A Heart Like Glass [Book 1]

Chapter 11

"What?" I asked.

"You heard me," he said dryly.

"How long have you known?" I asked in a serious tone and swallowed. "How long have you known?"

"So, you don't deny it," He exasperated.

I said nothing in reply. There isn't any point in denying it anyway.

"Since tonight, when I had sensed you leaving," he said after the pause while staring me down. "My magic tipped me off that someone had crossed over the border tonight. You know, the protective border I put up around the mansion this week? The one to keep you safe!" He shouted before sighing. "The only ones who can go through the barrier are the Howell family and the guards," he said and ran a hand through his hair.

"I was worried about your safety, so I assigned some of my knights to detail you," I groaned at his words, but he ignored me. "I gave them invisibility brooches, so you couldn't have known," he said with the pink light tinging his cheeks.

I was floored by his breach of my privacy. Especially when I'd respected his. So many times, I'd asked him different questions about magic, and I walked away every single time he refused to answer one. I never pried into the matter any further out of respect for his soul tie to the Mage Tower. But he couldn't let me have one secret of my own? It pisses me off.

Also, was I really that careless? The book had mentioned the border, but I thought it had been created after Isolde arrived. But I'd known that security had tightened, and it would have been an honest mistake if Jonie hadn't known about the new border. Still, I usually double-checked everything... I should have known, but I've been so distracted by my desire to see Ashe...

I hate being ignorant.

"At first, I figured that you were doing it for a thrill." He laughed nervously. "Then a knight spotted you with that... commoner," he spat. "He raced back here just to tell me. So, I sent him back to gather more intel. Imagine my surprise when he found your name listed on an account at a local bank. Like you even need it."

My stomach churned. "How did you even get that information?" I seethed, not quite caring that I was admitting to it. "Not only is the bank closed, but those accounts are private."

Keelan coldly laughed again. "Your blindness to the power of the Howell name still surprises me. Getting information like that was child's play."

"How. Did. You. Know?" I asked through grit teeth.

"Why the hell are you sneaking out, Adaliah? And with a commoner?" He spat. His voice was cold now. "You're lucky my guards didn't see his face. They said the alley you were... with him it was too dark. Otherwise, I would have him arrested and beheaded for touching you."

"Because I hate it here!" I yelled at him. "I'd rather live as a commoner for the rest of my life than be here!" I started crying as my dream, the light, was slowly slipping away from me.

His eyes widened. "You wanted to run away?"

I went silent in horror, realizing that I'd given more away than I thought.

Keelan's lips tightened into a straight line.

"You are doubly lucky that you chose to come home tonight. Security at the mansion is my job. If you had decided to run away under my watch, do you know what Father would do?" He hissed. "He'd scold me first for my incompetence. Then he would hunt you down," he said in a low voice before an intentional pause. "We would Hunt. You. Down."

Whatever peace had been between us this last year is surely gone now.

"I'm well aware that the duke would try hunting me down, but I have a pretty good plan. He would never find me," I hissed back. "I'm not stupid."