ATASHA’S POV
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
“Your Highness!”
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I coughed hard, stumbling back as I clutched my neck. My throat burned, each breath scraping like glass.
On the bed, Cassian’s hand dropped limply to his side. His head rolled against the pillow, and his chest rose with shallow, uneven breaths. He had fainted again, just like before.
The door burst open. Boots thundered across the floor, and both Mendez and Rio rushed to
- me.
“My lady-” Rio reached for my arm, but I shook him off.
“I can manage,” I rasped, straightening. My knees trembled, but I forced them to lock. “Put him back on the bed. Secure him before he hurts himself again.”
Rio hesitated, clearly torn between me and Cassian, but Mendez didn’t waste time. “Help me with him,” he ordered.
Together, they lifted Cassian’s limp frame and laid him flat against the mattress. His weight made the bed creak, his arm sliding limply to the side until Rio pushed it back into place. Cassian looked like he hadn’t moved at all, like none of it had just happened.
My pulse was still hammering. My skin prickled with the memory of his grip. Twice now. He’s tried to kill me twice while he was in the state.
“Mendez,” I said, my voice raw. “We need to talk.”
He shot a look at Rio, then nodded. “Leave us,” he told him.
Rio opened his mouth to argue, but one sharp glance from Mendez silenced him. He gave me a curt bow and stepped out, pulling the door shut behind him.
The room felt smaller without him.
Mendez turned back to me, his expression grave. “I apologize for what happened, my lady.”
I shook my head. “You don’t need to apologize. But you do need to explain.” My hand pressed against my neck again, the ache pulsing. His grip was strong enough to immediately give me a bruise. Without my healing ability, I too would have fainted then. “This isn’t the first time it’s
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happened.”
His frown deepened. “What do you mean?”
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I swallowed hard and forced the words out. “When we went to the cave. Cassian stayed behind while I carried the children out. He stood in that poison miasma the whole time. By the time I came back, he looked unconscious. I thought he’d collapsed from exposure. But when I tried to move him, he grabbed me. His eyes-” I hesitated, the memory burning fresh. “His eyes were red. Just like tonight.”
Mendez’s gaze darted to Cassian, then back to me. His jaw tightened. “And afterward?”
“He fainted. Same as now. He didn’t wake for hours, even though he wasn’t injured. I checked his body over and over again and tried to heal it, thinking… thinking it was the smoke or the miasma. “I crossed my arms, trying to steady myself. “At first I blamed the miasma. But now… this is different. Something else is happening.”
Mendez’s face darkened. He looked at Cassian for a long moment before finally asking, “When he attacked you, both times, his eyes were red?”
I nodded slowly. “Both times. Exactly the same.”
Mendez inhaled sharply, then gestured toward the chair. “You need to sit.”
“I’m fine,” I said, stiff. “I can heal myself.”
His tone hardened. “Sit.”
Something in his voice left no room for argument. For once, I obeyed. I pulled the chair closer and sat down, my palms pressing against my knees.
Mendez studied me for a beat, then lowered his voice. “Tell me, my lady… what do you know about the fae?”
I steadied myself in the chair, my hands still pressed against my knees. “What do I know about the fae?” I exhaled slowly. “Not much. Only that they aren’t our enemies. In the south, they’re rare, very, very rare. I’ve never seen one with my own eyes.”
Mendez gave a single nod. “That’s because they live here. In the north. Their kingdom sits deep in the snow, far past the mountains. They don’t allow visitors inside their borders. Any trade we do with them happens at the outposts. Neutral ground. They are strict about this, ruthlessly so. Even I have never stepped foot inside their territory. There were rumors that Fae’s cannot survive in the south without the snow, but no one could confirm this matter.”
He leaned back slightly, as though sifting through memory. “Even my own understanding is limited, but I know this much: they harness the elements of nature. Fire, water, earth, wind,
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raw power. But it always comes with a price.”
My brows knit. “A price?”
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“They need fae stones,” Mendez explained. “They’re rare minerals that store elemental energy. Long ago, the fac didn’t need them. Their power was free, natural, flowing. But something happened, something even their records don’t explain, and now they rely on the stones as a source. Without them, their strength burns out.”
I sat forward, listening closely. “And what about their history with us? With werewolves?”
“Complicated,” Mendez admitted. “We were never allies. But not outright enemies either. If a fae and a werewolf crossed paths, they didn’t kill one another. But they didn’t greet each other either. Always divided. That changed with the stones. Once trade began, our King saw opportunity. He sent men north to negotiate alliances, business, the possibility of cooperation.”
His voice dropped lower. “Then came the beast tide. One of the King’s sons was sent to fight at the border. He was gravely injured… and rescued by a fae. An unknown fae. They say the two fell in love. No one knows the full story, but one day, a child was left at the gates of the North.”
My eyes widened. “That child… was Cassian?”
Mendez shook his head firmly. “No. That child was Cassian’s grandmother.”
The realization hit me like a stone. My mind immediately went back to the ritual. I thought it was a useless tradition that was meant to keep me in the mansion. I was wrong. My chest tightened.
I swallowed. “So… a fae and a werewolf can have a child?”
“Apparently, yes,” Mendez said. “But it is rare. Extremely rare. To this day, there are no other recorded cases aside from her. At the time, no one even realized the truth. They only thought she was abandoned and was soon adopted by the Lord of the North. She grew up in his household.”
He paused, his gaze heavy. “But when the red moon came, they noticed. The girl would turn feral. She attacked anyone in sight, even her family. The Lord feared it was a curse from witches and swore to keep it secret. Whenever the red moon drew near, they sent her away to an outpost until it passed.”
A chill spread through me. “Cassian’s grandmother,” I murmured.
“Yes.” Mendez’s expression hardened. “And whatever it was, whatever bloodline or power she carried, did not die with her. It was passed down. To her daughter. And now, to Cassian.”
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I stared at Cassian’s still form, my pulse pounding. His red eyes. The way he’d tried to kill me without recognition. It wasn’t poison or the miasma. It was this.
Something in him that he couldn’t control. Something he’d inherited.
I turned to him. “He once told me that he… he killed his grandparents.”
“It’s the truth,” Mendez said with a heavy sigh. “During the red moon, his grandmother lost control. She turned on him in her feral state. Cassian fought back, and he was stronger. In the struggle… he killed her with his own hands. It wasn’t intentional, but it happened. A tragedy he never forgot. One he swore he would never let happen again.”
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Chapter 68
