Chapter 20 20
RANDOM FACTS: Cain’s Family line is even far more important than the Vosses but he’s been exiled from home for a long time.
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“Do you like wine? There’s many things that we are allowed to get away with but Aidan is such a stickler for rules that it is almost absurd, darling,”
We’re in a garden— but a closed one of some sorts. Cain returns with a bottle of wine and two glasses that he fills before pushing one to me. “As much as I would enjoy knowing more about you to the littlest details, I know you don’t like your time being wasted. For example, are you aware that your friend’s— Claire— mate was called to the station yesterday?”
“What?”
I didn’t know much about Ariadne but what I did know was that she dealt mostly with finance work. And she was very very good at it. She also kept to herself more and only acted like a demon when she saw me.
But she would never do anything that would harm her presence in Claire’s life.
“You look very stunning by the way, Riven. Do you know that? Well of course you do, love, you’re you.”
“Cain.” I don’t sound irritated or tired— which is strange because all his compliments and pet names would have irritated the fuck out of me from someone else. “Why was she arrested?”
“I think something about embezzlement? Something I’m sure to put on paper but not to be taken seriously,”
Embezzlement? Betas knew better than doing that. We all did. Garouihl didn’t have strict rules in the first place so sending in an Enforcer— which I knew from stories meant something very terrible had happened.
“You look so worried. Don’t be. My sources tell me she’s been released,” Cain twirls his wine glass as he rests on the table in front of me, his body only an inch away from where I sit as he says, “But something tells me you don’t know about that. Which is sad, really. I was sure you came here to ask about that.”
“No. I… I came to ask about what happened that night. The night… we met.”
His eyes grow amused. “Does it matter what happened?”
“What?” My brain spirals slightly. “You said… you mentioned some warnings about him. You spoke like you knew him. And you… you protected me from that Alpha—”
“I did?”
I stare at him, not sure if he’s joking before I hear myself let out a scoff. “He’s already fucking gotten to you, hasn’t he?” Rising up from my chair, I place the glass of wine in my hand back on the table. “I should have known that this was—”
“Sit.”
I don’t sit. That familiar anger rises up my chest, the feeling of stupidity spreading through my veins. “I thought, for one day, there could be someone who would be on my fucking side—”
“You should be sitting but since you can’t smell pheromones and I am not insane enough to dare to touch you, I ask kindly,” Cain’s voice sounds strained though his smile never leaves his face. “Please, sit? We have other important things to discuss, love.”
I sit.
This time, he moves away from the table, his voice calm as he says, “The night we met. Can you tell what happened? And please. Leave nothing out. And I mean nothing whatsoever,”
I don’t want to tell him everything because it’s clear what happened, but I know he’s serious. And I’m desperate. So I do.
I tell him that I had all of a sudden had my heat and I thought it was under control so I went over to Aaron’s party to ask an Omega which I know sounds like a dumb excuse but there was an altercation with an Alpha before Aidan stepped in front of us, blocking him while Cain spoke to us.
And he had mentioned a certain ‘him’ that would wreck havoc if he held my hands.
The second I’m done, all he says is, “Ah.”
I almost scream. “Is that it?”
He chuckles. “Forgive me, Prince, but… I can’t recall that happening. To be fair, I do recall meeting you that night but we had… a tiny conversation about your cute Beta friend because I’d mentioned never seeing such a mix of Beta and Omega before.”
“But that doesn’t make… that doesn’t make sense. You came because you wanted to help—”
“Could you describe what the Alpha looked like?”
I do.
Cain tilts his head. “Fascinating. We… have no one like that here in the Academy.”
That’s… that’s not possible. The world seems to tilt a bit, as if it’s mocking me for coming here. As if Kael somehow had done this to send a message to me. “So what? You think I’m lying?”
“No, sweetheart. Quite the opposite. I’m just… surprised that he would pull such a thing.”
“Who?”
“The gentleman that’s risen from the dead. If he’s gentle, or a man, that is. I would believe neither if he had a hand in this,” Cain’s amused look doesn’t shift an inch as he smiles. “Don’t look so surprised, Riven. Anyone with a working nose can smell his pheromones all over you. Except he managed to… mask it somehow. He’s been hiding so perfectly all this time. Him pulling that trick… that’s interesting.”
“Wait. Stop.” I hold a hand up. “What are you talking about? What… trick?”
“Erased him from time. The alpha… he touched you, yes? That is to be expected. You came here with your boyfriend. Interesting that he still exists. Perhaps he is trying not to make you aware, or perhaps is making you feel safe—”
“Slow down.”
“Riven.” His voice is suddenly firmer. More serious. “You cannot afford ‘slow’ anymore. And you know this. That’s why you came here.”
“I came because I want him to go away and it looked like you knew something to help me with that!”
“Whatever I said that night, I was guessing,” He shrugs. “What you did that day at your school, Aaron came to brag about it. To us. Of course most of us didn’t take him seriously, but Aidan did. He’s very… clear about these sort of things, you see. Attuned to it.”
“Attuned to what?”
“Prophecies.” He says this like it's obvious. “There are wolves that exist with latent abilities, if that’s what you wish to call it. Healers, mostly. It’s why he’s here even as a Beta.”
“That… huge person is a Beta?” He nods. I backtrack again. “But… but I thought this Academy was built for only Alphas.”
“There are laws that dictate only Alphas may know about it— but none that demand that only they can be here.” Cain replies, his eyes softening. “You don’t really know much, do you?”
I don’t like how I feel like I’m being teased, or I’m the only one left from a cruel joke that everyone knows but me.
Cain comes closer, his eyes twinkling slightly. “Riven. What do you know about your birth parents?”