Page 45 of Final Shift
“I didn't think you'd actually do it, you know.”
I glanced at him. “Do what?”
“Stab me. Poison me.” He snorted and threw his hand out to encompass his land. “Hold me hostage here.”
He never knew me at all. I'd do anything to protect those I loved. And I would have done it for him if things had been different. “Mmm,” I said noncommittally. “There are no limits to how far I'd go to protect my friends and family.”
“And I'm no longer included in that.”
Loaded question there. “Caelan.”
I could say a million things, drive the knife in a thousand times, hurt him in a million ways, and it would do nothing to bridge this gap between us. At one time, I might have considered saying them. But I'd never been one to hurt someone on purpose. Not the way he'd done to me.
He looked away. “I can see the wheels turning in your brain. After all of this, why are you still kind to me?”
I laughed. “Poisoning and imprisoning you isn't exactly kind.”
Caelan shrugged. “But it is deserved. Less than I deserve, actually. Rowan had every right to kill me. So did Ethan. And neither one of them did it because of you.”
He wasn't wrong. Caelan had broken one of the Lords' fundamental laws. But death wasn't suffering. And I'd wanted him to suffer the way he made me suffer. I guess sometimes I did believe in an eye for an eye.
“You can still be my friend. Not like we were. Not with Rowan in the picture and this new life I've somehow managed to build. But if you're in trouble and you call, I will come for you. If that's what you want.”
Caelan bowed his head for a long moment. When he spoke again, his voice was rough. “I do want that for us. And I will do the same for you.”
He reached up and placed his hand over the one I held against his chest. “I will do my best not to betray your trustagain.” Caelan swallowed and held my gaze. “You've taught me a terrible lesson, Evangeline. One I will not soon forget.”
My smile wobbled. “And you've taught me one as well.” But unlike his, mine had led to a happiness I never thought possible.
Hot tears spilled from my eyes. “Are you ready?”
Caelan's eyes began to glow. “Yes.”
I closed my eyes and sank my power into the earth.
Chapter
Seventeen
I'd finally gained enough control over my magic to not end up naked in a hole with my ex-boyfriend. Thank the gods for that.
Caelan's land snapped away from me the second I released my grip and settled with a reverberating sigh that shook the ground. The Lord shivered against my palm, feeling his freedom from the lock I'd put him around him for the last few months.
“Stay still,” I warned, my hand still touching his bare skin. Concentrating on that spot where I'd speared him, I sent a tendril of my power through his skin, seeking to pinpoint almost every trace of my magic. True to the promise I'd made myself earlier, I took everything except the most microscopic dot of poison from Caelan's body. He might have made amends with me, but after everything that had happened, I was no longer willing to take everyone at their word.
Only a few people received that much grace from me.
He wouldn't feel it, and even the most adept magic wouldn't know either. My magic was biological in a way—made of life. Even if a mage scanned him, if it managed to pick anything up, the seed wouldn't show up as a foreign body.
Call it an insurance policy against future shenanigans. I'd remove it eventually, but Caelan would have to prove himself a true friend by his actions. Trusting his word would take much more time.
When I finished, I pulled away and tucked my hands in my lap. Caelan opened his eyes, golden light flowing over the space between us. “How do you feel?” I asked.
“Lighter,” he said gruffly.
The ground rumbled beneath us. I smiled sadly and came to my feet. “You're about to have company.” Danu must be keeping tabs on Caelan's land and felt the moment I broke my spell.
Dad appeared in a flash of light, his concerned gaze taking in Caelan and me. “We must leave. Now.”
