Thalia heard the bitter regret coating his words and turned to face him. She squeezed his arm, forcing him to meet her eyes. “This isn’t your fault.” Cassius’s eyes flashed, something she couldn’t quite pinpoint in his gaze. “What Lord Adrian did was because of his own desperate sense of self-righteousness. This would have happened regardless of whether the prince was here or not.”
“She’s right,” Keegan said over his shoulder. “Lord Adrian has always been brash. He wasn’t happy when you came along and joined the prince’s council. Less happy once you booted him off, not to mention this treaty between the humans. It was only a matter of time before he did something.”
Cassius didn’t relax, and Thalia squeezed his arm once more. He stared down at her, and she nodded, just once, to show she understood why he felt the way he did. His sense of duty, of honor, still bled even under a different set of skin. And when she leaned her head back against her chest, it was also a message. One that conveyed that she was there if he needed to talk, whenever that was.
“Where do we go from here?” Thalia asked. Cassius relaxed slightly as they navigated deeper into the forest.
“We should go back to the humans,” Keegan said.
Thalia stiffened. “No.”
“Why not?” The golden-eyed Vampyr turned over his shoulder.
Thalia swallowed, her throat suddenly sticking to the roof of her mouth. “My mother won’t care; she won’t help. She’s gotten the ore. Despite what still needs to be mined in the mountain, Agripa will have enough to last ten years or more.”
“Surely she’d care about her daughter?” Keegan’s brows narrowed in confusion.
Thalia felt it then, a mere brush of Cassius’s thumb running along the back of her hand—a quiet understanding and reassurance. It gave her the courage to say, “My mother and I have had our difficulties inthe past. And frankly, given the tension between our two worlds, even if she did care about my safety in being returned to Agripa, she wouldn’t help you.”
“So we’re on our own?” Keegan’s words were bitter.
“Not quite,” Thalia said.
The two Vampyrs exchanged a glance before Cassius’s chin grazed the side of her head. “What do you mean?”
Thalia shifted, pulling the satchel still strapped around her shoulders into her lap. She opened it, revealing the three sets of jars and poisoned teeth nestled inside.
“What is it?” Keegan asked, too far ahead to see what she carried.
“You went back for that?” Cassius’s words were a sharp exhale.
Thalia stiffened, closing up the satchel. “Yes.”
“I thought Keegan told you to get to the stables,” Cassius gritted out.
“I didn’t know what Lord Adrian or Julian would do if they found them,” Thalia snapped, suddenly wishing his arms weren’t wrapped around her waist. She didn’t want to dwell on the fact that her first thought in the moment hadn’t been for herself but on what would happen to the Vampyrs if Lord Adrian got the poison.
“Julian,” Keegan sneered. “If I see that prick again, I’ll rip his heart out myself.”
“I don’t think he’s going to be a problem anymore,” Thalia got out.
“What do you mean?” Keegan asked.
Thalia swallowed, already feeling Cassius tense behind her. “When I was leaving the chamber, Julian found me.”
Cassius tightened the reins hard enough that Feryena’s head jerked up. Thalia scowled, prying his fingers off the reins, only to save her poor horse. But that meant his viselike grip went to her waist.
Thalia ignored the shiver rocking down her spine. Now certainly wasn’t the time.
“And you killed him?” Keegan said in disbelief.
“No, I didn’t. But I think the creature did.”
“What creature?” Keegan shook his head in confusion.
Cassius sucked in a sharp breath. “It found you down there?”
Thalia nodded, and at Keegan’s exasperated face, she quietly explained how she woke up with the beast on her chest, its neck trying to re-form into a head.
