Page 9 of Silent Secrets

I force myself to take a deep breath as I meet his forest-green eyes, and I would almost swear that he knew exactly where my mind had gone. I feel my cheeks heat and I’m sure a blush is rushing over my face, but I refuse to be embarrassed.

I straighten my shoulders and saunter over to him, stopping close enough that I have to look up to meet his eyes as he stands up fully. At 5 feet 7 inches, I’m not even that short and with the heels, I’m pushing six feet and still he’s still a few inches taller than me.

Damn. I do love me a tall man.

“You must be Hadley.” The man grins. “I’m Caiden Murphy, Summer court representative.”

I can’t help but return his smile as I extend my hand to him. “Yes, Hadley Dubois.”

“You mean Hadley Corbin,” Caiden corrects as he shakes my hand, pausing when I frown. “Did they not tell you that you’d take the surname of the Fae Queen?”

“No, they most certainly did not. Though to be fair, I’ve been in this realm for all of… seven hours? There’s probably a lot that I don’t know.” I lift an eyebrow. “In fact, if I’m not mistaken, that’s the exact reason that you’re here. You’re here to teach me about the history of the Fae and Sorlphi, right?”

Caiden nods slowly before gesturing towards the table that he’d been leaning against. “That’s right. Why don’t we have a seat and get started then?”

I settle across from him at the table, realizing way too late that I should’ve brought a notebook or something with me to take notes. How the hell am I going to remember all this crap if I don’t write it down?

“Damn it,” I hiss.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just realized that I’m an extremely unprepared student today. I brought nothing to take notes with.”

Caiden smirks as he stares at me. “So, if you’re the student, does that make me the teacher?” He taps his hand against his chin. “I’ve always had this fantasy of a forbidden romance with a teacher. I guess it works the same way with me as the teacher and you as the student.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening,” I squeak out as my face flushes. Is he flirting with me? Yeah, nope. I can’t do this if he’s going to flirt with me. He’s way too hot and I can’t sleep with him when Grace says I might not be able to trust them.

Caiden laughs, throwing his head back. “Holy shit, you should see your face right now. Priceless.”

It takes me a moment to realize that he’d been fucking with me, which makes me blush more. Of course, he isn’t hitting on me.

“Here.” Caiden reaches below the table and when he sits back up, he has a notebook and pen in his hand that he pushes over to me.

“Thank you.”

“Look, Hadley, I’m going to be real with you. This is going to suck for you. Most of the Fae don’t know that you exist and at least half of the ones that do know want you gone. You know nothing of our people or how things are done here. Grace expects you to learn years’ worth of knowledge in two weeks. It’s an impossible task.”

All I can do is stare at him, slack-jawed. I don’t know if I should be pissed at him for telling me I’m going to fail, or thank him for being real with me.

Not able to decide which feeling to land on, I shrug. “What choice do I have?”

“Leave Sorlphi.”

I snort out a laugh but sober when I realize he isn’t laughing. “I don’t even know how I got here.”

“I can help with that.” Caiden leans toward me, hands flat on the table. “This is the only chance I’ll have to help you. If you want out, this is the time. After this, there’s nothing I can do for you.”

Do I want to leave? Do I want to go back to my normal human life? How would that even work if my powers manifested? Maybe they won’t manifest if I’m in the mortal realm, seeing as there’s no magic there. Would it be so terrible to go back to my life?

But even as the thought passes, I know I can never go back to my life. Now that I know I’m a part of something bigger, I can’t go back to being ordinary. Who would ever choose to be ordinary when they could be extraordinary?

I lift my head as I sneer. “Good try, attempting to scare me off, but I’m not going anywhere.”

“That’s not what I was trying to do.” Caiden sighs, running a hand through his hair before he shakes his head. When he catches my eyes with his, for just a moment I see a flash of concern, but it’s gone in the next second.

Caiden grins, his smile lopsided as he gestures to the stack of books atop the table that I hadn’t noticed before. “You like to read, right? Personally, I can’t stand it. There are much better ways I’d like to spend my time. Like cleaning the bathroom.”

The laugh that spills from my lips is unexpected. I’m shocked at the sudden change of subjects and it leaves me feeling very wary of Caiden. What does it say about him that he can go from deadly serious to joking in the blink of an eye?

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