Page 59 of Find My Way Down to You

“Would you deny a prince?”

I hesitate. A party is the last thing I want to attend. But it’s another chance to get back here. To finish what I couldn’t today. Besides, when I glance over my shoulder to that spot on the white carpet where Leila was, a shiver ghosts through my muscles.

Denying Milos means I could end up like her.

“No,” I finally say.

Delighted crinkles form around his eyes. “I look forward to seeing you soon, August.”

A cold, inescapable quiet blooms between me and Cary.

In the elevator. Through the long room of statues and dancing flowers. Into the garden.

He doesn’t utter a single word.

I’m forced to double-time my steps to keep up with him. When I’m shoulder to shoulder with him, I ask, “Is Aminta a Deathless too?”

Eyes forward, he says, curtly, “No.”

“What is she?”

Milos clearly trusts her. Enough for her to always be by his side. To record the fates of souls. I need to know more about her. A way to earn her favor and get my hands on that tablet.

After Cary ignores my last question, I change tactics. “Is there something going on between her and your brother? I don’t want to assume, but, like. She seems very protective of him.”

His silence continues.

“And,” I go on, “if she’s worried I’m trying to get between them—”

Finally, Cary stops. “What happens here is none of your concern.”

His eyes are as gold as a wolf’s. Irritation is drawn into every precise line of his face. I stumble back, blinking.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Cary clenches his jaw. A soft breeze rustles through his hair. The ends stand up like when Poppy tousled them earlier.

I bristle. How did I let myself get used to that side of him? Or the one from the Meadows? He’s still that scowling, obnoxious boy I met at the pizzeria.

“Why are you like this?”

He lifts a thick brow. “Why are you?”

I snort, exhausted from trying to be nice to him. “You’re so—” I don’t finish, stomping ahead of him.

His heavy footfalls follow.

“Are you going to act this way when I come back for the party?” I grumble.

“You are not coming back.”

I whip around to face him. Fury races through me. “What do you mean?”

The sky frames him in burning pinks and golds. “You cannot return,” he repeats, like that explains anything. Like that one statement doesn’t cut me to the bone.

“Why?” I demand.

My hands shake. Every breath feels suffocatingly short. Cary can’t keep me away when I’m just beginning to learn more about Aides.