Page 50 of Magic of Sins

“Get in, Miss Ashton! I’ll take you to him. He’s waiting for you.”

I don’t want to go with her, but what choice do I have? Caden’s the only one who can perhaps help me control my powers. And they need to be controlled, there’s no doubt about that. Not anymore. I’m still reeling from the commotion in the library. If I don’t do something about my powers, I’m going to kill somebody.

“Don’t look so pained,” Rey says as I step up beside her and sigh. “Caden sure knew what he was doing when he asked me tobabysit you.”

I should have known she wouldn’t do anything without Caden’s say-so. I guess the only reason I was able to leave his mansion yesterday was because he allowed it.

I climb into the back seat without saying another word. I hardly notice the drive through the streets of Virtue. I can’t stop thinking about the fact that my life is in ruins. I can never show my face in the library again. My foster mother can never know what I really am, and Ava… I don’t know how she’ll react if I ever tell her. But me being at our apartment puts her in danger.

“We’re here.”

Rey’s voice snaps me out of my gloomy thoughts. We’ve stopped outside Caden’s mansion. It feels like only seconds have passed since I left; the shock of what he revealed to me is still fresh.

Caden is already leaning in the frame of the front door when I get out. Maybe he saw the car approaching from a distance. Maybe he just figured I’d come crawling back to him. After all, I rely on his help. Without it, I’ll never get a grasp of my powers. Just thinking about it makes me feel sick to my stomach. Every step feels heavy. I fight back tears again.

“It’s going to be okay,” Caden says, a gentleness in his voice that calms me.

He takes a step aside so I can enter, and I walk past him without looking at him, stopping in the hallway, unsure of what to do now.

“Do you want some tea?”

“I think I need something stronger.”

Caden huffs in amusement at my words but goes into the kitchen and comes back a second later with two glasses and a bottle.

“Let’s go into the living room,” he suggests.

I follow him and sit down on the sofa, watching him fill theglasses with the brown liquid. He hands me one of them. I sniff at it, suspicious.

“What is this? Whiskey?”

The smell is familiar. One time, Ava let me smell an old bottle she got from her late father and guards with her life.

“You don’t have to drink it,” Caden says instead of answering my question.

Yes, I do.

I down the drink, the alcohol burning in my throat and making me cough. I thought the tequila tasted disgusting, but this stuff is in a class of its own.

Caden laughs.

“You don’t waste any time, do you?”

I guess I don’t.

I had hoped that the alcohol would calm me down and make me a little indifferent, but so far, nothing feels different.

“Pour me another one!” I demand.

Instead, Caden takes the glass from me and sets it aside.

“You’re not in control of your powers, are you?” he asks gently. “You feed on others without meaning to. That’s why you’re here.”

I bite my lip. Hearing it said out loud makes it even scarier.

Caden correctly interprets my horrified expression. Reassuringly, he places a hand on my forearm and squeezes it.

“You will learn to control them. I can show you how to do it. But in order for it to work you need to be clear-headed.”

---