Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Thalia came to on the back of a horse.
She tried reorienting herself, blinking the spots from her eyes. Her head felt like day-old porridge, all muddled up and thick.
What the fuck—
She jerked and would have fallen out of the saddle if it hadn’t been for a strong arm wrapped around her waist.
She craned her head and nearly fell off the horse again.
Cassius had a protective arm around her waist, her back flush against his chest. They were deep in a forest, no sign of her carriage or her soldiers that were supposed to escort her.
“What are you—” Her words were cotton in her mouth.
“Glad to see you’re awake.”
“Where the hell are we? Where’s the carriage, the soldiers—”
“Relax, Princess. We left them near Kahgan.”
Kahgan? When Thalia had left Corithian, that city near the forest was still two days away—
“You drugged me,” Thalia hissed. She tried to twist in her seat, only so she could shove him right off his horse, but his arm was a band of iron.
“A precaution considering how much you hate us.”
“We have a treaty, remember?”
Cassius smirked. “Yes, but I know you.”
His words sent a shudder down her spine. He did know her, could guess what she would have done as soon as they’d fallen asleep. She honestly couldn’t blame him or the others for their precautions.
But what really set her teeth on edge was Cassius’s arms still wrapped around her waist.
“Let go of me.”
“Believe it or not, this is not an ideal situation for me either. But orders are orders.”
“Orders from who?”
“Our prince.”
Thalia slightly perked up at that, trying to keep her heart rate down. “And what were his orders?”
“To deliver his new bride to him unscathed.”
“And riding on this horse with you will accomplish that?”
Cassius pulled his horse to a sudden stop. The five other Vampyrs all filed past on their own mounts, their hooves muffled under a blanket of fallen leaves and moss.
“Do you know where we are?” Cassius’s voice tightened to an edge.
Thalia glanced at her surroundings, fully taking in the forest now that her head had cleared.
No light broke through the thick leaves of deep purple and crimson. The trunks had faded to gray, either because of the near-absence of light or because of something else. Perhaps a lack of water as a result of the woods being blocked off from the human rivers.
But the most eerie thing about the forest was the quiet.
No birds chirped in the silver branches; no squirrels hopped along their limbs to shake down the leaves. Not even the low call of a deer could be heard among the fallen moss-covered logs. The air felt thick—heavy. As if a great weight pressed down, taking all the oxygen with it.
“What is this place?” Thalia’s voice was quiet.
Cassius shifted behind her. “Chaménos.”
“This is the forest that is sacred to you?” She had expected something different; the atmosphere here seemed rather gloomy.
Cassius paused. “Yes. Or it used to be.”
“What do you mean?”
Cassius spurred his horse on, the silence following. “Nothing sacred lies here anymore.”
Thalia’s mind whirled. But perhaps the uneasiness that seemed to hang in the air like a spider from its web kept her lips sealed, as did the caution with which all the Vampyrs were now treading.
If she didn’t know better, she’d think they were scared.
Indeed, Lord Damien and another Vampyr, one with green eyes, kept glancing at each other.
She didn’t want to consider what might be in this forest if the very creatures who hunted there moved with such trepidation.
After a moment of silence, Thalia asked, “How far until we get to … Irenbis, isn’t it?”
“Yes, the capital of House Lorenzia.”
Thalia recalled the information her old governess had taught her.
There were five Vampyr courts, each of which ruled a different area of Vaccarium.
Each court had a leading House, run by a lord, and a capital city.
She could still remember her and Ariadna giggling to each other about the names of the courts, about how important and powerful they sounded.
Ariadna was so bold in proclaiming that she’d marry a Vampyr.
That she’d be the one to bring Agripa into a time of true peace between their realms.
Just like that the memory vanished, replaced with the image of Ariadna’s severed head.
Her golden hair, almost the same shade as Thalia’s own, soaked in crimson.
Thalia had screamed, her hands slick with her sister’s blood, trying to fix her torn-out throat—screamed as the entire throne room erupted in chaos and gore rained down over her as if the very sky had opened up to drown out her pain.
Thalia sucked in a breath loud enough that everyone froze. Wood snapped in the distance, and the Vampyrs tensed.
After a moment, the entourage continued on quietly. At least the strangeness pulled her from her panic. Thalia pushed down the sudden nausea rising in her gut along with the fear.
Cassius shifted behind her, taking in a sharp inhale of breath.
The bastard probably could smell her anxiety, down to the very sweat sliding down her spine. Another sickening reminder of what he now was.
“How long until we reach the realm?” she finally asked when she was sure she wouldn’t vomit all over the side of Cassius’s horse.
“You mean my realm?”
It seemed as though Cassius’s loyalty had changed as quickly as he had. The thought sent a white-hot pang through her stomach.
“Yes, your realm,” she spat a little too loudly, and the Vampyrs ahead of them all stopped short once more.
Cassius’s horse paused, and he stiffened.
She caught Keegan’s golden stare, warning flashing in his eyes.
A noise echoed deep in the forest. A sort of groaning as if the very trees were trying to break free of their roots.
Thalia’s stomach clenched, and the Vampyrs all lifted their chins.
She could have sworn Lord Damien scented the air before they all began moving cautiously forward. Thalia swallowed.
Cassius shifted behind her, and she became acutely aware of how close they were pressed together.
As if her body could still recall the way they’d lie together.
How they’d sneak out of the palace when her mother’s back was turned.
How Cassius would spend hours showing her exactly how it felt to be alive.
But Cassius had spun a web of promises so pretty that Thalia hadn’t even realized she’d been consumed by his lies until she’d nearly gotten bitten.
“In the next day or so,” Cassius said quietly, picking up their conversation. “It will take a few more days of travel to reach House Lorenzia.”
I’m going to marry into the House that’s near the forest!
Thalia could practically hear Ariadna’s voice in her head.
Even though Ariadna was only three years older, she knew her duty to the crown.
And she loved the woods, almost more than she loved her family.
But that was before her proclamation became reality.
Before she was engaged to a Vampyr. Before she’d been ripped apart.
Thalia squeezed her eyes shut, trying to suck in another sharp breath. Cassius stiffened as she got out, “What side of the continent is Irenbis on again?”
Cassius huffed out a humorless laugh, almost as though he were trying to dispel the tension in her body. “Trying to figure out its exact location to report back to your mother?”
That snapped her out of it. Thalia’s spine threatened to break as she treaded carefully. “It’s been a while since humans and Vampyrs have interacted. Our information is surely outdated. Shouldn’t I know about the city that’s to become my new home?”
“Your new home? Are you that eager to start your new life? Here I thought you resented the deal your mother forced you into.”
Thalia forced herself to relax, to not stiffen further. “Considering I have no other option, what’s the point of wallowing in self-pity?”
Cassius was quiet for a moment. “Indeed.”
Thalia felt the rise and fall of his chest against her back, the way his thighs pressed against hers.
If she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend that nothing had happened between them. That he hadn’t killed their one shot at survival. That he was still … human.
“What are you thinking?” Cassius’s quiet voice nearly startled her from her thoughts.
“Nothing.”
“You pick at the skin around your nails when something is troubling you.”
Thalia hadn’t realized she was doing that, not until her eyes widened and she looked down to where his hands rested against her wrists.
She immediately stopped, twisting in the saddle. “Stop it.”
Cassius’s brows rose. “Stop what?”
“We aren’t friends. You’re still a monster.”
“Monster? Here I thought we were allies?”
Thalia stopped herself short. Shit. She needed to get away from him. Needed to stop letting her tongue loose. She needed to appear resigned—complacent.
“Get me a horse,” she got out.
“Not going to happen. Especially considering you think we are monsters. I have no doubt that you’d hightail it right out of here after you’d killed us all.”
“How could someone like me take on such powerful creatures? If anything, it seems as though you’re wanting to keep me close.”
“I’ve always wanted to keep you close.”
Those words, the tone in which Cassius almost sounded earnest, had her jerking out of his grip.
“What are you—” Cassius started.
Thalia pushed herself away and half fell, half slid down the horse, landing on the moss-covered ground with a quiet thud. The ground seemed to sink down under her weight as if it were trying to slowly consume her.
“You can’t be serious,” Cassius said in disbelief above her.
She pushed onto her knees, glaring up. The other Vampyrs all glanced back, their stares holding nothing but lethal rage—and dread. She ignored them.
Riding in front of Cassius, she could almost forget he wasn’t human. But with him staring down at her, his eyes glowing faintly and the hint of fangs peeking ever so slightly from his parted mouth, it was a sickening reminder.
Thalia needed to rethink everything, how she acted, how she spoke. And she couldn’t do that with Cassius pressing so near to her. No matter that her traitorous body begged for his familiarity while her mind screamed at her to think.
“I’ll walk, then,” Thalia got out.
Cassius raised a brow. “It’s a long walk.”
“Then I suppose I should get moving.”
Cassius’s jaw flickered. His eyes flicked to the strange trees, then he shrugged, spurring his horse past. “Suit yourself.”
Thalia resisted the urge to send her dagger straight through the back of his head.
But she didn’t, she just followed silently after Cassius, her mind coming up empty with each step she took farther into the dark forest.
She’d lost sight of Cassius around the bend.
Thalia trudged faster, not wanting to get lost.
Scraping echoed behind her, and she froze. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she slowly turned to look over her shoulder.
Her eyes scanned the trees, everything in her screaming that she was being watched.
She crouched down slowly, fingers slipping through the slits of her gown to wrap around her dagger.
Something snapped in the forest, the sound like breaking bone. A flash of gleaming white appeared in her peripheral vision. She whirled, heart in her throat—
A deer lifted its head not twenty paces away, moss hanging from its lips.
Thalia relaxed slightly, straightening.
Another crunch behind her had her whirling again, dagger raised.
Keegan raised his hands, eyes wide, as the deer bolted. “Just me.”
“What the fuck are you doing?” She didn’t lower the blade. Suddenly, she wished she hadn’t fallen so far behind Cassius.
“Cass sent me to get you.”
Thalia stared at him, her stomach twisting tightly at the nickname she hadn’t heard in years.
Cass. She and Marcus used to call him that.
A name he reserved for the people closest to him.
Thalia didn’t want to think about how close he’d gotten to the other Vampyrs if Keegan used his nickname so freely.
Thalia slid her knife back into her dress. “And he didn’t think to find me himself?”
Keegan inclined his head, amusement dancing in his golden eyes. “He said you’d probably be inclined to stab him if he came after you. The camp’s not far off, but we shouldn’t be traveling alone.”
Well, at least Cassius’s caution wasn’t far off.
“And why is that?” Thalia asked.
Keegan studied her again, as if debating his next words. He did a quick glance around, and she could have sworn he shuddered as he said, “This forest is dangerous to those who aren’t familiar. There’s a reason it acts as a barrier between our worlds.”
She shook her head at his cryptic answer, stepping nearer. “Clearly.”
Keegan didn’t say anything more as they made their way along the quiet path.
“Did Cassius really send you to find me?” Thalia asked suddenly.
Keegan pushed aside a heavy branch cautiously, almost as though he were afraid the tree would attack him. “Yes. He didn’t think you’d wish to see him.”
Thalia’s lip curled. He wasn’t wrong.
But perhaps being away from the others loosened Keegan’s tongue, because he asked, “You knew him before, didn’t you?”
Thalia nearly tripped over her own feet. “Yes.”
“When he was human?”
“Yes.” Her heart rate pounded, images of their life before flashing through her mind.
Cassius had joined the city watch thirteen years prior, right after his mother had died.
It was shortly after she’d lost her own father and sister.
He was sixteen while she’d been fourteen.
He’d sworn to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves, and she supposed he had, in a way.
If only it hadn’t taken becoming a monster to do so.
Keegan nodded, more to himself than to acknowledge her words. “I met him not long after he turned.”
Thalia’s stomach clenched. She didn’t want to think about that night. Didn’t want to think about how he had sold his soul to darkness to become something else.
“He spoke of you often,” Keegan continued, oblivious to her growing rage.
Thalia stopped short. “What?”
Keegan regarded her, his face carefully neutral. “He spoke of a princess whom he’d fallen in love with.”
“And what else did he say?”
“He said that if you ever saw him again, you’d kill him.”