Chapter 34

34

Cassius

I avoided Ella as best I could for the next two days, throwing myself into preparations for the ball, organizing the border patrols, and even, when I grew desperate, narrowing down Aamon's lists of brides.

But always, my mind was on her. I couldn't help it. She was all-consuming. I could still feel the warmth of her lips mere inches from mine. I cursed myself that I hadn't kissed her, and I cursed myself for letting it get that far.

If you fall in love, the woman you choose will destroy everything your father built.

But I was not in love, not with a serving girl. It was impossible. She was simply a distraction—though a distraction could be enough to put my kingdom in danger. Perhaps this was what the old woman had been trying to warn me about.

I redoubled my efforts to ignore her, yet I couldn't stay away. Her absence was like a lingering wound, scabbed over but still aching.

Shortly after sunset, I found her in the stables. Unable to help myself, I paused at the door and watched. She stood with her back to me, stroking the muzzle of a brown mare and speaking to it in hushed tones.

I inclined my head, lengthening my senses. First came her scent, and I forced myself to take only one deep inhalation. Too much, and my long-repressed blood lust would rise. Instead, I focused on the sounds of the stable until they roared to life in a deafening storm.

"Do you know what lies beyond the Bloodvale, or were you born in this valley, too?" she whispered to the mare. There was a short pause, and then she said, "I've never been out, either, though I've always wanted to know what was on the other side. Maybe we'll go someday, you and me."

My brow furrowed. What lay beyond was danger, but also beauty—worlds she probably could never imagine. An unfamiliar pang of guilt tore at me.

Maybe her kind deserved better.

She deserved better.

I'd never felt anything for humans. My relationship with them was transactional. We ruled, they served. We protected them from the monsters, and they fed us with their blood.

But something about that made me hesitate. Perhaps it was the way Ella looked at the world with clear eyes and an open heart. It was why I should stay the hell away. I would only corrupt her.

And yet, I was a selfish bastard, and I wanted her for my own.

I cleared my throat as I approached.

Ella spun. "Your Highness." She dropped into a low curtsy, cheeks flushed. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Do you always speak to animals?"

She froze as if I'd caught her robbing the treasury, then quickly looked away. She plucked a carrot from a sack at her feet and fed it to the brown mare, who ate it eagerly. "Of course. I find them to be far better company than most people, immortals included."

A thin smile crossed my lips. I couldn't agree more.

When I headed to Tenebris's stall, I found he was already saddled. The irascible warhorse nickered as I led him out and inspected the straps under his belly, all secured as they should be. His coat had also been recently brushed. I glanced over at Ella. "You seem to have the same knack with flowers as you do with animals."

Her eyes widened, shock on her face. "What do you mean."

Did my presence really frighten her that much?

"You somehow managed to bring the flowers on my balcony back to life."

"Oh, those." She released a relieved breath, as if what I'd said hadn't been what she'd expected. "They were never dead," she continued, looking at me over Tenebris's shoulder. "Just dormant. You never watered them, ever . It's amazing how a garden will flourish when the gardener actually pays attention."

My expression darkened. "Are you implying something?"

"Certainly not, Your Highness. I wouldn't question why the prince must go hunting every day and leave the castle in the hands of his underlings." She reached up and scratched the area behind Tenebris's ear, just the way he liked it.

How did she know to do that already?

"You're bold for a serving girl."

She looked me straight in the eyes with breathtaking tenacity. "Does that threaten you?"

"Not at all."

The fucking opposite. Her unabashed assertiveness made my cock hard, and nobody had done that in a long time.

I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of my blade. Coming to the stables hadn't only been an excuse to see her. I'd planned to ride to the border and check for signs of the beasts, who'd grown bolder over the last weeks. I'd thought a kill would clear my mind, but I was certain now that it wouldn't. It would just remind me of our ride through the forest and the danger she'd been in.

How different our lives were. I could ride unafraid, but she could never enter the woods at night without putting her life in jeopardy. She'd never have the chance to smell the night-blooming flowers or see the beauty hidden beneath the hungering darkness.

"Can you ride?" I asked.

She eyed me suspiciously. "Of course."

"Good." I nodded to Chastity, the mare she'd been tending. "Take that horse and follow me."

When I didn't hear her move, I looked back. She stood there, lips pressed together and hands on her hips. "Why would you want me to ride with you ?"

"Do I need a reason? Will you ride or not?"

"I'm not going to watch you murder creatures for sport."

"I don't murder for sport," I said in a tone that would have my courtiers drop to their knees and piss themselves.

But she simply narrowed her eyes at me, calculating, then collected the horse's tack and began to saddle her.

Did she think that just because we'd nearly kissed, she could defy the prince of the Bloodvale?

Audacious.

She led the brown mare out, and I realized she wasn't properly dressed for riding. The notion of her straddling a horse in trousers was suddenly all I could think about. I cleared my throat. "Perhaps you should change your clothes first."

"I can manage," she said as she calmly continued her work. "I don't own the kind of clothes Bianca wears."

Of course she didn't. That was a problem I was going to have to remedy.

I mounted Tenebris and watched as Ella adjusted her own saddle with the ease of someone who'd spent years around horses. Then, hiking up the hem of her dress, she hooked one boot in the stirrup, offering me a quick glance at her smooth calves before pulling herself effortlessly into the saddle. Desire pulsed through me as I imagined how soft the skin of her thighs might be.

She glanced over at me as she guided her horse forward. "Is something wrong? You look bothered."

Bothered was one way to put it. "Let's see if you can ride." I lightly tugged on the reins, and Tenebris broke into an easy canter. "Keep up, if you can manage."

As soon as we cleared the back gate, Tenebris exploded into a gallop, as eager as I was to be free of the heavy confines of the castle. The forest was where I belonged, standing watch in one of the tall towers on the ridge, not pampering myself in the suffocating confines of the court.

We tore across an open field that had turned ruddy in the waning light, the horses' hooves digging into the ground in a rhythmic melody. I eased up on the reins to let Ella catch up. After all, the brown mare was no match for Tenebris. But instead of falling into pace beside me, the unlikely pair bolted by us, heading straight for the woods. Ella whooped as she passed me, the skirt of her dress billowing, her dark hair a wild flag whipping behind her. It should be silver.

Who was this hellion of a woman?

Tenebris wasn't one to be shown up. He hurtled forward, racing after the two like a hound scenting blood. The thrill of the chase coursed through my body, and I grinned at my mark.

I had almost caught up to her when she looked over her shoulder, locking her gaze on Tenebris. Oddly enough, he started to fall back. I spurred him on, but his pace didn't accelerate. "Are you really going to let them beat us?"

Ella and the brown mare reached the thick tree line and circled around so that she was facing me as I approached. Her skin was flushed from the ride, and tendrils of her disheveled hair kissed her cheeks. She beamed at me, defiant in her beauty. "It looks like we beat you after all, Your Highness."

"Apparently so," I said grimly, but I couldn't help the strange warmth that was spreading in my chest. "What did you do to my horse?"

"Me?" She winked at Tenebris. "Perhaps you just miscalculated Chastity's cunning and speed."

"Unlikely." I eyed Ella suspiciously. "Where did you learn to ride like that?"

"My father. He used to take me out in the fields around our manor each morning, and we'd race back."

I sensed the love and pain she carried. "Used to?"

"He disappeared when I was twelve."

Disappeared. Like Valen. The familiar numbness spread through me. "I'm sorry."

She glanced at the woods as if it contained the answers she sought. "I sometimes imagine that he might still return, but I know he won't. It's a fool's dream."

A fool's dream we shared.

The forested valley pressed in around me as I scanned the distant tree line, silver touching the darkening sky. Valen would never return. I had to accept it. I had to move on.

Without a word, I guided Tenebris up the trail and into the shadowed woods.

Ella was silent as I led her along the single track that wound deep into the forest, each of us lost in our own reflections. It was a comfortable silence, the type that I couldn't even share with Aamon.

Eventually, the sound of rushing water filtered through the trees, pulling me from my reverie. I pulled Tenebris to a halt as we entered the clearing at the base of the thundering falls. They roared out of a gap in the cliff face high above, crashing down into a deep pond at the base in a cloud of mist. The thin crescent moon reflected in the ripples at the edge of the pool and made the stones sparkle like diamonds.

"My gods," Ella whispered as she pulled up alongside me. "It's beautiful."

I watched her as her eyes drank in the space. She was so full of wonder, it left me with a feeling of emptiness. What would it be like to see this place as she did?

"We could go closer, if you'd like," I offered. "There is a path of stones across the water."

She nodded and slipped off the back of her horse. "Why did you bring me here?" she asked, her gaze still on the falls.

I dropped down beside her and tied off Tenebris's reins. "Because it's beautiful, even to me. It's the only one in the valley and not far, yet I rarely visit."

She kept her eyes trained on the falls, but she couldn't hide the change in her posture. "So, there are others beyond the Bloodvale?"

The question seemed innocent, but she knew exactly what she was asking: what lands lie beyond our borders?

"You should direct less energy to things that are forbidden to you," I said dismissively.

"Forbidden," she said solemnly. "Everything is forbidden. We're just your little toys to keep and to hoard like a greedy child."

She began picking a path along the round river stones toward the pool's edge. Irritation burned under my skin. This woman had no sense of her place in the world, and the irreverent way she addressed me was maddening. It stoked a fire in me, a heat I hadn't felt in ages.

"You do realize that I could lock you up or have you flogged for the way you speak to me? You have no respect."

She stopped a few paces from the pool and looked back, the flames of accusation in her eyes. "Respect? The truth is you have too much power and too little respect for your subjects. Do you really expect us to live in ignorance? To go about our lives confined in this small valley without questioning what exists beyond? To live like animals in the pen you've built?"

"You don't know the danger that lies beyond those borders," I snapped back. "We protect you , and you serve us ."

The justification felt strangely hollow as it left my mouth.

She dropped down to unlace her shoes, as if her challenge were mere conversation. "If you think your rule is fair, you're sorely deceived, Cassius."

"Am I?" I asked, the threat thrumming in my voice. Her directness crossed every line, but I could barely think beyond the way her lips formed my name. It conjured all sorts of tantalizing images.

She slipped off her shoes. "You claim that you protect us, but you forbid us to have guns. Perhaps we could protect ourselves. Perhaps things are not as equitable as you suggest."

"You go too far," I growled, hoping my tone would frighten some sense into her. "If you spoke like this in the castle, you would be accused of treason."

As if my warning were nothing out of the ordinary, she simply lifted the hem of her dress and stepped into the shallows of the pool. She gave me a placid look, but her voice was sharp as my blade. "Then I suppose I must thank you again for not executing me, Your Highness."