Chapter 23
C assia
The light was different. That was the first thing I noticed. Brushing the grass off my knees, I stood up and scanned our surroundings.
The sky was the most intense blue I ever could have imagined, and the air was so clear I never would have been able to describe it.
Everything was hyperreal, crisp and sharp, and the colors had a depth to them that I knew I’d never be able to get right on canvas.
It went without saying that I’d certainly try, the first chance I got.
Zaynan was crouched down, palms in the dirt and one knee bent. “You okay?” He asked me.
“Yeah,” I replied, brushing a small leaf off my thigh. I rubbed my hands together and shook off any remaining debris. “Where are we?”
He stood and glanced around. “Fourth Realm, I’m assuming.”
“You don’t know?”
With a quick glare directed at me, he said, “It’s not like there’s a GPS for this shit, calm down.”
He was irritating. “Stand there and brood all you want, I’m walking.”
My arm was grabbed and I was dragged to a standstill. “You can’t just go wandering off; I don’t know what’s out here,” Zaynan whispered harshly.
Suddenly, my other arm was grabbed, and I smacked against a hard chest. Tilting my gaze, I saw Lukas staring daggers. Presumably at Zaynan.
My hand came away, speckled with blood. It was all over his chest, and I examined him quickly, checking for injuries.
“What the fuck do you think you were doing?” He snarled at Zaynan.
He tucked his hands into his pockets. “Saving her life. You’re welcome, by the way.”
What wasn’t clear to me was if he thought he was saving me from Lukas and Annalise, or in general. “Were you really going to sacrifice me to her?” I didn’t need to specify who I meant.
Lukas dropped my wrist and stalked toward Zaynan. “She stinks like you.”
“Excuse me.” I jogged after him and he swatted my hand away. “Lukas, stop. He got me out of there—safely.”
“I don’t know what you want me to do, man. I wasn’t going to let that shit go down. Plus, it got me away from that cunt.”
They were chest to chest now, neither of them giving an inch. The air around Lukas looked like steam, all foggy and wavy. “Were you really going to stab me to death?” I asked him.
He whirled around, his eyes sharp, and he closed his fingers together. I knew what he’d just done, but it didn’t stop me from screaming my outrage. Just, unfortunately, he couldn’t hear it.
My fist closed and I punched him in his side. He gave me a cursory glance before saying, “Do not touch Cassia,” he ordered Zaynan.
“Or what?” Zaynan laughed. “I wasn’t going to let her die, she’s cool. She pet a fucking unicorn. I don’t see you doing that; I see you following my mother’s orders.”
Lukas’s shoulders slumped a fraction, and he glanced down at me. He took a deep breath and swiped a clump of blood from his cheek, flicking whatever he could off his nails. It fell into the grass with a soft plopping sound, and he faced Zaynan again, pointing a finger in his face.
Zaynan blinked a couple times and stared into the distance.
My head was a mess. Lukas still hadn’t explained his behavior.
Nothing he’d done so far, or the way he was acting, should have led me to believe he would have hurt me.
And yet there he was, accepting a sword from Annalise and staring at me like he’d never seen me before.
I felt like I was losing my mind and here I was, my voice magically silenced once again.
This time, I gently placed my hand on Lukas’s arm. He swung his gaze back to me, and his eyes softened.
“Maybe you did the right thing,” he offered. “She can’t fight for shit.”
Zaynan laughed. “At least she tries.”
“Mm,” Lukas said. “She does.” He waved his hand at my face.
“Dickhead. Don’t do that again.” My voice was back.
“I will if necessary. Let’s go. Since we’re here, there’s someone I need to see.”
Zaynan took a couple of steps. “I’m leaving, I’ve got things to do.”
Lukas looked confounded, his brows furrowing and lips separating. “Leaving to where? You can’t go back to the First. Stay here and I will help you.”
“No, not there. I’m going home, can’t stay here but thanks.” He lifted a hand in the air, gesturing vaguely. “All this, and you, it's cool, but it's not home.”
My lips curved into a small smile. “Well, good luck and thank you for the timely assist.”
Zaynan dipped his head at me. “I’ll see you around, somewhere. I’ve got someone to find.”
With that announcement, he disappeared, leaving a slight waver in the air that quickly dissipated. “So that’s what that really looks like,” I wondered aloud. It wasn’t nearly as visible in the First Realm.
Lukas snared my hand and we set off into the woods. After walking for a while, we found a road at a break in the tree line. He stood beside me stiff as a board, with only his eyes moving. I could tell he was listening, hearing something I couldn’t with my lack of magical abilities.
“This way,” he said quietly.
We took a right and started down a dirt trail with wagon ruts. Giant, frilly ferns and jutting rocks lined the sides, and I saw fresh cut trees, as if the road was maintained.
Lukas examined it all with interest as he kept us in the shadows, close to the forest. I broke the silence. “What were you going to do?” I asked.
His grip on my hand increased and I instantly regretted my question. I was a fool if I thought he really would have hurt me, and I knew it was past insecurity rearing its ugly head. The man beside me was nothing like Bryan. Comparing them was illogical and insane.
“If Zaynan had given me the chance, I would have struck down Annalise for having dared put you in that position.”
My heart filled with warmth. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I think I’m still getting used to all this.”
He rubbed his chin with his free hand and then pressed his fingers to his forehead before swiping his palm down my face. He came to a stop. “You’re not the only one.”
He pulled us to the side, bringing us right up to the outcrop of rock. “You don’t listen. You don’t ever fucking listen to me. But I really need you to. Things will get worse before they get better and I cannot be worried about where you are or what you’re doing the whole time.”
He took a deep breath and looked me in the eye, his gaze flickering black for a split second. “Annalise will never forgive my rebellion or the embarrassment I caused her. She threatened to wake up Wyvon.”
I licked my lips and kicked a pebble to the side. “That’s her husband, right? Katarina said he’s even stricter than you.”
“That is true. Our laws are there for a reason, as I’ve told you before, and I’ve now broken countless. I’m no better than an outlaw and I should sentence myself to extinguishment.”
My eyes met his, “What? What’s that?” A chill ran down my spine, fearing it meant exactly what it sounded like.
“It means I will be gone forever. Irretrievable.”
The blood covering his chest and his arms was flaking off, and I brushed some away, watching it turn to dust. “Please don’t do that, you’re scaring me.”
He was covered with grime, but I let him pull me into a hug. He smelled like copper and leather and stone, remnants of what he’d just battled.
Our mouths met and greedily I kissed him back, desperate for his closeness. His tongue danced intoxicatingly with mine, and I grabbed the back of his neck, pushing myself against his chest.
He drew back, leaving our breaths mingling, before he pressed his soft lips against mine once more. Heat filled me, leaving an electric tingle twisting down my spine.
“I should punish you,” he said, his voice deep and dark, “and I will.” His words should have frightened me but for some godforsaken reason, they immediately had the opposite effect.
His head tilted back a fraction, and he flicked another glance at me. His nose twitched and he licked his lips. “Wait,” he said.
My feet shuffled and I glanced at my chest. Half of the crap he’d been covered with was all over me. Brushing it off didn’t make much of a difference.
Lukas lifted his hand and swiped it through the air, making it all go away. Almost as an afterthought, he peered down at himself and repeated the motion. Then, he suddenly had a dress shirt, fancy jacket, and perfectly pressed slacks on.
“How convenient,” I muttered, as we began down the road again.
He gave me side-eye and then fluttered his fingers at me. Nearly tripping over the sudden appearance of a dress on my body, I grabbed his arm. “Holy shit, what the hell?”
Ignoring me and my fussing, he kept going. The gown was a luminous marvel, the onyx shade as gleaming as a piece of coal. It was lightweight, fitted in the waist, and it made my boobs look great.
I lifted the hem and jogged the gap between us. “A little warning would be nice.”
“It really would, wouldn’t it?”
Him and his humor. Internally, I admitted that was a good one, but I’d never say it out loud.
“Where are we going?” I asked. Must be somewhere nice if he’d given himself formal clothes and dressed me in something so pretty.
“There’s settlement this way. A castle and a town. I’ve met some of the citizens and their king.”
The road before us began to widen and the atmosphere changed. A light breeze swirled around my shoulders, and I could hear noise in the distance that sounded like people talking. It was faint, just a low din, but I knew we were getting close to the town he mentioned.
Lukas directed us off the road and through a thicket of trees. My dress brushed against branches and short shrubs that somehow didn’t tear the fabric.
The landscape around us was truly beautiful, the plants and foliage teeming with life and bursting with color, but underneath, I could sense a darkness.
There was a deep energy here unlike any I’d ever experienced.
Malicious, and seductive, it felt like a velvet ribbon gently sliding across my skin, threatening to sedate me and make me forget where I came from so that it could devour me whole.