TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 254

Two hundred and fifty four

Evangeline POV

The persistent knock made me groan as I wondered which servant was at my door.

Food was the last thing on my mind. How could I eat when my own life now had an expiration date?

I remained silent, staring at the ceiling, knowing whoever was knocking would eventually leave. Then I heard an oddly familiar voice.

“Evangeline, open up. It’s me.”

I sat up.

Kade.

I wrapped my robe around myself and crossed the room, opening the door just enough to look at him.

“What are you doing here?”

He wore a grin, unfazed by the frown I was giving him.

“I was in the neighborhood,” he said..

“You shouldn’t be here. Cameron doesn’t like visitors coming in without his permission.”

“I got permission. I came from his office.”

His grin widened. I bit my lip to stop myself from blurting out what I really wanted to say: to fuck off, go home, and keep his nosy self away from whatever was happening to me.

“Kade, please go home.”

He leaned against the doorframe, looking far too comfortable.

“When did it become a crime to visit my sister? Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

I mumbled under my breath and stepped aside as he walked past me. I hid a wince when the smell of rotting flesh hit my nose so hard my stomach lurched.

Kade looked around the room. Paper plates sat beside the bed. Half-empty bottles of water littered the floor, and clothes spilled off an overflowing chair. The drawn curtains left everything washed in gray.

Then he looked at me, picked up the nearest bin, and started throwing away the paper plates.

“You’ve got quite the collection,” he said. “Mom would have fainted if she’d seen this.”

The word Mom made my chest tighten. I said nothing and sat on the edge of the bed.

Movement behind him caught my eye. Something black slid across the wall. I swallowed a gasp. Kade studied me, and the joking look left his face.

I turned away, expecting him to start asking questions I couldn’t answer, but he kept cleaning instead. Then he walked over and opened the curtains. Sunlight flooded my room. It hurt my eyes. The light only made the shadows and the clouds easier to see.

Something crawled beneath my scalp. I dug my fingernails into my head until the sensation vanished.

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Kade came over and sat beside me. He looked at me as though I’d lost my mind.

Maybe I already had.

“You’ve got dark circles under your eyes.”

I looked away. He reached for my hand, but I folded my hands together instead. Then he sniffed the air.

“Do you smell that?”

My heart pounded. Could he smell the decay?

I looked up at him. His eyes stayed on me.

“You’ve always been very particular about hygiene,” he said. “When was the last time you even washed your ha?

My hand drifted to a lock of my hair, and I smelled it.

He got up.

“I’ll run you a bath.”

“I don’t need one,” I said, sinking back onto the bed. “I’m tired.”

He pulled the blanket off me.

“You don’t have to tell me what’s happening, but at least wash your face.”

He kept at it until I got up and headed to the bathroom. Then he smiled, waiting in my bedroom as I lowered myself into the bathtub.

“Did you put him up to this?” I said, glaring at Kade after he told me Cameron was downstairs waiting for us to join him for dinner.

“He’s your mate. Why would I have to force him to have dinner with us?”

He watched me, and I could tell he was trying to get answers out of me. I wasn’t stupid. I told him to go ahead, and I’d be down in five minutes.

Five minutes turned into twenty, and it took a maid reminding me they hadn’t started eating because they were waiting for me before I finally went downstairs.

As I approached the main dining room, Cameron and Kade looked up. It was just the two of them. Nadia and Franklin were nowhere in sight.

“Now I get it. She had to look her very best before joining us,” Kade said, trying to smooth things over.

I ignored him and sat opposite Cameron. We picked up our cutlery as the servants served the food, but nobody spoke. Dinner passed in silence. I couldn’t remember what I’d eaten, or if I’d really eaten anything at all.

Kade tried to keep the conversation going. He and Cameron hadn’t been getting along well, especially since Lisa became our surrogate, but now, they slipped into easy conversation.

I kept my eyes on my plate, using my fork to separate the peas from the rest of the salad. The smell of grilled meat and spices filled the dining room, but the scent of decay stayed lodged in my nose.

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By the time dinner ended, I wanted nothing more than to disappear into my room. Cameron and Kade stayed seated, waiting for me to finish eating, or whatever that had been.

Then we headed upstairs to the sitting room. Cameron sat across from me while Kade took the chair beside mine. They exchanged a glance, each waiting for the other to begin.

I stared ahead until Carneron broke the silence.

“Eva, I’ve been thinking about everything that’s happened, and I know you’re scared.”

My fingers twisted together as I said nothing.

“I also know fear makes people keep secrets they shouldn’t, even when the answer to what’s frightening thems right in front of them.”

I huffed under my breath.

“I’m not asking you to trust me. I’m asking you to give us something,”

I stayed silent.

Kade nudged me.

“Cameron is right,” he said. “You’re disappearing right in front of us. I know Mom dragged you into something. I don’t know what it is, but I know it isn’t good.”

He leaned closer, and I turned away when he reached for my chin.

“You’re my only sibling, and I love you. I want you safe. If you won’t tell us, at least let us help you.”

Help.

What a far cry from reality.

Nobody could help me against the Veiled Meridian, not even the people with the strongest powers, let alone powerless civilians like Kade and Cameron. Meridian would crush them.

And although Cameron, whom I was responsible for bringing to near Dominion, could hold his own, I knew there were limits. His strength was the only thing keeping him from completely falling apart. But Kade? I couldn’t even promise he would survive a sprinkling.

That’s why I couldn’t tell them, even though every part of me wanted to dump the truth in their laps and let the consequences come.

Instead, memories crashed into me. A woman screaming. Blood spreading across a tiled floor. The names of those who had tried to leave Meridian, erased without a trace. The families they left behind, punished for it.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

If my mother were the only family I had left, maybe I would tell them and let the consequences fall where they may. But Kade was innocent. I’d already caused enough damage. My father, even under Dominion, was innocent. Cameron, sitting across from me, didn’t deserve this either.

Cameron’s voice pulled me back.

When I opened my eyes, he was holding out a notebook and a pen.

“If speaking is difficult, write.”

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My eyes stayed on the notebook. He said it as though ink couldn’t kill, as though paper frightened Meridian any less than spoken words.

I didn’t touch it.

The silence stretched. Nobody pushed me for an answer. Kade, however, was losing patience. I heard it in the force of his breathing.

“It’s just so sad,” he said to Cameron as though I weren’t there. “My sister was fearless and bold. The smartest person I know.”

I bit the inside of my cheek.

“She’d spend hours helping me study because she couldn’t stand watching me fail.”

My teeth dug deeper into my lip. I wanted to scream at him to stop trying to manipulate me. I wasn’t going to fal for it. The taste of blood spread across my tongue.

“So why?” Kade said, his voice rising. “Why are you letting these people destroy you? They abandoned you. They’ll kill you if they feel like it, and you’re still protecting them.”

I turned slightly, looking at him from the corner of my eye. I wondered how much he actually knew.

“Talk to us!” he shouted.

My breathing grew shallow.

“You think they care about you? You think they’ll save you? They’re using you. They’re taking your sanity, and you’re still choosing them over your own family.”

A laugh escaped me, and I shook my head.

“You still think there’s somewhere to report people like them?”

His brows drew together.

“We could try the authorities.”

Another laugh slipped out. It hurt so much my stomach tightened.

“Do you really believe they aren’t already inside the authorities?”

He and Cameron exchanged a glance. Even Cameron stayed silent, watching me. I knew him. I knew Cameron like the back of my hand. His silence meant he was listening, letting Kade push while he gathered whatever I let slip.

I pushed myself to my feet.

“If that’s all, I’d like to go to bed.”

Neither of them tried to stop me. I walked out without looking back and closed my bedroom door behind me.

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