He sighed. “This is new territory for me, Evalia. I can’t just turn off the security conscious part of my brain, and I wouldn’t if I could. I trust you, but my instinct is to protect you. I will do whatever I have to in order to do that effectively. This isn’t a matter of if I think you will do something stupid, it’s a matter of preparing for every scenario.”
“That’s not helping Kait. You just said that you don’t think I am stupid, but you have to act like I am.”
“That’s not what I said, that’s what you heard.”
“Same thing, Kait.” I turned back to him.
“The boys were told to guard against everything. It’s not like I told them to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”
I scoffed at that. “I distinctly heard you say on the phone “Make sure Evalia doesn’t do anything stupid.”
His mouth dropped open. “I didn’t say that.”
“What did you say then?” I arched an eyebrow at him and tapped my foot while I waited for his answer.
He looked like he was searching his memory. “I think I said, ‘make sure Evalia is safe, and don’t do anything stupid.’ I was telling that to Travis.”
I just stood there. I didn’t change my expression or stop my foot. Kait eventually sighed. “I’m not going to change your mind. Why don’t you come out to the living room so we can decide what to do with this new intel? David came back with me.”
“Fine.” I stalked past him. When I entered the living room, Travis and David glanced at me, then glanced quickly away. David tried to catch Kait’s eye, but he just shook his head. We must have been arguing for a while because David’s hair was damp like he took a shower. I sat down on one of the chairs that faced the couch. I wasn’t going to let them touch me and drain my anger.
Kait gestured at Travis, who stood up. “Okay, a trusted source found Evalia and I in the woods today and said that the King of Svikari is setting up an ambush for our meeting. We need to decide what to do about that.”
Kait spoke up first. “Did the source say what kind of ambush?”
Travis shook his head. “No. He was risking his life by coming to us and didn’t want to stay long. Plus, Cassy wasn’t letting him near us.”
Kait gave him a sharp look. “Cassy is here?”
“Oh, yeah. Dad sent her here because he said the castle has been attacked. He asked us to stay at the safe house and Cassy is here until the danger has passed. She is patrolling the woods.”
“You should have led with that.” Kait’s voice was hard.
Travis hung his head sheepishly at the rebuke. “That was this morning. I forgot you didn’t know.”
“Kait, if you found David earlier, where have you guys been all day?” I interjected a question before Kait could continue to yell at Travis.
David and Kait glanced at each other and said, almost simultaneously, “Out.” I frowned at them. That wasn’t suspicious at all.
David rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. “I had some issues to work through.”
“I’m aware of that. Where were you?” I wouldn’t have cared so much, but they were both acting so odd, it was making me nervous.
Kait spoke up this time. “David needed to release some anger, so we went somewhere where he could.”
I was getting angry now. “What, like a gym where he could take out his anger on a punching bag?”
Kait bounced his head. “Yeah, that fits.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. That wasn’t the kind of agreement I was looking for.
David sighed. “We were confirming that your abuser is dead, alright?”
I froze, and Kait facepalmed. He glared at David for a second before he walked around the couch to rub my arms. “You need to sit down.”
When had I stood up? I didn’t remember standing up. “This isn’t good, is it?” I sunk to the couch as my voice wavered. Kait sat down with me, still rubbing my arms, but I barely noticed him. It had been ten years since the last assault. He had to have been dead.
Kait’s fingers tightened on my arms for a second before he spoke. “We found him. He was still alive. He was living at a secure mental facility.”
“But, Dad said he was dead. Why would he lie?” It came out as a whisper.
“Your father was paying to keep him there. He had set up a fund to pay for it, and the plan was to keep him there until he died of old age.”
Something dark in his voice had me looking up. “You said he was still alive. And the plan was… What happened? Is he not still alive now?”
David looked away before clearing his throat. “No, he’s not.”
I bolted to my feet. “What did you two do?” Not that I cared he was dead, but I didn’t want them to be the ones to kill him.
David wouldn’t meet my eyes, and he didn’t answer the question. He sat there quietly, staring at the floor, swallowing hard the whole time.
Kait eventually answered. “There was a telepathy… accident. He didn’t suffer.”
My jaw practically hit the
