Page 59 of High Stakes

“And somehow you are the best,” I finished.

“In this time, perhaps.” He put his hands in his pockets and looked down. “But I fear that fate is something that will ardently refuse to be changed. What if you tell me about my future self and it changes nothing?”

I gently touched his upper arm. “What if it changes everything?”

Enoch turned to me, staring into my eyes as if they were all that existed, and the mysteries of the universe could be found within the orbs. My chest felt warm and the breath eked from my body as I stared back.

Suddenly, a scream tore through the air from inside the castle, destroying the calm we had just started to feel since Asa’s departure.

Enoch was gone before I could comprehend that he’d taken off. I ran to the castle door and wrenched it open, running inside with darting eyes. The castle was eerily still. Rushing down a corridor, I collided with someone as I turned a corner. Enoch and I caught one another before we fell.

“It was nothing to be alarmed about,” he explained. “A woman is in labor. The babe is coming.” The tense lines that marred his brow earlier were gone. “I must speak to my siblings. Please stay close. I would like to spend the afternoon discussing... everything with you.”

I nodded my head. “Okay.”

An unsettled feeling fell over me as he turned to walk away. I was being watched. I turned around quickly, but no one was there. However, the torch flame flickered and danced on the wall as if someone had just passed by in a hurry.

Chapter Twenty-Four

* * *

I ran to find Titus. He came to his door, half-asleep, his hair matted on one side. “What’s wrong?” he asked, waking in an instant once he saw my face.

“Asa is here.”

Titus muttered a curse. “They travel fast.” He held the door open and gestured for me to come inside. “What do you think of him?” he asked curiously.

I took a moment to think, struggling to articulate my first impression of the elusive brother. “He’s nothing like Enoch or Terah.”

“What’s he like?”

“Cold. Scary,” I answered, shaken. “When he looked at me, it made my skin crawl.” I shivered at the thought. He made the entire earth crawl, and all the creatures in it.

Titus crossed the room and grabbed my hand. “Your tech is down again.”

“I know!” I answered, frustrated.

“Let me work on it,” he begged. “Let’s get it working and get the hell out of here. I have a really bad feeling about this.”

I nodded, even though I felt like I was betraying Enoch by agreeing to it. Even though I knew it was the right thing to do and we were wrong for coming here. We sat on his bed and Titus went to work, tapping into the circuits in the same sequence he’d used to restart it before. Something was wrong, though. Mine wouldn’t illuminate, no matter what he did. He tapped it soft, hard, and every pressure in between. Settling for brute force, he hit my hand with the heel of his palm.

Nothing happened.

“You have to go back without me.”

Titus looked up from my arm with steely resolve. “No.”

“You have to,” I reasoned. “Kael will know what to do. He can send you back for me.”

“Victor won’t allow that and you know it. It’s too big a risk.” He squared his shoulders. “I’m not leaving you behind.”

I pulled my arm away from him. “That’s really noble, Titus, but you might have to.”

He huffed. “Well, there’s one more thing I haven’t tried,” he hedged.

“What’s that?”

“Cutting it open and fiddling around with the cell itself.”

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