Page 71 of The Umbra King

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Rory walkedthrough the door of Caius’ office bright and early the next morning, wearing a black silk blouse tucked into a tight, red skirt. The clack of her high heels on the marble floor made her feel powerful.

Caius was not yet sitting behind his desk thinking of new ways to annoy her, and she rummaged through it again.

She tugged on the drawer that once held Cora’s file, and it slid open easily, revealing a note inside.

It is not polite to go through someone’s things, Miss Raven.

Perhaps you need to be punished.

“Asshole,”she mumbled.

“What was that?” Caius’ deep voice asked as he closed the door behind him.

She toldhim to piss off with her eyes and closed the desk. “Where is my sister’s file?”

“Good morning to you, too,” he replied and opened one of the file cabinets behind her. “Here.”

He held out the envelope with Cora’s emergency report, and she tentatively took it. “Why are you giving this to me?”

He rolled up the sleeves of his black dress shirt and sat down behind his large desk. “You already know what it says. Why do you want it?”

She set the file on top of the filing cabinet and careened around the desk to sit in the chair opposite the king. “I don’t want you to have it.”

He stared at her for a moment before pulling out a handful of files from another drawer in his desk. “According to you, I was there. I should already know what is in that file as well.”

“If it wasn’t you, then who was it?” she demanded. “I saw you, Caius.”

His lips parted. “Say it again.”

Did he suddenly lose his hearing?“What?”

“My name,” he clarified. “Say it again. It will be good practice for when you scream it later.”

A deep blush stained her cheeks, and she momentarily lost her train of thought. “Answer the question.”

The rings on his hand glinted as he drummed them against the wood. “It wasn’t me. I’ve been locked in Vincula for almost five-hundred years, and if I broke the magic holding me here, your sister wouldn’t be the person I aimed to kill.”

She leaned forward in her chair. “Isawyou.”

He huffed out a laugh and shook his head. “You may have seen my face, but you didn’t seeme.” He leaned back and clasped his hands in his lap. “The emergency report of your arrest says the video surveillance showed a very large man answering the door to Mr. Witlow’s apartment when you arrived. It also says they found severalbottles of shapeshifting potions in his apartment, as well as an entire closet full of different sized clothes, yet no one else lived there, nor was anyone recorded leaving the apartment. Besides you, that is.”

She knew where this was going. “How would someone be able to shapeshift into you if no one but Samyaza and your siblings know what you look like?” she challenged. “Everyone else’s memories are wiped clean.”

“Why is it easier for you to believe I broke out of my contract just to kill your sister?” His voice was filled with indignation.

The seed of doubt bloomed. “I don’t know,” she admitted.

“If you stopped hating me for things I didn’t do, then this arrangement could be fun, Miss Raven.”

She was embarrassed and angry because what he said made sense. Why would he come to Erdikoa to kill a fifteen-year-old lamb shifter, and if he’d broken the magic holding him here, why doesn’t he ever leave?

Being back at square one made her want to pound her fists against a wall. She took a deep breath and stared him down. “You hate me for my crimes. It was only fair I hated you for yours.”

“Think what you wish,” he said as he stood. “Go through these and write the dates of their departure.”

Rory grabbed the files from Caius and opened the top folder. It was Max’s contract. “What is this?”

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