Page 21 of Somnium

Cadi slipped back inside, lowering herself onto the overstuffed cushion of her couch to tear open the envelope, tipping the contents out into her palm. A soft gasp escaped her when delicate metal landed lightly on her skin, the braided chain pooling around the intricate design. She stared down at her hand in disbelief, running her thumb over the molded lines and shapes of her sigil necklace.

Cadi grabbed the empty envelope, turning it over to check inside for anything that would indicate who had found it, though she knew there was only one person it could have been. He was the only other person who knew she had been searching for something.

Even through her stubborn insistence that she was fine, that she didn’t need him or anyone else, he had somehow seen through it and managed to find a way to quietly help her, not even leaving so much as his name in expectation of gratitude.

And for the life of her, Cadi couldn’t understand why.

7

CHAPTER SEVEN

ELIAS

Elias’s eyes snapped open as his consciousness was torn from the dream and back into the dim light of his office. The vibrant visions dissolved until the gaze staring back at him was no longer a hypnotic cerulean, but a familiar hazel.

“Fuck, dude,” Sera said, “you were dug in deep. I was about to check for a pulse.”

Elias sucked in a breath, running a hand down his face as he swung his legs over the side of the threadbare sofa. “Sorry,” he mumbled, “didn’t expect to crash so hard.”

He tipped his head to the side, trying to work out the tightness in his neck that had definitely not been there when he’d lain down. A muscle spasmed in protest to the movement in a not-so-friendly reminder that, at thirty-seven, the luxury of falling asleep without the right pillow was most definitely a thing of the past.

He lifted his gaze to find Sera still watching him, her brows pinched together tight enough to form a tiny line over her nose. “You aren’t getting sick, are you?”

Elias shook his head. “No, just tired. I didn’t get in until seven this morning. Thanks for covering for me last night, by the way.”

Sera waved him off. “Don’t mention it. What kept you out so late? Anything I should know about?”

Her voice lowered as she spoke the last question, the look in her eyes growing sharp with worry. Elias stood and stepped behind his desk to begin sorting through a stack of documents that had been left scattered across its surface, buying himself some time to come up with a response vague enough to avoid a full-blown interrogation. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her to know that he had been helping Cadi, he just didn’t feel like having that conversation sixty seconds after waking up.

“No, nothing like that,” he assured her, his eyes fixed on the task in front of him. “Just helping a friend with something.”

Sera didn’t say anything, but after everything they had been through over the last three years, he instantly knew he’d chosen the wrong answer. He lifted his gaze from the papers in his hand to find her staring at him, arms crossed over her chest and a single eyebrow raised.

Yeah. Wrong answer.

“Which friend?” she asked, though the hint of teasing in her voice told him she already knew. So much for waking up first.

“Have you seen those forms for the club? I’ll need them for my meeting with Jerome tonight,” he asked, shifting his attention back to his desk and completely ignoring her loaded question. Sera huffed out a dry laugh.

“I thought you were dead set on ‘staying away’?”

Elias stopped his half-hearted search and let out a sigh. He really did need to find those documents. Showing up unprepared to the opening of a club he’d helped finance would not be a good look. But there was no way he was getting out of this conversation unscathed, so he might as well get it over with.

“I was. I am, I just—she needed help, Sera. What was I supposed to do? Just walk away and let her drown?”

“Yes,” Sera said, giving him a pointed look. “That’s exactly what ‘staying away’ entails.”

“It was a one-off,” he said, “I just happened to run into her. It won’t happen again.”

Sera let her arms fall to her sides, tilting her head in a way that told him she didn’t believe him for a second. He couldn’t really blame her. After all, why would she when he didn’t fully believe it himself?

“You know it isn’t that simple,” she told him gently as she took a step toward him. “This isn’t something you can ignore forever.”

Elias let out a low hum that bordered on a growl. He knew she was right, but that wouldn’t stop him from trying. Cadi had shown up at the worst possible time, setting things in motion that he’d convinced himself would never happen. Now everything was infinitely more complicated, and he was dangerously close to letting the pull drag him under.

“Is there a reason you’re here?” he clipped out.

Sera pulled in a deep breath. “Kai is outside.”