Page 67 of Magic Forsaken
At some point after I realized I had no more responsibilities, the tension of the accident finally started to drain from my body, leaving me limp, exhausted, and feeling a little like crying. Since no one needed me, I sidled up to the closest wall, leaned against it and closed my eyes. I probably could have slept for a week, but just as I was contemplating the thought of my bed and my pillow, I sensed someone’s approach and opened my eyes to see Callum watching me with unconcealed worry.
I wasn’t ready to argue again. Didn’t really want to fight with him. But if I had to…
“Are you ready?”
Our gazes clashed—scruffy, singed little me versus the king of the shapeshifters. He looked weary. Determined. Significantly worried, but still steadfast. Unyielding. As if the fate of theworld rested on his battered shoulders and he was belligerently insisting he could take more.
“Ready for what?” I asked cautiously.
He regarded me steadily. “To go meet Leith.”
A tiny flower of warmth blossomed in my chest. “Yes.”
“Promise that you’ll tell me if you’re in pain, or feel like you can’t breathe. If you start feeling anything at all out of the ordinary, we’re going to get you checked out.”
I scowled, but nodded. It was a fair compromise.
“And we’ll stop by your place so you can change out of those clothes. Otherwise, I’m afraid I might get myself arrested for employee endangerment.”
I looked down at myself and grimaced. He wasn’t wrong. My once immaculate white shirt was ripped and stained with blood, while my pants were torn in three places.
But I couldn’t let him come home with me. Couldn’t risk him meeting Kes, Logan, or Ari.
“I’ll walk home and change and meet you back here,” I promised. “Twenty minutes, tops.”
“I’ll drive you,” he insisted. “We can leave from there.”
I shuddered a little as I contemplated getting into another car right at that moment. I’d known those custom vehicles were meant to withstand attacks, but it hadn’t occurred to me how those same modifications could become a death trap under the wrong circumstances.
“Sorry, but no.” And a part of me truly was sorry. The part of me that felt exhausted, bruised, and alone. Wishing there was someone else in the world that I could share my burdens with. But even if there was… that person was not the king of the shapeshifters. “I need to do this on my own.”
Callum’s arms folded over his chest as pure frustration flashed across his face. “So it’s okay for you to go off by yourself, but not me?”
When I didn’t answer, he took two steps closer, his head tilted and his gaze pointed. “If you’re worried about betraying your secrets, I already know where you live. Hotel Idria. Second floor, room two-oh-eight.”
I know my face must have blanched, but he just kept going.
“There are three others in the room, one female around six years old, one male around thirteen, and a female in her twenties. They rarely go outside and are wary of strangers, but frequent the rear garden of the hotel after dark.”
I tried to step back, away from him, but there was nowhere to go.
“You came to Oklahoma City in a stolen Mercedes, fae diplomatic plate L35T981, which you left hidden in an abandoned garage three blocks from the hostel. According to the human government and all of the Idrian courts, there is no record of your birth, but your name can be found buried deep in the Colorado foster system. All photos and fingerprints have been deleted, but the child who matches that name was estimated to be ten years old, with dark hair and dark eyes.”
The blood was rushing in my ears. Heart pounding out the unforgiving rhythm of failure. I wondered briefly, wildly, if I could kill him if I had to, but then I remembered the second dragon and recognized the impossibility of dealing with both of them.
“How?” My voice was hollow. “How did you know all that? And more importantly, why do you even care?”
“You’re working for me,” he said impatiently. “Did you really think I wouldn’t ensure that I understood your weaknesses? At least enough that I could shield them from my own enemies?”
I had. In my head, this job had been no different from what Faris had hired me to do. But Callum was playing a different game, by very different rules. I did not blame him for it, but I did blame myself for not anticipating his ruthless thoroughness.
But even if he thought he understood, he couldn’t possibly. He was still talking to me calmly, as if we were allies.
“Fine.” There was no going back now. No way to undo the damage my foolishness had done. My only chance was to pretend with every fiber of my being that the secrets he’d uncovered were all the secrets I had to hide. “You know the truth. What are you planning to do about it?”
“I’m planning to make sure you live to see another day.” Callum’s voice had gone deep again—the dragon peeking through once more. “That means no going off by yourself when we’ve just been attacked.”
Still, I hesitated. He had no idea what he was asking. How vulnerable I would have to be in order to accept this.