12 Chapter 11

"What did you say?" Caeden returned, disbelief filling every crease in his perfectly sculpted face.

"Did you know?" I exclaimed.

My voice was raspy now, and my jaw was clenched. The look on his face proved it all. He had known. And he had never expected me to find out. His face grew pale, his smile fading for a second, but was quickly replaced with a calm, confident look.

"About your parents? Why would I know anything?"

He was lying to me. Again. He had me in a cage of delusion. I deserved to know about my parents, and if I couldn't trust him, the one I shared my entire life with, I couldn't trust anyone.

"Cia, you had a long night. No one knows where your parents ran off to, remember?" His soft eyes found mine, and he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me into his warm embrace.

I shoved him away from me, my emotions suddenly falling off the deep end. The floor beneath me trembled with the beat of my heart, and red light filled my vision. The windows of my dorm shattered with an ear-splitting blow, and I shifted Caeden to the bed with my mind, wrapping the sheets tightly around him to tie him into place. What was left of my apartment swirled around me as I lost all control and tears flooded my eyes.

"CIA, STOP!" Caeden pleaded.

True terror filled his blue irises. It was a look I had never seen on his face before. The face that was plastered on most people's faces when they met eyes with me, or rather avoided meeting my eyes.

Fire abrupt filled my veined and I gasped, collapsing onto the floor. Various objects clattered to the ground around me. I clutched my chest, smoke billowing in my throat. Caeden unfolded himself from the sheets, and stalked over to me. He had used his abilities against me. He had never treated me this coldly before, and I suddenly saw a new side of him. A side I didn't like.

The look of hatred that had previously taken residency on his face was now of worry. He mumbled sorry after sorry as he took me into his arms, and I felt his body shake as he sobbed.

"How did you find out?" He asked, his voice muggy with defeat.

"I saw you." I replied.

The storm had passed, and the calm had arrived. My face was now dry of tears, my eyes blinked at a slow rhythm, and my expression was slack. I was numb, and I had exerted most of my energy. My world had been turned upside-down, and when the Head Instructor heard of my outburst, I wouldn't have a weekend off from training for months. That meant no time to find a way out of the compound. No time to find the truth about my parents.

"I only kept it from you to protect you." Caeden whispered.

"To protect me, or to protect yourself?" I spat.

"It's not safe here," Caeden replied, urgency filling his tone.

"Why?"

"I can't tell you. I'm sorry. But we have to meet Head Instructor Einar now. He will know something is out of order if we are late." Caeden urged.

Although I couldn't fully trust Caed, I felt that he held good intentions. I nodded, and followed him out the door.