Page 70 of Taken By Shadows

“They’ve asked for you.” She handed me the note. “The council. Just you. They don’t want anyone else.”

Denora looked at me, recognising the swirling riptide of panic that gripped me. “You will do fine. Just tell them what really happened.”

“I … It’s a blur.”

“But you can remember that Kaed stood between you and them? Tell them that. Someone is trying to paint it like he attacked you and carried you off.” I resisted the urge to scoff, as that is pretty much what he did the day we met. Today was different, though. Today, I owed him my life because of my choices.

“And the men he attacked?” I chewed my lip.

“Kaed didn’t do it out of malice. He did it to protect you,” Denora affirmed. There was no wavering in her voice.

He’d gone back to attack them. He’d been with me while I healed, but I’d not seen him after he left me at the bathing chamber. He’d hunted them down.

Gavrin had stopped him before …

Audrie took my hand and squeezed.

“You sure you want his future resting with the female he kidnapped?” I chuffed a pathetic laugh.

Did I really want to be that person? I wasn’t sure how I felt that his fate rested with me. It would be different if Denora or Gavrin had to speak on his behalf and I just had to nod in agreement. This felt like too much rested with me.

“Don’t tell them that part, maybe.” Denora winked.

“You care about him. Really,” I said, eyeing her.

The statement sobered Denora instantly. “I do. He’s capable of good. In his way. He’s just not good at showing that. He … I am his sentinel. Hayden’s Head Sentinel. But Kaed is my friend first. He always has been. I owe him more than either of us cares to remember.”

I wanted to ask Denora more, but now wasn’t really the time if I’d been summoned. Maybe that’s why they travelled together. There was more to it than simply lord and armed escort.

Audrie smiled at her words. “It’s because of him that I’m here at all.”

That surprised me.

“Kaedian, he had seen me. Noticed me in the library. I was working in the castle in Hayden.” Audrie hesitated like it was a silly story no one wanted to hear. But with a nod from Denora, she continued.

“He’d wanted a book. I was able to give him the reference that he was looking for verbatim. Even though he got the information he was after, he made me find the book to prove it was correct. He actually didn’t say anything after that, but the next day there was a letter saying I was going to Viverna to study at the expense of his family.”

“He saw your potential.” Pride coloured Denora’s voice.

I’d been prepared to be mad at Kaed for everything he’d put me through, but what Audrie and Denora had said softened a part of me.

But he was still the person who had upended my life.

I would release him.

We’d be even.

Chapter twenty-two

The council chambers were not what I had been expecting. I had imagined dark and gloomy cells and stuffy rooms.

Instead, an airy cavern like a temple greeted me. Bright white stonework wrapped around cool grey pillars, arches and alcoves punctuated every space. Tall ceilings and elegant stone carvings completed the ornate chambers.

I was escorted to a rotunda with a circular dais in the centre. Murmurs filled the room at my presence before I took to the stage when prompted.

The entire room had been designed like a work of art. The marbled flooring was in alternating concentric circles of black and white, each slab cut to the shape of feathers. Every wall was inlaid with gold veining, and twelve arches spanned the upper level. The glass dome above was impressively beautiful, but the heat of the sun boring down on me with its eye was nearly unbearable. The periwinkle blue dress I wore was a mistake. Its many layers and long sleeves were now causing me to boil inside it.

A council member sat in each of the arched frames on the upper level. I felt like an insect under scrutiny here. No doubt that was the design of the dais placement. I recognised only Councillor Carron from the night we’d arrived. And Celeste, of course.