The Key to Fear - Kristin Cast Page 0,85

heat of her trapped fears. At some point, her eyes had teared. She wiped the moisture from her cheeks.

Clink.

There it was again. A tinkling against glass.

She popped up onto her elbows and craned her neck until her window came into view along with the river rocks she’d placed on the sill. The lace edges of her petal pink pillowcases quivered beneath her in the wake of her steady breaths.

Clink. A gray spot nicked the window.

Elodie pushed herself off the bed and crept toward the window.

Clink.

No, not spots. Rocks.

She threw the window open and peered out over the ledge.

Aiden lowered his arm mid windup and waved at her.

Elodie’s pulse surged and her heartbeat thrummed wildly. “What are you doing here?” Her voice was hoarse and her throat scratchy from screaming into the pillows.

Aiden jumped and grabbed ahold of the thick tree limb above him before expertly pulling himself onto the next branch, then the next and the next until he was an arm’s length away from Elodie’s second-story window. She had descended that very same tree days before. Climbing down was much easier than climbing up, gravity made sure of that, but Aiden had sped up the massive pink magnolia like he had suction cups for hands.

“I wanted to see you,” he said, a bit breathless as he closed the distance between them and sat on her windowsill. “I needed to see you.” He brushed a stray leaf out of his hair. “Can I come in?”

“No!” Elodie hissed automatically. “You shouldn’t even be here! You should have sent me a text. I could have met you somewhere else. Anywhere else!”

Aiden brushed away bits of tree bark from his shorts. “You never would have come to meet me anywhere. Not after what happened.”

Elodie wrung out her hands. He was right. Aiden was what had happened. He was the only thing that had ever happened. But this one thing was big enough to swallow her world.

“Or I could stay outside and we can talk out in the open. In front of everyone! ” He practically shouted the last bit as he leaned out the window and made a sweeping gesture that took in the empty sidewalk and street. But her neighbors were nosy, and Elodie never knew who was watching.

“Fine.” Elodie slid the rocks on her windowsill into a pile in the corner before stepping aside. “You can’t stay long or be loud.”

As he crawled through the open window, Aiden looked around. She had never had a guy in her room before. Not even Rhett. And she was wearing an old holey T-shirt she’d first gotten years ago from the New Americans for Wellness gala, one of her mother’s many philanthropic causes. Elodie’s stomach flip-flopped and her cheeks flamed.

Aiden ruffled his mohawk. His dark curls and rich brown skin seemed to deepen against the stark white of his tee. “Nice room.”

Elodie balled her hands into the bottom of her oversized shirt. “I talked to Astrid.”

Aiden faltered, scrubbing a hand down his cheek as he sat against the windowsill. “Elodie, I’m sorry. I didn’t think—”

“No, Aiden, that’s the problem. You didn’t think. You just acted. You did something that has endangered both our lives.” The panic returned, sending rivers of ice through Elodie’s veins. “The Council—they could sentence us to death.” It was a realization she hadn’t been able to see before. The idea had been dormant, hibernating until she and Aiden were together again to jostle it awake.

Aiden surged to his feet and held up his hands. “That’s not going to happen.”

“What makes you think that? Of course it’s going to happen. We broke a law. Not just a law, the law.” Laughter bubbled up Elodie’s throat. “We’re traitors. That’s what the Key does to traitors.”

“No, Elodie. We’re not. You’re not.”

“That’s right. You have to make the distinction because you actually have committed treason.” Her knees went weak as a last hiccup of laughter escaped her. “Eos.” Elodie pulled the chair out from her desk and dropped onto the seat. “They’ll find out about your involvement with Eos. That I was there …”

“Elodie, no, listen to me.” Aiden knelt down before her. “The Key won’t find out about any of that. You’re not going to tell them and I’m sure as hell not saying a word. We’re the only two who know.”

“We kissed, Aiden.” Elodie’s eyes flooded and her voice came out a whisper.

“And I’d do it again. Will do it again. A hundred times again,” he said. “Next time we won’t get caught.