The Summer King Bundle 3 Stories - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,125

been here before. Or it felt that way, like it had happened in a dream. A knot formed in my throat as we neared the opening. I locked up, waiting for the catch, the obstacle that blocked me from leaving, the tug on my neck. The reveal that none of this was real, just another elaborate ruse produced by my mind.

Caden crossed the threshold, still speaking in a low, soft voice as we entered heavy darkness. He climbed the stairs, and then…then I saw the silvery glow of moonlight.

Moonlight.

I drew in a broken breath, and the air was fresh and clean. Was this…? Tears clouded my eyes, blurring the rays of moonlight that filtered through the trees.

I swallowed again. “Are you…are you really here?”

“Yes.” Caden stopped, looking down at me. “I’m here. I’m really here, sunshine.”

Chapter 14

Things were hazy from the moment Caden carried me into a vehicle and wrapped a blanket around me. Between the warmth of the throw and the heat his body was throwing off, I couldn’t do what he kept asking of me and keep my eyes open.

Bits and pieces of the conversation floated around me as he held me in his lap, keeping me steady as the wheels bumped along. He held me gently, keeping an arm around my shoulders and my cheek pressed to his chest. Every so often, I felt the soft-as-air brush of his touch on the side of my head or down the bones of a finger. Like I…like I meant something to him, like I was precious and cared for. But there was something that lingered at the fringes of my consciousness that wanted me to pull away, to put distance between us because it was needed. I couldn’t remember why, and I was too tired to figure it out.

Ren was speaking from the driver’s seat when I came to. His name was familiar, as was his face. I knew him and the redheaded woman next to him, and I knew they were together. Their names and faces were like the framework of a house, but the walls and the floors and everything in-between hadn’t been installed.

“How bad?” Ren asked.

The arm around my shoulder tightened and then relaxed. “Bad.”

“Did she say she killed him?” Ivy asked. “I heard that, right?”

“You did,” Caden answered as a weird feeling started in my toes. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, more like a low burning that reminded me of a sunburn.

“Damn,” muttered Ren. “Well, now we know why Dumb and Dumber hadn’t seen him.”

Dumb and Dumber? Wasn’t that…wasn’t that an old movie? The burning crept up my calves.

“They said they hadn’t seen him in four days,” she said. “Could she have been down there alone?”

“She’s been gone for almost two months,” Ren said, and a flicker of surprise scuttled through me. Had it really been that long? I’d stopped counting after day forty-eight. How many days had I missed in the beginning? “I can’t believe we found her after all of this time.”

“She had to think…” Ivy trailed off, and then she spoke again. “Did you see her? Her skin?”

“I saw.” Caden’s voice hardened.

“That sick bastard—” She cut herself off. “I’m glad she killed him. I hope she made it hurt in the worst ways.”

“I’m not glad she did,” Caden stated.

The uncertainty returned. Why wouldn’t he be glad? They were enemies, and I knew that Aric had done things to Caden—horrible things to people the King cared about. He was going to use Caden to return… I lost track of the thoughts, my mind seeming to power down like a shut-off button had been pressed.

Caden didn’t reply to that, and then I must’ve faded out for a few moments because when I came to, the burning sensation had reached my shoulders, and I didn’t like it. I squirmed as it reached my throat.

“Hey,” Caden’s voice was soft in the darkness. “It’s okay. We’re almost there.”

It wasn’t okay. The heat swept over my head and then my skin turned prickly as if a million pins and needles began dancing over my flesh. “It hurts,” I told him, opening my eyes. “My…skin.”

Caden shifted me slightly, and his face came into fuzzy view. “It’s your temperature rising.”

I tried to untangle my arms in an attempt to push the blanket off.

“Don’t.” His arm curled, keeping the throw around me as he placed his palm on my forehead. I flinched. “You need to keep the blanket on.”

“It’s hot,” I whispered, stretching out my leg. Pain flared all along my skin