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Ben came marching toward them.

“It was you.” He pointed a finger at Aidric. “You’re the reason he came here.”

Aidric turned to Mira. “We should go. I’d rather not have to kill a Caster.”

“You go ahead. I want to check on Ella.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

Ben had made his way to them, his face bright red. “Was this your plan all along? Get in Mira’s good graces and then bring your old master back and kill us all?”

Aidric’s eyes flickered, but he remained entirely still. “A rather laborious undertaking, don’t you think? If I wanted to kill you, Caster, I would have already done it ten times over.”

“So you want me to believe it’s a coincidence that Rakkley showed up with a swarm of Feeders the first time you come around?”

Oliver placed a hand on Ben’s chest. “Calm down.”

“Calm down? Am I the only one who can see this for what it is? Why would you ever trust him? Look what it’s gotten us.” He gestured around them at the chaos left in Rakkley’s wake.

But Rakkley hadn’t come because of Aidric. He had come for Mira. The thought hadn’t even fully sunk in yet—it was all too much.

“Rakkley was here for me,” she said quietly.

Aidric’s eyes narrowed disapprovingly. Clearly, he didn’t want Ben or Oliver to have that information. Not shocking, given that he never shared anything with anyone.

“You don’t have to protect him,” Ben said, once again dismissing her.

“I’m not. Rakkley talked to me. Apparently, I have something of his.”

“What could you possibly have?” Ben asked.

“I don’t know.”

Aidric grabbed her gently by her elbow. “Let’s check on Ella and leave.”

“You’re not going anywhere near her,” Ben hissed. “Mira can go by herself.”

Aidric inhaled slowly through his nostrils, like a dragon before it spewed fire. “Let me make something clear to you. I’m not letting her out of my sight. If this incident taught me anything, it’s that Casters are even more pathetically useless than I originally thought.”

Ben squared his shoulders, stepping in between Aidric and Mira. “The great protector,” he scoffed. “I’m not falling for that. I think you delivered her on a platter to your master.”

It was her fault. All of this. If she hadn’t come to this party, people wouldn’t be crying, hugging each other, and caring for the wounded. People could have died. It’s my fault.

“I told you to not trust him,” Ben snarled at Mira.

Aidric’s voice was cold when he spoke, and he didn’t take his eyes off Ben when he addressed Oliver. “Sullivan, I swear, if you don’t pull him away from her right now—”

“Then what?” Ben challenged.

Before anyone could find out, Oliver grabbed Ben firmly and pulled him along. “I’ll tell Ella you asked about her. She is going to be fine,” Oliver said over his shoulder as he walked Ben back to the house.

“Let’s leave,” Aidric said to her.

What if Ella had died?

“Mira?” he urged her. His eyes locked on hers.

She felt breathless, holding on to Aidric’s arms like he was the only solid thing in her life. The one stabilizing factor when everything around her was chaos.