Page 87 of Somnium

The apartment was deathly quiet. Her brows pinched together as she looked around, beginning to wonder if he was even home until she heard the light whisper of something simmering on the stove. He was there somewhere.

“Elias?” she called as she crossed into the kitchen to take in the comfortable disarray of his dinner preparations. A skillet rested on the stove, whatever was inside cooking away happily as it waited for the half-prepared vegetables still scattered on the cutting board next to it. She pushed back the knife handle that had been left hanging precariously over the edge of the counter, and her attention shifted to the hallway just past the fridge at the sound of Elias’s voice. He was speaking to someone, but it wasn’t her.

He stepped from the hall, rubbing a bandage covering what appeared to be a small cut beneath his thumb as he spoke into his phone, the device wedged between his ear and his shoulder. “Yeah, okay. No, I appreciate you letting me know. Thanks.”

He ended the call, tucked the phone into his back pocket, and stepped past her without so much as a glance in her direction to resume his chopping.

Yeah, he definitely knew.

“What did you do to your hand?” she asked cautiously.

“Cut it.”

He brought the knife down with a dramatic thunk against the wooden board, like he was determined to demonstrate the exact technique that had led to him needing the bandage in the first place.

“At least your aim is improving,” she quipped, but instantly regretted her pathetic attempt at humor when it went completely unacknowledged. This was not the time for jokes, but the heaviness between them was making her itch.

“Who was that on the phone?” she tried, taking a tentative step toward him.

“Seth.”

If he kept answering her like this, it was going to be a very long night.

“What did he⁠—”

Elias set the knife down with a metallic thud. “Do you want to tell me what you were doing at the Rite of Dedication tonight?”

And there it was. Cadi swallowed hard, her throat going dry at the sharpness in his tone. But beneath the bite, she heard his fear.

“Priest or Sera?” she asked.

He turned to look at her, the tightness in his eyes telling her he was in no mood for whatever she was trying to do. She lifted a shoulder. “I figure it had to be one of⁠—”

Elias let out a fierce sound of frustration before pushing off the counter to turn toward the living room. “That doesn’t matter, Cadi. You promised me you’d get out, but instead you end up assisting in the one rite that puts you directly into Oneirios’s path.”

“I know,” she said, moving to follow him. “I know, and I’m sorry, but if you really want to talk about honesty⁠—”

Elias held up a hand to stop her. “Cadi … please. Why?”

Her throat grew tight at his harsh reprimand, and she fought the urge to meet it with a condemnation of her own. Yes, she had promised him. Yes, she had broken that promise even if she hadn’t meant to. But he had some nerve to come at her like that after everything. She opened her mouth to tell him her exact thoughts on the matter, but stopped short at the pain she found in his eyes. Pain that she had caused him. Picking another fight wouldn’t help anything, so instead, she pulled in a deep breath, and nodded.

“I was about to leave, but then Polly came rushing up to me, and the poor woman looked like she was about to have a heart attack telling me how much she needed me because the attendant for the rite called in. Something about her kid and a virus—that’s not important. But, Elias, if you had seen her poor desperate face I—I couldn’t just abandon her, and by the time I remembered that Oneirios would even be there it was already too late and I—I’m so sorry.”

For a moment, Elias didn’t move. Didn’t speak. He just stood there looking at her with his arms crossed over his chest. Then his face began to soften, and the corner of his mouth lifted the smallest bit before he let out a long breath. Stepping forward, he reached out to catch the back of her neck, pulling her in close and pressing his lips hard to her forehead.

“That big heart of yours is going to land me in an early grave, you know that?” he muttered.

Cadi thought her knees may give out as every muscle in her body seemed to go slack with relief. She wrapped her arms around his back and leaned closer, tilting her face to look up at him. “I really am sorry. I didn’t mean to go back on my word.”

Elias nodded, brushing his hand over her cheek. “I know, love. I just … that was too close.”

Cadi let out a dry laugh. “Agreed.”

Elias searched her face a moment longer, as if taking in every piece of her in quiet confirmation that she was safe. “Did he say anything to you? React in any way?”

Cadi hesitated as she stared up into the deep concern that consumed his features. She knew she should tell him about the way Oneirios had smiled at her, about the creeping feeling that had raced along her spine as he’d passed her on the way out of the main hall, but she couldn’t. Her mere presence at the temple that night had nearly pushed Elias to the edge, she could only imagine what would happen when he found out that the god they were moving against seemed uncomfortably interested in her. She would tell him, just not now. Not tonight.

Cadi shook her head, trying to shove away the guilt that surged at her hypocrisy. “But I did manage to find something while I was there.”