"Call Max and tell him you will not see him again."
It took him a minute to understand what he was saying and even after that, another minute to understand the implications...
He looked up slowly, almost cautiously, at the man in front of him. Then, without saying a word, he shook his head. There was no way he could do that. They had already agreed to cooperate in the future. There had been no problem, no tension, no reason to break things off. Of course he knew the context was completly different but he would not lie to Cadence just for the sake of it.
Cadence's fingers tightened on his wrists until Elais knew there would be bruises later. Yet he didn't pull away. He simply stared back at the man until Cadence finally let go.
Then Cadence spoke, his tone dropping low. "Why did you never tell me that you liked men?"
