“So, I am the ruler of Vaccarium?” Thalia said.
Cassius nodded once more, his face becoming hard. “Yes. The courts, the Mages, and the shifters—we are bound to serve and protect you.”
Thalia felt the weight of it settle over her shoulders.
Everyone began to trickle out, Camilla promising Thalia that she would begin to take her blood to start working it into a cure. It had taken her being nearly drained for Cassius to come back, perhaps because his injuries had been so grave.
But she’d gladly drain her blood if it meant that her mother’s wrong could be righted.
Thalia found herself standing in the inner courtyard of the castle, looking out past the bridge suspended over the waterfall and into the pine forest, almost as if she could see the manor nestled near the lake.
A dark presence came up beside her.
“We’ll still save Sybil,” she said, eyes out in the distance. She might have been drained of blood, but Sybil wasn’t a bitten anymore. Not with Thalia’s blood in her serving as a cure for the poison.
Cassius’s arm slipped around her waist, tugging her close. “I know.”
She leaned into him, her chest tightening as she whispered, “I should have just killed her back in Agripa.” Thalia’s mind flashed to her mother buried in Chaménos. While their relationship had been strained, she was the last of Thalia’s kin. Thalia hoped she found peace, wherever she went. That maybe in the next life her hatred wouldn’t bind her the way it had in this one.
Cassius’s fingers clenched on her waist. “You did what you needed to do to get us out of there.”
Thalia shook her head, throat tight. “If I’d just killed her, the creatures would have all died right then. Who knows if the fire would have even started. You wouldn’t have gotten hurt. You wouldn’t have—have died—”
Cassius gripped her chin, lifting it to his. “Don’t dwell on the past or what might have been.” His thumb swirled over her cheeks, catching the tears. “We are both here. We are bothalive. That’s what matters.”
Thalia nodded, her head going to press against his chest. She could hear his heartbeat, feel the rise and fall of the breath in his lungs.
Alive.
“But it won’t be easy,” Cassius said. “With the courts.”
“I know. I don’t expect it to be.”
“You being the cure should help,” Cassius mused, running his fingers through her hair.
Thalia huffed out a laugh. “I should hope so.”
She pulled away slightly. “I want to start over, with the courts.” Cassius raised a brow as she plowed on. “I want to earn their trust—for real. No matter how long it takes, no matter how much pushback there is. I want to see this world—I want to see Vaccarium thrive. I want to see Agripa thrive.”
Although Thalia didn’t know if Agripa would recognize her rule, seeing as she’d had a hand in killing her own mother.
But despite the uphill battle she faced with the courts, some of the weight around her shoulders lifted.
This was what she was meant to do. This was how she’d fulfill her vow—not with revenge but by living to see what Ariadna had wanted to see: their two realms enter into a time of peace.
Thalia turned to Cassius suddenly. “But I’ll need your help.”
Cassius offered a small smile. “You always have me. No matter what.”
Thalia lifted her chin. “And if it comes to it, will you fight for me if I ask?”
“I will die for you.”
His lips pressed into hers, and she let herself sink into his kiss.
She pulled away, her hand resting against his chest. “We have our whole lives ahead of us. Let’s not try and die anytime soon.”
“Agreed.”
