8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Thea

“Again,” I demanded.

“Cap—”

“Now! That’s an order.” I breathed heavily. The Kizar guard looked at me like I had lost my mind. I had. It had been a week since Cassius let me go, and I trained every day in the base camp. I had to keep my mind busy because Cassius haunted my every thought, whether I was awake or asleep. At least I wasn’t dreaming of haunting golden eyes watching me as they lost their light. Now, Cassius consumed everything.

He was in every thought. He was in every breath I took. He was in every damn thing I did. I’m sure he was having fun teasing me until he could catch me off guard and sink his dagger into me. But gods, I couldn’t stop thinking about him kissing me. A heavy ache had settled over me, and I desperately needed a release, but I would not give my enemy the satisfaction of getting off to his handsome face.

The guard swung for me, but I dodged him quickly. I was getting quicker and not tripping over myself. I widened my stance.

“Such a good girl.” Cassius’ voice took over my thoughts. A flash of him smiling at me took over my vision.

His face disappeared as soon as the guard punched me in the face.

“Oh shit.” The guard came over to me to help me off my back. “I’m sorry.”

What was wrong with me? Was I daydreaming about my enemy, or were these memories? It had to be daydreaming. It didn’t make sense to have memories with that man.

“I’m alright,” I grunted and wiped the blood from my face. “I was distracted. Rest up. We’re hunting down Crimson in the morning.” I smiled because I couldn’t wait to see Cassius. When I walked into my tent, the man with brown eyes who had been stalking me was waiting. He was wearing the same simple clothing as he had been the first time I saw him. He ran his hand through his hair as I glared him down.

"Why the hell are you following me around?" I glared. He gave me a big, friendly smile .

"I'm making sure that you are staying on track." He cocked his head to the side as he watched me. "Since Mikel isn't interfering this time, we can help you. But Della will not be pleased if she finds us."

"Who the fuck are Della and Mikel?" I asked. "What do you mean, keep me on track?"

"They are the gods. Don't worry, you are on track. You can hardly keep your emotions for Cassius in check. A blind man could see how much you like him. Don't let your father know of your affection for Cassius."

I gaped at him. Excuse me. He laughed softly as I stared at him.

"He is my enemy. I don't even know him."

"My mate was once my enemy too." His eyes twinkled mischievously. "Don't worry; you are doing exactly what you need to do to break your curse."

I watched him disappear before I could ask what was going on.

★★?★★

Cassius apparently had the same thought to hunt us down because I woke up to my men screaming that we were being attacked. I slipped on my trousers and boots, tucking in my black camisole as a shirt before leaving my tent. Cassius and his men were headed straight for me. My dagger was already in my hand when Cassius jumped off his horse and immediately started fighting me with a giant smile on his face.

I dodged his first swipe, then his second, then his third. My training had been paying off. He smirked at me when I readjusted my stance wider. His eyes drifted over my outfit before he clenched his jaw.

“Did you want to put on a shirt or armor?”

“No,” I said. My cheeks heated under his intense gaze. His eyes glanced around at our men fighting before coming back to land on me. I rushed forward, thinking he was distracted enough, but he knew and pinned me to the ground with little effort. Fuck. Cassius’ weight pressed into me as he straddled my hips.

My cheeks heated more when a small moan left me.

“Dead,” he breathed as his dagger sat at my throat. My chest throbbed with anticipation. My eyes drifted down to his mouth as he smiled. “That was too easy, little viper. Did you let me win so I’d kiss you again?”

My eyes narrowed on him out of fear that he could see exactly how much I thought about him kissing me, among other things. Fuck, my mind was a traitor. My darkness was swirling quickly inside of me at the thought of his lips on mine.

Mine. It purred into my mind. I closed my eyes tightly as I tried to control myself.

“You just got lucky.” I lied.

“What happened to your face?” He raised an eyebrow at me. Cassius shifted slightly, and I nearly closed my eyes to focus on the feeling of him moving against me. I was too attracted to him. My face heated as I realized how much I had been looking forward to this.

“Training,” I breathed.

He stood and helped me up. He was so odd. Cassius stepped forward and planted a kiss on my lips, but it was fleeting. It made my skin hot. Bright swirls of red and orange appeared as my vision pulsed black. Gods, I was losing control of myself, and Cassius seemed to know exactly what was happening as he gave me a knowing smile. He tried to stifle his smile, but it was impossible when my swirls glowed brighter at the sight of him. He barely fucking touched me, and I was spiraling.

“You’ve been practicing.” He watched me as he got into a fighting stance again. “Again, little viper.”

I widened my stance as I glanced at the three guards watching us in the distance. Haden and two large fae males. Leer and Zade, I think. When they saw me looking, they turned like they had been caught spying. Cassius used my distraction to make a move on me, but I knew he would. I crouched down and swiped his legs out before crawling on top of him. Cassius rolled us, so I was on my back.

Both of us lost our daggers.

Cassius’ black eyes moved over my face. When he leaned down like he might kiss me, I head-butted him.

“Fuck!” He groaned as he fell off of me. I rolled, grabbed my dagger, and moved behind where he kneeled. My fingers slipped through his dark hair and yanked it back forcefully, making a moan escape him. Fuck, is that what he sounded like when he was turned on? Swallowing hard, I tried to mask my lust and desire. My vision was pulsing with black as I admired the muscles in his neck flexing.

His eyes were watching me, but he didn’t look scared of me. His tongue darted out to wet his lips, and I swallowed hard as images of him using that perfect mouth to make me cum plagued me. Fuck, I was breathing heavily as I stared at him. He made no move to get away from me. His hands fisted tightly at his sides.

I put the blade against his throat as I leaned down.

“Dead,” I whispered, and I felt him shiver at the contact of my lips on the shell of his ear. The three guards were moving closer to us, but Cassius waved them off.

“Are you going to plunge that dagger into my heart, Thea? ”

I should. I should have sliced his throat open, but an uneasy feeling filled me at the thought. My darkness swarmed in a frenzy inside of me. It was worried for Cassius. So, I moved in front of him. Cassius’ eyes darkened as he kneeled before me, bleeding from his cut brow.

“I want to know what kind of sick war game this is.”

Cassius lifted his hands like he might grab me, but then lowered them and smirked.

“This has nothing to do with the war.”

“Then what—”

“I thought it was foreplay.” His deep voice confessed in a whisper. Lust immediately coiled deep in my belly. My breathing was uneven, even to my own ears. Something about Cassius on his knees in front of me was making me feel crazy with need. “You like me kneeling in front of you, don’t you?”

Yes.

“Again,” I muttered because I didn’t know what else to say. “Fight me again.”

Cassius stood, and I turned around so I could start in my spot. When I turned back, Cassius was watching me like there was nowhere else he’d rather be. Neither of us moved at first, then we were both charging each other.

Like our first fight, Cassius and I mirrored each other's fighting moves. The sounds of war around us had faded, and all I could focus on was him. The way he moved, the way he smelled like rain and forest, the way he made me question my own loyalties to Cerithia. Because I wanted to pull him into my tent and have my way with him.

“Distracted?” He smiled like he knew exactly what I was thinking.

Fuck. His black eyes drifted down to my crown tattoo before meeting my eyes again. Something zapped through my arm where the crown tattoo sat. Lust and longing. For the love of stars, I could not stop thinking about Cassius doing a lot more than kissing me. Part of me wanted to lose so he would kiss me, and that concerned me. We kept fighting. We were equal in nearly every stance and move. My eyes watched as Cassius breathed heavily. Sweat ran down his neck as he watched me like prey.

This was dangerous, so I put all I could into winning this round because I couldn’t kiss him again. I kicked Cassius’ chest when he spun away from my blade, and he fell back into a tree, but he just used it to bounce off and come at me. His jaw was tense as he swiped and swiped until he finally got my camisole strap, making it fall dangerously close to showing him my chest.

His eyes traced the deep dip near my breast. When I tried to adjust it, he struck. His move forced me to move back into a tree .

My camisole slipped again, but his dagger was pointed under my chin.

“Dead,” he whispered.

My body hummed as he pressed into me harder. Cassius stopped a few inches from my mouth. I felt myself leaning slightly into him instead of away.

“Did you think of me this week when we were apart?” he whispered.

My eyes found his.

“No.”

A sexy smile tugged at his lips. “Such a liar.” His focus moved to my mouth again. “Did you think of me kissing you? Or maybe you thought of me touching you?”

My chest moved quickly with wild breaths. Gods, he was a confident bastard.

“You know, if you want to make your thoughts a reality, all you have to do is tell me,” he whispered. “It can be our little secret.”

My mouth opened like it was going to tell him to take me to the tent, but I shut it quickly and stared at him. When I didn’t say anything, he pulled away from me and turned away, gathering his daggers. He headed toward the three gawking guards.

“That’s it?” I called out, making him turn toward me. “You aren’t going to take a prize?”

His eyes filled with sadness when he looked at me this time, and it made my stomach drop. Why was I playing this game with him? I would lose.

“Until next time, little viper.”

I stood there wondering what the hell was wrong with me as he walked away. My darkness urged me forward, and I listened because I wasn’t ready for him to leave yet. Cassius must have sensed my attack coming because he turned and blocked my daggers with his own. His eyes dragged over me slowly before I shoved him away from me. Cassius stalked around me like he was about to fucking devour me. My stomach filled with lust as I watched him. Images of him and I touching and kissing each other filled my mind.

I shook my head to get rid of the intrusive thoughts. When I focused again, Cassius was smiling at me like he could see every dirty thought I had about him.

“You wanted me, Thea, so come get me.”

I charged at him, and he stepped forward to meet my attack, but this time I wasn’t losing. At the last moment, I released my fire mist and used it to swipe his feet out from under him.

“Oh, fuck,” he grunted as he fell to his back on the ground. I hurried on top of him and smiled as I pressed my blade to his throat. A flash of Cassius in the same position plagued me. I will wait for you in the next life.

My thighs squeezed tighter around him. My hand wrapped around his throat as my other hand held the blade under his chin, barely. I found I didn’t want to hurt him. I just wanted to feel him against me. He hummed when my hand squeezed his throat. Fuck, he was beautiful. Cassius watched me, waiting to see what I would do.

A sharp, angry pain in my thigh pulled me from the thoughts. I groaned when I saw a small throwing knife buried in the side of my thigh. My gaze met the Crimson guard who had thrown it at me. Fuck, it hurt. Cassius looked at the wound on my leg before his eyes locked onto his guard.

His body stiffened as his shadows swarmed from him. He looked terrifying with his solid black eyes and jaw clenched tightly. He was pissed.

Cassius used his shadow magic to wrap around me and lift me gently off of him. I pulled the small knife from my leg and tossed it to the ground without looking away from Cassius.

“One second, my love,” he mumbled to me as he set me on my feet. Surprisingly, he released me from his shadows, but I didn’t move. I was too mesmerized watching Cassius stalk toward his guard .

He grabbed the man by the back of his neck and dragged him over to me. Cassius kicked the back of the man’s knees, making him kneel in front of me.

“Apologize to Thea for wounding her, now!” he bellowed.

The guard's eyes widened when he looked at me.

“I am sorry, princess,” the man trembled.

Cassius grabbed his dagger and plunged it into the guard’s back, killing him. When he looked at me, his chest was heaving with shallow breaths. Gods, he was fucking unhinged as he smiled at me.

Cassius used my moment of shock to wrap me in his shadows again. He moved us over to the side, away from the dead body, where he proceeded to lay back down on his back and dragged me over him, so I was straddling his hips again.

“Where were we, little viper?” He watched me as I stared down at him. “Oh, that’s right.” He grabbed my wrist and yanked my blade up to his throat, smiling. “You were flirting with me.”

I stared down at him with no thoughts running through my mind.

“You killed your own guard,” I whispered.

“He hurt you.”

“Isn’t that his job? That’s your guard.”

"Exactly; he should know better than to hurt you. He’s lucky I made it quick.” Cassius stared at me with a longing in his eyes as his hands gripped my hips tightly. His fingers dug into my flesh, and a small sigh escaped me, making Cassius squeeze me tighter.

“So, you killed him because he did his job?”

“I killed him because no one hurts you and lives.” Cassius reached up and brushed my hair over my shoulder. “Are you going to kiss me now? Since we both know you want to.”

A wicked smile spread over his lips when I sat up quickly, moving away from him. I thought he was going to force me back to him with his shadows, but he chuckled softly as we both stood up.

“Don’t miss me too much, my love,” he proclaimed as I watched him use his shadows to wrap around himself and his guards before meeting my eyes and disappearing.

I could have killed him. I should have, but the thought made me feel sick to my stomach. I focused on where he had been standing with his men, but he didn’t appear again. Disappointment filled me, but I put on a mask of indifference as I slipped on a shirt and assessed how many men died this time.