Thalia made a face, yanking out a canine with more force than necessary. “Do I?”
Cassius snorted. “Maybecalmerisn’t the word. But more … grounded. Older, more mature.”
Thalia looked up at him, exasperation dancing on the tip of her tongue. “No shit. That’s what happens when you’re forced to grow up. When you’re forced to deal with betrayal.” She stared at him, now finding his gaze guarded, if not a bit pained. She let out a bitter laugh. “What are we doing here, Cassius?”
“I’m trying to have a conversation with you—”
“No, you’re not,” Thalia cut in. She set the pliers down with a harsh clink. “What is it you want? Do you want to be friends again? Is that it?”
“Yes,” Cassius said without missing a beat.
“Why?”
“Because I miss you,” he said softly. “I miss talking with you. I miss being in your presence. I miss the smell of your jasmine perfume, and the way your nose quirks right before you laugh. I miss how you’d tease Marcus whenever he showed us some new information he’d found lost in the library. I miss watching you train with Reina. I miss how you used to look at me. Not with hatred but with something else. I missyou.”
Thalia met his open stare, the pain and regret etching itself across his handsome features like lines in the sand. “Then stop.”
She watched her words land, and Cassius didn’t react. Didn’t so much as flinch. But something guttered in his irises. Something so raw it was as if she’d plunged her dagger straight into his heart.
“We are not friends, Cassius. You chosethis. And once the prince returns, this”—she gestured between the two of them—“won’t be of consequence anymore.”
Cassius’s throat bobbed, and he stiffly stood, gathering his blades in hand. He looked over his shoulder at the top of the stairs. “I told you that I don’t regret my decision in turning, but I do regret one thing.”
Thalia swallowed. “And what is that?”
Cassius met her gaze. “I regret that it’s caused you so much pain. I know you’re not ready to hear what happened, and I respect that—hell.” He huffed out a laugh, looking to the ceiling. “It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with you. That tenacious fierceness you have when you’ve made your mind up about something.”
He met her gaze once more. “I still love you. I don’t say this because I want anything from you. Friendship or otherwise. You can hate me for the rest of your life, but that love hasn’t changed, and it never will.”
He opened the door, the coldness of the castle seeping in. “I came to you that night four years ago not to betray you, but because I wanted to say goodbye. I knew you’d try to kill me once you saw what I’d become, but I wanted you to know that I still loved you. Even as this.”
Thalia’s throat had tightened with near unspeakable pain as Cassius quietly left, leaving her stuck with the dead creature and the poison festering on the table.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Thalia’s eyes were blurring by the time she finally dropped the last tooth in a jar. They now had three jars filled with the creature’s sharp teeth, and already the bottoms of the glasses were filled with a slimy, green liquid.
Thalia stepped back, setting the pliers down. Her fingers cramped, but she still checked to make sure there weren’t any nicks or scratches on her arms or hands. Satisfied that there was none, she sank down onto a wooden stool.
“That took forever,” Keegan said.
The golden-eyed Vampyr had come in soon after Cassius left. But unlike Cassius, these were the first words he’d spoken to her.
“Tell me about it,” Thalia grumbled. Her back ached, not only from being plowed over by the creature but from bending over the table so long. “What are you going to do with it?”
Keegan stretched, his golden eyes bright. Either his rest had restored him or perhaps he’d had some blood along the way, Thalia didn’t care to ask. “I’ll get rid of the head. At least then we don’t have to worry about it somehow coming back to life.”
Thalia grunted, staring at the toothless beast. A part of her almost felt bad. Without its teeth, it seemed so helpless. Until the memory of it shredding apart Cassius’s chest quickly pushed the image aside.
“What’s Camilla going to do with it?” Thalia stretched her neck.
“Camilla has some affinity with magic.” When Thalia opened her mouth, Keegan cut in, smiling. “I don’t know what that means. Her family line had deep connections with serving the Mages, and they blessed her ancestors with it.”
“Can Camilla shift into more than just a falcon?”
Keegan cracked another smile. “She won’t tell us. Cass and I have tried to get her to spill her secrets of shifting for years, but she’s never broken.” Thalia offered a tight smile at his response. Keegan was too keen for his own good, it seemed, because he noticed the subtle change. “Does it bother you that I call him Cass?”
Thalia huffed out a laugh. “It’s … odd.” She made a face, trying to gather her thoughts. “We—I mean Marcus and Reina and I—we were the only ones who called him that.”
