Page 26 of Vengeful Princess

“But Cassian! I thought—”

“I don’t give a fuck what you thought.” He shoved her forward so hard that she stumbled, almost falling into my lap.

“Cassian! I’m sorry!”

Her eyes shone with unshed tears and I almost felt sorry for her. Having a man like Cassian Forsyth rip you a new asshole couldn’t be pleasant. But then I recalled the way she stormed over here, probably hoping to embarrass me in front of my peers, and my sympathy disappeared.

“I meant what I said,” she whispered, rage swirling behind her fake tears.

I grinned back at her as Cassian stalked away.

“Bring it on, bitch.”

13

Cassian

Olivia made my blood boil. How dare she claim I’m hers? I belong to no one, least of all her. I fucked her once, at a party when I was insanely drunk. It was a forgettable experience, but ever since then, she’s acted like we’re in a relationship.

I guess she hadn’t heard about my impending engagement to Camilla. Father must not have spread the joyful news yet. No doubt he was waiting until he and John Bale-Lyon had hashed out an agreement they were both happy with. Knowing my father, a seat on the Bale board wouldn’t be enough; he’d be angling for a controlling stake.

Not that John Bale-Lyon was likely to give him one. In business circles, Bale-Lyon had a fearsome reputation. He played hardball, just like my father. They were both cut from the same cloth.

My mind drifted away from Camilla and Olivia and strayed back to Thea.

I’ll admit she intrigued me, despite what I said to Milo about her being unimportant.

Any woman who could take down four guys three times her size, all at once, was a conundrum. She had to have had training. Moves like that were taught, not instinctive, which made me wonder what she was hiding.

She’d already caught Milo’s attention. I wasn’t blind. I could see he’d been up all night scouring data, trying to find out who she was. But judging by his frustrated expression when I walked into his room this morning, he hadn’t succeeded.

The fact she was here, at Abernethy, was a concern. Women like her didn’t move in our circles. The girls I’d grown up with were well-bred fillies born to be good wives and mothers. The trad-wife trope was alive and well in my parents’ world.

My mother was the daughter of a well-heeled family with a long and illustrious heritage dating back to William of Orange, but like many old families, they’d ended up down on their luck thanks to poor decisions and hefty death duties.

Mother had married my father because he was wealthy. Like my planned marriage to Camilla,theirmarriage was a pragmatic arrangement. Father’s family had fewer aristocratic connections, but more money.

Theirs was not a love match; it was a mutually beneficial partnership - to my father, anyway.

Just like any marriage contract I signed would be.

There was no such thing as marrying for love in my world. I’d resigned myself to that fact years ago. If I was lucky enough to meet someone I could love, she was highly unlikely to end up as my wife. The best she could hope for was becoming my mistress.

It was why I had my emotions well and truly locked down. What was the point in forming an emotional attachment to some girl, when my father would stop at nothing to ensure she never got her claws into me?

“Cassian!” Landon’s voice pulled me out of my maudlin thoughts as I pushed the door to the fitness center open.

He huffed with annoyance when he caught up with me. “I’ve been calling your name for, like, an hour!”

“Don’t exaggerate, Lan. It’s taken me ten minutes to walk from the cafeteria, and you weren’t there when I left.”

“OK, so maybe five minutes.” He broke into a grin as I dropped my bag into a locker and started unbuttoning my shirt, prepping for a sparring session with Kyril. I hada lotof aggression to work through. “I hear you tore into Olivia,” he chuckled.

“The silly bitch deserved it. I’m sick of her simping all over me.”

“Well she’s not happy, so I hope you’re ready for her stalker shit to escalate.”

I shrugged as I unbuttoned my pants and pulled a pair of shorts out of my locker. “She’ll soon back off when the engagement notice is published in The Times.”

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