Page 180 of Rite of Unity

Her hands stilled on the wand.

“My mother fought for me.”She resumed curling.“Not everyone has someone to do that for them.”

She touched her lips.“It could have been so much worse.”

I stared at her fingers pressed against her mouth.

“They could have made me a chaperone.”

When she was gone, I moved around the room, collecting what I needed.I tucked the hexagon of soap into the corner of the bag and zipped it closed.

***

The car stopped, and I sat a moment before the door opened.

Outside, the stone facade rose above me, solid and immovable.I ran a hand over my bag strap.Inside it, the hexagon of soap pressed against the fabric like an accusation.

I knocked.

It swung wide, and Elias met me, taking the bag from my hand and wrapping an arm through mine.He pulled me inside, but his movements were gentle, careful.

We passed his pair of guard dogs, but they paid no attention to us as we strode down the long hall I’d come through the night of his Rite ball.

He halted in the hallway, glancing down at me.“Are you tired?Am I walking too fast?”

I almost laughed, but Vera’s vial had masked more than the physical pain.It had smoothed the edges off everything else, too.

“I’m fine.”

He searched my face before nodding.“Do you want water?Something stronger?”

“Sure.”

We continued down a hall, passing several large rooms, until the space widened into a large kitchen.It was larger than my entire home in the Middle.Tall ceilings stretched up, and natural light filtered through fogged skylights above us.

He released my hand, leaving me to lean against the counter as he tucked my bag under his arm and bustled around a kitchen he knew well.

Amber liquid poured into two glasses, and he held one out to me.A touch of nervous energy pushed through the fog.I wasn’t sure if it was because it was our first time alone, without a chaperone, or what came after.

I took a tentative sip.

His eyes met mine, and they burned with enough heat to scorch.

He set his glass down.“Sera filed a report after Lydia died.Tried to use it to take you down.She and Charles were working together.”His mouth tightened.“I had him released this morning.Cleared your name.”

I turned the glass in my hand, grateful for my dulled nerves.I was certain I would have given away my relief if I’d been able to truly feel it.

“Thank you,” I said.

He said nothing, the fire that sizzled beneath the surface alive in his eyes.He was furious—at Calden, at Sera—and had no idea what he’d just given me.

I pushed off the counter, moving toward him.

He watched me, frozen in place.

“I’m ready.”

We stepped through the door, into a room with dark walls and a strip of light running along the back wall, perfectly illuminating the massive bed at its center.