Page 84 of A Warrior's Fate

“So, you broke into my apartment?”

“You just told me that someone tried to have you killed,” he retorted as if that was answer enough. He grabbed another chip from his bowl and pointed to her closed door. “Alpha Kai could tear that guy apart.”

He probably would’ve, even if they weren’t formally mated—if how he’d reacted at the feast was any indication.

“Kai would never know that he was here,” she muttered, moving to kick off her heeled boots. “How did you even get in?”

Sebastian swung around the counter with his bowl under one arm. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”

“You’re a con artist, not a magician.”

Feeling it her right—as it was her food he was eating—Isla walked up and snatched the bowl from him, glowering as she popped a chip in her mouth. But as she went to eat another, she caught something out of the corner of her eye and froze. The cover of the small vent beside her sink wasn’t quite the way she’d left it, one of the screws not done as tightly.

“You didn’t,” she seethed before shoving the bowl back into Sebastian’s arms and storming to the bathroom.

She made quick work of unscrewing each piece—done so by hand very recently, she realized—and was greeted by a confirmation of her suspicions. “Where are they?” she yelled from her spot on the floor, and then exited the washroom in fury.

Sebastian had since moved to the living area and had an arm outstretched to the couch. Isla was by his side in seconds and gaped at the marker, book, and dagger perched in a neat line upon her cushions.

There were so many things she wanted to scream at him—most of them profanities—but she settled for, “How?”

“You’ve had the same type of hiding place since you were eight. You would think after we moved out, you’d change it up,” Sebastian jeered, receiving another glare.

Suddenly, he bent to the dagger, and Isla lurched forward. “What are you doing?”

Sebastian said nothing as he picked the weapon up and ran his fingers over the blade. No flinching. No recoil. “I don’t think anything’s on it anymore.”

“What?”

She had washed it—thoroughly—in order to remove all the traces of blood, but she hadn’t dared try to touch it after that, especially not with her bare hands. She hadn’t even taken the time to truly examine it. But she did now as she cautiously took the dagger from her brother’s grasp and gripped the hilt firmly in her own hand. She felt the ridges of it along her palm—a near-perfect fit—and tested the weight in her hold.

Isla brought it closer to her face. Her reflection in the silvery metal was kissed by flecks of gold, dotting like faint stars on the blade, but appearing as freckles on her nose and across her cheeks. She noticed something like crystal weaving beneath her fingertips that she’d overlooked before.

There were many more fine details she’d missed, every pass of her eyes revealing something new. It was a beautifully crafted piece of weaponry.

Even if it had been used to try to kill her.

Holding her breath, Isla brought a finger to its sharp edge, and indeed, it did not burn. She even went further, applying a bit more force—just on the edge of piercing her skin—but there was no pain. No reaction from her wolf. She flicked her finger the rest of the way, and the metal seemed to sing, eliciting a hypnotizing hum under the movement of her passing touch.

Every part of her being relaxed.

“So, what is all of this?”

Isla snapped her eyes up to meet Sebastian’s, dropping her hand with the dagger to her side. Casting a glance over the book and the marker, she pursed her lips.

She could tell him. She really could. But something—something—told her no. Told her to wait.

“My things,” she answered simply.

Sebastian looked doubtful. “From where?”

“You already broke into my apartment and rifled through my stuff; we need to have some boundaries. You don’t need to know everything.” She turned on her heel to head back to the kitchen. “You said you wanted to talk to me about Kai.”

Goddess, did it feel odd speaking so freely of him with someone else. Not trying to cover anything up with formalities and titles.

As she stopped to get a chip out of the bowl left on the counter again, Sebastian nodded towards her side. “Are you going to put the knife down?”

Isla looked at the blade still gripped tightly between her fingers. She hadn’t even realized she was still holding it. It whispered through the air as she lifted it, catching her reflection in pseudo-starlight again, before she placed it on the table beside her. But to make a point, she didn’t leave it far and shot Sebastian a look of challenge.

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