Page 40 of Secrets & Curses of Crimson

“Cassius is important to me, isn’t he? My mind can’t remember him, but my heart does. When I was in Exile, I always felt as if something was missing, but that feeling went away when I saw Cassius and only returned when he was gone.”

Della smiled.

“Yes…”

A knock at my door startled me. Della glanced at me before disappearing from sight. Damn it, there were more questions I had. I ripped open the door to a guardstaring at me.

“What?” I snapped with my dagger in my hand, angry enough to kill him.

“Who are you talking to?” His dark eyes moved past me and into the room to see if I had a visitor.

“Myself. Sorry, I’ll keep it down.” He looked at me as if I were crazy. I glared and slammed the door in his face before locking it. I went and drew myself a bath and soaked in the water, replaying Della’s words in my head. There was something about Cassius I was supposed to figure out. I closed my eyes as images of Cassius pinning me to the ground and kissing me plagued me. Suddenly, the crown tattoo on my wrist zapped, making me feel wild with lust, but it felt as if it weren’t my own.

“I need to fucking find Cassius before I lose my shit.”

Chapter 13

Cassius

Why did I do this to myself? I paced my father’s throne room as my parents, Haden, Leer, and Zade, stared at me. I was antsy, and I could not fucking relax.

“For fuck’s sake, man. You need to chill; I’m starting to doubt this theory of yours.” Haden broke my racing thoughts. When I looked up, he bit into an apple and shrugged at me.

“Son.” My mother walked to me and put her hands on my shoulders, staring me in the eyes. “Haden’s right; you need to calm the fuck down. She will come.”

“It's been almost a month,” I sighed. “Don’t we think she would come to find me by now?”

“She tried to find you for weeks before she went back to Cerithia.” My mother reminded me. “She will come; she probably just needs a little push in the right direction.”

“Ardella is keeping an eye on her,” Haden said. He always refused to call her anything but her full name.

I knew this was my idea. I would pull Thea in by hopelessly flirting with her, then disappear. It was fucking torture, and each day that passed, and she didn’t come to find me, the more I doubted her feelings for me. This could all be lust to her. I thought by me disappearing she would face the reality of her feelings for me. But she didn’t come.

I started pacing again, and Haden groaned as he threw a chunk of his apple at me. Glaring at him, I kept moving around. I needed to be busy, or I was going to go mad. If she didn’t come find me in the next few days, then I would have to go find her because I couldn’t fucking stand this distance. My marriage bond burned because it knew that I could see her, and it wanted me to get my ass out there and force her to come home.

But this time was different. Not only the way she watched me but also because Della had told me what her brother did—sabotaged us every year. My shadows swarmed out of me without permission as my anger took over. I would fucking kill him if I could.

“Cassius,” my father’s voice pulled me from my dangerous thoughts. He pointed behind me, and I saw Della. Her eyes found Haden immediately, and she looked away when he refused to acknowledge her existence.

“Della.” I stepped toward her. “Please tell me something; I’m losing my fucking mind,” I begged.

Della smiled.

“She’s on her way to Crimson, alone.” Della hesitated as if she were contemplating telling me something. “She is distraught. Her father hit her.”

My shadows exploded from me and filled the room again. That motherfucker. My eyes pulsed black as rage filled every shallow breath I took.

“Why did he hit her?” Leer asked. “Isn’t he trying to get her on his side?”

Luren had never been good at convincing Thea. Thea always came back to me. Della’s eyes flickered to mine before she smirked slightly.

“She broke Jesper’s nose for grabbing her, and when her father demanded an explanation, she told him that her reason was that she found Jesper’s existence unpleasant. But then she was asking about her life before Exile. She wants to know why she feels like something is missing, and her father refused to answer. When she kept asking, he blew up at her and told her she had nothing before, that he owned her entire life. She told him that she did not belong to him, and he hit her. She did tell him to fuck off and spit blood at him. Then she started running, andWisp is making sure she is headed to the border, but she was already headed this way.”

Are you what I’ve been looking for?

Her words haunted me. She felt I was missing.

“I’ll go watch for her and call for you when she gets here.” Haden stood and walked out of the room. Della’s sad eyes followed him until he was out of sight.

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