Heir of the Gods

Ch. 18: A Vicious Game

Cassia stared blankly at the same page of her journal that she had been on since she'd returned to her rooms. It was an inconsequential page—just a pilfered copy of a new trade agreement with Emulsa. In her opinion, they were spending far too much on glass and dyes when they could be spending more on grain. But her opinion on trade hardly mattered.

What was beneath it was far more compelling anyway. With a defeated sigh, she flipped the page. 

Julianus stared back at her, eyes focused, mouth smirking. She'd finished the portrait days ago. Cassia propped her head up on her fist, slumping in the armchair before her empty fireplace.

It was a struggle to ignore the pale blue sky beyond her windows. He'd been gone for an hour, maybe a little more. She didn't actually know when he'd left. 

She hadn't let herself watch him go.

It had been an accident, falling asleep in his bed. 

She hadn't meant to. But Julianus had been nothing short of voracious his last night in civilization, and then afterwards his arms had been very warm and solid around her. Before she'd realized it, she'd drifted off, his breath steady against the back of her neck where he'd had his face buried in her hair.

Cassia slammed the journal shut and threw it across the room where it landed with a slap of leather on stone at the foot of the bookshelves. Closing her eyes, she cradled her forehead in her palm, fighting against the steadily growing fear in the pit of her stomach.

I care for him, she reasoned. It would be impossible not to. Not after what he's done for me—risked for me. Of course I would be concerned with him riding to Antelium and whatever madness Malitech has wrought there. 

But was that all she felt for him? Cassia hated the question. It was certainly all she should feel for him. 

Cassia stood abruptly and strode across the room. The pages of the journal fluttered as she picked it up and placed it carefully on the bookshelf. Her fingers lingered on the smooth leather for a moment before she turned.

Moving slowly, she unlaced the front of the nightgown she had thrown on, leaving it on the floor just in front of the bathing room. The light golden marble was chilly under her feet. She tugged the tie from the end of her sloppy braid, combing her fingers through her hair.

It fell nearly to the small of her back, the soft waves brushing against her skin as she bent to turn the taps on. She sat on the edge of the pool, watching the water gush from the faucets to splash over the marble.

Idly, she traced a light bruise on the outside of her knee and could feel another on her right hip. Her footing had been poor two mornings ago and Julianus had made her pay for it. A third throbbed at the space between her neck and shoulder though that hadn't been from sparring.

The water lapped at the bottoms of her feet, drawing her from her thoughts.

It had been a mistake, falling asleep in his arms.

She waited until the pool was nearly filled before she slipped into the water's warm embrace. Reaching into the basket of oils and soaps at the pool's edge, she extracted a jasmine-scented concoction that kept her hair shiny while stripping it of the natural oils that could make its weight almost unbearable.

Cassia tried to lose herself in the heady floral scent and the sensation of her fingers massaging her scalp. It was a failing endeavor, much to her increasing frustration.

Had she made a fatal decision the day they'd met? What sort of vicious game had she dragged them both into? 

Cassia frowned, tipping her head back into the water to rinse the soap away.