Page 46 of Shadows of Fate

I stared at him from across my desk for a moment. “I didn’t realize we were keeping points, Cedar. What did you wish to talk about?”

“You believe you and Silvana are mates and?—”

“I don’t believe we are mates, Cedar, Iknowwe are mates,” I interrupted.

He let out a breath before continuing. “Yes, I understand that. I meant no offense. I just… I need you to understand something before you move forward. This isn’t me being the big brother I’ve been to her for a hundred years now or the only family she has. This is me acting in the best interest of what Ibelievewill be a situation to truly help her.”

I nodded my head slowly, acknowledging him while asking him to continue. I could be wrong, but it sounded as if he was on my side. Which was unexpected.

He looked away for a moment, toward the windows, and I started to wonder what exactly Silvana had told him about us.

“Has she told you how we met yet? Silv and I?” Cedar asked quietly.

I arched a brow at him. “No, she hasn’t. She doesn’t talk about her past much at all.”

He nodded his head. “Yeah, she wouldn’t.” He smirked. “A little more than a hundred years ago now, I was in a tavern, asking people I shouldn’t have spoken to questions about things I shouldn’t have been asking. I’ve been… rather obsessed with finding the one who sired me. I have his name, at least I think it’s his name. But I’ve never actually found him or met him.” Cedar leaned his head back against the chair, staring up at the ceiling as if this next part would hurt him.

“I was on my way out when one of the males I’d questioned snuck up on me. He shoved me into an alley and dragged a knife from my hip up to my ribs.” He lifted his shirt, showing me his left side. The scar was a deep, red, jagged mark exactly where he described. He dropped his shirt and leaned back in the chair again. “The pain was… indescribable. It turned out to be a shadow stone blade. I tried to fight back, but it was pretty useless at that point. I fell to the ground, and he hovered over me, marking my face next. Said that it would be even harder for people to talk to me if I was ugly.” He laughed, although it wasn’t with humor.

Letting out a deep breath, he ran a few fingers along his face. “I’ve embraced it now, but for a while, it was… hard. But anyway. The male started to kick me, laughing. I think some of his friends had joined in, I’m not sure. It was all a bit blurry after a few moments. But I do remember her. She was… a feral fucking thing.” He smiled, real this time as he recalled my ice queen. “She came out of nowhere. Before I knew it, the males around me were dead or almost dead on the ground around me. The one who had gutted me… she kept him alive long enough to find out why he had attacked me. I guess I was getting too close, so I had to go.”

He looked back at my face, into my eyes. “She gave me her blood and helped stitch me up, right there in the alley. Said she knew that I’d kill a human trying to heal and hers was enough to at least help stop the bleeding… she had no idea, Raiden, that that was such a personal thing to do. She just… saw someone dying and jumped in to help.” He cleared his throat that I knew was full of emotion. “I let her keep the shadow stone blade, I’m sure you’ve seen it by now. We’ve been together ever since. I’ve taught her what I’ve learned on my own and through others. She’s the greatest friend I’ve ever had by my side, and I’d burn every single court to the ground to protect her from heartbreak.”

I was silent for a moment as I took it all in. None of it truly surprised me, except that she didn’t know how personal blood sharing was between vampires. As soon as a vampire drank from the vein of another, they were able to track that vampire until death. It weakened after a time, but it was still there, and the more powerful the vampire, the more likely they were to be able to pull up that bond.

“I believe you, Cedar. I know how much you love her. I understand that our bond isn’t like yours, but I do love her. Everything about her. I need you to understand that I would burn my own court to the ground for her. The other three? I’d do much worse.”

That brought a smile to his face. “I’m not going to dive into her personal business, because that is for her to explain to you when she’s ready. It isn’t my place. I don’t mind telling you that story, because it’s my story to tell. But I will say… don’t give up on her just because she pushes back. Okay? Be willing to get knocked on your ass a few times, potentially risk your life in the process, but don’t give up on her, Raiden,” Cedar said. His eyes were pleading and it pulled at my heart. I imagined this was how I would’ve acted with my sister—not that I ever had the opportunity to find out.

I looked down at my hands for a moment, gathering my thoughts, and burying old emotions that hadn’t haunted me in centuries.

“Thank you, Cedar,” I finally said. “Did you receive everything you needed from Micah and Bastian?”

“I did, yes. I’m going to fly out soon. Try to get this letter to Paine before the sun comes up.” He stood, looking toward the door for a moment before turning back toward me. “She was disappointed you weren’t there earlier, by the way. She’d never admit to it, of course, but I’ve known her forever. I know the tells. So maybe don’t hide in here too long.” He smirked and headed out of the door.

Thinking back over everything Cedar said, I realized one thing for absolute certain. He was right about the fact that I couldn’t give up. Not if I truly wanted to claim this female as my own.

So, I did what any self-respecting vampire would. I finished off my glass of blood, and I got up to go and find my female.

The game of hiding has finished.

Chapter24

Shadow Lord

Silvana

Ilooked over at my closest friend and smirked. “You were in there for a while, anything of interest with Shadow Lord? Our Fates-deemed king? The oh-so mighty and powerful?”

Cedar stared at me for a moment, trying not to crack a smile. “Are you finished now, Silv?” he asked.

I couldn’t help it, a laugh burst out of me. I was a little nervous about how long he was in Raiden’s office. He tried to hide where he was going, but I knew him. I trusted Cedar with all of my secrets. I knew he wasn’t in there telling the oh-so-charming Lord of the Shadows all about me and my past. But still, having two males whom I cared—nope. Not even saying that much. My nerves meant nothing.

“Yes, Cedar. I’m finished. For now, anyway. I am always coming up with new ways to pester him with ridiculous names of worship.”

Cedar chuckled. “Names of worship, you say? Sounds kinky.”

I playfully smacked him in the chest, thinking back to some of the comments Bastian and Micah had made. “No. Don’t you start too.”

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