Page 69 of Dark Embers

I watched as she hesitated a moment.

“You aren’t going to tell her about the prophecy, are you?” she asked.

I shook my head. “She isn’t ready for that.”

“So what will you tell her, then?” Celeste asked. “We don’t know why Letti keeps saying Arya’s name yet.”

I leaned forward on my desk and braided my fingers together. “I want to find out ifsheknows anything. And if she doesn’t, then great, we’ll wait until Letti is able to tell us.”

“I’ll send for her at once,” Celeste consented, then left the room, leaving Kai behind.

Kai was staring at me, his head tilted in an especially foxy way.

“You should probably head to the dorms and see if you’re needed,” I suggested.

Kai didn’t make any move to that effect. “I want to make sure you’re doing okay first.”

“I’m fine, Kai,” I said, though my gravelly tone betrayed how much I wasn’t.

Kai exhaled. “I was there, too, remember?”

I looked down, not wanting the painful memories to be drawn out again.

“Just… I’m here for you. I always have been, and I always will be.”

I nodded, forcing myself to bring my eyes back up to my oldest friend. “I know that, and I appreciate it. But I’ll be okay.”

He stared at me for another few seconds, probably waiting to see if I would budge. I didn’t.

“I’ll see you around,” the kitsune said, then left me to my disgruntled thoughts in the empty classroom.

I popped the tablet back into the desk. I breathed in and out slowly, trying to give my mind something other than vampire attacks to think about. In the end, I smashed my fists onto the hardwood desk, sending spikes of pain shooting from my hands up to my wrists.

I was tempted to call on the military to make an assault on their towers in Cle Elum. Julian had divulged that bit of information, but a direct assault on the vampire fortress would be a suicide mission.

Hadrian had obtained technology that rivaled the work of Kai, most of it having been tweaked to hunt shifters. Seven years ago, I’d been shot with an odd device that Hadrian had called ahookshot. The tip was made of gold, and had pierced my wing, my weakness to the metal prohibiting me from flying.

But that was old tech now. The abominations the vampires controlled these days were terrifying. The military took the brunt of such attacks, but every day, shifters around the globe were suffering, too.

“Caesar?”

I wiped the disgust from my face as Arya poked her head in.

“Come on in, Arya,” I invited, gesturing for Arya to sit.

She stepped forward, wearing a baggy, long-sleeve shirt and jeans. Her dark hair with blue streaks was pulled back in a messy bun. She quickly pulled one of the chairs out from under my desk and sat down, resting her hands in her lap.

“It’s been a while since we’ve talked,” I said.

Nodding her head, Arya said, “It has, but that’s okay. I don’t want you to feel like you have to meet with me all the time.”

“And I don’t want you to feel that way, either.” I cleared my throat as she waited for me to continue. “I’m assuming you watched my announcement?”

She nodded her head again.

“Have you heard who was attacked?”

Another nod, though much less fervent. I knew this conversation would likely be one-sided, but Arya’s lack of verbal communication surprised me.

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