ATASHA’S POV
“You told me you won’t involve her.”
Cassian’s voice cut through the hall with the kind of edge that made the torches feel dimmer, and for a moment, I thought I had misheard him because he never spoke to anyone in that tone unless he was ready to start breaking bones.
My brows knit as I turned toward him, trying to catch up with whatever conversation I had walked into. I had been bracing myself for the King’s words, for interrogation, for accusation, for anything that would justify the guards at the restricted wing and Lady Kenneth’s careful warnings.
I had not expected Cassian to be the first one to draw blood with his mouth.
He did not wait for the King to answer.
Cassian crossed the distance to me in a few strides and reached for my hand. His fingers closed around mine with quiet force, not painful, but firm enough that I felt exactly what he was doing. He was claiming control of where I stood and where I went next.
Before the man on the throne could speak, Cassian lifted my hand slightly, as if the gesture alone confirmed his decision.
“Since that is all,” Cassian said. “We are leaving.”
He turned, already pulling me with him.
Yet, I didn’t move. I planted my feet. The movement stopped between us like a rope pulled tight, and I felt Cassian’s grip tighten as he realized I was not following.
“Cassian,” I said, “I am not leaving.”
His jaw flexed, his eyes flicked to me in disbelief.
“We will discuss this in private,” he said.
I held his gaze and did not blink. “I am not leaving,” I repeated, firmly this time.
Cassian’s expression hardened, and when he looked back at the throne, the glare he gave the King carried the same cold fury he wore on the battlefield.
“Interesting…” the King finally spoke. His voice was deep enough that it seemed to press against the pillars and come back heavier.
“If glares could kill,” he said calmly. “Then I would have died a hundred times by now.”
“You are lucky, it can’t or you would have died a long time ago,” Cassian said.
I stilled at that. Perhaps, only Cassian could talk to the King like this. Despite this, I forced myself to stare at the King’s eyes.
Almost immediately, I immediately noticed that while Cassian’s were gray, like steel under storm light.
This man’s eyes were dark brown, so dark they might as well have been black, and the stare felt like standing too close to a cliff edge while someone weighed whether you were worth saving.
I held the King’s stare anyway.
The corner of his mouth lifted. The change in his expression was subtle, but it shifted the entire room. The pressure that
Chapter 268
had been sitting in my chest eased, not because it disappeared on its own, but because he allowed it to He was doing it on purpose, and the realization made my skin prickle.
Then he rose.
He stood from the throne without hurry and stepped down the stairs with the unspoken certainty of someone who had never been stopped in his life. The distance between us shrank.
However, before the King could fully approach me, Cassian moved.
He stepped in front of me like a wall, shoulder squared, stance set, his body angled in a way that made it clear he would draw steel inside this palace if he had to.
The King stopped, then let out a low laugh that sounded more amused than offended.
“Oh please,” he said. “Do you truly see me as the kind of man who kills helpless women?”
Cassian did not answer, he did not move.
I could feel the tension running through Cassian’s arm. I heard about how the King had always spoiled Cassian yet nothing about those stories was enough to calm me down. This man just used the north as a bait. If he truly cared about his brother then he would understand that Cassian cared about the north just as much as he cared about his life.
This time, I lifted our joined hands and interlocked my fingers with his more firmly, turning the grip into something deliberate and personal instead of a restraint.
It worked.
Not completely, because Cassian did not soften, but his shoulders eased by the smallest amount, as if him that I was not prey standing behind him. I was here, I was conscious, and I was choosing this.
my touch reminded
I drew a slow breath and tugged his hand gently, not pulling him away like he was a child, but guiding him back with me, step by step, until he was no longer blocking my view entirely.
Cassian resisted for a second, then allowed it, shifting until he stood beside me again, still close enough that his body could shield mine in a heartbeat if the room turned violent.
The King watched the exchange with open interest.
When Cassian finally settled at my side, the King’s expression turned almost pleased.
“I never thought I would see the day,” he said, gaze on me now. “When a simple gesture could rein in my brother.”
Cassian’s fingers tightened around mine again.
The King stepped closer.
Before I could react, he reached for my free hand with a smooth confidence that made my stomach tighten, lifted it towards him.
Then he kissed the back of my palm.
The gesture was calm. It was polite yet something about it felt… incredibly wrong. Sadly, I couldn’t point out what it was.
“It is an honor to meet the woman who can steady him,” the King said, voice still deep. “Truly, what an honor.”
I flinched inwardly.
A man like this could smile and kiss a hand and still order an entire territory to bleed if it served his purpose.
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Chapter 268
I steadied myself and let a faint, cold curve touch my mouth.
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“The honor is overwhelming,” I said, letting the sarcasm sit just beneath the words instead of spilling into a childish bite. “I will try not to faint from it.”
Cassian’s gaze snapped to me. For a heartbeat, I felt his surprise through the way his hand shifted in mine, as if he had not expected me to speak to a king like that.
The King’s smile widened instead of fading, as if I had entertained him.
“Hah!” The King chuckled before he looked at Cassian. “And here I thought you married a cute little kitten. I was wrong.”
Before Cassian could answer, my mouth opened. “Even kittens bite your Majesty…” I said. “Especially if you use them as baits.”
Now that got his attention. He turned towards me, his gaze sharpened. But just as I thought he would explode, he suddenly smile. “Oh my…” the King turned towards his brother again. “I like this woman.”
