Chapter 113
ATASHA’S POV
“You are wounded…”
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Cassian looked like hell. And that was an understatement. He stood before me, his armor was split in several places, the metal dented and streaked with dried blood. Cuts lined his gauntlets, and his boots left dark stains on the floor with every step. His shoulders were stiff, his movements heavy, but his eyes, those crimson eyes, still burned with unshaken fire.
The healers had barely whispered of his return when I ran out of the infirmary, pushing through the crowd until I saw him. Dawn was breaking, pale light creeping past the walls, signaling that the third night had ended. We had survived. But seeing him now made it clear survival had come at a price.
He didn’t speak. His jaw was tight, his expression unreadable, but I knew him well enough to recognize the fury simmering beneath his silence.
Before I could say anything, he closed the distance between us and pulled me into his arms. The suddenness of it drew a gasp from me, and then his legs coiled, launching us away from the infirmary in a single powerful leap.
I didn’t fight it. I wasn’t even surprised when the blur of ground and trees brought us back to the cabin. Outside, I caught sight of Grace and Halden waiting near the entrance, but Cassian didn’t so much as glance at them. He carried me straight inside and shut the door with a hard thud.
The silence weighed heavy as he set me down. My fingers twitched uselessly at my sides, my mind in shambles. We had a deal. I signed that paper and agreed that my ability belonged to him. He decided when and where I used it. I wasn’t supposed to reveal it unless he commanded me. Yet I had, in front of everyone.
My voice came out unsteady before I could stop it. “I… I apologize. I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t supposed to show them.” I swallowed hard, heat stinging my throat. “But something inside me-” The words broke, catching against the tightness in my chest,
I didn’t even understand why I was explaining myself. He didn’t need excuses. Still, the way his silence pressed down on me, made something in me want to reach for him, to close the space, to calm him,
“It was killing me, My Lord,” I forced out, my voice raw. “I had to release it, or it would have torn me apart. And the soldiers… they needed me. I know I should have asked you first. I know it was against your orders. But I couldn’t stop.”
“Do you even understand what you’ve done?” His voice was sharp, cold, the kind of tone that cut through excuses before they could form.
I flinched, my throat tightening. “I-”
“You weren’t thinking,” he growled, taking a step toward me. The boards under his boots creaked with the weight of him. “You acted on impulse. As always, you were careless. Do you think the North forgives that?”
My lips parted, but the words felt brittle in my mouth. “They needed me-”
20:32 Wed, Sep 24
Chapter 113
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“They need a Lord who can keep them alive,” Cassian snapped. His eyes burned brighter. He closed the distance until I had no choice but to tilt my head back to meet them. “And now they’ve seen you. All of you. You’ve revealed your hand. Do you know what that means?”
I swallowed hard, my voice barely steady. “They won’t condemn me. They—”
“They’ll praise you,” he cut in, his mouth curling into something that wasn’t a smile. “They’ll fall to their knees and call you goddess, saint, savior. They’ll sing your name louder and louder. And while they praise you, my enemies will sharpen their blades. You will not have peace again. Not one moment.”
His hand lifted, fingers curling around my chin, tilting my face up. His grip wasn’t painful, but the weight of it told me I wasn’t going anywhere until he was finished.
“From this day forward, every step you take, you’ll be watched. Every time you close your eyes, you’ll wonder if someone is standing behind you with a knife. You’ve made yourself a target, Atasha. You’ve painted your own back red.” His voice dropped lower, rough with an edge that made my stomach twist.
I wanted to breathe, but his words pressed down heavier than his hand. “I only wanted to help,” I whispered. I only wanted to live, to survive.
His jaw tightened. “Help?” He leaned closer, his breath brushing my cheek. “You want to help? Then you obey. You don’t move unless I tell you. You don’t heal unless I say it’s safe. Because now it isn’t just my enemies, you need to fear. It’s yours. And they will never stop hunting something as valuable as you.”
Cassian had enemies. Human, werewolves and witches that wanted him dead. The reminder sent a cold shiver through me. I hadn’t thought of it before, not fully, but now it was impossible to ignore. If word of my ability reached the wrong hands, I wouldn’t just be his consort anymore, I’d become an asset, something that would give Cassian an advantage against his enemies.
That also meant that killing me would be the fastest way to weaken him. My existence alone would give his enemies another weapon, and that realization made his anger feel sharper. It was about survival, his and mine both.
His thumb dragged against my jaw. “You think you saved lives tonight? What you did was buy yourself a lifetime of danger. And I-” His eyes locked onto mine, unblinking. “I’m the only thing standing between you and the blade that will eventually find you.”
I held my breath, his words digging deeper than any wound. Freedom. That was what I had wanted all along. The right to choose, to stand on my own. But what was I even thinking? By revealing my ability, I had chained myself tighter to him than before. I wasn’t free, I had made myself the bait.
Now, I wasn’t just Atasha Black, the wolfless girl who had been thrown into the North. I was the Consort who had shown the world a power they would kill to control or destroy. If Cassian’s enemies learned of this, I would be their prize. And if they couldn’t take me, then killing me would be their way to cut him down.
Perhaps the freedom I wanted… would never be mine.
The heaviness in my chest deepened. I didn’t even realize the burn in my eyes until hot tears blurred my vision. They pooled, traitorous, and I blinked hard, forcing them back before they could fall. I wouldn’t cry, not in front of him, not now.
When I finally lifted my gaze, his expression had shifted. The fury was still there, but it wasn’t sharp anymore.
20:32 Wed, Sep 24
Chapter 113
43
55 vouchers
His crimson eyes, once burning with anger, seemed to catch on something else when they met mine. For the first time since he carried me into the cabin, his face softened.
But before I could understand it, Cassian’s body lurched. His shoulders dipped, his hand falling from my chin. The sound of his breath hitched, rough and uneven, and then he staggered back a step, his boots dragging against the floor.
“Cassian-” The name tore out of me, panic clawing up my throat.
The Northern Lord, the man who never faltered on the battlefield, suddenly looked like he was about to collapse right in front of me.
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