Thalia weighed her words and wished she were better at lying. Wished he weren’t able to tell when she was. “Yes. I was worried. Happy now?”
Cassius’s brows knotted. “Why is being worried a bad thing?” Thalia looked away, her throat suddenly knotting like his brows. He gripped her chin with his free hand, turning her face back to his.
“Because being worried about you means I care,” she got out.
“And what’s so bad about caring?” His thumb stroked alongside the curve of her jaw. She resisted the urge to lean in. To lean intohim.
Yes, she was starting to care. Starting to feel the cracks in her mission. Her reaction to him almost dying was evidence enough of her impending failure. Thalia willed her mission to become clear. For her mother’s desire to stop the Vampyrs once and for all to root itself in her heart—willed the image of her sister’s shredded throat to appear.
But all she could see was Cassius’s chest being ripped open.
All that flashed in her mind was the way his lips felt against hers. The strength of his arms when he held her. The fact that maybe … maybe he wasn’t the monster she’d believed him to be.
“I—”
Scuffing on the threshold had them both turning. Cassius’s hand fell away as Keegan appeared, his eyes bright as he said, “You’re going to want to see this.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The three of them gathered in what must have been the cells of the castle. Or perhaps a torture chamber, given the sharp, wicked-looking devices along the walls and the chains dangling from the ceiling. The creature’s body was splayed out on a steel table, its head next to it.
“What are we looking at?” Cassius asked, eyeing the dead thing. At least he’d put a shirt on, which did nothing to hide his physique as he crossed his arms over his chest. He’d cleaned the blood from his face too.
Keegan moved to the table. Various instruments littered the top, as if waiting to dissect it. Thalia resisted the urge to shiver.
“This thing is dead, right?” Keegan asked, and Cassius and Thalia exchanged a glance.
“Yes,” Cassius said, eyes narrowing.
“But watch this.” Keegan moved the head closer to the severed neck.
As soon as they were a hairbreadth apart, the muscle and tendons shot out like little vines. Thalia started as the separate pieces of flesh began to reach for each other, almost stitching themselves together the same way Cassius’s skin had stitched itself.
“What the fuck?” Thalia breathed as Keegan ripped the head away, the tendons and muscles falling flat against the table, shriveled up like dried worms.
“Do you think it can come back to life?” Cassius asked, stepping deeper into the room.
Keegan placed the head a good distance away from the creature’s body. “I don’t know, but given the fact it didthat, anything is possible.”
“You said it was near impossible to kill, at least the mother. What happened to the spawn near Cupisco?” Thalia eyed the creature.
Cassius looked to Keegan, who shook his head, saying, “They burned it to ash.” Cassius seemed to relax slightly at the information. Keegan went on, “I sent word to Lord Damien about this spawn. We need to be more vigilant in combing the forest. At least catching them young, we have some sort of chance in killing them.”
But it wouldn’t matter, not if the mother was still breeding in Chaménos.
Thalia shuddered, but she pushed aside Cassius’s sudden concern as she moved closer. Up close, and without the fear of being maimed, Thalia studied the creature. It was already as big as a dog; she couldn’t fathom how big the mother must be. At least the size of a horse. And given the difficulty in killing it …
She pressed her fingers against its flesh, surprised to find it cold and slimy. “Have you figured out what it is?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Keegan shake his head. “This is the first one we’ve been able to kill and keep the remains of.”
She pursed her lips, and Cassius cut in, “Send word to Camilla. She’ll know more than anyone what sort of creature this could be. And clear out the castle, if this thing still poses a threat …”
“Both are already done,” Keegan replied.
Thalia ran her hand over its hide, feeling the strange musculature, avoiding its claws, which were as sharp as blades. She moved around the table until she came to the head.
Its mouth was closed, the tendons of its neck hanging like strips of ribbon. Where eyes would have been, there were merely indentations in its skull, meaning it relied solely on smell. Given its long snout, that wasn’t surprising.
