to be found. Their interrupted kiss left things unclear and he just wanted a second alone with her.
Refocusing his attention on the people with him, Cade could just tell that Cassian was dying to ask him more questions.
“Just ask,” Cade told his brother as they joined the line.
“So you can, like, read my mind?” Cassian whispered.
“Nope, just emotions. But they can give you a good idea of what someone’s thinking.”
“That’s kinda cool,” he muttered as they moved up the line.
“Not always,” Cade replied evenly. “You don’t just know what someone’s feeling, you feel it too, so negative emotions can be pretty suffocating. Plus, everyone feels things differently and has different thresholds for them. Sometimes, I have to be around someone for a while before I can gauge their feelings accurately.”
“I think I take the cake when it comes to shitty gifts,” Lia piped up behind them. “It comes in handy sometimes but I can’t even control mine.”
True, Cade thought.
“Where the fuck have you been?!”
Cade whipped his head in the direction of the voice from across the cafeteria as the room went silent. Devin, face furious, left his table and came marching up to Cade and his companions, uncaring of the looks being thrown his way. Cade couldn’t help but smile. So dramatic.
“Devin, meet my friend, Lia, and brother, Cassian.”
“Hey.” Devin barely spared them a glance. “Again, where have you been?”
“Sit. I’ll catch you up.”
“So you’re the one who died?” Lia asked conversationally.
Cade kicked her under the table for her blunt question, but he should’ve known that Devin wouldn’t be offended.
“Yep, and back from the dead.” He smirked proudly, digging into his food.
“Huh. What was it like?”
“I’d love to tell you some bullshit about seeing the Gods and walking into the light but I don’t remember a thing.” Devin sighed. “Speaking of,” he turned to Cade. “This whole deal isn’t so bad. I’ve got my own room now, huge bed.” He smiled. “I get to train alone with Hewn too, and I’ve actually learned a few new spells.”
“Spells?” Cassian asked.
“Warlock,” Cade, Lia, and Devin said simultaneously.
Cassian nodded and gestured for them to continue. Devin picked up his napkin and placed it in the center of the table.
“Watch this.”
He focused on the napkin and began mumbling under his breath. And nothing happened. Cassian looked at Cade, his expression half-bored, half-amused.
“Give it a second…” Devin assured them and resumed his mumblings.
Then, very slowly, the napkin began to rise from the table. At Devin’s wide grin and continued mumblings, it began to float in the air, making its way around the table. Cade quietly laughed at Cassian’s awe-struck expression. Lia looked just as amazed as the napkin floated over her head. That was before it promptly burst into flames. She screamed and started aggressively slapping her head.
“Shit!” Devin screeched.
“What is it with you and fire?” Cade hissed, fanning the remnants away from Lia’s hair.
“Sorry. I’m still getting a handle on the control part.”
“Yeah, I can tell,” Lia spat, pulling her curls apart, looking for cinders.
As they returned to their meals, Cade noticed a strange look in Cassian’s eye across the table.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I just thought of something,” Cassian replied, shaking his head.
“What?” he inquired. He was surprised at how easy it felt to speak to his brother now. They never had this before.
Cassian frowned. “How come you guys have gifts when you were born in the western sector?”
Cade opened his mouth to give him a vague idea but Devin, the history buff himself, answered for him.
“Well, way back before the Dome was put up, gifted and non-gifted people lived together. They’ll tell you that we were constantly at war and it was built to maintain peace, but that’s a load of crap.” He waved a dismissive hand. “The King at the time wanted a superior nation, to rule the most powerful people there were, but unfortunately, the non-gifted ‘weakened the gene pool’,” Devin said with air quotes. “So he cast the Dome to separate us. Problem was, some people didn’t want to separate from their friends, husbands, wives, and loved ones. So they didn’t. Some chose one side, some chose the other, but you won’t find a human here. No, after the divide went up, the non-gifted in the Dome were either killed or bred out. On the outside, however, there are a few but their abilities aren’t usually that strong.”
Cade stared at him, taken aback. He was kind of glad that Devin had interrupted him because he couldn’t have given Cassian an explanation half as detailed as that.
“So, if it’s genetic, then why don’t I have a gift but Cade does?” Cassian asked Devin.
“That, brother, I cannot tell you.” Good question. Cade had never actually thought about that.
Lia leaned in. “Not to get your hopes up, but I read that some people present later. It’s not likely, but it’s possible.”
