Page 81 of Fated Exile

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The sun has barely peered through my blinds when I get up, throwing the quilts back on my bed and slipping into the first outfit I pick out of my dresser. My aunt insisted I go to sleep last night, even though it was the last thing on my mind. She went so far as to threaten me with a sleep spell. But I'm not going to stay in bed a moment longer, no matter how blearily early it is.

Combing my fingers through my hair, I pace down the hallway towards Cat's room, bracing myself for Kerry's lack of answers and another trip to urgent care. My pulse races, but I tell myself that if things had gotten worse overnight, Kerry would've woken me. Surely, she wouldn't have just let Cat worsen without help.

I pause in the middle of the hallway when my tired mind sorts out the smells running into my nose.

Thick, fluffy pancakes. Butter sizzling on a hot griddle. Strips of crispy bacon and what can only be the smell of puff pastry baking around a scrumptious quiche Lorraine.

Tears prick my eyes as I pivot on my heels and race down the hallway towards the kitchen, where I flail to a stop and just stare, eyes wide.

"Morning, Lilah." Cat shoots me a wild grin and raises a single brow, her short hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, tiny stature dwarfed by the giant cast iron skillet handle in her dainty fingers. "You must've gotten a whiff of the coffee I brewed, because normally—"

She breaks off in anoomphon impact as I throw myself into her arms, her fingers easing off the skillet and yanking me back from the stove. I hold onto her even tighter, burying my face in her neck and moving my palms up and down her back, trying to convince myself that she's real.

"You don't need to act so surprised." Cat disentangles herself from my arms and raises both brows as she looks at my face, which must be overcome with emotion. "It was just a fever, you overdramatic lunatic. I didn't come down with consumption."

Inhaling shakily, I tell her, "It was so much more than that. You were cursed, Cat. By some kind of medicine-defying magic-confounding spell that was wringing the strength from you."

Footsteps catch my attention, and I look over my shoulder to spot a bleary-eyed Kerry coming down the stairs, looking just as shocked and overcome as me. Which means she's not the reason why this miracle occurred. "You're awake."

"Yes, I am." Cat glances back and forth between us, her brows drawing together more by the instant. "Based on the way you both are looking at me, I must've been quite the sorry state last night. But I barely remember it—I was too out of it with the sniffles to care."

Frowning at Kerry, I ask, "You didn't heal her sometime last night after I went to bed, did you?"

"No," she admits, going over to the coffee maker to grab a full mug. Her jaw slides open on a yawn as she adds, "I did everything I could, but none of it worked. So about... two hours or so ago, I put out a messenger spell to any powerful witch who could untangle it, and got as much sleep as I could. I'm just as shocked as you."

"We should double-check her vitals, just in case. Temperature, blood oxygen, whatever spell you ran trying to diagnose her—everything should be looked at until we have answers."

Cat flips a pancake off the grill, then walks over to me and grabs my shoulders. "I'm okay, Lilah. I swear I am. I feel right as rain. Whatever you're worried about that happened to me, it must not have worked, or it had a very short half-life. Because I'm standing right here and I don't feel any worse than I did that time I drank a flight of six tequila shots with a side of mezcal."

Licking my lips, I admit, "That's what worries me. Because if the goal wasn't to kill you or weaken you completely, then what was it? And why do you seem so okay?"

Because she can't answer that question, Cat returns to the stove. Kerry gets out, "I'm going to go consult my mind palace and research notes," then races back upstairs to the office. I grab a mug and fill it with a bit of coffee, but I barely drink it, my mind spinning out in a dozen different directions.

I don't need the caffeine, at this point.

I'm wide awake with fear as it is.

Thirty-One

Delilah

"Trust me, you need to blow off steam." Roarke is staring down at me, those summer blue eyes stormier than I'm used to, though there's tenderness in his face as he blocks my way out the door. "Let's go out. Relax. Do something to get your mind off everything."

"Get my mind off everything?" I glare up at him, hating that I have to lean back so much to do it. Raising the spell book in my right hand, I wave it at him as I rant. "No way. I need to try to summon Vivia again. I've got this curse I can cast on myself, if I'm in enough danger—"

"No way." Kieran appears behind me out of nowhere and yanks the spell book out of my hand with nimble fingers. "Playing with curses isnotsomething we do."

I round on him, scowling at his ability to sneak up on me despite the mate bond we now share. "Give that back!"

"You're not ready for something like this." He palms the book and somehow hides it in the folds of his lightweight jacket. "Also, cursing yourself in the middle of all this? You may as well hand yourself to Delphine on a silver platter."

"I don't care. She did something to Cat." I set my jaw, shaking off Kieran's gentle warnings and Roarke's stern looks. "However it is that I'm supposed to kill her, I need to find outnow,before it's too late. There's no telling who she'll attack next."

"You can't be on edge all the time," Roarke points out, stepping in front of me and gently palming my shoulders. "Besides, you've already healed the Mating Circle, strengthened the pack, and helped renew our connection to the land. We're stronger than ever, and it's because of you. That has to be weakening Delphine—she drew her strength from our sorrow, and the curse is over now."

"That's true," I acknowledge, "which is why I know she has to be up to something. Sending Ignacio in, going after Cat, even that vampire dust in the woods—it's all connected. She has a plan, I just don't know what it is yet."

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