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“We can talk about it on the way to class.”
“Actually, we can’t.” He kicks the door shut behind him, the sound like a gunshot to my racing heart. “This is between you and me.” Cade stalks towards me as I inch back, trying to keep him at a safe distance.
Until the kiss yesterday, he’s been tolerable, but something changed in the moment Bexley approached us. Maybe I’m overthinking it, but it felt like I was being placed in the middle of some brewing war.
Whatever it was, I don’t want to end up in one of Cade’s games. We’ve all heard the whispers, the cruel and barbaric things he makes his peers do just to prove a point. To exact his power over them.
For as much as I hate to admit it, I hope that being his prosapia will afford me some protection.
My back finally hits the wall, and Cade slams his hand beside my head, making me startle. “You look good this morning, babe. I like seeing your skin bare.” He runs his thumb over my jaw, letting it slide down to my bottom lip and linger there. “But maybe I can put some color in your cheeks.” His mouth ghosts over mine, and I’m paralyzed but to accept his kiss. It’s only chaste. A quick touch. I exhale a shaky breath, and he chuckles.
“You’re so nervous around me, Mia.” His lip curves with dark intention. “I don’t bite, you know. Well, unless you beg.”
“What do you want, Cade?”
“I have something for you. A gift.”
“You do?” My stomach sinks as I flatten myself against the wall.
Cade steps back, slipping his hand into his pocket, and pulls out a small box.
“No,” I breathe, really hoping it isn’t what I think it is.
“Relax,” he chuckles. “It isn’t a ring… yet. Q thinks it’s too soon, and I’m inclined to agree. We need to let our relationship unfold… naturally.” His eyes darken, and I hate to imagine what he might be thinking right now.
“But like it or not, Mia, you are mine now, and I want people to know it.” He flips open the box, revealing a small pendant necklace. I lean in to admire the stunning filigree.
“It’s beautiful.” Even though it represents something I want no part of, I can’t deny how stunning it is. “Is that—”
“The Electi’s crest, yeah.”
My eyes shutter. Cade might not be putting his ring on me, but he’s stamping me with the next best thing. Most of the kids at Gravestone U don’t know what it really means, but there are those of the verus bloodline that do. They’ll see this for what it is. They’ll see that I’ve been claimed by an Electi.
“I had it made specially for you.”
“I… I don’t know what to say.”
“I have a feeling you’ll be thanking me soon enough.”
There it is again, the dark promise of things to come.
“Is this what you really want?” I blurt out. “To be chained to me for the rest of your life? I’m no one. You and Brook—”
“Having second thoughts?” His brows furrow, and I want to yell that I was never having first thoughts.
Me and Cade together is a disaster waiting to happen. I’m not prosapia material, cut out for a life of being arm candy and nothing more than a glorified maid.
I want more.
So much more.
“You don’t want me.” I lift my chin defiantly. Cade might scare me, but I refuse to show him even an ounce of fear. People like him feed off that.
“Yet here we are.”
“You can make them overturn the decision, Cade. No one has to know. Choose Brook, everyone will expect—”
“Enough,” he grits out, running a hand down his face. “Q’s decision is final. This, me and you… it’s happening Mia, whether you like it or not.”
