Page 81 of Somnium

“No.”

Cadi’s skin flushed hot, her attention pulled to where Elias still stood at the opposite end of the couch, arms crossed, his expression hard as stone as he held her locked in his stare.

She didn’t look away, indignation beginning to boil in her veins. After keeping this from her for months then practically making her drag it out of him, it didn’t seem physically possible for him to have enough audacity to brush her off so quickly, with just a single word, not even a discussion. She never imagined herself being this angry with him, but he was doing a good job at showing her how wrong she’d been.

Sera rose from the couch and took a step toward Elias to rest a hand against his shoulder. He didn’t even flinch at the contact, and Cadi was pretty sure she had yet to see him blink.

“It’s not a bad idea, E. With her help we could⁠—”

“I said no!” he snapped, tearing his gaze from Cadi to level Sera with a sharp look. It wasn’t directed at her, but Cadi could have sworn she still felt the bite of it from across the room. “She’s not a part of this. She won’t be a part of this, and that’s the end of it.”

Each word that came out of his mouth inched Cadi’s fury closer to its boiling point.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” she demanded, drawing his attention from Sera.

He let out a steadying breath, the lines of his face easing almost imperceptibly as he shook his head. “It’s too dangerous, love. I can’t let you do this. It isn’t your fight.”

His tone was soft in what she could only assume was his attempt to be comforting, to stem the mounting wrath that burned behind her eyes. But all it did was push her over the edge.

“Well, you don’t get to decide that for me,” she bit back, her retort echoing through the now-silent room.

Her gaze remained fixed on Elias, but she didn’t miss the way the three deities exchanged nervous glances, their uneasy looks suggesting they were silently weighing whether they should step in.

Or bolt.

If she hadn’t felt as though any attempt to speak at that moment would come out as a scream, she would have strongly suggested they go with the latter.

Elias’s fingers flexed and relaxed at his sides, the crack in his voice the only indication that he, too, was beginning to unravel. “Can we talk about this later?” he asked, his voice eerily soft.

Cadi folded her arms across her chest and rallied the final threads of her composure. A small piece of her hesitated, trying to pull back, but she shrugged it off. “No, actually, I’d like to talk about it now.”

Sera moved slowly to the bar where she grabbed the half empty bottle of alcohol before inching behind Elias and toward the door. “Maybe we should go,” she said, then gestured for her brothers to follow.

Kai and Seth didn’t need to be told twice. Rising from the couch as if it had been set on fire, they joined Sera as she hurried out of the apartment, pulling the door shut behind them with a sharp click that might as well have been a match set to a fuse.

Elias shook his head and pointed a single, commanding finger at her from across the room. “You’re not doing this.”

“Hmm,” Cadi rested her knuckles against her chin and screwed up her face in feigned consideration. “Yep, turns out that still isn’t your call.”

Elias’s low growl of frustration rumbled through the apartment as he ran a hand down his face. “Cadi …”

“No,” she interrupted, “you can’t seriously expect me to just sit on the sidelines while the two people I care about most in the world put themselves at risk to fix a problem I helped create.”

Elias threw up his hands, crossing to stand in front of her. “You didn’t know what was happening; you can’t take that blame.”

Cadi let out a biting laugh. “Yeah, me not knowing things seems to be the pattern for the evening, doesn’t it?”

Elias went still, sadness flooding his eyes. “I’m sorry I kept this from you,” he said, cautiously reaching out to rest his hand against her arm. Her throat constricted at the familiar comfort of his touch, but that touch—which she normally craved—had turned sour beneath the raw sting of her pain. She shook her head, shrugging away from him to stalk into the kitchen.

“It wasn’t supposed to take this long for us to figure this out,” he pleaded, following her. “I never wanted you involved.”

Cadi’s feet slammed to a stop, and she whipped around so fast she had to grip the counter to keep herself from swaying.

“Do you seriously not understand how much that fucking hurts me?” she yelled, “I trusted you. With every piece of myself, even when it scared the ever-loving shit out of me, and the entire time … there was this whole other part of your life that you just didn’t want me to be a part of. How am I supposed to take that?”

“I know. I’m sorry—I didn’t mean it like that,” he said. His face twisted with regret as he approached her. “This is a part of my life that was supposed to be over, but the harder I try to break free of it, the tighter his grip becomes, and the last thing I need is you throwing yourself into the middle of it.”

Cadi squeezed her eyes shut and spoke between clenched teeth. “You aren’t my keeper, Elias.”