Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
“So what do you think?” Cassius asked. His face remained neutral, although Thalia heard the barest hint of hope in his voice.
Thalia, Cassius, and Keegan all stood around the table in the small dining room in the manor, watching as Camilla held up the jars of teeth to a light.
“I’ll have to test it out,” Camilla said, setting the jar down with a clink. “It’s possible, but don’t get your hopes up.”
Cassius nodded, his face still carefully blank, although his shoulders tensed.
“Can you test it out here?” Thalia asked.
Camilla shook her head, curly hair flying. “Not here. I need to go to Perden. Decima can help.” Thalia shuffled the information to the side as the shifter turned to Cassius. “You’ll want to come too. The Mages have found something.”
Cassius straightened. “What is it?”
Camilla just shook her head. “They can explain more. But we might have a different solution to what you’ve asked.”
Thalia glanced between the two and caught Keegan’s gaze. At her confused stare, he shook his head.
Camilla shoved the teeth into the satchel. “I can take these back to start testing, and I’ll inform the Mages you’re on your way.”
Cassius nodded. “Thank you.”
Camilla smiled, slinging the satchel over her shoulder. She stared at Thalia, noting the bruise on her throat. “It’s good to see you, Thalia.”
Then she was gone.
“What is the solution the Mages are trying to come up with?” Thalia blurted out as soon as the three of them were alone. Lady Decima had mentioned a similar thing at the council meeting with the other Houses.
Keegan slid his eyes to Cassius, raising a brow as if to say You take this.
She’d thought there’d be awkward tension between her and the golden-eyed Vampyr, given the state he’d last seen her in. But Keegan didn’t seem to care, which put her at ease.
Cassius sighed, running a hand through his long hair.
Thalia pushed aside the image of her own fingers running through the strands.
“We’d hoped when the creature first emerged that they’d know of a way to stop it.
Or the very least, how to find a cure.” Thalia waved a hand for him to get to the point.
Cassius gave her a look before continuing.
“When that failed, we started thinking of a different solution for the issue.”
“Like what?”
“Creating a place for Vampyrs to go if things turned south.”
“Like a sanctuary?” Thalia’s brows pinched in confusion.
“In a way … the mountain—Lorceium—doesn’t just provide the ore which Agripa uses as fuel. There are pockets of magic in the mountain, the last of the Mages’ reserves. They’ve been trying to see if those pockets can be harnessed to use as protection.”
“Like the wards around this place,” Thalia murmured.
Cassius nodded. “The wards here are strong but not lasting. They’ll eventually fade in the coming years, and not even Camilla’s magic can replace them. But the magic in the mountain is far greater. Strong enough to withstand hundreds of years.”
“So all the Vampyrs would move into the mountain? It would save you from getting bitten?” Thalia said.
Cassius sighed, scrubbing a hand over his jaw.
“Yes. But the problem we are running into is that there isn’t enough room to bring all the Vampyrs of Vaccarium into Lorceium.
The pockets of magic are small, some not much bigger than this room.
The Mages are trying to find a way to grow those small pockets. ”
Thalia swallowed, realization dawning. “But what happens if the Vampyrs retreat into the mountain? No one will be able to fulfill the treaty with the humans. What happens if the creature turns to Agripa when there’s nothing left for them here?”
Cassius’s eyes darkened. “This is a last resort. One we don’t wish to implement unless it’s necessary.”
Thalia shut her eyes, pushing past her sudden panic about the creature entering the human realm. The humans didn’t stand a chance against the bitten Vampyrs; there was no way in hell they’d stand against the creature that had infected them.
Resolve suddenly filled Thalia’s gut. The Vampyrs needed a cure, not just for themselves but for the whole of their world. “When do we leave for Perden?”
Thalia rode in front of Cassius, the rocking of their horse sending her more forcefully back against his chest.
Thalia chided herself as they made their way through the forest. Now certainly wasn’t the time to think about the steady reassurance of Cassius’s arms around her.
“What are the Mages like?” she asked suddenly.
Keegan had moved a ways ahead, his shoulders at ease. Despite leaving the safety of the wards, at least the Vampyrs seemed relaxed as they traveled.
“What do you mean?” Cassius said.
“Are they … old?”
Cassius chuckled, his breath stirring a strand of her hair that had slipped from its braid. “Some are. Others are younger than us.”
“Really?”
Cassius nodded, his cheek brushing against her head. “I’ve only met a few. Decima is one of them. There’s a few others; Larellia is head of the Mages. She’s the one who’s been actively looking for a cure.”
Thalia chewed the inside of her cheek. “And there’s really no way to defeat the creature? Kill it instead? Maybe find a way to incapacitate it so it can be burned?”
Cassius’s hands tightened on the reins. “We could try. But trying to fight it in the forest has always ended badly, with more losses than it’s worth. The amount of Vampyrs it would take to bring the creature down, to try and burn it in the forest with such tight quarters …”
“What about trying to lure it out? Maybe if it was out in the open, you could do something.”
Cassius shook his head. “We’ve tried. The thing won’t leave the forest line, and given that its offspring can regenerate, I have a feeling that the mother can too.”
Which made sense as to why they’d been fighting it for years, but something didn’t sit right with her. “Where did the creature come from anyway?”
“We don’t know. The forest has bred many strange things. Some believe that Chaménos has pockets of magic, much like the mountain. But the magic in the forest is wild, unpredictable.”
Thalia made a face at that. “Huh.”
“What?”
She sighed, leaning her head back against his chest. “This world is so strange.” Cassius snorted, and Thalia’s lips twitched upward.
“I mean, in Agripa, you know our lack of knowledge. I don’t recall ever learning about the specific creatures living in your forest. Marcus would have a heyday if he was here.
He’d probably explode with excitement trying to write it all down despite the imminent danger he’d be in. ”
Cassius’s chuckle rumbled against her back. “Yes, he would be rather keen on getting to know this world.”
Thalia’s heart sank, suddenly missing her friend back home. She cleared her throat. “What of the prince?”
“What of him?
“Will I finally meet him in Perden?” The thought should have excited her. Finally, she was about to meet the man she’d been betrothed to—the Vampyr whose House she was trying to usurp.
But none of it … none of it felt right.
Not being with the prince, nor using his House against him.
And if she finally joined with him, what then?
The thought of … coupling with him, even if he wasn’t the monstrous Vampyr she’d painted him out to be, didn’t sit well with her.
Especially not with everything that’d transpired between her and Cassius.
And where did Cass fit into her life? When she was officially joined with House Lorenzia, would the prince allow her to take a lover?
Would Cass—would Cassius even want to? Given his loyalty to the prince?
“He’s gone to try and gain some semblance of his House.” Cassius’s words pulled her from her thoughts.
Thalia twisted in the seat. “What?”
Cassius kept his gaze focused on the path. “The Vampyrs are still grumbling. He’s trying to figure out a solution with House Gallinus.”
Thalia shook her head. “That doesn’t make any sense. His council is here—”
“Camilla said he was insistent on getting back, on making things right.”
“What about me?”
“What about you?”
Thalia twisted again. “Does he not care that his wife is tramping across his realm?”
Cassius’s jaw flickered. “He is aware you are with me.”
“And how does he feel about that?”
“What do you mean?”
“He knows of our history?”
Cassius met her stare, brows furrowing. “Yes.”
“And he’s not jealous?”
Cassius pulled their horse to a stop. “Do you want him to be?”
Thalia felt her annoyance rising. “I want him to actually show up. I want to actually meet the man I’ve uprooted my whole life for.”
“You will.”
“When?” Thalia’s voice rose. “When will I meet him? It’s beginning to feel as though he doesn’t exist at all.”
Cassius stared at her a moment longer before he nudged Feryena on. “The prince has not forgotten you, and you will meet him. Sooner than you expect.”
Thalia had a sinking feeling Cassius was lying.
They set up camp in a small glen. Flowers swayed gently in the breeze as they configured their bedrolls. Keegan had gone to tend to the horses, and Thalia watched as Cassius started a fire, the sparks rising with the smoke.
The moon watched her through the leaves as she settled down.
“What are you thinking?” Cassius’s words pulled her from her stare.
She realized she was picking at her nails and stopped. She didn’t know if she could voice her concern, her dismay at the idea of not being with Cassius even after everything that had happened—
“Do you miss it?” Thalia blurted out.
Cassius met her gaze across the fire. “Miss what?”
“The sun?”
Cassius’s brows furrowed. “Sometimes.” Thalia waited, watching, as emotions flickered in his eyes, too fast for her to decipher. “Sometimes I miss the feel of the warmth on my face. When I could look skywards and know no matter how cold I was, I knew where to find the light.”
“Are you still cold now?”
“Yes.”
“You’re hot, though.” Cassius raised an amused brow, and Thalia’s cheeks heated. “I mean, your body temperature. I still feel your heat.”
Cassius shrugged, moving around the fire. He grabbed a water skin and took a swig before handing it to her. “My body heat may feel that way, but my insides don’t.”
Thalia made a face but drank as well. Cassius watched her swallow. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She was glad she didn’t know what that type of cold felt like, that she’d been saved from having to find out.
Cassius settled down on his bedroll next to hers. Thalia lay down, pulling her blanket up to her chin. They had a foot of distance between them, and Cassius grabbed his own blanket, trying to get comfortable on the hard ground.
“We’ll arrive in Perden tomorrow,” he said softly. Vaguely, Thalia heard Keegan returning, settling onto his own bedroll on the opposite side of the fire.
Thalia nodded, tucking her arm under her head.
Tension stretched between them, the fire suddenly feeling much too hot.
Thalia flipped off her blanket, and Cassius raised a brow. “Everything all right?”
“It’s too hot,” Thalia whispered. Her heart rate rose, and she couldn’t say why. Maybe it was the fact that Cassius’s eyes had gone to her throat. “Are you … are you still cold?”
Cassius offered a small smile. “I told you, my body may be hot, but my insides always feel as though they’re coated in ice.”
Thalia made a face. “What stops it?”
Cassius’s eyes darkened. She barely breathed as his hand reached out, brushing a strand of her hair from her neck. “Usually I can get warmed up if I think about something … arousing.”
“Like what?” Thalia whispered.
Cassius’s fingers didn’t leave her neck. “Like thinking of you.”
Thalia shifted closer, the heat of his body transferring to her. “And what do you think about?”
Cassius smirked, his fingers trailing down her neck to her arm. “I think about what it would be like to make love to you now. How four years may have changed a lot of things, but the way we were together never will.”
Thalia closed her eyes, the image of him thrusting inside her making her burn.
“I think about those little noises you make,” he said quietly. “How you gasp every time I put my mouth around your breast. The way you clench when my fingers are inside you.”
Thalia shuddered, imagining the feel of his teeth scraping against her nipple.
“You have no idea what it’s like, Thalia.” He let out a low chuckle. “How your jasmine perfume makes me feel feral. Makes me want to peel those tight pants off you and worship every inch of you.”
Thalia opened her lids, finding his stare dark. His hand hadn’t left her arm, but she trembled, need filling her with such desire that she nearly cried.
“And when you look at me like that,” Cassius got out, his eyes slowly lifting to hers, “it takes everything in me not to take you right here. To fuck you until we both forget who we are and what we’re doing.”
Thalia swallowed, the growing ache between her legs so great she had to clamp her thighs together.
“I beg you, please don’t.”
Thalia jerked, all sense of heat dying as Keegan’s words floated across the fire. Mortification speared through her as she realized what she and Cassius had been doing—the words they’d been speaking.
Cassius cast a glare across the fire even as he chuckled. “Prick.” He turned back to Thalia, his features now dancing with amusement. His features softened at her embarrassment. “Keegan’s just jealous that he doesn’t have a pretty face to stare at.”
“I have a mirror for that,” Keegan said over his shoulder.
Cassius snickered and Thalia’s lip twitched as she lay back down, pulling the blanket up once more.
Cassius settled down beside her. He reached across the space, his fingers entwining with hers. “Get some sleep,” he said, his voice low.
Thalia nodded, forcing her lids to close, Cassius’s hand a steady weight in her palm.