Page 75 of Somnium

But she knew that if she walked away now, everything between them would shift, and her unresolved anxieties would poison every interaction until it tore her, and them, apart. And she didn’t want to be that woman anymore.

“Elias,” she began, planting her feet on the plush carpet. “What’s going on?”

He froze, but quickly covered his surprise with a look of forced confusion so transparent that Cadi might have laughed if she hadn’t been on the edge of a spiral.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

Cadi’s eyebrows shot up, and she gestured to the closed door behind him. “You won’t even let me inside …”

Elias huffed a tense laugh, waving a hand as if nothing about the way he was acting was even remotely weird. “Oh, I’m just in the middle of something. The place is a mess. Just bar stuff. Boring.”

She folded her arms over her chest and lifted a single eyebrow in a silent offer for him to try again. He was lucky he hadn’t dreamed of a career in politics because the man couldn’t lie for shit.

Elias shifted his weight, the look in his eyes becoming more desperate the longer Cadi held the silence, but she wasn’t about to cave. Something was up with him, and she wasn’t leaving until he either told her what it was or had the doorman drag her out.

His mouth was moving as if searching for the right words, or the right story, to explain away his behavior when the door behind him swung open. Elias flinched at the sudden movement, then spun around to reveal Sera standing behind him, her presence somehow strengthening Cadi’s resolve.

“E … that’s enough,” she said, fixing him with a solemn stare that seemed far beyond her years. “You’ve had your time. Let her in.”

A knot twisted in Cadi’s stomach at the authority in Sera’s voice. It was not unlike a mother telling her child something he didn’t want to hear. Elias’s head moved from Sera, to Cadi, then back before his shoulders slumped forward in defeat.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said, running a hand down his face and stepping back to let Cadi inside, only for her to freeze just past the threshold when she realized it wasn’t just Sera and Elias in the apartment. Despite having only seen their backs, Cadi knew immediately that the two men staring at her were the same ones she had seen leaving Elias’s office a few months ago.

The man with golden skin and a neatly trimmed black beard lounged on the sofa, a crystal lowball glass clutched loosely in his hand. His all-white suit and shirt glowed against his complexion in what seemed to be a deliberate contrast that made him look carved from sunlight itself. A soft smile curved his lips as his gaze met Cadi’s, and something about his presence soothed a small piece of her apprehension.

The other man leaned casually against the granite island, swirling his drink in lazy circles. His black suit and crisp white collar sharpened the look of his sun-kissed skin. Dark waves flowed back from his face, and a single gold hoop glistened in his ear, his entire being giving off the air of power and quiet command.

Something about him sparked a memory that had nothing to do with The Crow, but with the multitude of thoughts racing through her mind, Cadi couldn’t quite sort one thing from the other. So she didn’t try.

The pressure of Elias’s hand against her back reminded her that she was there for a reason, and staring at these two men was getting her no closer to the answers she sought.

“Why don’t you sit down, love,” Elias offered, beginning to guide her to the love seat. Cadi planted her feet and shook her head.

“No, I think I want to stand,” she said.

Her gaze darted between the four other people in the room, and her pulse began to race when she realized why they must all be gathered there. She voiced her thought before she could second-guess it. “Does this have something to do with those sigils?”

Elias stiffened beside her as the other two men exchanged shocked glances.

“Yes,” Elias replied, letting out a long sigh before he gestured to the man seated on the couch. “Cadi, this is Seth Amanti. He runs a private security firm that has contracts all over the city.”

Cadi lifted her hand in a small wave, and noticed that another tiny pulse of calm coursed through her when he dipped his head in a respectful bow.

“And this,” Elias continued, shifting her attention to the man in the kitchen, “is Kai Aurelian.”

Cadi straightened, the name solidifying the foggy memories she hadn’t quite been able to reach before. Flashes of news reports and magazine covers flew through her mind, and she realized why Kai had looked so familiar.

“Wait, like the Kai Aurelian?” she asked, her gaze darting between him and Elias. “As in Aurelian Shipping?”

Kai gave her a smug grin and lifted his glass in salute. “One and the same.”

Cadi pressed her fingers to her temples, a dull ache starting behind her eyes. She had come in here wanting answers but somehow only ended up finding more questions. Sure, now she knew who these men were, but that didn’t help her to understand why the head of a private security firm and the owner of the region’s most prolific shipping company were plotting a ritual with stolen sigils in her boyfriend’s apartment.

Maybe she should have sat down.

Silence hung heavy, and Cadi could feel the curious stares of everyone around her. Taking a deep breath, she pressed forward. There was no way she could stop now.

“Okay,” she said slowly, turning to look at Elias, “now, what do they have to do with the temple sigils?”