Chapter 29
Chapter twenty-nine
Cassia
The throne room was a mess of voices, movement, and too many people Cassia couldn’t name.
Not that she cared to. She lingered near the corner, half in shadow, observing more than participating.
Watching. Listening. It was easier that way.
She’d perfected the art of fading into the background, of being the silent one no one noticed until she decided to let out a brash comment.
Plus, the last thing Cassia wanted to do was touch someone.
Or something magical. The lingering hum of the Bloodstone’s power still clung to her fingers, even through the gloves she’d hastily pulled back on.
Too intoxicating. Too addictive. Her hands ached with the memory of it…
of how natural it had felt, how much she’d wanted more.
A shiver slid down her spine.
Cassia clenched her jaw and stared at the floor.
She hated remembering what she’d done. The image of her fingers buried in Bridget’s side was still too fresh.
So was the sound of her scream. And now, on top of that, she was stuck in her least favorite room…
crammed in with a crowd, hemmed in by firelight and walls that swallowed all trace of sunlight. Windowless. Airless. Smothering.
Or maybe the feeling was caused by a certain person.
Her eyes drifted to her father. He stood across the room, speaking in clipped, stern tones to one of his advisors.
She’d barely come to terms with the revelation that he’d known what she was for years and tried to smother it.
Despite his claims his actions had stemmed from his desire to protect his children, she wasn’t sure she could forgive him.
Even if he did seem like he was trying to help.
With a rough flick of his wrist, her father summoned Orion away from him with a growl.
“I’ve checked the kitchens and eastern apartments. Everyone there is accounted for,” Delphine said, hurrying into the room with her dark hair messily wrapped atop her head. She made a beeline for Cade and Bridget.
Cassia almost wanted to laugh. So the girls still trapped on the palace grounds because of the tournament wouldn’t be joining them?
She glanced at Bridget and Cade pressed together by one of the marble columns.
Actually, it was probably a smart move by her brother to keep them away.
Bridget already looked like she was one breath away from combusting.
For the last ten minutes, she’d been staring at nothing, her expression carved from stone.
“You’re turning blue. I don’t know if you’ve heard of this thing called air, but…”
The whispered words from Archer to Bridget earned him a tired glare from Cade.
Cassia strained her ears to hear Cade’s low reply, but a presence to her left sent her heart rate spiking.
She didn’t have to look to know it was Castor.
The mere inch between them buzzed with more tension than she could handle.
Her body ached to close it. Just lean over, touch his arm, and feel something real.
But she couldn’t tell if that pull was hers or the magic still simmering beneath her skin, greedy for more.
Instead, she asked him, “How did this happen?”
The palace grounds were under protection spells, and her father had almost the entire army stationed inside. The tunnel Quinn and the Wraith had entered from were still covered by rubble. A little girl couldn’t have just disappeared.
“She must have wandered off,” Castor said.
She didn’t think that was the case. Cade had basically sent the entire palace into a lockdown. She’d learned a long time to always trust her brother’s hunches.
“I don’t think so.”
Tapping into the lingering current of magic in her veins, Cassia reached out to Cade’s mind.
With a sharp pop of energy, she slipped inside.
The weight of his thoughts nearly knocked her flat.
His mind was in chaos. For a second, she almost couldn’t breathe from the frantic flashes of memory, fear, and the burn of responsibility gnawing at him.
Do you have any ideas?
No. His voice was tinted with frustration. And Bridget won’t let me in her head to know what she’s thinking.
“Ah,” Castor said. “Have you two ever thought some of these conversations would be better said aloud?”
Cassia ignored him.
Why? she asked.
Two deep lines marred Cade’s forehead as he watched Bridget and Delphine exchange whispers. There’s something she saw in the past that she doesn’t want me to know.
Cassia sent him the bits and pieces she’d seen. A dungeon. A waterfall. Ballrooms and dresses. A brief image of him in a tavern.
Cade sent her a droll look over his shoulder. That’s all very vague.
Like I said, she did most of the searching.
“Wait, where’s Finn?”
Archer’s question landed like a dropped blade.
Cassia's eyes snapped to Cade, just as his posture stiffened. His glowing irises sparked to life as he searched for Finn’s presence in his head. After a moment, his brows furrowed.
“I can’t find him,” Cade said slowly, like the words were unfamiliar in his mouth.
Cassia’s pulse quickened. That wasn’t possible. The energy in the throne room seemed to shift. She glanced at Bridget, who still looked lost in thought.
“Did anyone see him after he checked on Nylah?” Delphine asked, a nervous lilt in her voice.
Archer rubbed the back of his neck, eyes narrowed in thought. “Briefly. In the hallway. He passed me like I wasn’t there… He didn’t even react to the joke I told him.”
“I doubt it was funny,” Cade said, trying for lightness, but the tension in his voice betrayed him.
But then Bridget moved. Cassia saw it first on her shoulders. A flinch, a tremor, and then the widening of her eyes.
“That wasn’t Finn,” she said, voice low and broken.
The room stilled in an instant. Even the torches flickered low, as if the castle itself were holding its breath. A chill spidered up Cassia’s spine. She could tell by the rising panic on Bridget’s face that the next words out of her mouth were going to be bad.
Bridget swallowed hard. “It was Vega.”
All the air in the room vanished. Everyone in the room seemed to tremble at the name. Even her father, who rarely showed emotion, sat straighter on the throne. His shoulders squared. His eyes darkened as they locked on Bridget, as if he could interrogate the truth out of her with his gaze alone.
Confusion etched across Cade’s features. “What do you mean?”
“It was Vega. Finn was cut by Quinn, remember?” Bridget’s hoarse words came out in a rush, like she couldn’t get them out fast enough.
“She’s possessing him. That was always one of her favorite tricks, but she could never hold it long.
That was a long time ago though and…” She paused and inhaled a sharp breath.
“Of course, that has to be what she did to Quinn. She must have written a new blood spell based on how she already knew how to get in my head, without anyone sensing it.”
The world tilted on its axis. Cassia didn’t need confirmation.
Cade’s face said it all. Color drained from his skin, and when his eyes met hers across the room, she didn’t need to enter his mind to feel the rising panic brewing behind them.
Not only had Vega taken Nylah, she also had the Bloodstone.
Cassia glanced at Castor. Engrossed in a silent conversation with Cade, the lines of his throat had gone taunt.
Her father let out an exasperated breath, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Are we certain she didn’t just run off?
” he asked, voice sharp with irritation.
But Cassia caught it… a flicker of something beneath the frustration.
Concern, she thought, before it vanished behind the practiced mask of a king.
“She wouldn’t do that,” Bridget shot back sharply. “Besides, she doesn’t know this land. She wouldn’t know where to go.”
Her father’s eyes cut to Alexia, who sat curled up in a corner, expressionless. “I assume you can’t track her because of the Andarrian rune,” he said.
A headache threatened to form in Cassia’s head. Earlier, she’d admired that Bridget had chosen to give her sister the necklace instead of wearing it herself. Now, a wave of frustration shot up her spine that she couldn’t have waited to give it away just a few hours later.
Cade’s neck heated. The frustration was clear on his face, even if she already hadn’t caught a glimpse of his thoughts. His gaze drifted from their father, then back to Bridget. “If she possessed Finn to take Nylah, then there’s only one place she’ll go.”
Cassia closed her eyes. She knew Bridget’s answer before she said it.
“Cavamyne.”
The last place her brother needed to be. The only place where Vega could finally get what she wanted: a way back into their world. Cassia’s chest twisted. She wanted to scream at Cade and forbid him to go. But she knew him well enough to know that wasn’t an option. He was going. No matter what.
“We can’t let that happen. It’s too risky,” Castor whispered, as if reading her thoughts. His eyes hadn’t left her since Cade’s grim reply to their father.
“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” she choked out, fear seizing her. She had to go with them, just in case something happened. But the words to Cade wouldn’t escape her mouth.
Their father rose from the glittering throne, his footsteps echoing sharply off the marble as he crossed the room. When he stopped in front of Cade, the fury in his eyes was barely restrained. “You’re walking into a trap,” he said, voice low but seething.
Cade didn’t flinch. His jaw set with quiet resolve. “I know.”
Silence pierced the room as they stared at each other. Cassia half-expected an order. Some final act of power to stop Cade from doing what they all knew he would do anyway. But then—
“Then I’m coming too,” their father said. “Besides, I can’t miss another fight. Any more, and I may have to give up my title.”
Cassia froze. Her father’s words landed with the weight of finality, more jarring than any shout.
The quiet authority in his voice shook something loose in her chest. Every breath caught like it no longer belonged to her.
Around her, the room exploded into motion.
Voices rose, orders barked, and plans unraveled faster than she could process.
And still, she stood anchored in place, untouched by the whirlwind.
They were going to Cavamyne.
And no matter how hard she wished to rewind the last hour, to claw the thread of fate back into her hands—there was no stopping it now.