Their Fireheart

Chapter Thirty-Five

Aelin

Shock rendered me silent as I looked up at Cassian's furious face. Shit. I was not prepared for this. My normally easy going and jovial mate looked murderous, nearly shaking in his rage. My heart plummeted, knowing that I had done this to him.

My thoughts raced, trying to figure out the best way forward. He was clearly furious with me and that was the last thing I wanted. The only reason I had kept this from them in the first place was to protect them. Unfortunately for me, all my brain could focus on was how exactly he had figured out that he was one of my mates. Rhysand had promised to let me tell them on my own time, and there was no way Helion could have known for sure who my mates were.

So when I was finally able to respond, all that came out was, "How did you find out?"

As soon as the words left my mouth I wanted to physically yank them back out of existence. All emotion on Cassian's gorgeous, brutal face shut down. A humorless laugh broke free from his lips before he hissed at me, "So that's how it is, Your Majesty?" The vitriol in his words made me want to cry. "You've locked down your High Lord and your Prince so you weren't even going to bother letting the poor low-born Illyrian bastards know that fate had fucked up mating them to you?"

"Cassian -" I desperately tried to interrupt, frantic in my need to shut down this line of thinking. My heart shattered in my chest that there was even a second that Cassian could ever think he was worth less due to the circumstances of his birth. He was worth a thousand of the so-called nobles in this realm who collectively held a fraction of his power and integrity.

Incensed, Cassian barreled on, spitting words out at me, "Did you think I was too stupid to realize you were my mate? Surely someone of such low breeding couldn't actually comprehend a mating bond - so you figured you would be spared the banality of even rejecting me?"

I opened my mouth to try to interject once more, but Cassian was on a rampage, too lost in his fury and self loathing to even realize I was trying to speak.

"Surprised you didn't want to take me for a test drive first. Usually nobility likes to see how the lower classes fuck before tossing us back to the dregs. And I promise you, Your Majesty, it's quite the ride. You might grow to regret missing out on the experience," he hissed.

That's it.

I was done.

I snapped my legs around his hips, using my leverage to flip us around with a ferocity that knocked the air from his lungs, thankfully halting his seething tirade. My hips were once more pinning him to the ground, my hand clamped down on his mouth so I could finally get a word in edgewise.

I could practically feel the flames rising in my eyes as I spit down at him, utterly furious he could even entertain those ludicrous thoughts, "You are a fucking idiot Cassian." His eyes widened in shock, caught off guard by the wrath in my voice. "You are an idiot if you think for one gods damned second that you are the inferior one between the two of us. You are golden. You are the purest, most selfless, inherently respectable male I have ever met. You are worth a million of those cretins who would look down on you simply because of how you were born - something you have no control over. In fact the only thing remotely wrong with you is that fate decided to not only mate you to a vicious monster, but force you to share her with three other males."

I glared at him, breathing hard as I ended my tirade. Suddenly exhausted, I slumped back, the weight on my chest a physical thing. "So no, Cassian, I am not going to reject you. But you should probably reject me."

My voice broke at my next words, "You both should."

The sudden silence that filled the training ground was oppressive, and I fixed my gaze directly over Cassian's shoulder, so I wouldn't have to watch his face as he came to the realization of what it would truly be like as my mate. I tried to ignore the fact that Az was still nearby, observing noiselessly, bracing myself for a two in one rejection.