CHAPTER 67: CHAPTER 67

Cassius was sitting on his high chair in the hall, his eyes sharp as he stared at the men who slowly walked inside.

It didn’t surprise him when he saw Jaroslav walking in behind them; he would have been disappointed if he hadn’t seen him.

The men surrounded the table, but no one dared to sit down, their heads lowered in respect.

"Master, these are the men who have raised concern about your slave -"

"Rose, Felonious. She has a name," Cassius spoke in a relaxed tone.

He could see the men’s disapproving look, but they dared not speak; they knew what would follow if they did.

Felonious quietly cleared his throat, "Yes, Master... these men have spread news to the kingdom about Rose; now, everyone wants her dead," He informed.

Cassius slowly raised his eyes to the men, "Sit down, everyone." He calmly pointed to the seats.

The men exchanged a worried look before they finally sat around the table.

"I’m listening," Cassius said, glancing around to look at their faces.

Silence.

No one said anything.

Cassius chuckled very quietly and slowly stood from the chair.

"It’s surprising, elders. You raised a riot in the kingdom to turn my subjects against me and to get my attention..." He slowly walked around the table, causing each person to stiffen up when he passed his back.

"You’ve got my attention; so, speak, Uncle." He paused behind Jaroslav and placed his hand on his shoulder.

Jaroslav stiffened, his eyes doing a quick round around the table for any help, but everyone had their eyes staring at the space in front of them.

"Master..." Jaroslav cleared his throat, standing from his chair to answer Cassius.

"Indeed, it’s not our place to decide for you, especially about your sla - human. However, news has spread like wildfire about what she did to my younger sister, your aunt, Elowen. It is rumoured that she has a special power that could destroy our existence, therefore making the whole kingdom feel paranoid and betrayed. They feel that their leader is choosing to protect another creature rather than placing them first..." Jaroslav held his hands together on his stomach, "We also heard that her blood is poison. Some even claimed to have been burned by her." He bowed his head as he finished speaking.

Cassius remained quiet, the topic was a very dicey one; he had to be very careful not to reveal his growing addiction to his human slave; he was the one who gave them the right to feel the way they did.

He had made it a law that humans were not to be accommodated, and if accommodated, they were meant to be used as slaves because they were lower creatures than them. However, if that human posed a threat, he knew the right thing to do: kill the human.

But he wasn’t going to kill Rose, not anymore. His initial feelings had changed; the thought of even harming her harmed his soul.

The image of her blue eyes pleading with him to tell her that he loves her haunted his mind; how could he hurt her now? Hurting someone who had genuinely confessed their feelings for you would be diabolical. He might be a beast, but Rose had managed to tame a part of that beast; he had developed a voice that fought the inhuman thoughts in his head whenever they came up.

"What is the right thing to do if anyone suspects a threat?" Cassius questioned, slowly walking back to his chair to stare at everyone.

Jaroslav lowered his head. "We come to you, Master." He replied.

"Good." He extended his hand in front of him, "Which of you spread this rumour like wildfire?" He asked, his sharp green eyes assessing the table.

Jaroslav lowered his head, "I was just trying to protect my family and the people -"

"It is not your duty!" Cassius slammed his hand on the table, shutting his eyes to hide his rage because he knew they were flaming by now.

Jaroslav and the men reeled back in fear. They could feel the dangerous aura shift from Cassius. They knew they had overstepped their boundary, recruiting the people to threaten their master’s slave was a dangerous and dicey game; they expected a strong outcome, but from the looks of it, they were about to get a deadly repercussion.

Felonious stood in the shadows, a small grin appearing on his face.

’There is hope, after all.’ He thought secretly.

Another man, an elf, cleared his throat quietly before speaking in his lowest voice. "We’re sorry, Master. Our approach was wrong -"

"You had no right to any approach," Cassius cut him off, locking his green eyes on the elven man.

The elders all lowered their heads, afraid to look at Cassius in his rage. They couldn’t understand why he was so angry; it wasn’t like they didn’t know their actions would get him angry, but his reaction was too intense given that it was just a human they were talking about.

Cassius sighed, "None of you has the right to pass an order, but you did. None of you has the right to dictate a word about my subjects, but you did. None of you has the right to go against me, but you did. Your actions have commanded great disorientation in my kingdom, and every one of you must be punished accordingly." Cassius lowered himself into his chair, his features once again calm.

"How I handle my slaves is my business alone. For defying my authorities and taking the law into your hands, you all shall be stripped of your titles in your respective states and every privilege attached to you shall be stripped off too," He stood and walked toward Jaroslav.

"As for you, you have one more chance to be removed from the family, Uncle. Elowen is your sister, and I understand you must have been worried about what happened, but that doesn’t give you the right to raise the dust. Go now, and tame the chaos you’ve caused. I shall think of a punishment to caution you with." He informed and walked out of the hall. Felonious followed behind him.

"Brother, the people are -"

"Tell them that anyone who dares stake a claim or speak about Rose will be invited for a nice chat with me," Cassius cut Damon off and walked back to the castle.

Damon nodded, glancing at his two brothers beside him.

"Do you think brother is in love?" Damien questioned with a raised brow.

Damon scoffed, "He’s just handling a challenge the way any leader would. No one likes disrespect. It’s not about feelings." He stated.

"We don’t know. We’ve never seen him in love; we don’t know how he acts if he is in love. I say, we better get going and find a way to handle those misled crowd at the square before they get to have a nice chat with Cassius," Dabmond suggested and walked toward the gate where a car was already waiting for them.

Damon and Damien sighed and followed him.

Love or no love, all they knew was that their brother was out of character; his protection of Rose was very glaring.

Duty, or love, they’d find out soon.

***

Rose sat on Cassius’s bed, his parting words ringing in her head.

What did he mean? Did he love her or not?

"As a man protecting his woman..." She bit her lips as she felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

She needed to get a grip on herself; she didn’t want to get to a point where it would hurt so much. Telling Cassius that she loved him came as a surprise to even her, but after saying it, she realised she did love him.

Thinking carefully, Cassius wasn’t a harm to her; rather, he had been the one to save her from difficult situations. He might have been the one to create difficult situations for her, but he never really let the harm get to her. So far, he was the person she had been closest to since she arrived at the dark kingdom.

She might sound crazy, but she has started to think that Cassius was the kindest person she’d ever met.

Everyone had their demons, and Cassius wasn’t perfect; no one was. Isolde’s words were starting to make sense to her. If she opened her heart, she would discover her light and find her purpose.

Maybe she was never completely human to start with, and Cassius was her purpose here. Maybe she was here to liberate him from something, to free him from the darkness that had enslaved him for centuries.

Maybe that was the light Isolde and Felonious were talking about.

She had always felt like Cassius bore an unspoken burden, a burden that had tortured his soul in his darkest nights and even in his unconscious sleep. She wanted to free him, to love him.

He was her dark Knight, and she wanted to be his light queen... if he’d let her.

The opening door suddenly got her attention, causing her to lift her head.

The moment she saw Cassius walk in, she stood from the bed and walked up to him with a smile.

Cassius paused when he saw Rose walking toward him with a smile that warmed his soul; she was about to touch him when he placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

Rose’s face immediately fell, "Am I not allowed to touch you anymore?" She asked in a small voice.

Cassius gulped as he took note of how fragile she looked; how had he managed to stay cold toward her for so long? He removed his hand from her shoulder and cleared his throat.

"Don’t smile at me when you’ve caused me nothing but trouble," He said and walked past her, his fists balling to keep himself from drawing her in and hugging her.

The urge to draw her into his arms was so strong that he felt like he would lose his mind if he didn’t hold her any moment soon. It was like his soul was draining and would only be whole with her touch.

It was a new development, and it scared him. Being addicted to her was already dangerous enough, but this? It was going beyond addiction. He was becoming obsessed and desperate.

He shut his eyes and sighed when he felt her hand on his arm. The touch was unsure, cautious, as if she feared she’d be chased away again.

He was about to turn to her, but she removed her hand and stepped away.

"Sorry, I have to learn boundaries... It’s hard to stay away now. I... I feel like I need to be with you every second. Am I going to be taken to them?" She looked away, biting her lips.

Without a word, Cassius gently moved toward her and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her firmly, yet softly.

"No one’s taking you away from me, Rose... I promise," He whispered into her ear.