Fated

and says, “That’s enough.”
    Cade glares. Dismisses his brother with a wave of his hand. “Stay out of it, Whitefeather. This is none of your business,” he snaps, returning to the waitress, picking up where he left off, when Dace interferes once again.
    “You’ve made it my business,” Dace says, turning to the waitress and ushering her into the club.
    Her sudden departure causing Cade to erupt in fury when he shouts, “You’ve no right to interfere!”
    Dace lifts his shoulders, shoves his hands into his pockets, and says, “She works hard, you need to cut her some slack.”
    “Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?” Cade’s voice bearing the same outrage he wears on his face. “Unless you’ve decided to change your last name to Richter, I don’t see how you have any say in it. You’re nothing more than hired help around here. Never forget that.”
    Dace stands before him, not the least bit intimidated. “You’d get a lot more out of your employees if you treated them with a little respect,” he says, not so much as flinching when Cade steps forward, face fully inflamed.
    “What gives you the right to tell me how to run my business—huh?” His hands curl to fists as he reaches for his brother, only to have Leandro appear in the doorway, his large form crowding the space.
    “ Your business?” He stares hard at his favored son, the one he engineered to his exact specifications. “Don’t you think you’re getting a bit ahead of yourself?” He grips Cade’s shoulder and yanks him away from Dace. “Stop making trouble. Leave your brother alone. I mean it, Cade, do not make me warn you again.” He nods at Dace, motions him through the door, returning to Cade, voice lowered when he says, “I don’t like him any more than you do, but your actions only prove that you’re nowhere near ready to take over this business or any other business. It’s time you learn a little diplomacy.”
    He heads inside, leaving Cade to grapple with his words—grapple with an anger so intense, so palpable, it transforms him into the blazing-eyed, snake-tongued, demon boy I know him to be.
    The effect lasting only a moment, yet long enough to shock me in a way that causes the delicate balance of energy to shift. So when the raven springs from the roof and soars toward the heavens—he goes without me. Leaving me an inert, glassy-eyed mess, slumped over a bench in Paloma’s backyard.

thirty
    “Isn’t this kind of weird?” I glance at Paloma through the bathroom mirror. “You know, the grandmother urging the granddaughter to go clubbing, and even offering to drive her?”
    Paloma forces a smile, as though she’s in on the joke, but the way it fails to reach her eyes tells me her mind is preoccupied with a new set of worries.
    “What is it?” I take a moment to face her, mascara wand hovering before me.
    “I’m afraid this isn’t just about going clubbing with your friends, nieta. ” She meets my gaze with a look of regret. “While I want you to have fun with Xotichl and Auden, you should know that there’s much more at stake than listening to music and enjoying yourself.”
    I nod, waiting for her to reveal the agenda. But Paloma being Paloma—a person who likes to dole it out slowly—she turns her focus to fussing with her sky-blue cardigan instead. Taking way too long to get it draped over her shoulders just so, despite the fact that she rarely wears it inside. It’s a delay tactic, no getting around it, but I decide not to push it and return to coating my lashes the way Jennika taught me—swiping the brush horizontally at the base, then nudging it vertically all the way to the tips.
    “As I mentioned before, Enchantment is a place of many vortexes that provide portals that lead to the various worlds,” Paloma says in a voice that’s dry and tight. “But what I didn’t tell you, is that there’s one at the Rabbit Hole as well. The Rabbit Hole holds many secrets, though their portal is not only difficult to find but also well guarded. Only the most gifted Seekers have been able to locate it—though no Seeker has ever been able to enter.”
    I shoot her an uneasy look, wondering if that’s what she’s expecting me to do—not only find it but enter it too. If that’s the plan, then I’m sorry to say that kind of espionage is way out of my league.
    “Make no mistake, nieta, I don’t ask you to access it tonight. In fact, I strictly forbid it,” she says, her hands