The Beginning of Everything by Kristen Ashley Page 0,79
this.
Second, my sister never cared if I was all right.
“As you can see, she’s fine,” Cassius returned.
She bent slightly to the side to take me in.
“Very fine,” she murmured. “Quite the becoming blush, sister.”
“Serena—” I moved to round the prince.
But I stopped when his arm came out in front of me, wrapped around my belly, his hand curling around my hip to stay me.
Also protective.
And something that again made my breath uneasy.
Serena’s gaze took in his arm and I saw the hardness form at the backs of her eyes before they went again to Cassius.
“Now how is this going to go, exactly?” she asked. She tipped her head to the side and finished cattily. “The widower and the virgin?”
I caught my breath.
Cassius’s fingers dug deeper into my hip.
Well then, that awkward discussion no longer had to happen.
My future husband now knew I was untried.
Brilliant.
“The mingling of families,” she carried on. “His daughter.” She looked to me. “Your daughter.” Her attention went back to the prince. “Though not her blood daughter, obviously.”
“If you don’t mind, Elena and I have things to say to each other,” Cassius gritted out.
“Do you know of Theodora?” she asked with a faux curious tilt of her head.
“I know I’d like any further knowledge of my future wife to come from my future wife,” Cassius replied tersely.
“Serena, really, it would be most—” I started.
My sister spoke over me.
“Sweet girl. So sad. Her mother falling in battle to Airen.”
I closed my eyes.
Cassius’s arm dropped.
I opened my eyes only to see he’d ceased touching me only to position more fully in front of me.
“You can leave, or we shall,” he told my sister.
“Which one was it?” she asked oddly. “Of course, I know, as all know, how covetous your brother was of, well…” she tossed a hand his way, “just about everything that’s you.”
“Really—” I tried again, moving to get out from behind the prince only to have him shift to keep me blocked.
“Your skill on the field,” she kept talking. “The sweetness and beauty of your dead wife.”
Oh goddess.
She had to stop.
But before I could do aught about it, she carried on relentlessly.
“And the closeness you share with your guard.”
Cassius started to turn to me, murmuring, “This is enough.”
I absolutely agreed.
I shifted to move with him.
“It was Nero, wasn’t it?” she asked, and Cassius’s head whipped her way in a manner that made me freeze solid. “Trajan coveted your guard so deeply, he ordered his father to assign them to him. And he got what he wanted, of a sort. That sort being the charming way your father does things. He gave him just one. To be selected by you.”
She shrugged, took a step deeper into the room and then turned back to us.
“Not easy, I would assume. Though it’s heard, as is your way, you gave them their leave. They decided amongst themselves. Drew straws, was it?”
“It’s clear you need to make your point and intend to make it,” Cassius stated with resignation. “Therefore, cease the play and simply do that.”
Serena didn’t hesitate.
“It was Nero who struck the mortal blow to Tiana,” she announced.
Oh, by the goddess, no.
No.
My throat closed, and I took a step back.
Cassius shot a dark glance at me before returning his focus on Serena, doing this with narrowed eyes.
“Oh yes, you don’t know who Tiana is,” Serena began helpfully. “Or was. She was Elena’s dearest friend. Thick as thieves they were, mentoring together at Melisse’s knee. Tiana was also Theodora’s mother.”
That was when I saw Cassius’s entire frame freeze.
“We do that,” Serena shared. “Those of us who have daughters and go to battle. We make arrangements, if we should fall. She fell. To Nero’s blade. Fortunately for her, Elena had vowed to raise her daughter as her own. Though unfortunate in the now, as she’s here. Dora. In this very palace. Right now. With the only mother she’ll ever know. And also here, the man who killed her blood.”
A sick smile curled her lips when she concluded.
“So I dealt the death blow to your brother, your brother not of your blood dealt the death blow to the sister my sister wished was blood. I am here. And Nero is here. This alliance, already interesting, just became more so. Don’t you think?”
“Are you finished?” Cassius ground out.
She pretended to consider it and then said, “I believe I am.”
“Then you wouldn’t mind taking your leave,” Cassius suggested darkly.
“I think I’ll do just that,” she replied breezily. “It’s almost time for dinner and I’m famished.”