Chapter 27 Twenty Seven
Cassian's POV
Slowly, the battle ground down; both sides withdrawing under the consolidating force of Nyra's involvement.
I pulled my mother to safety — her body shattered but still living. Every move she made caused pain, and I could hear her struggling to keep from crying out.
"I'm sorry," I kept saying. "I'm so sorry."
She laid a shaking hand on my face. "Not your fault, my son. Never your fault."
But it felt like my fault. Everything did.
Rhea was at my side almost every moment, her presence a solace even as I brimmed with fury and sorrow. And our imperfect bond transmitted to me her worry, her resolve to help.
We approached the mansion and Miriam was there. She takes one look at my mother and starts barking orders.
"Get her to the healing room. Carefully. She has internal injuries."
They put her on a bed and I stood there helpless. She’d sit and I’d watch her scribble on paper knowing there was nothing that I could do.
Theron was coming, still leaning heavily forward but upright. Lilith had left after the battle finished.
“Your mother can remain here,” Theron said. "She'll be protected. No one will touch her."
I wanted to reject it out of pride. That I’d take care of my own. Except that would be dumb and possibly lethal for her.
"Thank you," I said instead.
It was the first real civil conversation we’d had. The recognition that we were on the same team, whether we wanted to be or not.
Rhea took my hand. "Come with me. You need rest."
I let her lead me away; I was too tired to fight back. Too shattered to do anything but follow.
She led me to a guest room, plain but comfortable. There was a basin of water and change of raiment.
"Sit," she said gently.
I did as I was told, taking a seat on the bed. My hands were stained with my mother’s blood, dry and caked beneath my nails.
Rhea did this, and then she knelt before me and started to wash my feet. Her touch was gentle, careful.
“I should’ve never let him live,” I muttered. "Years ago. I should have found a way."
"You were under a restraint," Rhea reminded me. "The suppression magic. It wasn't your fault."
I laughed bitterly. "Everyone keeps saying that. But I still feel like it is. As if I should have been stronger or smarter, better.”
I stared at her, I mean really looked at her. "I betrayed you. When you believed in me to save you, I hit you over the back of the head and brought you to him. How do you bear even to be near me?”
Rhea completed washing my hand and laid the cloth aside. She held my hands in her own, the warmth of her skin against mine.
"Because I understand now. I’ve glimpsed fragments of your memories in the links. I know what he did to you, how he dominated you.” She met my eyes. “And the mate bond won’t let me hate you even if I did.”
She patted my chest, directly over my heart. Her hand started shining with a pale silvery fire.
“I know how much it hurts, Cassian. All of it. Your love for your mother. Your guilty feelings about what you did to me. The love and affection You've had for me in your heart since being a child."
I covered her hand with mine. The confession ripped through my flesh, raw and true.
“Since we were babies, I have loved you. Before I knew what love was. Before I knew what the mate bond was.”
The words did not stop for awhile, like a dam bursting. "Every day of being with Alaric was an torture. Watching him dominate, objectify and devalue you. Knowing that I had no way to stop it without you, or my mother, getting killed.”
My voice cracked. "And when he commanded me to retrieve you from your escape, it was like dying. I wanted to run with you. Was going to take your hand and never look back. It would not allow me, the binding magic. His orders sounded like my own thoughts, my own desires.”
Rhea's eyes shimmered with tears. "I know. I saw it when I healed Orin. The bonds let me glimpse pieces of all of you.”
She went on her toes, bringing her face to mine. "Show me the rest, Cassian. Let me in completely. Like you did with Theron."
I knew what she was getting at. To complete our mate bond. To be completely vulnerable and to show myself without reservation.
Desire and fear battled within me. "I'm not good enough for you. You deserve someone who didn’t let you down when it mattered the most.”
Rhea kissed me, silencing my objections.
It was not like our first kiss. Deeper, more knowing. Ripe with acceptance despite all that I had done.
The mate bond locked into place like a key sliding into a lock.
I gasped as Rhea’s consciousness poured into me, watching my memories, my agony. She watched me grow up, train with her, the first time I noticed my love for her. She saw Alaric's years of abuse, the spell that held my alpha side in check. She came to witness my love for her, how I'd memorized her smiles, her laughter and all the moments we had.
And I saw into her.
I felt her love for all four of her mates, not because they were one and the same skinship but because they were all so alien yet human at the same time. She adored Theron's ancient hardness and unexpected softness. She’d been attracted to Orin’s charisma as well as the vulnerability he kept tucked safely out of sight. Something about Kieran’s barriers and the sorrow behind them fascinated her.
And she cared for me. But, she cared for me regardless.
I felt her dread of the prophecy, her resolve to shield all living things. Her secret superpower that had only recently been making its debut.
I had one on my neck and so did he. Silver flames that licked in and around my tattoos into a design of our own making.
When we finished up, I was trembling. "I can feel them. Theron. Orin. Your bonds with them."
“And I can feel your alpha power,” Rhea whispered. "It's incredible, Cassian. You’re a lot stronger than Alaric ever wanted you to think.”
She was right. My link was finished, the suppression magic finally ceased, and I could feel my real power surging through me. It was overwhelming, intoxicating.
I drew Rhea close, as though I could hold her so that she would not disappear. Through the bond, I sensed her weariness, her concern, her resolve.
We remained that until there was a knock at the door.
Without being asked, Kieran pushed his way inside, noting the new mate marks heralded on our skin with his icy blue eyes.
"We need to talk," he said. "All of us. But because Nyra's prophecy had spoken of four complete bonds. And Orin and I..."
He trailed off, looking uncomfortable. Kieran never looked uncomfortable.
“We need to figure out how this is supposed to work,” he said at last.
He was right. Now two bonds are full: Theron and me. Two were not quite fully formed yet: Orin and Kieran.
But how in the world were four alpha rams supposed to share any one ewe without shredding each other to pieces? My possessiveness over Rhea was already off the charts. How could I bear to see her with the others?
“There is something else,” Kieran said gravely. "Lilith is still here. She’s asked for an audience with Rhea. Privately."
His expression darkened. “And if Rhea doesn’t come, she says she’ll tell a secret from Theron’s past that will ruin everything.”