Chapter Sixteen
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Scarlett
My first impression of Cassius remained clear to this day – a golden-haired, slender boy, with delicate features and a nervous face.
I had loved Cassius once. Growing up, it had been instinctual to want to protect him, to shield him from the court and its machinations. The emperor had never intended for us to be close, but it was hard not to care about someone you’d shared all your remembered life with. Half-siblings or not, children didn’t discriminate with their affections like adults did.
Of course, we were no longer children.
The cracks had been there for a while, but everything had changed a year ago, when I was invited to my first war council. I had expected to have a small role or none at all; it was an honour to be seated next to my father, facing his top generals and advisers. An honour Cassius clearly didn’t believe I deserved, his eyes glittering dangerously as he approached the imposing circular table.
‘Bring another chair,’ he ordered, addressing the servant who was laying out refreshments.
‘That won’t be necessary.’ Emperor Kalias fixed cool grey eyes on his son. ‘You were informed that your presence was no longer required.’
‘And yet here I am,’ Cassius replied, ‘willing to take my place at your side. Fulfilling your public promise to give me more responsibility.’
Though his tone was polite, the barb was obvious. I tensed, trying to catch Cassius’s eye. He knew the consequences of antagonising our father in public, but perhaps frustration had momentarily overridden his good sense.
The emperor’s voice was quiet but powerful. ‘Responsibility must be earned. All this childish display proves is that you are not worthy of my tutelage, let alone taking over Roran’s duties while he’s in the Western Lands.’ At a gesture from the emperor, two guards hurried over. ‘Remove my son and teach him some respect. Just as you would any Warrior in your ranks.’
Cassius was escorted from the room. He walked with his chin held high, refusing to acknowledge our father or the guards’ iron grip on his arms. But I knew the humiliation had to sting.
When the meeting ended, Kalias swept out of the room, already in conversation with General Tiran about collecting tithes from the neighbouring farmland around Tanere. His other generals and councillors followed closely, ignoring me as usual.
But nothing could tarnish my good mood. Not as I recalled the way my father had leant in – too low for the rest of the room to hear – and informed me that Kalure would soon be mine.
I was still smiling as I entered my chambers. But the smile fell from my lips as I noticed Cassius standing in the parlour, his back to me. The setting sun filtered in through the windows, gilding his golden hair.
‘Are you alright?’ I asked, ashamed to realise that I hadn’t thought about him at all.
‘Today was supposed to be my victory; the first step in Father preparing me for a campaign of my own. Except there you were, already clawing your way into his favour. Sitting at his right-hand side.’ Cassius’s words were sharp – like anger that had hardened into cold steel. ‘You must have done something to change his mind. Shall I guess what that was, or would you like to tell me?’
I paused, unsure what to say. How to clear the bitterness from my brother’s voice.
I hadn’t done anything, but Cassius wouldn’t believe that. I knew he was wondering if he had underestimated me, if all along, this had been my plan – to bait him into angering our father and disgracing himself in the process.
‘The war council was about Kalure,’ I reminded him. ‘That’s probably why I was chosen to attend. I have a personal connection to the country, and Father needs a new leader to keep the people in line. He promised me as much after the meeting.’
‘Your snake of a mother must be thrilled,’ Cassius said mirthlessly. ‘But I’d be careful, if I were you. Father makes promises all the time, and he doesn’t always keep them. At least not in the way people expect him to.’
My teeth ground together, but my irritation was replaced by concern as Cassius turned, affording me a full glimpse of his bloodied face. His right eye was dark with bruising.
‘Here,’ I said, hurrying to fetch a cloth and wetting it with a pitcher of water. ‘Let me—’
Cassius stilled me with a glance. ‘I don’t need your help. Or your pity.’
‘I’m not implying that you do,’ I retorted. ‘It was an offer to a friend. Nothing more.’
‘A friend,’ he repeated, his face unreadable.
‘That’s what we were once,’ I said, testing out a tentative smile. ‘It’s what we can be again. You’re my brother, Cassius. I love you.’
‘Why should I believe you?’ he asked, backing away from me – and the cloth in my hand. As if it was something obscene. Something dangerous. ‘You steal our father’s attention. You threaten my inheritance. You take everything from me, whether you mean to or not.’ He shook his head. ‘Even if I did believe you, what does your love matter? What does it get me? Nothing .’
I stared at him in disbelief, unable to fully comprehend what I was hearing. ‘You can’t really think like that.’
‘But I do.’ His smile was as cold as his eyes. ‘So go ahead, Sister. Attend the strategy meetings and prove yourself to our father. Hope for me to continue angering him, to make a fool of myself in front of the court. That’s what you want, isn’t it? For me to fail? It should be.’ Cassius braced his arms against the wall behind me, either side of my shoulders. Caging me in. ‘Because my success means your demise.’
‘You’re not thinking clearly right now,’ I said, trying not to react. That was what he wanted; he was saying those things to get a rise out of me, to hurt me like I had clearly hurt him. He couldn’t possibly be serious . ‘We’ve spent years looking out for each other. You can’t throw away love so easily.’
Cassius’s midnight-blue eyes held no trace of softness. Slowly and deliberately, he said, ‘I threw it away long ago.’
I shoved him so hard that he tripped on the rug and fell to the floor. Shock tightened his face as my hand dropped to the hilt of my dagger. I could draw it, right now. I could cut him, just like he had cut me.
But I didn’t.
I didn’t, because I still remembered the little boy who had been afraid of the dark. Who had been scared of his elder brother, just as I was. Who I had held in my arms and promised never to let go.
Abruptly, I stepped back. ‘We don’t have to be enemies, Cassius. I am not your competition.’
His expression was cold and unyielding as he looked up at me from the floor, his blood dripping steadily to the tiles.
‘You will always be my competition.’
I thought of that memory now, letting it harden me. Letting it ground me as I approached the grand ballroom.
‘Her Imperial Highness, Princess Scarlett Valerian—’
I strode past the herald, drawing the gaze of every noble inside. The ball had already begun; I had deliberately arrived late, just for this moment, for the flicker of surprise in Cassius’s eyes as he looked up and saw me.
Cutting across the timber dance floor, I ignored the disapproving stares of the twirling court ladies and their partners. It was harder to ignore the displeasure on my father’s face, but tonight, I was more concerned with my brother.
Despite our argument a year ago, and my precautions with the vendor, I hadn’t expected Cassius to threaten my life. Perhaps because I had never considered harming him .
What a fool I had been.
I approached the refreshment table at the far end of the room and flashed Cassius a barbed smile. ‘What, no greeting for your sister?’
He regarded me steadily, and I could almost see his calculating mind at work. Sometimes, I thought that was why our father had chosen Roran as his heir: not just because he was the eldest son and the favourite, but because he was easy to understand. Predictable. Cassius was the opposite; his mind didn’t work in one way, but dozens.
‘Care to dance?’ he asked, offering his hand in a gentlemanly fashion.
The boredom on his face would undoubtedly convince the onlookers, but it didn’t convince me. I slid my arm through his anyway, letting him lead me beneath the twinkling chandeliers.
‘I almost thought you weren’t coming,’ he said, a probing statement.
‘I’m sure,’ I replied as we moved onto the dance floor. At Cassius’s nod, the musicians shifted to a slow, lilting tune. ‘I trust my arrival was a pleasant surprise?’
He spun me expertly, before catching my lower back with his hand. ‘Of course.’
How convincing he was. If I hadn’t known better, I might even have believed him.
We matched each other’s steps perfectly; we had practised together endlessly as children, and I knew the way his body moved as intimately as my own. Bitterness rose up inside me at the memories – bitterness and sadness and anger all at once.
‘I suppose,’ I said finally, ‘that I should be thanking you.’
‘Thanking me?’ Cassius’s eyes were wary.
‘For what, exactly?’ ‘For suggesting Madam Mandrakes, of course. It had exactly what I needed – though I wouldn’t recommend going there again. I doubt it’s operating anymore.’
I had the satisfaction of seeing his unease. Good . Let him wonder exactly what I was going to do with those poisons. And what I’d done to the vendor.
But it wasn’t enough to watch my brother squirm. I wanted answers, not polite conversation.
‘Did you really believe it would be so easy?’ I asked, lowering my voice. ‘That you could get rid of me by bribing a merchant ?’ When he didn’t answer, I let my nails sink into his arm; not enough to leave marks, but enough to make my message perfectly clear. ‘If you want me dead, at least have the courage to do it yourself. Roran would have.’
Cassius’s jaw tightened. ‘I’m not Roran.’
‘No,’ I agreed. ‘You’re worse.’
As the song drew to a close, I imagined how we must look to our audience. Two loving, elegant siblings, taking a turn across the floor.
But Cassius wasn’t an honourable, dashing prince. I wasn’t a sweet, toothless princess.
And this was no fairy tale.
It was war.