“Why are you so keen to know?” Cassius said cautiously.
“Because this is going to be my home, and I want to know the affairs of my kingdom.”
Cassius chuckled. “You’ve been quick to step into the role of princess.”
“Camilla’s been a wonderful help.”
“Camilla needs to learn to keep her mouth shut.”
“What do you have against her?”
“Nothing, but she schemes as much as you do, and I’m already spread thin as it is.”
“How hard it must be for you as hand to the prince,” Thalia mocked.
“You have no idea, Princess.” Cassius’s words brushed against her lips. Thalia’s eyes widened, her heart rate spiking for a different reason. Cassius stared at her as if he didn’t have a care in the world. As if he didn’t realize how close they lay, where one tilt of Thalia’s head would bring her lips to his.
“You should get some sleep,” he finally murmured, the sound as dark and deep as the shadows gathered in the corners of the room. Cassius pulled away, turning his back to her.
Silence pressed in, and Thalia nearly flew out of her skin when Cassius closed his hand over hers.
“Stop,” he said. Thalia turned, finding his attention on her. She’d been picking at her skin, the flesh snagging as she dug deep.
His eyes glowed softly in the night, his dark hair falling across his sharp cheekbones. He gave her hand a squeeze. “Sleep, Thalia.”
She swallowed as he gently squeezed her hand again, letting go. He turned his back to her, somehow falling asleep quicker than she’d anticipated, his chest rising and falling in deep slumber.
Something about the image caused tears to spring to Thalia’s eyes and she looked away, blinking rapidly so they wouldn’t fall.
But she didn’t sleep.
When morning came, her thumbs were a mangled mess.
Chapter Thirteen
“What can you tell me about each House?” Thalia asked Camilla. The woman watched her as she dug through the castle library.
As soon as Thalia had woken the next morning, she’d rung for a servant, who’d directed her to the castle library, the space boasting large aisles and hidden nooks filled with old tomes and rolled-up scrolls.
She’d just found a map of the inner workings of the castle and snuck it into her pocket when Camilla found her.
“What do you want to know?” Camilla asked, studying her. She sat at one of the desks, dressed in a black velvet gown. She lounged in the chair like a cat, the desk next to her laden with all sorts of books and other paraphernalia.
“What do the symbols mean for each House?”
Camilla raised a well-groomed brow. “You weren’t taught about them?”
Thalia paused, looking up from where she’d pulled out a book from a bookcase. “We were. But I was young when the treaty between our people fell. I’ll admit, after what happened—” Thalia strangled the anger rising in her gut. The sudden image of her father and sister cooling on the throne room floor. “I didn’t care to keep up with my knowledge of this realm.”
Thalia just prayed it wouldn’t be her downfall. If she’d known where she’d land—in a marriage to a Vampyr prince—she wouldn’t have let her rage brush aside valuable information.
Camilla’s long nails ticked on the wooden desk, but she didn’t respond, so Thalia added, “I should know what the symbol of my own House means.”
Camilla finally stopping her tapping. “The raven with three eyes represents unity and stability.”
Thalia chewed the inside of her cheek. It made sense, given that House Lorenzia oversaw all the rest of the courts. “And the others?”
Camilla rose, gesturing for her to follow. Thalia trailed after the woman, the darkness of the aisles deepening as they walked farther into the library until they came upon the back wall. A large tapestry took up almost the whole expanse of it, depicting the emblems of the five Vampyr Houses stitched in their respective colors.
