“What are the Mages like?” she asked suddenly.
Keegan had moved a ways ahead, his shoulders at ease. Despite leaving the safety of the wards, at least the Vampyrs seemed relaxed as they traveled.
“What do you mean?” Cassius said.
“Are they … old?”
Cassius chuckled, his breath stirring a strand of her hair that had slipped from its braid. “Some are. Others are younger than us.”
“Really?”
Cassius nodded, his cheek brushing against her head. “I’ve only met a few. Decima is one of them. There’s a few others; Larellia is head of the Mages. She’s the one who’s been actively looking for a cure.”
Thalia chewed the inside of her cheek. “And there’s really no way to defeat the creature? Kill it instead? Maybe find a way to incapacitate it so it can be burned?”
Cassius’s hands tightened on the reins. “We could try. But trying to fight it in the forest has always ended badly, with more losses than it’s worth. The amount of Vampyrs it would take to bring the creature down, to try and burn it in the forest with such tight quarters …”
“What about trying to lure it out? Maybe if it was out in the open, you could do something.”
Cassius shook his head. “We’ve tried. The thing won’t leave the forest line, and given that its offspring can regenerate, I have a feeling that the mother can too.”
Which made sense as to why they’d been fighting it for years, but something didn’t sit right with her. “Where did the creature come from anyway?”
“We don’t know. The forest has bred many strange things. Some believe that Chaménos has pockets of magic, much like the mountain. But the magic in the forest is wild, unpredictable.”
Thalia made a face at that. “Huh.”
“What?”
She sighed, leaning her head back against his chest. “This world is so strange.” Cassius snorted, and Thalia’s lips twitched upward. “I mean, in Agripa, you know our lack of knowledge. I don’t recall ever learning about the specific creatures living in your forest. Marcus would have a heyday if he was here. He’d probably explode with excitement trying to write it all down despite the imminent danger he’d be in.”
Cassius’s chuckle rumbled against her back. “Yes, he would be rather keen on getting to know this world.”
Thalia’s heart sank, suddenly missing her friend back home. She cleared her throat. “What of the prince?”
“What of him?
“Will I finally meet him in Perden?” The thought should have excited her. Finally, she was about to meet the man she’d been betrothed to—the Vampyr whose House she was trying to usurp.
But none of it … none of it felt right.
Not being with the prince, nor using his House against him.
And if she finally joined with him, what then? The thought of … coupling with him, even if he wasn’t the monstrous Vampyr she’d painted him out to be, didn’t sit well with her. Especially not with everything that’d transpired between her and Cassius. And where did Cass fit into her life? When she was officially joined with House Lorenzia, would the prince allow her to take a lover? Would Cass—would Cassius even want to? Given his loyalty to the prince?
“He’s gone to try and gain some semblance of his House.” Cassius’s words pulled her from her thoughts.
Thalia twisted in the seat. “What?”
Cassius kept his gaze focused on the path. “The Vampyrs are still grumbling. He’s trying to figure out a solution with House Gallinus.”
Thalia shook her head. “That doesn’t make any sense. His council is here—”
“Camilla said he was insistent on getting back, on making things right.”
“What about me?”
“What about you?”
