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Cyrus shook his head, pain and anguish in his eyes. “I’m not, I swear it.”
Goddess, she heard the truth in his voice. Her betrothed stood in front of her.
I suppose we all have secrets.
Everything she’d built with the huntsman, Cyrus Skender, crumbled. Dread descended on Evelyn. All this time, it had been Kade. His questions about her secrets. Fishing for the reason she’d left her coven. Evelyn felt violated, manipulated. Why hadn’t he told her? Their first kiss, their dance at the festival, the words of encouragement he’d given her. Evelyn felt sick. He’d always known—pretending to care, pretending she meant something to him. She’d been ready to believe him. To tell Cyrus everything. She wanted to scream, to cry, to unleash her flame.
“I can’t sense your wolf. Why?” she whispered.
He hesitated, then reached to the collar of his tunic and pulled out a leather-braided cord, a knot tied at the center. Round and intricate. Evelyn had seen that type before. It buzzed, powerful. Not even her own magic would’ve detected it, not without seeing it first. She tunneled her magic toward it, investigating.
Evelyn gasped.
Her sister Blair’s magic laced the necklace. Her very own bloodline. Evelyn took a defensive step back, reaching out to the wards of the apartment. Nothing. Yet, a cold realization crept over her, her heart racing in her chest. What if her sisters knew where she was? What if the Elders and Alphas did, too? According to Tovi, she was supposedly at the Void with Kade. Was that no longer the ruse? Fucking flames, had the vampyrs learned of her absence?
Evelyn stepped over the overturned table and rushed to Kade. “Who knows I’m here?” Her voice came out hoarse as she shouted, desperate for answers. “Did you tell anyone?”
Kade shook his head as his eyebrows drew together. “What?”
“Did you tell anyone I left? That I’m in Callum?” she shouted.
“It is only me.” Kade raised his hands, concern flashing across his face. “No one knows I’m here.”
Only me.
“Evelyn, can we just talk?” Kade whispered.
“Talk?” Evelyn scoffed, clutching her chest as if her heart might beat out of it. “Talk about how you’ve been lying about who you are?”
“You’ve been lying all this time, too, Saige,” Kade said, using her fake name like a jab.
Evelyn balked. “That is different!” she hissed. “I was planning to tell you, to tell Cyrus. It’s why I invited you over to dinner. To come clean, to be honest, and what a fool I would’ve been, as you already know exactly who I am,” she said, her voice breaking.
Evelyn stared down at the dinner she’d made, the warm scent of meat pungent and overly rich. The spilled wine soaked into the floorboards. She’d been so nervous, so frantic. All for nothing.
Kade took a step toward her, proud and sure. He tilted his head, a gleam in his stare that put Evelyn on guard.
“You had me over for dinner just to be honest about your true name?” He raised a brow, surveying her, his implication as clear as Callum’s sky after three days of spilling rain.
He knew.
Evelyn’s heart dropped even further than it already had.
You’re nothing.
Evelyn grimaced, the words reminding her that it didn’t matter that he recognized they were—what did werewolves call it? Mates? Evelyn didn’t have the energy to care. It was in his eyes; he knew what he was to her. She shut out the memory of his arms around her moments ago. His lips. His touch. Her heart felt torn and bruised as the worst truth of all settled over her. She could never have this, never have him.
Her fated.
Because he was Kade Drengr, the Son of the God, tied to the prophecy she could not fulfill without her flame. If they chose each other, they’d travel home. The Elders and Alphas would expect them to defeat the darkness, but how long would it take before others learned of her lost flame? Before the vampyrs learned of it? Evelyn, for the sake of her heart, would put the entire continent at risk. As a protector, Evelyn couldn’t entertain the possibility of war, even if it meant not being with Kade.
He took one step and then another until he reached her, nose to nose. The flecks of gold in his eyes tugged at her aching heart. What she’d give to reach out, to rub the anguish from his tight brows, thread her fingers through his beard, and soothe his ticking jaw.
Evelyn kept her hands by her sides, nails digging into her palms.
“I’m sorry,” Kade said, reaching out to run his thumb over her cheek. He caught a tear Evelyn hadn’t even known she’d shed. She closed her eyes, shuddering at his touch. He cupped her cheek, making her look at him. “I should’ve told you, and I’m sorry.”
His apologies made Evelyn weak, made her second guess. Evelyn shook her head, fighting the pull to lean into him, to forgive him, to be honest.
