22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Cassius

“ T his is a stupid idea.” My father gave me a pointed look. “He might just kill you.”

I shrugged.

“Jesper would be dead before he could get his hands on me. Thea has been avoiding me for a week, and when I go to check on her, it's like someone tells her I’m coming so she can leave. I need to know what is going on.”

“Why would Thea actively avoid you to that extent?” Haden asked.

“I don’t know, but I think there is something she isn’t telling me. Every time she looks at me, I can feel her sadness. I feel grief from her, and I don’t understand why.”

The room fell silent. My mother stared at me like she understood why I wanted to do this. Everyone else clearly thought I lost my mind.

“Why Jesper?” she asked.

“Because I overheard him talking to Thea, and I think he is hiding things from Luren. Maybe he and I can agree to get Luren out of our way.”

Haden whipped his head toward me.

“You want to team up with Jesper?”

“No, not really, but if I can convince him that I want to, maybe he will open up and tell me what the hell is happening with Thea. She doesn’t want to tell me something is wrong with her.”

Haden glanced around the room as if he were looking for something.

“I know you’re here, Ardella,” he sighed.

Della appeared in front of me.

“Leave Thea alone,” she warned. “Nothing is wrong with her, but she is getting closer to the prophecy.”

I stared at Della and frowned.

“Why are you lying to me too?” I whispered. “Please just tell me.”

Della’s eyes filled with uneasiness. She had become my friend over the years, and I knew when she was lying.

“Cassius, she is busy. Please just let her be. This is the year she comes home to you.” Della stepped forward and hugged me so she could whisper, “Sometimes we have to keep things from those we love in order to protect them.”

Haden glared daggers at me when our eyes met over Della’s shoulder. It made me wonder how he didn’t realize they were mates. With Thea, I can’t stand any other male touching her even if they are a friend. Did he feel the tugging in his chest that I felt with Thea? What did he think that was?

“She’s avoiding me.” I glanced over at Della’s face so I could see if she knew this.

“Yes.”

“Is it something I did?” My chest tightened.

“No.” Della frowned and almost turned toward Haden but stopped herself. “She’s doing it because she loves you.”

I sighed defeatedly and closed my eyes tightly as my bond told me to go find my wife and my logical side told me to give her space.

“She misses you too, but give her more time to do this.”

Della left before I could respond again. Fuck.

“I still want to talk to Jesper and see if he lets anything slip.” I knew Thea was on to something, especially since she asked me about Jesper’s mother, who died a long time ago. Then she asked me again when I was Atticus, and Sy said she asked the same question to him. What was the fascination with this dead woman? I would stay away from Thea for as long as I could, but at some point, my mating bond would demand I find her, and I would not be able to stop myself.

“Alright, what do we need to do?” My father asked.

My gaze flickered to each fae standing in the room with us. They were all willing to support me and Thea even if my ideas were crazy.

“I’m going to find Jesper and take him to Kizar, but I will need to scout Cerithia to take him when he’s alone.” I looked at Haden. “I’m going to go alone.”

“That’s not a good idea,” Haden protested.

“Della will let you know if something happens to me. I’ll go tomorrow.”

Haden wanted to argue, but he knew I would not be persuaded with reason. I was barely gripping onto reality right now. No one but maybe my wife would talk me out of it, and she was actively avoiding me.

“Fine, but I don’t like it.”

“If it helps me understand what’s going on with Thea, then it will be worth it.”

★★?★★

My gaze followed Thea as she walked into the throne room where Luren and Jesper were waiting. My chest ached at how pretty she was. She was in a black uniform with her green cloak on. Her hair was in a neatly done braid. I didn’t dare look away from her because I knew she would be gone in a minute and I would miss her even more.

Thea glanced around as if she sensed me, but her eyes didn’t linger where I hid in the shadows. Then I felt the power of her darkness humming through the room as if it were searching for something. At first, I thought it was me it was looking for, but when her darkness caressed me softly before continuing to look around, I knew she was trying to find something else. Whatever it was, she didn’t seem to find it when her lips tilted into a small frown.

Wisp appeared in front of me, flashing red and black in warning. Great, even her soul was warning me away. I frowned at her, and Wisp turned dark green and twirled happily in front of me before disappearing.

Luren was warning Thea about some plan he had pretended to hear about me taking her. So he ordered her to stay in the castle under close supervision. Thea’s face gave away nothing, but I felt her hatred through the bond.

“Fine. Is that all you needed?” She was impatient. What was she in such a hurry to do?

“Yes.” Luren clipped.

Thea glanced at where I was hiding, and her eyes flashed red like she was telling me she knew I was spying. When she was gone, Luren sighed and stood up. He straightened the ugly crown on top of his head .

“Have you talked to your mother recently?” Luren glanced at Jesper.

His dead mother?

“No, I haven’t had time to go see her.” Jesper’s face gave away his lie, but Luren wasn’t looking at him. He was too busy looking at a map of Elloryon.

“This is the only warning I am giving you, Jesper.” Luren stared up at him. “If you and your mother try anything to get me out of your way, I will kill her in front of you, and then I will lock you in the cells to rot away.”

“Why would we do that? We are getting everything we wanted from this arrangement. Well, except Thea.” Jesper glared. “I told you I wanted to marry her, not Tally.”

“Thea would gut you the moment you let your guard down,” Luren said matter-of-factly, but I barely heard over the possessiveness pounding in my ears. Why was Jesper so damn persistent on taking my mate? Did he care for her, or did he want to use her for something? It didn’t matter; she was mine, and no one would ever take her from me.

“She could have learned to love me.” Jesper barked back. Luren laughed loudly.

“You?” He chuckled. “It is clear that Thea loves Cassius. It doesn’t matter how many times her memory is wiped; she always finds her way back to him. She will never choose you. You are lucky I am letting you marry Tally. She will be a good wife to you.”

“She isn’t Thea.” Jesper frowned. Damn straight she wasn’t. Jesper and I could agree that Thea was exactly what we both wanted—smart, funny, kind, loyal, and pretty. Jesper knew no one else could even come close to her. Too bad for him, the stars made her for me.

“You will get over this infatuation with Thea. She does not want you. Besides, she is a bastard child. Why would you taint your bloodline with a bastard? A witch bastard, no less.”

Jesper became enraged at this. His face turned red as he walked toward Luren.I don't think I had ever seen him this angry, especially toward Luren.

“I am a witch bastard too, or did that escape your memory?”

I froze at his declaration.

Jesper was a bastard child? And part witch? What the fuck was happening? I glanced around like someone would explain what was happening.

“Your father is royal, and your mother was a witch. You still have a good bloodline.”

So Jesper’s mother wasn’t the Queen of Kizar. Thea must know this, but why was it important to her? Jesper smiled smugly at Luren.

“By that logic, you are saying Thea has a good bloodline too. Her father is royal, and her mother was the fucking queen of blood witches. By your logic, Luren, Thea has a better bloodline than you.”

I smiled to myself because Jesper was defending my wife, and I knew that would piss off Luren more than anything. Luren’s face turned bright red in his fury.His hands fisted by his sides, like he might punch Jesper. I would love to see it.

“That’s why you don’t want me to be with her. It would make me more powerful than you. That’s why it kills you that she loves Cassius. He is already powerful without her, but with her… they are unstoppable.”

This had never been about power for me. I knew Thea was powerful the very first time she used her fire magic in front of me. This attraction to her has always been about Thea and the type of woman she was. Even if she was magicless, I would not have been able to stop my need for her. She is all I have ever wanted since I first saw her in my dreams as a child.

Thea destroyed any other woman’s chance at catching my attention before we ever met. And it wasn’t her power and magic that did that. It was everything else about her. It was why I never dated, never touched another woman. I knew Thea was mine before I knew she was real. I saved everything for her: first kiss, first date, first hug, my godsdamn virginity. I belonged to her the moment my heart first beat.

Mate bond or not, I would have never been able to resist her. And if she had been fated to someone else, I would have wiped their existence from the realm before she knew about them. Because I was not selfless like Della was with Haden. I was selfish. I wanted Thea happy, but I wanted her happy with me.

Every day, I will question why the stars thought I was the one who was worthy of her. But maybe it wasn’t about being worthy. Maybe the stars knew I would be nothing without her. I would be lost. Thea loving me made me the man I was. Without her, I would not have a purpose. The realm is a better place because Thea found me worthy of loving back. There was no doubt in my mind that Thea saved me. She was the reason I was a semi-decent man.

“Which is why we need her to kill him before she realizes she loves him. No one will be more powerful than me.”

Jesper looked pissed.

“I have to take Gwyn to a stupid play she has been bugging me about.” Luren left, and Jesper stood fuming in the throne room. Perfect.

I stepped out from the shadows, and before he could register what was happening, I had him in a death grip in my shadows and was moving to Kizar.

“Let me go!” He thrashed around. I released him and took a step back so he could recognize we were in his home.

“What the fuck are you doing, Cassius?”

I wanted to demand who his mother was, but I also knew I couldn’t give away too much. So I stuck to my original plan.

“I want to give you a chance to switch sides before Luren gets you killed.” I lied. Jesper was a dead man walking even if he decided to help me now. What he had done to Thea would never be forgiven or forgotten.

Jesper laughed.

“Team up with you and your whore wife?”

Wife.

He fucking said 'wife.' My shadows formed a fist and punched him in the face.

“Don’t ever disrespect my wife like that again.”

Jesper spit blood from his mouth and onto the floor. His eyes were crazy as he stared at me. My heart pounded because Jesper knew way more than he should.

“How did you find out?” I asked.

“My mother.”

“Your mother is dead.” I reminded him.

He didn’t say anything but gave me a smirk that had me more on edge.

“Why haven’t you told Luren?”

Jesper smiled, and I thought he wouldn’t answer me.

“Because as much as Luren thinks he’s the big player in all of this, he isn’t. I don’t answer to him.”

“I don’t understand why you involved yourself in all of this. You could have stayed in your own kingdom and minded your business. But now you will die as a consequence of being a follower of Luren.”

Jesper glared at me, his blue eyes void of any emotion.

“Thea was always meant to be mine,” he said like he truly meant it. “You stole her from me on the blood moon all those years ago. She was mine first. If you had just stayed away, then all of this would have been avoided. All I ever wanted was Thea.”

I glared.

“No, all you ever wanted was her power. All I have ever wanted was her.” I took a small angry step toward him.

“Despite what you think, I do care for her, but she is too damn stubborn to do what she should. She needs to be tamed. She is dangerous otherwise.”

I stepped toward him again, and he backed away.

“She is perfect the way she is. Thea is not some animal to be tamed.”

Jesper rolled his eyes.

“This conversation is done. I am not teaming up with Crimson. I won’t lose. Luren is just a means to get what I want, and he is playing the puppet so well that he doesn’t even know what is happening. He won't make it out of this alive, but believe me when I say I will. And I'll convince Thea to be by my side."

Jesper was not smart enough to pull this off, which means his mother was the mastermind behind all of this. Who the fuck was she, and why did it make Jesper so confident that he couldn’t lose? It was someone who knew way more than they should about Thea and me.

“I look forward to the day I watch my wife murder you as you beg for forgiveness.”

Jesper’s jaw clenched before I used my shadows to move him back to Cerithia without me. My chest was tight with worry and longing for Thea. I glanced around the room I was in before taking a deep breath, knowing what I was about to do was the act of a desperate man.

I walked out of the wooden door and was immediately met by three guards who drew their weapons on me, and I let them.

“Don’t move, Cassius!” One of them yelled loud enough that more guards came. I lifted my hands and let them cuff me.

“Get word to King Jesper that we caught Cassius in the castle.” A guard demanded. That would take days, and by then Thea would have come to save me. They dragged me into a large room where the floor and walls were made of stone. They kicked my legs so that I sunk down in the middle of the room before tying both my wrists outstretched to my sides.

“Why are you here?” one of the men asked.

I ignored him and sent an image of what was happening to Thea. The guard smiled as he moved behind me, and I heard the whip unravel before I felt it slice through my tunic. I groaned in agony as the hits kept coming. Still, I said nothing to them. Della appeared in the room, and I could barely see her through the threat of unconsciousness.

“Damn it, Cassius,” she sighed before disappearing.

I smiled because I knew Thea would come for me. Then I couldn’t fight anymore, and everything went black.