The Summer King Bundle 3 Stories - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,158

if a hand reached inside and gripped it, and all that warmth from before was chased away by cold, harsh reality.

Caden lifted his head then, his gaze coasting over my features as if they were flawless. He smiled again, but I realized it didn’t quite reach his eyes. A wealth of concern rested there, and I hated seeing that. “How are you feeling now?”

I dragged my gaze from his, focusing on the patch of golden skin above the collar of his black shirt. “I feel okay.”

“Truly?”

I nodded, having a feeling that he knew better.

“I have a lot of questions.”

Not exactly surprising.

“Starting with the most important one,” he continued. “What are you doing out of bed?”

I blinked. That was the most important thing? He’d found me in a hallway, having what was definitely a hallucination, and he was asking why I was out of bed? I started to move, reminding myself that we definitely needed space between us, but the hand at my back held me in place.

I didn’t fight him. I could’ve, and I believed if I pushed, he’d let go, but I didn’t. Just a little longer, I told myself. “I was looking for you,” I admitted.

“Flattered,” he murmured, smoothing down the wisps of my hair with his other hand. “But you should be resting and taking it easy. Neither of those two things includes roaming around the hotel.”

“I wasn’t roaming around.” I looked up at him. “And I feel fine.”

Caden stared at me.

I sighed. “I mean, I physically feel okay.”

He sat back a little, and I realized we were in one of the meeting rooms near Tanner’s office, sitting on a couch. Well, he was sitting on the couch. I was sitting on him, my legs resting on the cushion next to us. “You want to tell me what happened out there?”

Not really, but he’d seen me worse than this. When he found me in that underground chamber, I had been much harder to reach. “I don’t know what happened. I was coming down to tell you something, and one of the ceiling lights flickered.” My nose scrunched as I looked away again, focusing on a bouquet of purplish-pink irises. “Actually, I’m not even sure if the light flickered or not.”

“They did in Tanner’s office. A power surge, I believe,” he said.

Knowing I hadn’t hallucinated that part brought forth a small measure of relief. “After I saw the light, I…”

“What?” he asked softly.

My cheeks heated. “I heard Aric’s voice.” Aware that the movement of his hand had halted at the mention of the Winter fae, I forced myself to keep talking. “I knew he wasn’t here, but it was like being sucked into this…this hallucination. I don’t know if the light triggered it or what. With Mom, I don’t think there was anything in particular that caused her to lose the sense of who she was. But I couldn’t pull myself out of it. And I…I knew who I was.” A shiver worked its way through me. “Mom always did, but it was like I didn’t know where I was or what was real. I can’t…” I exhaled roughly as I gave a little shake of my head. “It wasn’t the first time I’d heard his voice or hallucinated. When I was there, I thought I saw a lot of things. And with Mom, it wasn’t as bad when she first came back. But it steadily got worse.”

Caden’s hand started moving again. “I know you’re aware of this. Too many feedings can fracture a human’s mind. It doesn’t take much.”

I did know that. Even if I hadn’t seen it firsthand with my mom, I could see it every day on the streets of New Orleans. Humans who stumbled around mindlessly, some easily mistaken for addicts while others became uncontrollable, violent creatures. It also happened when a fae bent human minds to their will too often.

“I know you’re afraid that you’re going to become your mom, but you’re stronger than that.”

“Mom was the strongest woman I knew.”

“I don’t know that, but you’re different. You’re not entirely human,” Caden said quietly. Slowly, my gaze lifted to his. The Summer Kiss. “You’re going to heal from this. All the bruises and the cuts will heal. Your mind will heal. You just need time. And you have time.”

God, I wanted to latch on to that and believe him, but I wasn’t sure if he was telling me that so I’d have hope, or if he was being truthful. But I really didn’t