Chapter Two

Cassian’s POV

“I’ll be fine from here. You can go back home now. I’m sure your sisters must be missing you,” she said as we took the back steps that led to her wing of the tower.

As usual, her handmaid, Dania, was waiting for her at the entrance ready to escort her to her chambers. I tried to hide the irritation I felt whenever I remembered how guarded she was. The only reason the royal family trusted her with me was because they had known me all my life and trusted that I wouldn’t let anything happen to their daughter.

“They will be alright. After the incident tonight, I have to make sure you’re good.” We got to the door and stopped walking. “Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to see Isolde?”

The question was merely a formality. I had already wasted enough time by being here. I knew that the council would be waiting for me. They would want to know if I had succeeded or not.

“No, Dania can take me to see the physician. You don’t have to worry.”

I stared into her eyes and sensed her uneasiness. I had always been able to read her even when she tried to mask her emotions. Right now, she seemed quite disoriented. It was either the fire or something else. Was she on to me?

“That’s settled, then. I will see you tomorrow, my love.”

That was probably a lie, but I leaned in anyway and gave her a deep and believable goodbye kiss.

The truth was that I had no idea when or if I was going to see her again.

For a moment, I almost told her everything.

About the council.

About my sisters.

About the coup.

But then I pictured Lyanna and Lysandra behind those iron bars, frightened and alone.

The words died in my throat.

Since this plan didn’t work, the council members would have to proceed with the next one, and there was no avoiding it this time. The coup was happening, or else my family would pay the price. I couldn’t care less about my parents. Their reckless behaviour was what rendered me a pawn in the hands of the council.

My main concern was my twin sisters who were only eleven. They were innocent and knew nothing of the evil of this world. I wanted to try as much as possible to keep it that way. I was the only parent they recognized.

I had been given a choice. Elyria or the girls.

Elyria or the girls.

The memory still haunted me.

I loved Elyria, no doubt, but I just couldn’t bring myself to pick her over them. They were defenseless. So I made the decision to join the council’s coup.

I had no idea what I was signing up for until they told me to kill my fiancé.

“No way! I will do no such thing!” I retorted angrily.

The thought of doing anything like that to the woman I claimed to love was sickening. That was what I told myself until I saw my sisters locked up in cages.

“If you don’t do as we say, your sisters will rot in here for the rest of their lives,” Lord Karth said as coolly as ever, but the weight behind his words sent a chill down my spine.

“No, no, no. You can’t do that…please! Those girls are innocent.”

“We can and we will,” High Seer Elowen retorted. “The Valenor clan are dangerous. We must cut their lineage out before it’s too late.”

“They have done nothing wrong. They don’t deserve this,” I argued, but I was interrupted.

“Shut up boy! You know nothing of the dark ages. The dragons may be long gone but their evil spirit still prevails in the hearts of the royal household,” she spat, looking me dead in the eye.

“Why don’t we find a non-violent way to solve this? A way that doesn’t involve killing anyone?”

“This is the only way,” General Darius stated firmly.

“But I don’t understand…I’m already supposed to marry the princess and become king. I don’t have the Valenor blood in me so with me as king, you wouldn’t have to worry about any sort of evil.”

A loud collective laughter rang across the room.

“You must be really slow to think that Elyria would let you actually be king.”

“What do you mean? The laws of Aetherion says that a man who marries into the royal family automatically becomes the king. Also, Elyria loves me. She would never betray me.”

“Don’t you know that the Valenors thrive on power? If you should marry her, you will be king only by title. You will follow her around like a lost puppy as she rules with an iron fist.”

I tried my hardest not to take their words too seriously, but I failed. Not just because they had been in the game way longer than I have, but because my sisters’ lives were on the line.

I looked at Lyanna and Lysandra. They were huddled together in the corner of the cage, hungry, frightened, and far too young to understand why any of this was happening. I reached out, but a guard pushed me away from the cage roughly and sneered at me.

“The choice is yours, Cassian. Elyria or your poor little sisters.”

“I promise, I’ll get you out of here,” I told them as I started to think of a possible plan.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to lay a finger on Elyria on a normal day without being killed on the spot by her guards, so I had to think outside the box. That was how I decided to get her to sneak out.

It wasn’t the first time I was doing that, so it should be easy. I would get her somewhere private and make the death look like a complete accident.

Everything went according to plan… until it didn’t.

She was alive and breathing.

I would have to go back to the council and tell them what happened.

I was walking back home, lost in thought, when someone slammed into me from behind.

Before I could react, a rough cloth was tied over my eyes and my mouth and hands were bound in seconds. I felt myself being thrown into the back of a moving carriage. This was Darius’s doing. He had his men watching me. Of course he did.

After what felt like forever, the carriage stopped and my blindfold was removed. I was pushed to my feet and forced to stumble through the familiar headquarters of the council. This was where they kept the twins.

Finally, I stopped in front of the gathering and was pushed to my knees.

“You have to give me a second chance!” I begged after retelling the story to them.

“You fool! Don’t you know that you can’t kill a Valenor with fire? They have to be beheaded!”

“What?” I recoiled in disgust. “I’m not doing that.”

“Then you will have to watch and learn,” Karth grunted.

A pause.

A weight in the air.

“Since you failed to kill the princess, the coup will happen on the night of the coronation. Get ready to become the next king of Aetherion.”

King.

Once, the word had sounded like a dream.

Now it felt like a sentence.

And somewhere inside the palace, Elyria was probably trying to sleep after the worst night of her life.

She still trusted me.

And in less than seven days, I was going to help destroy everything she loved.