“What I’ve always wanted,” Cassius said in the same lethally quiet voice as his face shifted, flesh sinking into his skull, sunken cheekbones highlighting the sharp planes of his face, “is to keep my people safe. That is what I am doing as hand, what the prince is also trying to do.”
“And what is there to show for it?” Lord Adrian snarled again. “I don’t see you going out into the forest to try and find a cure. I don’t see the prince either. It’s no wonder the blight is getting worse. When you pick and choose his own people to be sent out as lambs for the slaughter—adding more fuel to the fire.”
Cassius stared at the lord, not refuting the claim, his jaw tense.
Was that why House Lorenzia was so empty? They were being sent out to find a cure for the sickness? What was taking them out?
“Perhaps it’s time for a new hand,” Lord Adrian said, and the attention of the room shifted to him. “Perhaps one who might be willing to do whatever it takes to stop this once and for all.”
“And what would it take?” Cassius growled out.
Lord Adrian smirked. “It would start with ending the treaty with the humans. It would start by killing—” Thalia stepped back, her boots kicking some pebbles on the ground. Lord Adrian’s nostrils flared, eyes widening in surprise, then rage. “Someone is here.”
Before she could turn and run, Lord Adrian ripped down the tapestry, flinging open the hidden door to expose her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“You,” Lord Adrian snarled.
Thalia trembled, snatching the blade at her side, but not fast enough. Lord Adrian grabbed her, twisting her arm hard enough behind her back that she yelped.
Everyone stood, the Vampyrs in various shades of transforming as Lord Adrian pushed her into the room.
Cassius’s face had turned stone cold.
“This is what we get from the humans.” Lord Adrian’s unwanted breath was hot in her ear. “We cannot trust them. We cannot trust this treaty.”
“Think about what you’re doing,” Lord Damien said softly, his red eyes moving between them. “You toe the line of treason, Lord Adrian. The prince will not stand for it once he hears of how you threatened his bride.”
“If only the prince were here,” Lord Adrian hissed. He wrenched Thalia’s arm higher and she whimpered, but she didn’t drop her blade.
“Let her go.” Cassius’s words were hardly a whisper.
“Or what?” Lord Adrian snarled.
Cassius’s face hadn’t changed back. If anything, his cheeks had sunk in deeper, black veins running beneath his skin. “Julian wasn’t just banished.”
Lord Adrian stiffened, but his grip remained iron. “What do you mean?”
Cassius smirked, a thing of deadly cruelty. “I had a feeling you might react poorly when you heard of what he’d done. So, before he left Vaccarium, he was taken.”
“Where?”
“Let the princess go, and I’ll tell you.”
Lord Adrian faltered. “You’re lying.”
“Am I?” Cassius growled. “A single word from me and he will meet a fate more gruesome than death—a fate we’ve all been trying to avoid.” Lord Adrian’s grip loosened slightly. “So I suggest, Lord Adrian, you let Thalia go. Unless you wish to see your son turn into a crazed beast and let loose upon your own House.”
Thalia’s shoulder twinged in pain, another whimper escaping her lips before the Vampyr pushed her forward hard enough that she stumbled.
Cassius caught her immediately before shoving her behind his back. Keegan and Camilla were at her sides, Lord Damien at her back, each closing rank around her.
Lord Adrian cast him a scathing look, nothing but hardened hatred in his eyes. He looked at the other lords. “You all are complicit in this.” Then the Vampyr fled, the few in his entourage scattering with him.
“This meeting is over. Everyone get out. Now,” Cassius rumbled.
All the lords shuffled out, along with their companions. But Lady Decima remained, either oblivious to the rage shaking Cassius or not caring.
