The retreat air was electric with ambition, the sort that cut others razor-thin, ravenous, and downright ruthless. Caspian’d honed it as an art, weaving in and out of the deals and the talks so fluidly. I was the fish in the ocean of over-rehearsed grins and backroom schemes, fighting to stay afloat.
We were at a starlight networking dinner, the garden glittering with threads of fairy lights and the circle of voices blending with the circle of glasses. Caspian beside me, his hand on the bend of my lower back—a warning touch, not reassurance.
“Stay close,” he’d told me previously.
“These people smell weakness.”
I hadn’t needed reminding twice.
Otherwise, the night was hollow, a handshake line and greetings and some rushed, grabbed attempts at competitors pretending to be flattery. And then he appeared.
Nathaniel Carter—a business rival of Caspian’s and one notorious for ruthlessness in his methods and for willingness to bend the rules. He strolled over to us with the self-satisfied, smirking expression that made my teeth ache, his eyes sweeping past me to come to rest on Caspian.
“Caspian,” Nathaniel announced, his voice a parody of warmth. “I see you’ve got some…nice company here tonight.”
He focused again on me, looking at me for a second so intently that I felt my skin creep. I smiled graciously, but apparently, my awkwardness wasn’t enough, because Caspian pulled me in tighter.
“This is Lily,” Caspian stated, frostily. “And you will show her respect.”
Nathaniel’s eyebrow flicked up, clearly enjoying the response he had gotten. “Of course. Sorry. I wasn’t being rude.”
And he leaned forward a little and dropped his voice, going on, “Though I have to say, it’s nice to see you with someone so available.”
The implication was clear, and it curled my stomach. Caspian stepped closer in front of me, his muscles wound up tight and his eyes cutting through Nathaniel like a sword.
“Say that again,” Caspian growled, his tone even and menacing.
Nathaniel raised his hands, playing the innocent. “Hey, Grey, calm down. It was a compliment.”
Caspian did not retreat. If anything, he seemed even more lethal, jaw clenched in a tight line and fists at his sides. I’d heard him angry before, but this was different—cold, slicing, and all raw.
“Not you get to speak of her like that,” Caspian’s voice poisonous low. “Not now. Not ever.”
There was tension in the air about us, thick as a palpable thing, and I felt eyes shift our way. I jerked on Caspian’s arm hard, trying to move him back. “Caspian, just let it go,” I panted.
He didn't budge, his eyes shooting over at Nathaniel.
Nathaniel chuckled, apparently enjoying the drama. “Touchy, huh? I didn’t realize she was so sensitive towards you.”
That was the final taunting. Caspian moved in the direction of him, and for a second I believed that he would knock him out.
“Caspian,” I breathed now, tugging his arm.
“He’s not worth it.”
It took him a second, but he did step back finally, his rage still burning in his eyes. “If you so much as look at her again, we're going to have a problem," he warned him, his voice cold and unyielding.
Nathaniel grinned, clearly not intimidated, before he turned and left.
I took a breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding it, but Caspian’s muscles still didn’t unclench. Not a single word escaped his lips as we exited the garden, his hand wrapped tightly around mine guiding me back into our suite.
The moment the door closed behind us, I turned on him.
“What the fuck was that?” I growled, my voice rougher than I’d intended it to be.
Caspian paced, his hand in his hair, like a wild beast. “He crossed the line.”
“Yeah, because he’s stupid,” I snapped, crossing my arms. “But you didn’t have to lose it. You nearly made a scene.”
He stopped pacing and stood before me, blazing eyes. “Do you have any idea what he was implying? What people like him can do with words like those?”
I raised an eyebrow in shock. “I don’t care what he has to say. Why should you?”
His jaw was clenched and I thought for a moment he wouldn’t say anything. But he pulled himself up, his voice dropping to that deep, almost naked tone. “Because you don’t get to be spoken to this way. You don’t get to come into the world and be treated like anything less than what you are.”.
My breath caught at the raw emotion in his tone, and I couldn’t help but look at him.
“Caspian…”
He pulled his head to the side, stopping me. “I know that this isn’t real, Lily. But for some reason, it’s real enough to me that I don’t want someone to disrespect you.”
His words hung there, and I was mute.
Why? I insisted at last, my own voice little more than a whisper. “Why is it real to you?”
He stuttered, his eyes moving away for the first time. “Because you’re not like anyone I’ve ever met. You’re real. Honest. And I don’t know how to deal with that.”
His confession left me quiet. Walls he had built so high within himself creaked and groaned under the strain, and I caught a glimpse of the man behind them—the man who never dared to feel.
“Caspian,” I whispered, offering a soft hand for him to lay on his arm.
He flinched at touch but did not move back, his eyes seared at mine in anger that had my own heart racing.
“I don’t know what this is,” he snarled, his voice harsh and low. “But it frightens the living shit out of me.”
I swallowed hard, my chest thudding with pain at the vulnerability in his eyes. “It frightens me too,” I admitted.
We rocked together silently, the space between us impossibly vast and agonizingly close. I tensed for an instant, waiting for him to kiss me, but he pulled away, and walls rose up again around me.
“You need some rest,” he said to me, his voice cold and remote again.”.
I was speechless and nodded, and I headed to the bedroom. But as soon as I shut the door behind us, shutting us in from the other, I sensed that something had shifted between us—something we could not undo.