Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
“Good morning,” Thalia said as she entered a drawing room in the west wing of the castle.
Cassius, Camilla, Lord Damien, and Keegan all sat around a small breakfast table with stacks of what must be reports strewn about the dark surface. A few empty silver goblets stood next to them, their contents drained yet the interiors still stained red.
Thalia sank down into an empty wingback chair, the wood groaning as she looked at the three of them. “Am I interrupting anything?”
Keegan and Camilla both glanced at Cassius, who leaned back in his seat, fiddling with the quill in his fingers. “You’re up early,” he said cautiously.
Thalia forced herself to shrug as a servant appeared with her breakfast tray. They removed the lid. Thalia was surprised the food wasn’t bland, given the circumstances. She dug into her porridge, ripe with honey and berries.
“You didn’t wish to take breakfast in your room?” he added.
Thalia glanced up.
She could practically see the memories replaying in his mind.
How she’d have a servant send up a tray so she could eat quickly and be gone from the castle before her mother had even roused.
That or she’d find a way to have breakfast while he was on duty.
They’d find themselves in the guards’ barracks with Reina—Marcus joining them when he could escape the library.
She had a feeling her tray would have been sent up, no doubt ordered by Cassius himself.
But she had other plans in mind for the day other than hiding in her room.
“Should I not greet the day with the prince’s council? Seems more productive than lying around waiting for something to happen.” The Vampyrs and Camilla all watched with various degrees of unease as she took a long sip from her herbal tea.
“Speaking of, any news on my husband?” Thalia said, and the words immediately soured the berries in her stomach.
The four exchanged a glance, but it was Lord Damien who cleared his throat. “He is still holed up in the north, but he sent these.” The pale Vampyr slid over a cream letter similar to the one Camilla had given her the day before, along with a rectangular box wrapped with silver string.
Thalia felt the weight of their stares as she popped open the seal, this time noting the emblem on the wax crest was a raven with three eyes.
Princess,
I have heard you are an admirer of beautiful, deadly things.
His Royal Highness
Thalia frowned before opening the gift.
A jeweled dagger lay on top of a red velvet cushion. The handle was silver swirls, almost mimicking the swirls of her ring, and encrusted with rubies and black sapphires, matching the scabbard it came in. The blade sang as she unsheathed it, the point sharp and gleaming.
“Perhaps you might give me my knife back now,” Cassius drawled, breaking the silence.
The knife she’d taken in Agripa, which was currently strapped to her thigh.
In the past, she might have suggested that if he wanted it back so badly, he could take it from her. And given the way he watched her, something flashing in his blue eyes, maybe he was thinking the same thing.
But that memory vanished as the sounds of her sister’s last gurgling breath whispered in her ears.
Cassius had betrayed her, cut a wound so deep there was no recovering from it. His knife wasn’t the only thing she’d take from him. A castle didn’t just crumble overnight, and she’d start chipping away at his, removing pieces brick by brick. Thalia sheathed the dagger, setting it to the side.
“I thought it would be wise to get to know more about my new home,” Thalia said, ignoring his comment. “I think it would be good to see what the capital is like, to introduce myself to the people.”
Cassius watched her, his face unreadable as she stabbed her fork in the eggs atop her rich, buttery, golden toast.
“So you want to go into the city?” he said, watching as she swallowed her food before downing the rest of her tea.
Thalia daintily wiped her mouth. “Yes. Unless that is forbidden.” She frowned at the spot of tea that’d fallen onto her chest. She patted away the spot, taking extra care to wipe her napkin across her cleavage, which was on special display thanks to the dark-green gown she wore.
She glanced at Cassius, whose jaw flickered. “It’s not forbidden,” he finally said.
Thalia raised her brow. “Then I’d like to go. I’m sure it is customary in your world for fanfare when a royal makes an appearance, but I have no need. I’d rather be seen as … me.” The last part came out awkwardly, and Cassius noted it with a flare of his nostrils.
“You’ll need an escort,” Cassius bit out.
“Of course,” Thalia practically purred. She turned to Keegan. “Are you busy this afternoon?”
Camilla choked as she drank from her goblet.
Keegan glanced at Cassius, but Thalia ignored the latter. “I’m afraid I have other duties to attend to.”
Thalia kept her grin fixed, not letting it slip as she turned to Camilla, who hid her laugh behind her cup. “Shall you escort me?”
Camilla shook her head, trying and failing to hide her smirk. “I have other duties to attend to as well.”
Fine, Lord Damien, then, even if being around him still set her on edge. But before she could open her mouth, the red-eyed Vampyr said smoothly, “I’m afraid I also have duties, Princess. But Lord Cassius shall be of service.”
Thalia slowly slid her gaze to Cassius, who glared at Lord Damien with so much ire she was surprised the Vampyr didn’t catch flame. “And will you escort me?”
Having Cassius accompany her was less than ideal, not with him watching her every move. But sacrifices needed to be made if she had any hope of learning more about the Vampyr realm and how she might gut them all.
Cassius toyed with the black quill, his fingers twisting so hard it nearly snapped. Finally, he said, “I have a few things to get to, but yes. We can leave in an hour.”
Thalia felt a surge of satisfaction go through her as she stood, her chair scraping back with the movement. “Then I look forward to it.”
Being out of the castle during the day was a shock to the senses.
The sun remained firmly behind the clouds, the sky gray and dreary as if waiting to rain. It cast the whole courtyard in a sort of gloom that seemed to wait for Thalia as she stood on the castle steps.
A few guards were stationed at her back, keeping watch.
Thalia ensured that both Cassius’s knife and the prince’s gift were strapped to her waist. She’d also changed into pants and a tight-fitting tunic, practical clothes in case something should go south—like a Vampyr deciding they didn’t take too kindly to a human now serving as their princess.
Thalia craned her head as Cassius led two horses through an archway from what must have been the direction of the stables. She really needed to get a map of the castle. Given its vastness and quiet halls, gods knew what might be lurking around unsuspecting corners.
“I get my own horse?” Thalia asked.
Cassius raised a brow, adjusting the stirrups of the horse she’d ride. The dapple gray mare dipped her head, and Thalia scratched her forelock. “You seem disappointed.”
Thalia let the horse snuffle her fingers. “Not disappointed but surprised. What’s her name?”
Cassius paused. “Feryena.”
A pang of sadness swept through her as she thought of her own stallion, Helios. She’d spent hours riding him before her whole world went to shit. And often Cassius would be riding right beside her.
That was before his betrayal.
Before he decided he wanted power instead of her.
Then it was just her and Helios as she tracked him across Agripa.
“Should I be worried about you riding alone?” Cassius’s voice broke through her thoughts.
Thalia met his stare, his blue eyes intent on hers.
He must have seen the shift in her emotions, because he straightened as she said, “I’ve told you, this is my home now.
To do something that would jeopardize the fragile treaty between our people would be foolish.
I’m here to make the best of my circumstances. ”
Cassius gave her another look before he gestured her forward. “Leg up.”
Thalia had barely lifted her leg when Cassius boosted her into the saddle.
She squawked, not having expected him to lift her so high.
She tangled with the reins, her body nearly pitching over the side before Cassius grabbed her waist, steadying her.
His other hand was on her thigh, his palm searing into her skin below the fabric.
“What the hell was that?” Thalia hissed, heat rising to her face as Cassius stared up at her.
“It seems like someone wasn’t prepared,” he said matter-of-factly before going to his own gelding.
Thalia resisted the urge to flip him off. She had the feeling the prick had done it on purpose.
They didn’t speak as they rode through the inner courtyard, an area dotted with thick trees. They reminded her a lot of the trees in the Vampyrs’ sacred forest. A forest that was supposed to be their only protection for hunting during the day—
Thalia jerked, sickening realization dawning as she twisted in her saddle. “Why do you really need the water from our rivers?”
Cassius raised a brow as they passed through the gilded gates of the palace, entering a broad expanse of forest. “What?”
Thalia shook her head, focusing on guiding her horse as opposed to staring at Cassius, but her heart pounded.
“You—we were told that you needed our river to feed your sacred forest. It’s the only place you can hunt safely during the day.
But since being here, you all have been able to hunt because of the cloud cover—”
“Have you seen us hunt?” Cassius cut her off.
Thalia’s mouth opened and closed. No, she hadn’t. But the prick knew that. “How is it possible for it to be so overcast all the time? Wouldn’t you be … worried to be out if the clouds suddenly parted?”
Cassius ducked to avoid a branch. “A Mage cast a spell over this territory.”