Chapter 27

Cassia

Cassia stood in her father's bedroom. He was sitting behind his desk that had papers sprawled across it. His room was ginormous and it had a bed with red curtains and velvet bedsheets, a mirror table made of fine silver and the chestnut desk he sat at now. Her father wore thin framed glasses as he peered down at the papers in front of him.

Cassia clasped her hands together as she stood there, waiting for her father to tell her the next step. It had been two days since they captured Hunter and she felt uneasy. With the boy she used to love in her home, tied up and in her power, she should feel powerful. She should be elated to see him suffer, but somehow Cassia felt like she was the one suffering.

"So what's the plan?" Cassia asked, desperately wishing to keep her mind off Hunter.

"His father must be coming to get him," her father said, eyes rising to meet hers. "Unless he's heartless, I'm sure they're plotting to ambush our castle to get him."

"Wouldn't that be risky on their end?"

"You forget Kain used to live here. He knows every entrance and secret passageway, and some of the guards may side with him because he is the original prince. I'm sure he'll come."

Cassia's heart thumped against her chest. She could still remember Hunter's father - with his cold blue eyes and raven black hair. He had this fury in his eyes she'd never seen before - not even in herself and it was an expression that unnerved her.

"So, we'll be prepared for the attack and then we'll capture him," Cassia said. "Then what?"

"You already know then what." Her father frowned. "We make Kain spill everything he knows and capture anyone else who is plotting against us. And then, we will behead Kain and his son for what they did to us. Sweet and simple."

Cassia smirked. She pictured Kain screaming and cursing at them as he was beheaded. She then tried to imagine Hunter being beheaded, screaming at her to have mercy, but it made her heart stutter. As his hazel eyes fell upon her, a pit in her stomach formed and Cassia hated it.

She shook her head. She hated how he made her feel. She hated how even after everything, she could still feel him peeling off her armour to expose parts of her she desperately tried to keep stashed away.

He was her weakness. Despite everything, he was the one thing that made her vulnerable, and that meant Cassia would do whatever she could to exterminate him.

*****

Cassia paused and took a deep breath in before she opened the large wooden door that led to the room Hunter was in. She stepped inside and immediately, her eyes fell upon Hunter who was already staring at her, a serious expression on his face. There was a whirlwind of emotions in his eyes - emotions she couldn't swim through and distinguish, and the pit her in her stomach grew heavier.

She should feel nothing but fury. She shouldn't notice the way he was paling - the way his body was weakening and the way his wrists bruised around the ropes tied to keep him stuck to the chair, but she noticed everything. And as his hazel eyes fastened on hers as if she was this masterpiece he wished to see before his death sentence, Cassia gulped.

But she transformed that feeling into anger.

"We need answers from you," Cassia said, slamming the door shut.

The door closed with a loud thud and Cassia whirled on him, her eyes blazing as she strode over, dagger in hand until she was a foot away. His eyes were locked on hers and there was no fear in him. Just an exhaustion that Cassia faltered at before she glowered.

"Take off your shirt," Cassia demanded.

"Well, as you see I can't," Hunter said. Cassia threw her sword up, but then stopped, realizing he was right. "I'm all tied up."

Cassia scowled as she pulled at his shirt and sliced it off with her dagger. It split in two and she pulled it off him, tearing the fabric as she threw it to the side. Her eyes met his again and she stilled at the darkening of his eyes.

"Well, if you wanted to repeat history you should have dragged me to the shower first," Hunter said, a teasing smile sliding onto his face.

Cassia gaped at him. Blush ran into her cheeks; this was not the time for him to be making such jokes.

"Shut up," Cassia said, raising her dagger up so that it was pointed towards his face. "I'm about to torture you for not only your betrayal, but now for you idiocy, too."

Hunter snorted and her eyes slid towards his body - the body she would slide her dagger against until he was screaming his secrets. But, when her eyes landed on his chest she froze because there were already scars littered across his chest. They were white scars faded from age and they were like slashes across his chest - marks permanently etched there from some sort of trauma.

"What... are these marks?" Cassia asked, her anger vanishing as shock consumed her.

Her eyes rose to meet his and the look of shame on Hunter's face made her breath hitch. His eyes were full of pain and he lowered them to the ground beneath them, and Cassia's heart stuttered as she feared what the scars meant.

"Tell me," Cassia demanded.

"My father did this."

Cassia ashen. "Why? Why would he do this."

"Because anything less than perfect should be punished."

A shiver ran through Cassia, her eyes wide with horror. She reached out then, her hand going towards the scar that ran across his chest diagonally and she touched it, and Hunter tensed under her touch as she traced it, her eyes soft with sorrow.

But then she remembered who this was. She remembered what he'd done to her and she yanked her hand back and glowered.

"Well, looks like you're used to being tortured," Cassia said. "So now this is your offer, tell us the truth or we will torture you until you're screaming for mercy."

Hunter's expression grew blank. She couldn't read him and her eyes searched his face.

"Go ahead and hurt me," Hunter said. "I'm used to being hurt by the ones I love."

Cassia flinched. It surprised her. Somehow, Hunter's words still had the ability to make her recoil.

She raised her dagger then, unsure of what she was supposed to do. They needed answers. He may not know as much as his father, but Hunter must know what his father's plan were, so she had to torture him to help her father out.

So Cassia guided her dagger closer and closer to him, the point heading towards his chest. Her eyes rose to meet his and once again, those eyes of his imprisoned her into a trance. As they searched through her, drawing out parts of her she hated - the parts that made her weak, Cassia stilled before she yanked her sword back and wheeled around.

She couldn't do this.

"I hate you," Cassia spat. Tears flooded into her eyes and she felt pathetic. She hated how Hunter still had control over her. "I wish I never met you."

Cassia marched towards the door, wondering how she would tell her father she couldn't do it. That she was pitiful and weak when it came to Hunter.

"Wait," Hunter said.

Cassia halted. She didn't turn around however. Because the sight of Hunter always made her fall apart.

"My father was already planning on attacking the castle tomorrow, even before you captured me," Hunter said. "He'll be coming tomorrow no matter what and he will probably save me - unless he doesn't think I'm useful anymore, but that's besides the point."

Cassia turned around and narrowed her eyes at him. He sounded so honest, so sincere that she should believe him. But, she didn't. She couldn't trust him anymore.

"I think you're a liar," Cassia said. "You must be tricking me because your father is coming today or something."

"I wouldn't lie to you," Hunter said, his voice dripping with sincerity. "I know you think I would, but I wouldn't."

"But you already did! You lied about your intentions with me. You hid who your father was and it's like I never really knew you!"

Cassia's heart slammed against her chest as the truth flew out. It was true. Cassia felt like she had fallen for someone who didn't exist and that was the worst part. To have her first love be an imaginary person was humiliating.

"You won't believe me, but I was going to tell you the truth the other day," Hunter said, his voice growing desperate now. He seemed to have shattered and now he was spilling out words Cassia couldn't bear to hear. "When I took you to the field at night, it was because I was going to tell you my father's plan. I wanted to save you. Even if that meant disobeying my father, I was going to risk everything for you."

Cassia couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it, so she shoved her hope away to glower at him.

"I can't believe you," Cassia said. "Not after everything. You knew me for two months and you didn't bother to tell me anything, and now Astra is dead."

Hunter paled. The shackles around him tugged at his limbs as he tried to move.

"I wish I spoke earlier, but I can't change the past," Hunter whispered. "Fine, you don't need to believe my intentions, but I promise my father is going to attack the castle tomorrow. So be prepared. I don't want anything happening to you."

Cassia shook her head. She hated the way he spoke - as if every word he meant with his entire heart. It made her want to throw her dagger at him to silence him, but she merely stepped away to expand the distance between them.

"How can you lie so easily?" Cassia said. "You sound as if mean everything you say, but you don't. I know you don't and I don't understand how you never crack to reveal your true colours."

"I may have hidden things from you, but nothing I said to you were lies. I promise, Cassia."

Cassia whirled around. She couldn't bear to continue this conversation any longer. Not when Hunter was chipping away at her guard, breaking it down once again. She would never let that happen again. Not when it caused deaths before.

Cassia stepped forward again, but then Hunter called after her - her name rolling off his tongue in the form of a prayer and she pushed herself to move faster. She couldn't do this. She couldn't be around him any longer.

"Punish me."

Cassia stilled. Frowning, she turned to face him.

"Punish me," Hunter repeated, his eyes darkened with emotions. "If you want to sentence me, kiss me. Kiss me until I realize what I've lost."

Cassia's eyes flew wide. This was madness. Insanity, but she hesitated.

"One last time," Hunter said. "Show me what an idiot I am."

Cassia knew this was foolish. She should tell Hunter to go to hell and storm off, but she strode towards him and rose her dagger to his throat. She kept it there for a moment, debating between killing him or kissing him, but then he spoke again.

"Kissing me would be your finest tool of torture."

Cassia threw caution to the wind. She bowed her head towards him, her lips falling on top of his and she kissed him. This was punishment. This was her showing him that she was too good for him - that he lost the last girl who would ever kiss him like this, but she knew better.

She knew she was an idiot.

Hunter's lips were warm against hers and they moved against hers with the experience he held. Cassia was the one in control and she deepened the kiss, her dagger still to his throat as her hair fell upon him and they kissed for a moment - slowly, painfully carefully before Hunter's lips slid down her jaw until they reached her throat. She gasped as he laid a kiss there and she shoved him away, fury rising at the reaction he evoked.

"Ouch," Hunter said, eyes narrowing.

"Don't ever touch me again," Cassia said. She smirked, her eyes dancing around with false pride. "I felt nothing at kissing you. I must have been blinded to think you were any good."

Hunter winced and Cassia smirked. Maybe despite the insanity of it, kissing Hunter had admonished him.

"Tomorrow someone else might come in and torture you because I can't be bothered to taint my hands with your blood," Cassia said, shooting him a smirk. "So be prepared, Hunter. Because they won't show you any mercy."

Hunter tensed, but he remained expressionless as Cassia whirled around and stalked off. She felt like she came out on top there. She had punished Hunter - she was sure of it.

But yet, her heart was pounding as she returned to her room.