Page 43 of Shadows of Fate

Rolling my eyes at myself, I ignored it. That wasn’t a problem for me right now. My magic being slightly… off was to be expected, of course. This was absurd news, and I had females to save and a male to set straight. We weren’t mates, because that would be absolutely insane.

Your soul bond was supposed to be someone you were equal with, someone who would complement your power and life and… everything. That wasn’t me and the ruler of the Fates-damned Court of Shadows.

I couldn’t even remember what my mother’s name was, let alone where I was born, or how I ended up a vampire. The ruler of one of the most powerful courts in Kostbare wasn’t my mate. That was what we were running with and how I’d get through this.

I just had to help them find the females, dismantle the Eternal Outcasts, and then I was out of here. Simple as that. My life could return to normal.

Walking over to my door, I finally picked up the note that was slipped under at some point during the day.

* * *

Silvana,?

I understand you’re upset, but I’d still like to talk about this if possible. Please.?

-Raiden

* * *

Shaking my head, I crumpled up the note and tossed it into my fireplace. There was nothing to discuss.

I walked into the bathroom, washed my face, ran my fingers through my long hair, and quickly braided it. I stepped into a clean pair of black leggings, immediately pushing the thoughts of Raiden pulling off another pair just like these off my legs last night out of my mind. No room for that today. Not one bit. Throwing on an oversized, crimson-red, long-sleeved top and a little bit of red lipstick, I glanced in the mirror and rolled my eyes at myself. It felt like I was trying too hard.

Nope, not going there. This was for me. I needed to feel good, that was it.

Stepping into my boots, I grabbed my shadow stone dagger off the table, only to remember that I’d left the second one in the woods with Raiden. Of course. Grabbing one of my silver ones, I stuck it in my other boot holster and headed out the door.

Step one—find food.

Step two—go meet Cedar.

I walked down the stairs and figured the best place to start looking for food was the kitchen. Walking in, I found Micah leaning against the counter, a glass of blood in front of him and a piece of parchment beside it.

His blond hair looked disheveled—as if he didn’t sleep well and ran his hands through it one too many times.

“Good evening, Micah!” I said cheerfully. I was just going to fake it till I felt okay again. Easy. “Any idea where I can get some blood before I head out to meet with Cedar?”

Micah looked up from his paper for a moment and stared at me, confusion clear on his face. It was apparent that he wasn’t expecting to see me there. That was fine. But I was not going to hide in my room and lick my wounds. That wasn’t who I was. Plus, I didn’t even have wounds. I was fine.

Did Raiden lie to me? Sort of. He certainly waited until the last moment possible to reveal the truth to me. While I was happy he did, it didn’t mean I wasn’t upset over being left in the dark for who knows how long.

It suddenly dawned on me that if Allie knew, Micah also knew. They’d been spending a great deal of time together, so chances were that Micah was there when she told Raiden.

Suddenly I was not feeling nearly as confident, but thankfully he answered my question before I could leave the room in utter embarrassment.

“Of course. Glasses are in the cabinet, and the blood is in the box on the far side of the kitchen. We have someone that comes in once a week and does some sort of magic on that cabinet to keep the blood cold.” He shrugged like that was normal and everyone had things like that.

I muttered a quick thanks and grabbed a glass, filling it with blood that I downed as promptly as I could.

As I walked toward the exit, Micah cleared his throat. I reluctantly stopped in the doorway but didn’t turn to face him.

“He didn’t mean to hurt you, Silvana. You have to know… you need to know that you’ve brought him back to life since he’s found you. That isn’t fake,” Micah said softly.

I glanced at him over my shoulder and contemplated not saying anything in return, but before I could stop myself, I replied. “I’m doing him a favor, Micah. As his best friend, you should thank me.”

I left as quickly as I could. Refusing to look back.?

* * *

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