Saving Them

Saving Them
Adrian's POV 

I landed, crashing roughly against the soft soil. At least, that was what it looked like, but it felt different. It felt as if the ground didn't exist and I was hanging weightlessly in space. It felt like I was balanced on nothing.
And so were they, Cassian and Seraohina. They lay on the ground on their sides, both of their faces locked in sleep.
Trees loomed around, tall, thick, melting into a dark sky. I bent down to wake them up, but they groaned in wakefulness before I did. The rose gently from the ground, stretching their bodies, and rising slowly to their feet.
As soon as Cassian’s eyes locked on me, they snapped apart wider. Every trace of grogginess disappeared from them. The noise of grinding teeth filled the air as he grunted. He rushed fast at me, grabbing me by the collar. He threw me against the nearest tree.
My back collided with the tree. Though I could control my pain, this time, I just didn't feel any pain. It felt like I slammed my back against space.
“You caused this. You fucking caused this.” He snarled, gnashing his teeth as he growled into my face. “Now that fucking witch has me trapped in this fucking nightmare of a place.”
I was expecting his fist to crash against my face once again. But it didn't. All I got was the hate in his eyes. They almost sliced me in half. I was past convincing him about whatever he believes and says about me. I have known for long that there was nothing I could ever say to change his mind about me.
“I agree, it is all my fault, Cassian. It is all my fault.” I said. I held his gaze, held his hatred, unflinching, his eyes murdering me every second with which they remained on me.
He grunted and eventually pulled back from me, but not after shoving me against the tree with his arm. He turned away. “Accepting that it is your fault isn't going to end everything, Adrian.” He said over his massive shoulders. “If we eventually leave here, you still have a war on your hands. I will make sure you suffer by watching your people die as I rip them in half.”
“You will have to kill me first, then, Cassian.” I stepped forward. I held the hate again in his eyes, his icy blue drilling into mine, as I stared at him.
“I don't have to kill you first. I just have to capture you first, then make you watch as I tear your lovely subjects from limb to limb.” He sneered.
Seraphina jumped into our middle then. She planted herself between us. Her back to me and her face to him. “No one would be tearing anyone limb from limb, and no one is capturing anyone and making them watch a horror show. This is all my fault, and I apologized for this. No one should blame another person for my mess.” She yelled to her, her voice scolding.
Cassian threw his head away, grunting. “You can stop this, Seralyn, and this is between me and him. You have no business in this.” 
She planted her arms on her waist, almost akimbo, her posture decisive, showing her resolve and determination. I understand that she would want to intervene. But Cassian was right. This was between Cassian and me, not her.
“I think we can take care of this ourselves, Seraphina.” I touched her arm, trying to pull her away. She stood her ground and turned to slant me a glance, her eyes scolding me as if I were a little boy. “You both have shown that you can take care of this yourselves, so I have to step in. You both seemed to be having some mummy issues, especially this big boy here.”
Cassian spun around to her. “Don't call me that, Seralyn. It sort of sounds derogatory.” He growled, stepping closer to her, his eyes breathing heat. “And besides, like I said, this fight has nothing to do with you.”
“It has everything to do with me, big boy. I am both of your bride, and I can't have my grooms always going for each other’s necks. We nip all this nonsense in the bud here and now.” She said, heavy with determination.
I leaned my hand forward to grab her arm and pull her away, and I stopped. My fingers stilled in the air midway up her arm. She had just called us her grooms, saying it so proudly, like she has really accepted to be ours.
“There is nothing to nip in the bud, Serayln. I can't ever be his brother. He is a betrayer, a manipulator…” 
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Seraphina cut him short, repeating herself with a throw of her head to the air each time. “I have already heard the story. How your mother convinced your father to make him the king instead of you and all that. And come on, Cassian, just let it go. He has already decided to give the throne back to you. What else do you want?”
“Mom didn't choose him. He manipulated her too.” He growled, and he paused, taking another step closer to Seraphina. “And as for what I want, he has to give back the throne before he stole it. I won't be known as the brother who stole the throne. Because it was…”
“...rightfully, yours to begin with…” She filled in for him, which made him stop speaking and just watch her.
“You don’t want to be known as the brother who steals the throne, but you want to be the brother who kills his brother.” She challenged him. She closed the space between them, looking right into his eyes.
Cassian's lips moved to speak, but they closed shut back. He turned away from her. “You don't understand this, Seralyn. You can never do.” He growled softly, shrugging his big shoulders.
“I understand perfectly, Cassian. This is just a grand case of mummy issues to me and nothing else. Your mom got between the both of you by making her preference of who to be king, and centuries from then, you still blame your innocent brother for it.”
He spun around to her again, his lips curled tight in anger, his face locked in a frown. “He isn't innocent, and it is not as simple as that, Serayln.”
“It’s fucking his, big boy. You are just so self-absorbed that you can't see things for what they are and always blame others for your mistakes. Do you try to think about what made your mother choose Adrian for the throne instead of you?”
“There was no reason for her to choose him if he didn't manipulate her into doing so. I was going to be a good leader, better than him.”
“Yeah. You are a good leader. But at the same time, you are lacking in some areas. While you can command respect and power, you are not dispensing it with compassion, as Adrian does. You don't care about what your subjects want or think. All you care about is what you want. Have you ever tried to think maybe that was why she chose Adrian? Maybe she wanted a more compassionate ruler than a tough one.”
Cassian's face tightened harder, almost turning red. He tried to speak but ended up grinding his teeth so hard, we could hear them vibrate in his head. He turned away. “There is nothing you can say to convince me to accept that snake as my brother again,” he finally growled through clenched teeth.
“What if I tell you that I am going to be his bride only?” She said, and she moved closer to me. She took my arms and planted them on her waist, wrapping her arms around my neck.
I could see through her plan. She was trying to get Cassian more jealous. I had no idea if her plan would work, because I know how strong-headed my brother can be. But I played along, holding her tight to me, feeling her warmth against myself.
Cassian's face darkened, going white, his neck corded with thick veins. “You can't do that, Seraphina. You are more mine than you are…”
“You are wrong, Cassian. Because of the both of you, he is the one who owns my heart. So you can either kiss up and make up with him, and I can squeeze out a chunk of my heart for you, or you forget I was ever your bride.” She grinned at him.
He walked forward, flexing his big body in the air, carrying himself with an intimidating air. “And don’t forget, Seralyn. I can kill him, and when I do. Your heart and body belong entirely to me.” He grinned at her too.
“Then you will be looking at two deaths, big boy, because I will be dying alongside the love of my life, and we can continue in death.” She said.
I just stared at her, watching her speak, watching her challenge Cassian, and I wondered how she could say all these things with a straight face. How could she be so courageous to challenge him this much, when I have always run away from challenging him, trying to play the nice guy always?
I decided to improvise, and I dragged her further into my arms, claiming her completely. I held her to my body, my hand firm on her waist.
“You heard the lady, her heart is mine, Cassian. If you want to get a chunk of it, then you have to be cooperative. You have to agree to my terms. And my terms are simple: we share her, we share the throne.” I said to him, leaning my hand out for him to take it.
“And I assume if I refuse, you get to take her entirely for yourself.” He scoffed, throwing his head away in an elaborate sneer. “And you think I would just let you take her.”
“I think you don't have a choice, Cassian. You want me, then you accept his terms, and if you don't, you lose,” she said. “You can continue to be the villain, or we can cooperate, and we all become one as fate designed it to be: one bride, two grooms.” She cocked her brow heavily at him, her eyes warning him to take my hand.
Cassian stared at my hand, eyeing it carefully, his brows wired together. Minutes dragged by, and still he said nothing and did nothing but stare at my hand.
I was about to withdraw my hand when a sudden force seized my gut, twisting my insides. I sensed it immediately: danger. The Goddess must have broken through the barrier.
“We have to go now.” I said, and I grabbed harder at Seraphina’s waist. I leaned forward, and I snatched Cassian's hand too, dragging both of them with me out of the plane as fast as I could.