Nathaira quietly followed at his side, hands joined in front of her, patiently waiting.
He let out a long breath. “The young god who is stealing souls has thrown off empyrean balance, and now it’s my official task to restore said balance.”
The breeze shifted and the scent of moss and elm wafted amongst the lavender. Nathaira’s fragrance uprooted memories of his mortal life, traipsing in wooded areas, covered in grime and twigs, on a hunt with Iliana, nagging at Acacius to hush. Their expeditions always ended with Cassian growing weary from arguing with them over which direction the deer tracks veered off to in the damp soil.
A simplicity he would kill to have at the moment.
“By cursing him?” Nathaira asked, her voice as tranquil as the murmuring stream.
Cassian’s eyes jumped around the myriad of souls in his view, recalling facts about each of them in the back of his mind. “Yes.”
“Excuse my straightforwardness, my lord, but it sounds to be that is not something you wish to execute.”
Cassian stopped abruptly, turning his full attention towards her.
Her waist-length hair, the shade of chicory, was pulled up, revealing the ivy crawling around her nape and down her collarbones. Green vines curled around her lace sleeves and grew from her dress, adorning the gold accents and flowing material at her feet.
“Since when do you apologize for being straightforward?” He lifted his eyebrow, insinuating a playfulness in his tone.
Nathaira cracked a smile that bunched her almond-shaded cheeks. “I was trying to be delicate with your feelings.”
“What feelings?” Shivani materialized in the space on his other side, biting into an apple. “Our lord does not have those.”
Cassian continued walking to put distance between him and the crunching of fruit between Shivani’s teeth as he recalled the time Finnian entrapped him in his own temple with a sigil. “Are you suggesting that I am devoid of feeling?”
Shivani and Nathaira followed at his side.
“You are a sea of feelings, my lord,” Shivani said before biting into her apple. She held it between her teeth and untucked her linen blouse from her baggy trousers.
Cassian stepped onto the planks of the bridge. The river was calm, a steady flow of quiet souls. He rested his elbows on the railing and peered down at the water, glistening like mauve starlight.
Nathaira claimed the spot at Cassian’s side, allowing the silence to hum between them for a short while longer.
“Do you, perhaps, have a reason you do not wish to punish the young god?” she finally asked, softly. “It has been years since you last faced him. Since, things have been quiet. No new souls have been reported missing.”
Cassian rubbed at his jaw, unsure of the clenching in his chest. “Perhaps.”
“You loathe him,” Shivani said, casually.
Cassian glanced over his shoulder at her. She settled back on her elbows against the railing across from Cassian. A bite of apple crunched and sloshed around in her mouth.
“Or rather, you are somewhere in between.” She swung her apple around in her hand as she spoke. “You despise himwhilstyou enjoy his presence.”
Cassian ran a hand through his hair, his jaws pulsing. She wasn’t wrong.
It was true that certain qualities of Finnian’s made Cassian want to strangle him. However, he felt content in Finnian’s presence.
Observing his tense expression, Shivani nonchalantly shrugged, as if she hadn’t revealed the harsh reality.
Cassian was grateful each day when Mavros reported no new souls had gone missing. But if he were being honest, it also disappointed him, for he had no reason to seek out the young god.
He’d agonized over it, going back and forth, questioning what kind of retribution Finnian truly deserved—only to be met with that godsforsaken memory of him digging through a trash bin to revive a dead dog.An inexcusable action.Tampering with matters that he had no right tampering with.
But then Cassian reminisced on their moment on the bank and the moonflower twirling in his fingers and the glimpse of his smile, all dimples and folds drawn around his eyes.
I want to know that version of him.
Cassian squeezed his hand around his strands and tugged at his scalp, angling his body away from Nathaira and Shivani. The resistance coiling in his gut never gave way when he imagined cursing Finnian.
