Had anything she’d said last night made him see her perspective? His past actions angered her, but it was his unwillingness to agree that he’d done wrong that really got her. And the fact that he’d been trying to do the same thing all over again.
As herself, Diana, she didn’t want to do all of this alone and could appreciate his desire to protect her. She wanted his help, but not at the expense of her agency. Her ability to choose her own fate was vital to her. She hadn’t liked forfeiting it in her past life and she certainly didn’t like it now.
“Why’d you come?” Diana asked, her gaze glued to Cadan.
Use this second chance, Cadan.
His eyes met hers, fire in their depths. “To keep you from doing something stupid and getting yourself hurt.”
Her heart clutched. He clearly hadn’t learned a thing. To trust him when he was like this was folly. If she was the only one who could save Vi and stop whatever was happening, she couldn’t risk his trying to stop her.
Diana turned to Esha and said, “Let’s go. I think I’ve heard enough.”
“Where are you going?” Cadan demanded.
“To do what I was reborn for. And it’s going to be dangerous. I might get hurt.” She knew she poked at him at her peril, but couldn’t help herself. She turned and cast Esha a let’s-get-a-move-on look.
“Wait.” Warren’s voice was quiet. “You canna go alone.”
“Oh, you, too? And why would that be?” First Cadan, now this Warren joker?
But Warren looked at Cadan instead of answering. “You dinna tell her, did you?”
Cadan cursed.
“Tell me what?” Diana asked.
“Nothing. It’s no’ important. It won’t be an issue,” Cadan said.
The hair rose on Diana’s arms when she caught sight of the way Warren was looking at her. Sad, yet pitying?
“Cadan, she has to know,” Warren said.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Diana demanded. The tension in the room prickled along her skin. Something was very wrong.
Warren was still looking at her weirdly, too. “You’re destined to die as a result of the task.”
“What?” She barely had the breath to form the word. He couldn’t be serious. She’d thought it a possibility, but not a probability. Not a fated probability.
But from the way that Cadan was looking at her.... She grabbed for Esha’s hand. Cadan took a step toward her, something unrecognizable in his eyes, but she backed up. He jerked to a halt, his fist clenched.
Damn you, Cadan.
“Why the hell did you keep that kind of information from me?” she asked him. “I don’t know up from down anymore, and now I find this out?”
But it couldn’t be true. She wouldn’t let it be.
“You were never supposed to know!”
“Know what? Who I am, or what I’m supposed to do?”
“Both! Hell, I doona know. I just dinna want you facing this. If you never had to face it, you would no’ be at risk.” Cadan dragged a hand through his hair.
“Oh, well that’s great. I wasn’t supposed to find out who my soul belonged to. That’s who I am. Don’t you think I’d want to know that? That I’d need to know that? All so you can make make my decisions for me?”
“Aye. To save your damned arse.” A muscle twitched in his jaw. The way he was looking at her... Like a possession he’d never be able to bear losing.
“Did you ever consider that I’m the only one who can do this?”
“The hell you are. You’re no’ going anywhere without me, lassie.”
“You see, Cadan, the funny thing is, even though I’ve been reborn as a different person, I still don’t like being lied to. Or being told what to do. That, I really don’t like.”
Diana squeezed Esha’s hand to let her know that she wanted to leave. Just as she felt the familiar pulling sensation of aetherwalking, she realized that she’d rather face hell alone than stay here with Cadan.
Chapter 26
Fifteen minutes later, Diana picked her way through the tunnels of the underground behind Esha. The soulceress had sucked her through space and within moments, they were deep underneath the city. Rodent skeletons and other mysterious debris littered the ground.
Eyes up. Don’t look down. But the creepy misery of it all dulled the mess of horrible emotions that bombarded her. Betrayal, rage, fear. They were still there, but she could vaguely recognize—as if she were standing outside of her own head—that her brain had attempted to preserve her sanity by tying them up in a big, knotted bundle and stowing them in the corner of her mind.
She stepped over a pile of tumbled stones and tried to push aside the image of Cadan’s expression just before she’d disappeared with Esha. It had been confusion and...hurt? Diana rubbed her temple. Of course she’d hurt him. He’d done all this because he cared for her. Or he’d cared for Boudica.
Either way, he was so damned pigheaded. How could she ever convince him to meet her in the middle?
Did it even matter if she was supposed to die soon?