“Yeah. Right,” he says. “Still, you could imagine why I got worried.”
Only one reason makes sense.
Because he cares.
And that—apparently—is enough to detonate a small nuclear event inside my ribcage. Butterflies don’t just flutter; they riot, sprinting laps around my organs. I yank my hand off his as if touching him burned me and slap my palm to my stomach like I’m trying to hold the chaos in.
My mouth drops open. My face goes volcanic.
The reaction is so overpowering I don’t notice when my legs simply… stop working. One second I’m walking; the next, I’m a statue in the middle of the room, frozen like a deer that’s just realized the headlights are eyes staring back.
Cassian stops too.
He looks at me in that unreadable way of his, and for half a second it feels like the room no longer contains oxygen. Then, slowly, deliberately, a small curve breaks through his usual severity, the faintest smile, like he can’t help it, and he tugs gently at my hand. The world jump-starts again. I let him guide me to the sofa, my knees still unreliable, and I land beside Nathaniel with a soft plop that sends a dull ache through my joints.
Come on, Skye. Get a grip.
You’re losing your mind over what? Basic decency? Human kindness?
Wouldn’t you care about the person who saved your mother, too?
“So,” I manage. “How’s your mother, by the way? Did you… um… talk to her? Overall, fill me in. What was happening while I was gone?”
Cassian doesn’t answer right away.
“She’s fine,” he says. “I made sure she’s fine.”
It should be a simple response, but it isn’t.
Back when I asked Cassian if he wanted me to save his mother, he was unsure. He carries a lot with him. His sister died in frontof him. His father broke his mother long before Cassian ever got the chance to save her. If he lost his mother… it could have been a catastrophe.
But she’s alive. And he’s still standing.
Nathaniel turns a page in his book, his pale eyes flick toward Cassian, then slide to me.
“We made a deal a long time ago to cut off all ties that would make us hesitate,” he says. “As much as it’s a relief Cassian’s mother is safe, re-establishing contact with her would put all of us at risk. And starting a dialogue with her just to soothe loneliness, only to vanish again afterward… would be too cruel.”
Both my eyebrows lift before I can stop them.
“So you didn’t even talk with her?” I turn to Cassian.
His head snaps toward me. Those mismatched eyes hook into mine.
“No,” he says, rougher than before. “I… uh…” His gaze drifts away. He makes distance like it’s instinctual, crossing the room toward a chair and bracing on the back of it while rubbing the tension out of his neck. “I called Grayson. He went to her house and brought her to the hospital. She doesn’t even know we were there.”
“And it should stay that way,” Nathaniel mutters.
I think about it for a moment, about a mother waiting behind a door that will never open again, and I get it. I really do. He’s protecting her from the life he’s shackled to. From the truth of who he became.
Leaving her alone, in a way, is the last kindness he can still control.
“Anyway. Drop it,” Cassian says. “I made my decision a long time ago.”
If that’s really what he wants… Who am I to try and change that?
Nathaniel smooths a hand over the closed book in front of him.
“Alright,” he says gently. “Then it’s time for a recap. I’m sure there are things you want to share with us.”
