Page 174 of Taken By Shadows

“Come with me.” His words were muffled as he moved my hair with his lips.

The orchid-covered spiral staircase cocooned us as Kaed led us up and away from the crowded party floor.

I looked down from our winding balcony to the tropical forest of leaves and revellers below. It camouflaged the partygoers under a blanket of green dotted with tiny bobbing fae lights. I could make out the occasional sparkling dress or tray of effervescent wine. But the noise of the world below was a hum instead of a roar from up here.

“Thank you,” I breathed, turning to him.

For once, I was taller. He’d taken up a lower step position, and it was strange to see him from this angle.

“I am sorry.” Pain flickered across his expression as he clenched his mouth.

“You didn’t do anything.”

“That’s the point. I didn’t do anything. I should have been there.” His jaw was set, and he looked away as he spoke.

“Shhh,” I soothed, and took a step down to him. “Eryk did this. Huxley did this. They would have only hurt you if you’d been there.”

“Eryk will not survive this,” he said, almost to himself. “I won’t let him.”

I thought about Eryk then. I’d followed him so easily. And I couldn’t say why. “His magic … What is it?”

Kaed regarded me then.

“It’s just. It felt strange to follow him, but I couldn’t find the will to be afraid as I was doing it.”

“I don’t know for certain where his talent lies, but it sounds like he can influence people. Or at least subdue their instincts.”

My face paled at that.

Had that been why I’d kissed him so easily when he’d asked for it? Why I’d felt so at ease around him since the moment I met him. He was charming outwardly. But there was something more there. Something that felt innocuous at first. Like a single spider’s web. Harmless. But with enough strands and time, you’d end up tied down and helpless.

A sharp inhale sliced through me.

“You might have hit upon something there. If Eryk can persuade people to do things they might not naturally do, perhaps that’s part of his plan. There are only twelve seats. He needs seven members of the council to approve his appointment, and an eighth to stand down or be removed.”

I thought about the implications of someone with the power of influence like that taking a seat on a body that was meant to vote and judge fairly. What if Eryk used his power to shape what he wanted from the city?

“How do we stop him?”

Kaed ground his jaw. “We have to find him first.”

Ice distilled in my veins.

“We will find him,” Kaed said and rubbed at my arms to thaw my frigid stance.

“We should be out looking.” I tried to skirt past him on the stairs, but he blocked the entire walkway.

“You said it yourself we cannot disappear right after Eryk has. Stay. Please.” The way his voice softened as he pleaded with me was enough. And I stopped to look up at him.

“Are you sure you don’t have the power to influence people to do what they don’t want to do?”

He laughed and came a little closer. “Trust me, peach. I couldn’t influence you to do anything.” He took a step up, and I matched him, backing away.

It felt like he was coming after me again, like he had the first time we’d been alone here. Every fibre of my being awoke to that thought.

“I’m sure you have ways you could convince me to do things.” The purr in my voice was something I was getting used to around Kaed. The drop in my tone to a hidden, more secretive part of me.

Shadows darkened the air around us, and then Kaed was the only thing I saw. Distantly, I was aware of the party and the fae lights below. But Kaed had shuttered us into a seductive darkness. Intimate. Private. In front of everyone.