Chapter 4
Chapter four
Cassia
“It’s a little overcooked, don’t you think?”
Cassia rolled her eyes. Every night, her father found something to complain about, whether it was the food, drink, or conversation.
It had been that way as long as she could remember.
Now, however, she was the sole person responsible for fixing those complaints since she was the only one who ever bothered to show up for dinner anymore.
It wasn’t a fun job, but she knew if she were to stop coming, her father would do more than just verbally berate her.
“It’s always overcooked,” Cassia muttered, barely resisting the urge to down her entire glass of wine. “Should I go say something to the chef?”
Her father continued to roughly cut his steak. “Don’t bother. I don’t have time to hire anyone else right now. Is your brother not joining us?”
Cassia scoffed. “The last time he had dinner with us, you forced a Shaman into his head. What makes you think he’ll ever join us again?”
After throwing down his fork with a loud smack, he glared at her with steely, dark eyes. “He’ll get over it eventually. At least he seems to finally be getting over that human girl. I heard he’s throwing another party in Astraeus tonight.”
Cassia bit her tongue. If only her father knew what her brother was really doing.
She wasn’t quite sure how Cade was fooling him, but she did know one thing: her brother was definitely not over Bridget.
She was all he and his friends seemed to talk about.
Well, her friends, too. Once upon a time. They avoided her most days.
But maybe there was something she could do to make her brother stop glaring at her every time she saw him. Casually, she suggested, “If you want Cade to come to dinner, maybe you should postpone tomorrow’s banishment. You know he still wants more time to question the other one.”
“Clever, but it’s been postponed long enough,” her father grunted. “The Andarrian girl has proved herself useless.”
“But…”
“Enough,” he hissed, “besides, any human that willingly chooses the gate instead of a release for information shouldn’t be listened to. There’s obviously something wrong with her.”
Cassia fought the glower that threatened to form on her face. Well, she tried. “How are you even sending the Andarrian girl across the gate? Didn’t you banish all the Shamans?”
Even Finn, one of the best trackers she knew, hadn’t been able to find a single one.
“Do you really think I wouldn’t ensure I could still summon them easily? They’re bound to the throne, after all. They can’t stay away for long.”
Just long enough for Cade to get married.
Her father looked way too proud of himself.
Banishing the Shamans hadn’t helped anyone.
All it had done was ensure Cade couldn’t use one to send one of his friends across the gate.
Wanting to change the subject, Cassia said, “I received a letter from Elora. She wants to come home.”
She and Elora had never been close, in fact, they usually despised being in the same vicinity as each other. But if her younger sister was home, maybe she wouldn’t have to continue on with pointless dinners. A night without her father sounded like paradise.
For once, her father paused and considered her request. After a long moment, he said, “We’ll see. I guess there’s no reason to keep the deal with your brother. His little human is gone for good.”
They sat in silence the rest of dinner.
Bottle of wine in hand, Cassia made her way to the south wing of the palace.
Once she’d heard about Cade’s party, she knew that’s where he’d be instead.
Inwardly scoffing, she took a long swig from her bottle.
The red wine inside was tart on her tongue.
She couldn’t believe her father actually believed Cade would throw a party on the last night he had a chance to question the Andarrian girl about Cora and the Sanguis before she was erased forever.
He’d spent months trying to get information out of her.
Luckily for her, the runes embedded in her skin made her mind impenetrable.
Cassia couldn’t help but be a little jealous.
When she rounded a particularly moldy and vine-infested corner, Cassia spotted Delphine sitting outside the old dungeon door.
Slumped over a book, her long, dark hair covered her face.
As she walked, Cassia purposely dug her feet into the hallway’s hard dirt.
Delphine jumped and looked up when she finally heard the noisy footsteps.
“Again?” Cassia drawled, even though she knew exactly where she’d find her brother.
If they wanted her to play the part of the uncaring twin sister, then she would.
For good measure, she added, “And an effective guard shouldn’t be reading a book.
If I had been anyone else, it would have been too late to warn Cade. ”
Delphine’s jaw clenched. “You know how he gets. He’s not going to give up. And I’m really just here to make sure he leaves in time to make it to the party before Orion does.”
Ah, so that was how he was fooling their father, by making an appearance at the party just in time for their father’s little spy to see. Cassia couldn’t believe it was that simple. Her father usually smelled her schemes from a mile away.
“Well, he’ll have to give up by tomorrow afternoon,” Cassia said. “I tried to convince my father to delay her banishment, but like always, he doesn’t listen to me.”
“Maybe she’ll finally tell him what he wants to know tonight.”
Cassia snorted. “I doubt that.”
She’d observed the Andarrian girl enough times to recognize pure stubbornness.
It did take one to know one. She wasn’t going to tell Cade anything.
Trying to put the cork back in the bottle of wine, Cassia looked down at Delphine just in time to see her stuff a letter into the pages of her book.
The envelope was worn, like it had been opened, closed, and read many times.
Delphine had been quick, but Cassia only needed a glance to recognize the handwriting.
Once, she had known it better than her own.
A tremble of something she didn’t like went through Cassia’s chest as she pondered whether that had been what Delphine had been focused on, not the book.
She swallowed, and then got the nerve to ask, “Is that a letter from Castor?”
Delphine’s cheeks reddened, and she didn’t look Cassia in the eye as she said, “It is. He just arrived in Tafari and is boarding a ship here within the next week. He said he’s just now responding because he’s been in the human realm.
The king still won’t let him through the gate here in Astraeus.
Not that there’s any Shamans here to help with that.
He said he has news for Cade about Bridget. ”
“If he doesn’t say the news in the letter, that means it’s not good,” Cassia murmured. She’d gotten enough letters from him before to know he only sent niceties by mail. He believed bad news should only be told in person. Cassia curled her lips around her teeth. Him and his stupid honor.
“You don’t know that,” Delphine snapped.
Cassia resisted the urge to roll her eyes and secretly hoped Delphine hadn’t shared the letter with Cade.
It would only get his hopes up. And what she’d heard about that night gave her serious doubts about Bridget’s survival.
Especially when no one there had left unscathed.
Speaking of… “Where’s Finn?” Cassia asked.
Delphine paused. Her dark, slanted eyes were wary as she said, “Someone spotted something weird on the Kastronian border.”
“That’s not vague at all,” Cassia muttered. When Delphine didn’t reply, Cassia heaved the door to the dungeon open. Maybe she could finagle what happened at the border out of her brother. And get him to finally just let her do something to help.
Delphine jumped up. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m going down there.”
“He won’t like that.”
Cassia ground her teeth together. Of course, he wouldn’t, but she was tired of being told what to do. And she knew Cade better than anyone. There was no way he was calm when his last connection to information about Bridget was a day away from disappearing.
“Too bad,” she called, already half-way down the curving staircase. The deeper she went, the colder and darker it got. Why the hell were they still allowed to keep people down here? She could feel her sinuses closing already.
When the stairs ended, the small expanse was lit by a row of torches. She could barely see Cade sitting in front of one of the cells. The one he always sat in front of. The one that held Alexia.
It was only after the incident in Cavamyne they’d discovered Alexia’s Andarrian tattoos, the runes etched in the skin of her biceps, much like Bridget’s necklace.
And now here she sat. Cocky and safe. Mind impenetrable from Cade’s assault, and on her way to the human realm by request. Their father had wanted to use her for information about Andarre, but she’d sat in the south wing for months without saying a word.
He’d only accepted her request to go through the gate to spite Cade.
To Cassia’s surprise, Alexia’s eyes lit up when she entered the room.
Without turning around, Cade sighed. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I was bored,” Cassia quipped, knowing the response would annoy Cade the most. She wanted to gloat as she watched his shoulders stiffen. Finally, he wasn’t ignoring her.
“And why is that my problem?”
“I thought maybe you would like some help with your interrogation.”