Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Prick. Prick. Prick.
Thalia stewed in the bathtub, the bubbles long having disappeared. She wished she had something to strangle. Perhaps Cassius himself.
Thalia pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes, trying to stanch the growing ache behind them. Her shoulder twinged in pain. At least Lord Adrian was gone from court; at least she didn’t have to worry about him ripping her throat out … for now.
Things were getting worse. The bites were spreading, especially if those who’d been bitten were being protected by their loved ones. It would be so easy to write her mother. To tell her that the Vampyrs were on the cusp of collapse.
But Thalia knew her mother wouldn’t be pleased to sit back and wait for the inevitable. She’d want it to move faster. She’d want Thalia to move faster—to set things in motion so that their demise happened swiftly.
So why the hell wasn’t she acting?
She’d tried to write another letter, this one with more intel, hints that something was amiss in Vaccarium—that the Vampyrs were acting strangely, many having gotten ill with some mysterious disease. But she’d left it half written on her desk.
If only the damn prince would return so she could set things in motion.
Yes. Yes that was the reason for her hesitation.
Because if the prince were here, she could get the animosity between House Gallinus and House Lorenzia to boil over.
When she was sure the courts would turn on each other.
Then, once they were fighting among themselves and the fear of the creature took hold, then she would write to the queen and Agripa could sweep in for victory.
The thought set her stomach turning uncomfortably.
Thalia swallowed the burning in her throat. But none of it mattered, because she was effectively screwed. The courts had left, they didn’t trust her, and seducing the hand to the prince was going less well than expected.
Thalia’s lip curled as Cassius flashed in her mind. The heat in his eyes before he’d shut her down the night before.
Prick. Prick. Prick.
The door of her room opened, the sound reaching her through the cracked opening of the bathing chamber.
Thalia craned her head to find Cassius in the bedroom. She sank back in the tub, scowling.
Cassius didn’t seem to realize she was in there, because he shuffled about the room before slinging off his tunic as he aimed for the bathing chamber. His hands went to the buckle of his belt, snapping it off as he pushed open the door and froze.
Thalia raised a brow as he slowly took her in. “Were you going to take a bath?” she asked, smirking.
Cassius jerked his eyes to hers. “No.”
Thalia shrugged, her fingertips trailing in the water. “Shame. It’s been a tense last few twenty-four hours. I was going to suggest you join me.”
The muscle in Cassius’s jaw flickered, then he caught the gleam in her eye and he quickly relaxed, leaning against the doorframe. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Shall I add this to the list of things to not tell the prince when he returns?”
“If you like.” Thalia met his gaze, and he seemed to take extra care to stare at her face. “Oh please, Cassius. It’s not like you’ve never seen me naked before.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
“You weren’t married to someone else.”
“That thought didn’t seem to stop you last night.”
Cassius raised a brow in challenge. Then he slowly looked her over, the little bits of suds left in the tub doing nothing to hide her body.
Each sweep of his heated gaze set her skin on fire, and she was grateful for the steam gathering along the mirror—that her face was already flushed because of it.
“I suppose old habits die hard,” he finally said, meeting her gaze once more.
Thalia’s anger spiked. “Is that what I am to you? An old habit?”
“Am I not yours?”
Thalia barked out a laugh, standing. Water sloshed off her body and Cassius straightened.
She ignored him as she grabbed her silk dressing robe.
But she didn’t put it on as she got out of the tub.
She walked toward him, dressing gown in hand, leaving a trail of water in her wake.
“Do you want to know why I kissed you last night?” she asked low, stopping before him.
Cassius didn’t move, his eyes once more glued on hers. Every hard line of his body was taut, a bow threatening to snap. “Why?” he got out.
Thalia trailed her fingers up his arm, leaving droplets of water along his hot skin. “I had an itch that needed to be scratched.”
“Clearly.”
Thalia smirked, her fingers drawing down across his pectorals to the line of his stomach. She flicked her gaze up, finding his attention on her hand as it traveled lower.
“But frankly, I would have done that with anyone. You just happened to be the only person in the room.”
Cassius slowly raised his gaze to hers. “Is that so?”
“Mm-hmm,” Thalia hummed, her nails scratching lightly against the skin of his lower abs. “But that itch has been dealt with, so no need to worry about adding more incidents to your list.”
Cassius’s eyes flared. “By who?”
Thalia’s grin stretched, delight spearing through her at his sudden interest. She pressed closer, the tips of her breasts nearly brushing against his chest. “Wouldn’t it kill you to know?”
Cassius’s jaw flickered, once, then twice. “You should get dressed. You’ll catch cold.” He brushed past her, aiming for the sink. “And I’d be careful of your shoulder; you wouldn’t want to further injure yourself.”
Thalia nearly crowed in triumph as his back stiffened. But she kept her lips sealed moving into the bedroom and didn’t bother to get dressed.
Cassius didn’t come to bed that night.
He didn’t even sleep on the settee, and Thalia slept poorly because of it. When morning came, there was no indication that he’d even be there at all.
Thalia didn’t want to admit that a small part of her worried she’d done too much—pushed him too far.
Cassius didn’t appear for breakfast, nor later that afternoon. It was nearing evening when Thalia finally found a servant.
“Have you seen Cass—Lord Cassius?” she asked. The servant just shook their head, scurrying off to fulfill whatever task held their attention.
Thalia walked around the quiet castle. It wasn’t like she could ask Camilla, and there was no sign of Keegan, although she wasn’t sure if he even stayed in the castle.
Thalia managed to sneak past the guards at the front and found herself in the stables, the smell of hay drifting to her nostrils. A stable hand mucked out a stall and looked up in surprise when she appeared.
“Have you seen the hand to the prince?” she asked, her fingers picking around the skin of her thumbs.
The stable hand shook his head, glancing at her hands. Thalia stopped and the boy swallowed, meeting her gaze. “He—he took his horse out late last night. He hasn’t returned.”
Thalia’s stomach tightened. “What about Lord Keegan?”
The stable hand just shook his head, confused. “I don’t know.”
“Where did Cassius go?”
The stable hand ran a shaky hand through his hair. “The forest on the east side of town.”
The forest.
Thalia’s heart pounded as she instructed the boy to get Feryena ready. It could be nothing, she told herself as she spurred her horse out of the castle grounds. Cassius had probably gone into Irenbis to ensure no more bitten were being hidden.
But the forest …
Thalia tried to keep the panic from her veins.
The creature causing the madness seemed to stay in Chaménos, but it had managed to breed, and one of its offsprings had been found in a forest far from the one that bordered the realm. Meaning the spawn could travel anywhere. And even the spawn could be just as deadly.
Thalia urged Feryena faster, breaking through the woods that surrounded the castle, and looked toward Irenbis. Then, there—to the east was another set of trees, ones that looked like they’d sprouted from Chaménos itself.
She kicked her horse, and Feryena took off, dirt flying from her hooves.
Thalia only slowed once she’d reached the edge of the trees.
She silently cursed. She should have asked the stable hand where exactly in the forest Cassius said he was going to. Thalia scanned the landscape until she spotted a small trail leading into the woods. She pushed her horse on, slowing as she entered.
The trunks of the trees rose close together like the strings of a harp, the branches laden with thick, crimson leaves. Thalia’s heart pounded, but she willed herself to breathe and think.
Whatever Cassius was doing in the forest, tramping through in a panic would no doubt ruin it, or piss him off further. Thalia took a deep breath.
Feryena moved along the path, and Thalia searched for anything amiss. It wasn’t until she’d gone at least a mile into the forest that she saw something strange.
Deep gouges appeared in some of the tree trunks, branches and underbrush broken from something being dragged.
Thalia grabbed the dagger in her boot, silently cursing herself again for not taking more weapons.
She halted her horse, ears straining. She heard nothing, and the trail of broken ground was old. The hair on the back of her neck prickled, and she slowly looked over her shoulder, glancing between the trunks.
Feryena swished her tail, ears flicking back and forth. There was nothing. Not even the scurrying of squirrels above her—
A screech broke through the trees, the sound startling her horse. Thalia fumbled with the reins as Feryena spooked.
She didn’t have time to scream as something slammed into her side and she was knocked clean out of the saddle.
She rolled as she hit the ground, trying to get her feet under her, fighting for breath in her lungs. Whatever had knocked her off had been sent flying a few paces away, and she whirled, dagger drawn.
The blood drained from her face.