Page 73 of Somnium

Cadi nodded, pushing past the pang of longing that started to tug at her with the memory of the way Zoe had gushed about her first date with the other mythic that day in the park, back when Cadi still had hope for a friendship with the nymph standing in front of her. As if reliving the same memory, a look of pained regret flashed across Zoe’s delicate features, and she opened her mouth but quickly closed it again, then lowered her gaze to resume her fidgeting.

An old reflex needled at the back of Cadi’s mind, the urge to find a solution that would avoid conflict and make Zoe more comfortable, but she brushed it off. She’d given Zoe the chance to show up for her, and she hadn’t. Instead, she’d left her feeling alone when Cadi needed her the most. Why should Cadi sacrifice her peace?

After a moment, Zoe spoke, the strained silence apparently too much for her to deal with as she turned to leave. “Well I’d better go, I’m doing the prep classes for the Rite of Dedication coming up in a few weeks and I still need to study for tonight.”

Cadi gave a noncommittal nod, fully prepared to let the conversation end when a flicker of movement drew her eyes to the end of the aisle, where Elias was walking toward them, two cups of coffee clutched in his grip. He stopped when he spotted the two of them, and the muscles of his jaw tensed, his eyes drawing tight as he took a protective step forward.

Panic gripped her at the look on his face, and she darted forward to stop Zoe before she could come face-to-face with him. Cadi knew he could handle himself; she was more worried about Zoe. Judging by the way Elias was already seething, that exchange would not end well.

Elias knew Zoe was friends with Damon and how things had ended between her and Cadi, so there was no telling what he might say.

“How are the classes going?” she asked, trying her best to sound genuinely interested while discreetly signaling for Elias to back off. She let out a quiet breath when he stopped again, and gave him a small nod when he raised his eyebrows, silently checking that she was sure before he turned around and moved back toward the front.

Zoe turned back, her face lighting up at Cadi’s apparent interest. “Really great! I’m learning so much and it’s kind of a lot, but Celine and Da—” She cleared her throat and stopped herself before his name finished forming, making the wise decision to pivot. “There are lots of other people in the class, so it’s not so bad. Although, apparently the binding hurts at first, which I’m sort of nervous about, but it will all be worth it.”

“That’s great to hear,” Cadi said, forcing a smile to her face. “I’m really happy for you.”

She wasn’t sure how it was possible, but Zoe managed to smile wider. “Thanks! I’m really glad you’re doing well. Maybe I’ll see you at work sometime.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Cadi replied, though she knew the chances were almost zero because she had specifically requested a team that almost never overlapped with Zoe’s.

The nymph waved, her enthusiastic grin still stuck in place as she disappeared behind the shelves of the next aisle. Cadi let out a long breath as soon as she was out of sight, then moved to swap out the sandwiches in her hands for two fresh ones that didn’t bear the finger marks left behind from where she had been squeezing them.

She made her way to the front of the store, paid for their breakfast, and stepped back out into the humid air. It didn’t take her long to find Elias around the side of the building with his head tipped back against the concrete wall. He looked over as she approached, his eyes quickly scanning her for any sign of distress.

“Everything okay?” he asked as he handed her a cup. “I saw Zoe and thought Damon might be⁠—”

“He wasn’t,” Cadi assured him, squeezing his hand. “She just wanted to say hi. Asked how I’m doing.”

His posture relaxed, and a crooked smile lit his face. “And? How are you doing?”

Breathing a laugh, she leaned into him as he draped an arm across her shoulder, refusing to let the stress of the encounter take any more from her than it already had.

“You know, I’m actually doing pretty damn good.”

22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CADI

Cadi’s tennis shoes clattered to the floor, and she quickly stooped down to place them near the still present, yet slightly more controlled, cluster of footwear by her door. Two full weeks had passed since Elias’s snark about being the cleaner of the two of them and since then, Cadi had been determined to make him eat his words.

Still, she kept her eyes fixed in front of her as she crossed to her bedroom in an attempt to strategically avoid the rest of her cluttered apartment. It was a process, but she could proudly say she had a few things under control. The rest would fall into place. Eventually.

At least her place was small, and having a task to focus on during the week made it a little easier to be away from Elias. Cadi pressed the heel of her palm to her sternum, the small flutter in her chest that always showed up when she thought of him announcing its arrival with what felt like a playful tug.

Since the night of the storm, weekends had become their time to simply exist in the sanctity of his apartment before he inevitably had to slip off to The Crow or a meeting at the club in the early evening, then curled up next to her around 3 a.m. when he got home. Weekdays, however, were less predictable, which meant she was going on day three of withdrawals from his touch, and her heart was determined to remind her of that.

She quickly stripped out of her scrubs and tossed them into the pile of dirty clothes before sifting through the clean pile that sat next to it, tugging free a pair of jean shorts and a baggy t-shirt. It was safe to say that tackling her habit of leaving her laundry unfolded indefinitely remained at the bottom of the priority list.

A long sigh escaped her as she flopped down onto her bed and stretched out her limbs to each corner like a starfish. As much as she adored staying with Elias, his height often resulted in him lying diagonally across the mattress, which forced her to keep her own arms and legs in check to avoid maiming him in his sleep. It was nice to be able to spread out when she was at home.

With a grunt, she rolled onto her stomach, inching her body to the nightstand to retrieve her phone, where it still lay plugged in from the night before. She had somehow shut off her alarm in her sleep and left her phone behind in the morning rush. After the initial panic of realizing it was gone, the day without it had been strangely peaceful.

She’d briefly considered making it a habit to leave home without it more often, but decided maybe she should focus on controlling the chaos in her apartment first.

Unsurprisingly, she had very few missed messages, considering she only really texted two people. She scrolled through the collection of funny animal pictures Sera insisted on sending to her in lieu of any real conversation, still apparently set on avoiding anything that might accidentally morph into an interrogation. It wasn’t exactly what Cadi had hoped for when their communication had rekindled, but at least she was responding again.