Cassius watched her with a wary expression. Finally, he said, “Do you remember last night?”
Even though pain had muddled her memory, she still recalled the sharp torment of the Vampyr’s bite, then the agony coursing through her burning body until Cassius offered a different solution. One that had the ache between her legs throbbing.
“Yes.”
Cassius’s face was guarded, but he sank back onto the chair, watching. “I want to apologize.”
Thalia lifted her head in shock. “For what?”
Cassius scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “For what I had to do.”
Too many emotions bubbled in Thalia’s stomach. “You did what you had to in order to save my life. You don’t need to apologize for it.”
“I know but—” Cassius cut himself off, his eyes suddenly full of regret and guilt. “But it shouldn’t have happened at all.”
Thalia’s heart sank, and she was suddenly unsure why his adamancy that he shouldn’t be intimate with her set her stomach churning. “Well, it’s done now.”
She swung her legs to the floor, wincing at every part of her body that hurt. It felt as though she’d been run over by a carriage repeatedly, then thrown down an embankment for good measure.
She hobbled to the bathing room, taking a sharp breath as she tried bending to turn on the tub.
A hand appeared, turning the water on for her. She didn’t comment as Cassius added an assortment of soaps and oils to the claw-foot tub. As if his guilt drove him to do it. Thalia gritted her teeth, ignoring the ache in her jaw.
“You don’t have to do that,” she got out when he went so far as to set extra soap along the window’s edge.
He turned to her, his eyes still guttering. “Thalia—”
“Is this some sort of self-righteous act to make you feel better about fucking me with your mouth and fingers? Is this supposed to—”
“I’m the reason that Vampyr bit you!” Cassius’s harsh words stopped her.
“What?”
Cassius shut off the water in the tub, running a shaking hand through his hair. “Do you really think what I did last night is the reason for my guilt? Sybil—she—she is here because of me.”
Sybil. The name rang through Thalia’s hazy memory. Cassius had said something about her turning into one of them because of it—
Thalia sucked in a sharp breath, the image of Sybil’s foaming mouth flashing. “You’re harboring a bitten.”
Cassius raised his devastated gaze to hers. Thalia took a step back, her body shaking as the image of Sybil flashed in her mind. The feeling of her canines sinking into her flesh, as shedrankfrom her.
“Let me explain—” Cassius reached for her, but Thalia kept stepping back. Her heart pounded in her throat as she retreated into the bedroom.
“You—you let this happen—” Thalia’s fingers shook. “You said they are supposed to be killed—”
“She’s my sister.”
Thalia faltered. “What?”
Cassius looked as though he’d ripped out his own heart as he rasped, “My half sister. I didn’t know she existed until I was turned.”
Thalia’s knees hit the back of the bed. She hadn’t even realized how far she’d withdrawn until she sank onto the mattress. “Your sister? How?”
“My father,” Cassius stumbled. “You know what he was like. I don’t know how or even when it happened, but he met a Vampyr. I only knew because Sybil sent me a letter.”
Thalia stared at him in shock. “How did she even know about you?”
“Her mother was favored by the prince. Sybil’s mother wasn’t a lady at first, but the prince ended up accepting her onto his council—accepting Sybil. Her mother was bitten and killed. It was then that the prince told her of her human sire and … me.”
