“Explain what the fuck that means,” Cassius said, his voice lethally sharp.
Lady Decima straightened, her golden eyes flaring slightly. “It means, Lord Cassius, that this creature has decided Thalia will be of some use to it. It will serve as a protector to her.”
Thalia’s stomach churned. “But it tried attacking me in the forest.”
“Yes, but after it touched your chest, it stopped. It protected you from Lord Julian. It went to stand watch over you while you slept,” Lady Decima said.
“So what does this mean, then? How is it even possible? I thought the soul-bonded creatures and Mages needed to have magic in them,” Keegan asked, just as equally confused and horrified as the rest of them.
Lady Decima raised a well-groomed brow. “Perhaps this creature has magic in it.”
Thalia glanced at Cassius. They didn’t know where the creature had come from, only that it’d appeared in the woods. Chaménos was said to have the same types of pockets of magic as the mountain …
“I need to go down there.” Thalia stood.
“Absolutely not.” Cassius’s harsh gaze met hers.
“If it’s soul bound to me, then it won’t hurt me, right?” She turned to Lady Decima.
Lady Decima inclined her head, hesitating slightly. “Yes.”
“That doesn’t seem very reassuring,” Cassius growled out.
“The soul bond is a capricious thing, but magic is still fickle. I admit it intrigues me that this creature has chosen Thalia, given she has no magic in her.” Lady Decima pursed her lips. “Larellia would know more about this than I do. She’s the last Mage who was soul bonded to a creature of magic.”
“Where is she?” Thalia asked.
“In the mountain, but she’s deep below the surface; it will take a couple hours for her to resurface.” She nodded to a guard standing watch by the door. He bowed, presumably to go find the head Mage.
“I’m going down there,” Thalia said, standing.
Cassius’s chair scraped as he rose. “No.”
Thalia’s brows narrowed. “Step aside.”
Cassius’s eyes flared, his irises near burning. “I will not let you put yourself in harm’s way.”
“But you’ll allow these people to be put in harm’s way?” Thalia said low, stepping into his space. “It is here for me.”
Thalia felt it deep in her bones. An inkling she didn’t know the origin of; only something deep-rooted inside her told her it was true.
“And what if you’re wrong?” Cassius said with equal quiet, harshness clipping each syllable. “What if it’s not soul bonded to you? What if it merely got a scent for human blood and tracked you down so it can kill you?”
Thalia lifted her chin. “There’s only one way to find out.”
Cassius chuckled low. “You have to be out of your mind if you think I’ll let you leave this room.”
Thalia’s anger flared, and she could have sworn she heard the creature howling in answer. “Move out of the way, Cassius.”
They stared at each other, each unbreakable.
Keegan cleared his throat. “We’ll watch from the parapets. If it so much as looks at Thalia funny, we can shoot it.”
Thalia stared up at Cassius, finding the cracks in his granite mask. “Let me do this.”
Cassius swallowed, his jaw clenching. “I want fifty soldiers with their arrows trained on that thing.”
“That’s a bit excessive—” Thalia cut off at Cassius’s sharp look.
