The Tales of a Cursed Warrior

V

Cassius drew her away from his father.

She tried not to cry, she was trying so hard to keep the tears in.

"Can we get out of here now?" she choked out, sniffing. "Please?"

Cassius drew in a sharp breath but did not glance her way. "As a Prince, I cannot abandon a ball unless injured, very drunk or there's only an hour left before the ball finishes."

"Fuck," she cursed under her breath. "I can't do this. Just—please, let me get some air, I—"

"Shh," he whispered, steering her by the waist. "Shh, I got you, it's fine."

Minutes later, they were in the courtyard. She leaned against a wall and clenched her eyes shut, gritting her teeth, trying to force the memories away. Cassius stood in front of her, his body covering hers from the people in the courtyard.

"Calm down," he whispered, touching her shoulder but she jerked away aggressively. 

He drew away from her, arms raising in surrender.

She heaved a breath, turned around and threw up then she stood up and covered her mouth with trembling hands. "Curse this," she hissed, drawing in a couple of deep breaths then pushing past him. He easily fell into step with her.

Lex stopped in front of them, a pretty redhead walking alongside him. He flashed them a smile, glancing at Asteria's clenched fists for a moment too long. "Cassius, you're requested at the piano," he said, amused.

Cassius rolled his eyes, adjusting his cuffs. "Let them wait."

The girl scoffed, sneer in full display, then she turned to Asteria and her expression became blank.

"Asteria, this is Zara Wright," said Lex, gesturing at the girl. "My fiancée," he added sourly.

Zara rolled her eyes at Lex and tipped her head at Asteria. "And what's her position in your father's court, Cassius?"

"Oh, you will see tomorrow what her position is," said Cassius with a sly smile, Asteria realised for the first time how abnormally long and sharp his canine teeth were.

"Is that the reason Uncle just announced an anonymous ceremony?" said Lex, playing dumb.

"One would assume so," said Cassius. "Now let us go and please the crowd with my piano skills."

Asteria couldn't hide her scoff fast enough. Lex shot her a grin and Zara raised her eyebrows, interested.

They followed the Prince to the ball chamber, dresses and capes swishing behind them. Asteria parted ways with the Royals and stood on a corner with a nice view of the raised platform bearing the grand, silver piano.

A round of applause echoed around the room as Cassius sat on the bench, his movements annoyingly graceful.

To her surprise, the music he chose to play was sad. Too emotional. His back was to her, his head bowed slightly as his fingers moved expertly over the keys. 

The dancing stopped and she frowned when she saw everyone take a seat or stand still, all their hands on their hearts. Even Atticus had his head bowed, a hand over his heart.

She looked around for Lex, trying to spot his blond head and, fortunately, he wasn't too far off from where she stood. He was looking at her and together they began to take slow steps towards each other, he pulled her to stand, keeping his eyes on the Royal flag behind the throne like everyone else.

"Do what everyone's doing," he whispered to her, guiding her own hand to her chest. "Look at the insignia."

"What's going on?" she breathed. "Why is he playing something so sad?"