Page 79 of Shadows of Ruin

“For?”

“This.” I lifted the necklace from beneath my training shirt. “It is beautiful.”

A sadness appeared in his gaze as he stood staring at the necklace. “It was my mother’s—Queen Seraphine.” He touched the gem with the fingertips. “I only have two heirlooms from her, this and a ring. She was very special to me.”

His mother’s? I blinked, unsure of how to respond. “Kade?—”

He dropped his hand. “Whether you believe it or not, you are too.”

“I can’t take this from you, then,” I whispered.

“You’re not taking it,” he said. He stepped into me and brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “It’s a gift. A real gift instead of one given secretly in dark corners.”

The heat from my neck licked up to my face. I knew I’d turned a shade of pink beneath his gaze and words. The hesitation lingering morphed into something stronger, a feeling that threatened to ruin me. Which was stupid. Anything with Kade would be doomed.

“Don’t you want to keep this for your future wife?” I glanced down and fidgeted with the stone in my hand. “Someone more important than me?”

Kade smiled, his shadows forming a warm cocoon around my legs. “There is no one more important than you, Little Rebel.” He moved away, but reached out his hand, taking mine. “Come on, we’ve got a seer to visit.”

Kade silently led me through the castle halls, our hands intertwined. Fortunately, Cassandra’s room wasn’t far, and I didn’t have too much time to think about how his touch soothed a restless part of me. Or how his words from earlier,and knowing what the necklace truly meant, snapped together within me like a missing puzzle piece.

Kade raised his hand to knock, but before he could, it swung open, and Cassandra appeared in its frame.

“I’ve been expecting you.”

Mischief and secrets danced in her eyes. She seemed more aware now than she had been in my room before the ball. I couldn’t shake that the air around her felt familiar.

Cassandra turned, her silver dress spinning out with her movement as she ushered us into a small sitting area to the right of the entryway. The sitting area was located away from where I assumed her main chambers were, through a closed door at the back of the room. Three wooden chairs surrounded a tufted emerald ottoman, holding a tray scattered with black and purple-tinted roses.

The fairly sparse room revealed nothing about Cassandra, not even the smallest detail. Except for the floor-to-ceiling built-in bookshelves lining the far-left wall. The shelves were made purely of stone and strewn with open books, loose papers, and scattered flower petals. A black table sat a few feet in front of the bookshelves and contained various vials and one open book.

“You’ve been away too long. I’ve had no one to sit with me for my tea, dear.” She patted Kade’s arm, tugging him down to one of the chairs. “Though I can’t fault you for your distraction.” She winked at me.

In no hurry, she poured tea into three of the cups. “Sugar?” she asked me, after preparing Kade’s with two lumps of sugar and a dash of cream.

I nodded. “And cream, please.”

She hummed, handing me my tea, and removed a black vial from inside the waistband of her dress. She poured it upside down into her own cup, not bothering to offer any to us or reveal what it contained.

Cassandra sighed heavily and leaned back in her chair,swirling the cup in front of her face as she stared at the bookshelf.

I looked at Kade, who sipped his tea, but he didn’t seem confused by the seer’s silence. He gave her a few more moments before coughing, clearing his throat to garner her attention. “Cassandra, we need to talk about my prophecy. I must know what it means so I can get Illiana home.”

Prophecies.It all came down to these prophecies. I tried not to let out my frustration that the words of seers held more weight than I thought fair.

I swallowed a sip of the sweet tea, forcing my heaviness at this moment away as much as possible. Whatever Cassandra told us would change things. I knew it. Just as my life had changed with Vivienne’s prophecy.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for years,” Cassandra started with a smile. “The time has come. The beginning of the end. Time’s afoot, time’s afoot.” She continued swirling her tea.

I stood corrected at my earlier thought that Cassandra seemed more present. This woman was just as bizarre as Vivienne, slipping in and out of her rambling. She sounded like her, almost exactly.

Cassandra sipped her tea and set it down, leaning forward to touch Kade’s face. “Have you told her Fates’ words?”

Kade glanced at me and then shook his head. “I trust her, I just wanted your wisdom without imparting my feelings.”

She scoffed at him. “The Fates’ words include her no matter your feelings, Kade Blackthorn.”

His jaw ticked.

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