Cassia's POV
I didn't stop walking. Not even when my legs ached, not even when my vision blurred with exhaustion. The corridor stretched endlessly ahead, dimly lit by flickering torches that cast shadows against the cold stone walls. My breathing was uneven, and my heart hammered a furious rhythm in my chest.
How dare they?
How dare they act as if my choices were theirs to make? As if I were some pawn, caught between their selfish war?
I turned a corner sharply, gripping the folds of my gown with trembling fingers. My body still hummed with anger, but beneath it, buried deep, was something else. Something I didn't want to name.
I should have kept walking. Should have ignored the way my body ached to turn back. But I didn't. Instead, I stopped. Stopped in the middle of the empty corridor and let out a slow, shuddering breath.
I didn't belong here.
The weight of that truth pressed down on me like an iron chain. I was a foreigner in this place, a wife in name only, a woman discarded before she had even been given a chance to matter.
My fingers drifted to my throat, where the heavy necklace had once rested. Now, it was gone, discarded like the illusion of the life I had been promised.
A sound echoed through the hallway—footsteps, steady and unhurried. I stiffened but didn't turn. I already knew who it was.
Kael.
"Running away again?" His voice was smooth, carrying a quiet challenge.
I swallowed hard. "I am not running."
"No?" His footsteps grew closer, stopping just behind me. "Then what are you doing?"
I turned slowly to face him. His golden eyes glowed even in the dim light, unreadable, searching.
"Trying to breathe," I whispered.
Kael studied me for a long moment. Then, as if making some silent decision, he stepped closer. "You're stronger than this."
I let out a hollow laugh. "You mistake endurance for strength."
"Perhaps." He tilted his head slightly. "But you're still here."
Something about the way he said it made my throat tighten.
"You shouldn't be here," I murmured. "You shouldn't care."
"And yet, I do."
The words hung between us, fragile and sharp.
I hated this. Hated the way he looked at me, as if he saw past the anger, past the bitterness, straight into the broken pieces I tried so desperately to hide.
Before I could respond, another set of footsteps echoed from the opposite direction. This time, I didn't need to turn to know who it was.
Darius.
My pulse spiked. I clenched my fists at my sides, steadying myself.
Kael moved first, stepping slightly in front of me as if shielding me from a threat I hadn't yet acknowledged.
Darius came to a stop a few feet away, his expression unreadable. "Cassia," he said my name like a demand.
I lifted my chin. "What do you want?"
His jaw tightened. "We need to talk."
I let out a sharp laugh. "Now you want to talk? After everything?"
His eyes darkened. "This isn't the place."
Kael's presence was a solid force beside me, unmoving. His silence was not indifference—it was a warning.
"Then say what you need to say," I said, my voice ice. "Or leave."
Darius's gaze flickered to Kael before settling on me again. "Come with me."
"No."
The word left my lips before I could stop it, and for the first time since this miserable marriage began, I meant it.
Darius exhaled sharply, his fists clenching. "You're my wife."
I laughed. Laughed so bitterly I almost tasted it on my tongue. "Am I?" I took a step closer, just enough so he could see the fire burning behind my eyes. "Because you only remember that when it's convenient for you."
A muscle in his jaw ticked.
"Enough," Kael said, his voice quiet but firm. "She doesn't belong to you."
Darius turned his glare to him. "And she belongs to you?"
Kael didn't hesitate. "No. But she isn't yours either."
A dangerous silence filled the space between them, thick and suffocating.
I had had enough. Of both of them. Of this entire night.
Without another word, I turned and walked away, my steps steady, my spine straight. I didn't look back.
Selene's POV
Now what is this kind of disgrace called? Deserving, spitting, or simply disrespect? Right there in front of me and outrightly uncaringly, Darius, my husband fought his brother because of a useless human. Darius behaved unpredictably, lying in bed with me some moments ago discussing how to fund my upcoming gala and withdraw Cassia into a less luxurious chamber for my visitors to be accommodated and the next, he fighting over her?
I used to fancy Kael, gathering him to Darius and daydreaming about him, but aside from his perfect looks and intriguing personality, that bastard had no dignity attached to him. He had never done anything but bring disgrace to the royal family and put himself in trouble. He was the perfect match for Cassia, they go together, not the Alpha King of Varyon, not my husband.
I had never felt this threatened in my entire life, beneath the surface of my simmering anger— was fear. My legs suddenly felt too weak to carry the weight of my legs as I walked along the hallway. The humans brought Cassia to Darius because they wanted to gain his favor and could not be allowed too much power.
"Welcome back your grace, shall I draw your bath water?"
"You need not," I answered my handmaid, pausing in my tracks to slam the door behind me. "Fetch me a raven, a bottle of ink, and some paper, I need to send a message to my father."
"Very well, your grace."
The few minutes I spent waiting for these items seemed to be the longest period of my life and when they finally arrived, I wasted no time scribbling the words.
*I need help, Father, pay us a visit.*