Cassius was quiet for a moment. “Indeed.”
Thalia felt the rise and fall of his chest against her back, the way his thighs pressed against hers.
If she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend that nothing had happened between them. That he hadn’t killed their one shot at survival. That he was still … human.
“What are you thinking?” Cassius’s quiet voice nearly startled her from her thoughts.
“Nothing.”
“You pick at the skin around your nails when something is troubling you.”
Thalia hadn’t realized she was doing that, not until her eyes widened and she looked down to where his hands rested against her wrists.
She immediately stopped, twisting in the saddle. “Stop it.”
Cassius’s brows rose. “Stop what?”
“We aren’t friends. You’re still a monster.”
“Monster? Here I thought we were allies?”
Thalia stopped herself short. Shit. She needed to get away from him. Needed to stop letting her tongue loose. She needed to appear resigned—complacent.
“Get me a horse,” she got out.
“Not going to happen. Especially considering you think we are monsters. I have no doubt that you’d hightail it right out of here after you’d killed us all.”
“How could someone like me take on such powerful creatures? If anything, it seems as thoughyou’rewanting to keep me close.”
“I’ve always wanted to keep you close.”
Those words, the tone in which Cassius almost sounded earnest, had her jerking out of his grip.
“What are you—” Cassius started.
Thalia pushed herself away and half fell, half slid down the horse, landing on the moss-covered ground with a quiet thud. The ground seemed to sink down under her weight as if it were trying to slowly consume her.
“You can’t be serious,” Cassius said in disbelief above her.
She pushed onto her knees, glaring up. The other Vampyrs all glanced back, their stares holding nothing but lethal rage—and dread. She ignored them.
Riding in front of Cassius, she could almost forget he wasn’t human. But with him staring down at her, his eyes glowing faintly and the hint of fangs peeking ever so slightly from his parted mouth, it was a sickening reminder.
Thalia needed to rethink everything, how she acted, how she spoke. And she couldn’t do that with Cassius pressing so near to her. No matter that her traitorous body begged for his familiarity while her mind screamed at her tothink.
“I’ll walk, then,” Thalia got out.
Cassius raised a brow. “It’s a long walk.”
“Then I suppose I should get moving.”
Cassius’s jaw flickered. His eyes flicked to the strange trees, then he shrugged, spurring his horse past. “Suit yourself.”
Thalia resisted the urge to send her dagger straight through the back of his head.
But she didn’t, she just followed silently after Cassius, her mind coming up empty with each step she took farther into the dark forest.
She’d lost sight of Cassius around the bend.
