Thalia’s heart leapt. “If my mother catches you—”
“She won’t, because you’re going to be distracting her.”
“How?”
Cassius strapped on his sword, his deft fingers tugging on the buckles. “Tell her there’s more she needs to know.”
Thalia faltered. “What?”
“Feed her partial truths.”
Thalia shook her head. “About what? Cass, I don’t know—”
He stepped in front of her, taking her hands in his. “Tell her that you know where the sickness stems from.”
Thalia’s eyes lifted to his. “Why? She can’t know about the creature. She’d try to send her men to capture it.”
“I know. But they won’t be able to get through the forest. The distraction could give us time to get to Vaccarium and figure out what she wants to do with the old trenches.”
Thalia’s stomach knotted tighter, but she slowly nodded.
Cassius squeezed her hand, moving to leave, but she held fast. “If the bitten isn’t there, you don’t go searching for her. You come back here, and we leave.”
Cassius’s face softened, and he bent to kiss her, his lips seeming to memorize her.
Thalia didn’t want to think about whether it was a goodbye or not. “Trust yourself,” he whispered. Then he left, and Thalia just hoped his faith in her was well placed.
Thalia knocked on her mother’s door.
The white wood gleamed, and she ignored the two soldiers standing watch outside. Thalia waited, picking at the skin around her nails.
Immediately she scowled, but she forced herself to smile as Kamith opened the door.
“Thalia.” Kamith inclined his head. “I was just advising your mother.”
Advising or fucking?
Based on his disheveled head and the fact that his doublet wasn’t buttoned properly, she had a feeling she knew. It made her stomach knot further.
“I’d like to speak to her. There’s—there’s something she needs to know.”
Kamith held up a hand to wait a moment and closed the door in her face.
Thalia huffed, her fingers picking her thumbs, until the door opened again. She glanced at Kamith as he left, then turned her attention to the woman before her.
The queen sat in her sitting area, a set of tea laid out before her. She wore an emerald gown, the color rich on her pale skin. But in the hazy morning light, Thalia noted that her skin appeared even more haggard than the night before. The lines around her mouth were more pronounced, as were the circles under her eyes. She looked old. Far older than Thalia remembered.
“Kamith said there’s something you wanted to tell me?” the queen said, her words clipped.
Thalia shuffled into the room, taking a glance around. The last time she’d been in here, her mother had given her the order to take down the Vampyr kingdom.
Thalia swallowed, tucking her hands behind her back so she wouldn’t pick at them. “I—I know what causes the sickness.”
The queen looked up, interested. “Oh?” Thalia nodded. “And why are you just now telling me this? Had a change of heart?”
“You could say that.”
The queen raised an unbelieving brow. “According to the gossiping servants, it seems that your heart hasn’t changed at all, given last night’s escapades with a certain Vampyr.”
