Tethered 02 - Conjure by Jennifer Snyder Read Free Book Online

would benefit him is all I’m saying.”
    “I don’t know.”
    “In fact, I don’t see how having me gone would benefit any of your parents.”
    Kace set his glass down on the counter; his eyes remained locked on it. “Maybe there are benefits, maybe there aren’t. Maybe it’s just jealousy. I don’t know. But what I do know is that I don’t like Admer and I don’t understand what type of game he’s playing.”
    “Game? Who said anything about playing games?” I scoffed, completely bemused as to what he was getting at.
    He was getting riled up and I didn’t understand why.
    Kace gripped the edges of the counter and hung his head. “I don’t understand why he’s withholding so much from you. Why all of them are for that matter. What’s the point?”
    My heart picked up its pace and I set my glass down on the counter. “What do you mean? What am I not being told, Kace?”
    He didn’t answer at first. Instead, he continued to stare at the countertop as though the right way to say whatever it was that he was trying to say would magickally appear written across it at some point.
    “I don’t know if I’m right, Addison, but I think Admer is your biological father,” he finally said.
    “Bullshit,” I said louder than needed. “Why wouldn’t he have told me that right away? There’s no way that’s possible. I don’t believe it for a second.”
    Kace looked at me. “I don’t know if I’m right on this, but it would explain a lot.”
    “Like what?” I demanded.
    “Like why you have your mother’s element, why all of our parents seemed to clam up when you pointed it out, and why he stared at you so oddly the entire time.”
    “What do you mean, why I have my mother’s element? You heard what Callie’s mom said; it’s just the luck of the draw or something.”
    Kace shook his head. “But it’s not, not really. For an Elemental and a non-Elemental, yes. But for two Elementals, no. The child will have whichever element is most dominant…in your case, Fire beats Water.”
    I shrank back. What he said made sense, but why would everyone keep that from me? Especially Admer? Were he and my mother a couple? Had he not wanted me? Is that why he was spelling me to go away? Then why was he going to allow me to take my place in the initiation? It didn’t make sense.
    “I don’t understand,” I whispered. “Why would he be so adamant tonight about me being a part of the initiation, then?”
    “Maybe it was an act?”
    I sucked in a deep breath; maybe it was. Maybe he planned on taking me out before the waxing moon.
    Kace moved to wrap me in his arms, but I sidestepped him. I didn’t want to be touched right now. I wanted to be alone. I needed to be alone. My mind was going to burst if I didn’t get some time to sort through everything I’d just learned within the last few minutes as well as the entire night.
    “Please, I just…I need to be alone tonight. Can you just leave?” I asked without meeting his stare. My fingertips pressed into my temples again, massaging away my growing headache. The murmuring of Callie and Adam met my ears and I motioned toward the living room. “Take them with you.”
    “You can’t be serious,” Kace insisted. His hands hung limply at his sides. “You were attacked just last night by some creature, and now you want to be alone for the night? I don’t think so.”
    My eyes snapped directly to his. “I’ll be fine. I just really need to be alone right now. There’s too much going on, too much to think about right now. Besides, for all we know, that thing could have had a time limit on it or something and that’s why it burst into flames the way it did. Maybe the time limit had expired.”
    I didn’t know why I’d said it, the little lie about the creature Theo had told me to use, but I did. And I hoped it did the trick and allowed me some desperately needed alone time.
    “Time limit?” Kace’s eyes narrowed. “How did you know that? I hadn’t had a