Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Thalia took a deep breath, her eyelids fluttering open.
She blinked, taking in the grayish dawn bleeding into the room. Birds chirped outside her window. Had it all been a dream?
Thalia shifted and sucked in a sharp breath. The dull twinge coming from her neck said otherwise, as did the pleasant ache between her thighs. She rolled over and her heart squeezed.
Cassius sat in one of the armchairs in the room, his head propped in his fist. His chest rose and fell deeply, although his brow was still furrowed, even in sleep.
The sight made the back of her throat tighten.
As if she’d swallowed too loudly, his eyes flew open, and he sat up, suddenly alert. Then his gaze settled on hers.
They stared at each for a moment. Some thread stretched between them, pulling taut. Thalia swallowed once more, blinking her eyes rapidly. She pushed herself to a sitting position and groaned.
Cassius was immediately there, propping up a pillow behind her back. “Easy,” he said, his voice soft. “Your body will need to rest.”
Thalia stared up at him as he finished adjusting the pillows, then stepped back. She didn’t know what to say, how to act.
Cassius watched her with a wary expression. Finally, he said, “Do you remember last night?”
Even though pain had muddled her memory, she still recalled the sharp torment of the Vampyr’s bite, then the agony coursing through her burning body until Cassius offered a different solution. One that had the ache between her legs throbbing.
“Yes.”
Cassius’s face was guarded, but he sank back onto the chair, watching. “I want to apologize.”
Thalia lifted her head in shock. “For what?”
Cassius scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “For what I had to do.”
Too many emotions bubbled in Thalia’s stomach. “You did what you had to in order to save my life. You don’t need to apologize for it.”
“I know but—” Cassius cut himself off, his eyes suddenly full of regret and guilt. “But it shouldn’t have happened at all.”
Thalia’s heart sank, and she was suddenly unsure why his adamancy that he shouldn’t be intimate with her set her stomach churning. “Well, it’s done now.”
She swung her legs to the floor, wincing at every part of her body that hurt. It felt as though she’d been run over by a carriage repeatedly, then thrown down an embankment for good measure.
She hobbled to the bathing room, taking a sharp breath as she tried bending to turn on the tub.
A hand appeared, turning the water on for her. She didn’t comment as Cassius added an assortment of soaps and oils to the claw-foot tub. As if his guilt drove him to do it. Thalia gritted her teeth, ignoring the ache in her jaw.
“You don’t have to do that,” she got out when he went so far as to set extra soap along the window’s edge.
He turned to her, his eyes still guttering. “Thalia—”
“Is this some sort of self-righteous act to make you feel better about fucking me with your mouth and fingers? Is this supposed to—”
“I’m the reason that Vampyr bit you!” Cassius’s harsh words stopped her.
“What?”
Cassius shut off the water in the tub, running a shaking hand through his hair. “Do you really think what I did last night is the reason for my guilt? Sybil—she—she is here because of me.”
Sybil. The name rang through Thalia’s hazy memory. Cassius had said something about her turning into one of them because of it—
Thalia sucked in a sharp breath, the image of Sybil’s foaming mouth flashing. “You’re harboring a bitten.”
Cassius raised his devastated gaze to hers. Thalia took a step back, her body shaking as the image of Sybil flashed in her mind. The feeling of her canines sinking into her flesh, as she drank from her.
“Let me explain—” Cassius reached for her, but Thalia kept stepping back. Her heart pounded in her throat as she retreated into the bedroom.
“You—you let this happen—” Thalia’s fingers shook. “You said they are supposed to be killed—”
“She’s my sister.”
Thalia faltered. “What?”
Cassius looked as though he’d ripped out his own heart as he rasped, “My half sister. I didn’t know she existed until I was turned.”
Thalia’s knees hit the back of the bed. She hadn’t even realized how far she’d withdrawn until she sank onto the mattress. “Your sister? How?”
“My father,” Cassius stumbled. “You know what he was like. I don’t know how or even when it happened, but he met a Vampyr. I only knew because Sybil sent me a letter.”
Thalia stared at him in shock. “How did she even know about you?”
“Her mother was favored by the prince. Sybil’s mother wasn’t a lady at first, but the prince ended up accepting her onto his council—accepting Sybil. Her mother was bitten and killed. It was then that the prince told her of her human sire and … me.”
Thalia ran a hand over her face, unable to imagine what Cassius must have felt when he read the letter. Because humans had always been taught to fear the monsters to the north. And to know that one of them was his own kin?
“I went searching for her four years ago.” Cassius’s words broke through her thoughts.
She sucked in a sharp breath. Four years ago …
“What happened?” she finally asked. The question she’d avoided for so long finally needed to be brought to light.
Cassius sank onto one of the armchairs, his shoulders heavy.
“I heard rumors that there were a few Vampyrs who’d be willing to talk to humans.
After the treaty failed over a decade ago, and given the war between our two worlds, I knew it was a risk.
But I needed to find her—to see her. So I had Marcus find me an old map of our world.
” Thalia felt a sudden sting of betrayal from her friend back home.
“And I looked for the Vampyr ports. I took a boat, knowing that despite the rocky waters, I could navigate them as opposed to trying to go through the forest. I landed in a little town not far from Irenbis.
“The Vampyrs have been dealing with other humans for as long as they can remember. It was only Agripa they cut off all connection to, so finding me on their shores wasn’t a great surprise.
I managed to make my way to House Lorenzia.
Sybil had already been serving on the prince’s council, same as Camilla and Keegan.
It was then I learned about the first rumors of the bitten, the blight which was threatening the Vampyr world.
I left with the promise to try and see if Agripa would be willing to aid them.
But when I left to return home, I ran into a rogue Vampyr. ”
Thalia swallowed, watching Cassius’s eyes shift. “The Vampyr didn’t have the self-control as one should. He was still young. He smelled my blood, and I could do nothing to stop him before he bit me.”
“How did I not know you were going to find her?” Thalia whispered.
“It was right when the Scarecrows began to appear. Your mother sent me away often to try and figure out what was going on.” That was around the same time Thalia had accepted the marriage proposal meant to save her world.
The growing Vampyr attacks had urged her to finally accept the human prince’s treaty.
“You lied to me?”
“What would you have done if you’d known?” Cassius said softly.
Thalia looked away, suddenly ashamed to realize she would have refused to allow him to find his sister. Because at the end of the day, Sybil was a Vampyr.
“Damien found me, right on the border of Vaccarium. I begged him to make the pain stop, so he let me feed. Then he took me back to the prince’s council, where I’ve stayed ever since.”
Everything was falling into place. The reason Cassius was so intent on helping the Vampyrs—it wasn’t just because he was now one of them but also because of his sister.
“What happened after?” Thalia asked.
Cassius took a shuddering breath. “I recovered from the bite, and I—I went back to Agripa. To find you.” He met her stare.
“When I finally got to the castle, I discovered that Prince Darius was planning to attack Agripa—to take it by force in whatever way necessary so he could have a better foothold to attack the Vampyrs in Vaccarium.”
“That’s why you killed him?” Thalia felt the breath punch out of her.
“Yes,” Cassius got out. “I couldn’t—I couldn’t let him live. Not knowing he had plans to kill you and your mother.”
Thalia’s world faltered, the truth baring itself brighter than the sun shining on a darkened bay.
Guilt whirled in Thalia’s gut as Cassius continued.
“After I got back, I joined the prince’s council officially.
The rumors of the creature were spreading, along with the bitten, who began leaving Scarecrows in Agripa.
We needed to search for a cure and to try and stop the bitten.
I spent three and a half years doing that. ”
“What about Sybil? What happened to her?” Thalia met his stare.
The muscle in Cassius’s jaw flickered. “Six months ago, there was a rumor that the creature had been wounded in the forest. Me and Keegan were away dealing with the Mages in Lorceium, but Sybil got word and took it upon herself to try and stop it. She was bitten.”
Thalia sucked in a breath, and Cassius leaned back in his seat.
“I-I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill her once I found her.
She hadn’t yet gone mad, but the poison in her bloodstream was spreading.
We—Keegan, Camilla, and I—we brought her here.
Warded the place so no one would venture in but also so she couldn’t escape. ”
“Is this place really one of the prince’s estates?” Thalia asked.
Cassius nodded. “Yes. He gave it to his council. I didn’t lie about that. Camilla and Sybil stayed here the most. This was her room.”
Thalia’s heart twisted as she glanced around the space. The soft decor was the polar opposite of the crazed Vampyr who’d bitten her.
“Where is she now?”
Cassius swallowed. Hard. “She’s been dealt with.”
Thalia jerked. “You killed her?”
Cassius looked away, his eyes filling with too many emotions to name. “No. But I asked Keegan to drain her blood. She’s in a comatose state now.”
Which meant she was as good as dead. Sybil would only come out of her suspended state if she drained the blood of another. Then the vicious cycle would continue—
“Why would you do that?” Thalia gasped. “Why would you—”
“Because I cannot bear the thought of you getting hurt,” Cassius snapped.
His eyes glowed as he gripped the arms of his chair, his face rippling slightly.
“Because it makes me sick to my fucking stomach thinking that I almost lost you last night. To know that it was my own mistake—my own foolish, selfish desire in keeping Sybil alive in hopes we find a cure—that allowed you to get in harm’s way.
I am no better than Julian. No better than any of the other Vampyrs trying to keep their loved ones alive for a little longer. ”
Thalia swallowed as Cassius’s chest rose and fell, his anger at himself washing over his features like slashes on a dartboard.
She rose, her feet padding across the floor until she stood before him. Cassius looked at her, his eyes shining with such deep regret and devastation that it made her own heart crack.
“You are not Julian,” she said. His face twisted, but she placed a hand on his cheek, feeling the rough stubble under her palms. “And you are not like any other Vampyr. You took her away when you found out she was bitten. You ensured that no one would stumble upon her or that she would get out and cause harm. You did not just leave her so anyone could find her.”
Cassius’s throat bobbed, his eyes shining. “But she still found you.”
Thalia gripped his face in her hands. She moved, finding herself straddling his lap. Cassius didn’t say anything, but his hands immediately found the curve of her waist, holding tight.
“I was stupid,” Thalia whispered, running a thumb along his sharp cheekbone. “I heard her crying for help and thought a woman had locked herself down there. I was foolish, and didn’t listen when you told me to avoid the lower levels. If I had, none of this would have happened.”
Cassius swallowed. Hard. His fingers clenched around her waist. “You could have died last night. And I would have never forgiven myself.”
Thalia’s own throat bobbed. “But I didn’t.” She grasped one of his hands, bringing it to her chest—to her heart, a steady beat under his palms. “I’m right here.”
Cassius scanned her, blue eyes bright. “Thalia—”
She silenced him with her lips.
Cassius pressed his fingers into her chest, his hand burning as if needing the reassurance that she was alive.
His lips answered her own, a thread wrapping between them, fusing them together like two halves of a mirror. All sense of fear and decorum fled as Thalia nipped at his lips, her teeth snagging on his flesh, and Cassius groaned. His kiss turned fervent. Heated.
He gripped her face with one hand, tilting her head back farther so he could devour her. His tongue slipped into her mouth, and she made a sound in the back of her throat, her body going loose and tight all at once.
Cassius smiled against her lips. “I’ve missed those little noises.” His hand over her heart drifted to her breast. “I missed the taste of you.”
Thalia kissed him deeper, her arms winding around his neck. She felt his hard length right against the soft, aching part of her. She arched against it, needing to feel the friction between them.
“Fuck,” he growled, fingers digging into her flesh.
Cassius’s lips left hers, but he didn’t go far as he tilted his jaw, his hot mouth meeting her neck. Thalia tilted her head back, and his lips traveled down to her collarbone.
Thalia rolled her hips against him, needing to appease the ache in her core—
Pain flared through her body. Thalia let out a hiss, pulling away.
“What? What happened?” Cassius’s brows pulled, immediately stopping.
Thalia shook her head, pushing the pain aside. “Nothing.” She leaned back in to capture his mouth and groaned, the muscles in her back twinging.
Cassius shifted. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this.”
Thalia’s eyes narrowed. “No. I’m fine. It’s fine.”
Cassius caught her chin between his fingers, his eyes shining now for a different reason. “As much as I’d like to continue this, I don’t think your body can handle it.”
Thalia would have argued had the muscle in her calf not begun to cramp. She groaned again, and Cassius stood, picking her up in the same movement.
And she didn’t protest as he plunked her into the tub, the warm water soothing the aches and pain in both her body and heart.