Most of the Supremes should have left this very morning after the feast last night, so when she had looked up and seen Alpha Cassian there, well, she gasped.
Then quickly lowered her head. Partly because it was what she was supposed to do, and partly because she didn’t want him to see how scared and tortured she looked at the moment.
"Who shook you this hard and bit your pale skin?"
Her hands flew to her ear, still shaking vigorously, then she took another step back, "I...it’s nothing, Alpha,"
Nothing? If she had looked up at that moment, she would have seen a small, humourless smile touch his lips. Alpha Cassian had seen enough in his life and knew too much for his own good.
Trembling.
Flinch when she was touched.
Sore wrists, bleeding ears.
And terror in her eyes as though someone was following her.
Cassian’s smile curled deeper, and he sighed, "Does Malachi know?!" He asked.
Della looked up at him this time, "I... don’t understand,"
He tilted his head a bit, "Does he have any idea that you are being sexually molested? Or has he chosen to ignore it again?"
Her heart slammed into her ribs, and for a moment she couldn’t feel her legs anymore. How did he know so fast?!
"I...I...," She was stuttering again, unable to look him in the eye, "I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t...,"
"You’re coming from the council chambers, aren’t you?"
"No," She shook her head.
Cassian looked up this time, looking mildly annoyed at nothing in particular, "Honestly, that bastard...," He looked back at her, "With an investigation this huge concerning the banner going on, no one was supposed to touch you, little servant. So tell me, who was it?"
Cassian had changed her fate last night or else she would be in the iron pits. But sue didn’t trust him at all, because once... Beatrice also stood up for her. Beatrice had also stood between her and the people who hated her, and she had laughed with her.
Hence, Della trusted absolutely no one.
"Please, Alpha," She sniffed, looking back down, "I would like to be dismissed,"
"I think Nightveil would suit you better,"
Della closed her eyes.
Moon Goddess.
Not this again.
He had literally almost started a war because of her last night so he would take her back to Nightveil.
"I don’t belong in Nightveil." She replied.
"Perhaps." Cassian tilted his head, "But you certainly don’t belong here."
She pursed her lips. His words were true. She doesn’t belong... anywhere.
"I hear you spent the mornings working on the fields. Is that where you were when it happened?"
Her mind was now in a frenzy, and she took another step back, "No," Her lips quivered.
"Della!!"
The girl immediately stiffened, and Cassian noticed.
His eyes shifted toward the approaching footsteps, and so did Della’s.
The sound of those leather shoes was enough to tell who was approaching, and of course, Selene appeared moments later.
Elegant.
Perfect.
Beautiful.
...Concerned?
Far too concerned.
She rushed forward, her blue dress swaying behind her as she approached.
"Della, I’ve been looking everywhere for you."
Looking everywhere for her? To do what? To stab her with a sword?!
Something flickered behind Selene’s eyes, but it vanished quickly, "Della..." she said more softly. "Can we talk?"
The answer screamed inside her head.
No.
No.
No.
No.
Cassian remained silent.
Selene clasped her hands together, her eyes widening into big, pretending globes, "I owe you an apology."
The corridor became still, and Della blinked.
"About yesterday." Selene lowered her gaze, and her eyes sparkled with a soft look that could make a Stoneheart melt, "I was wrong."
Still, nobody spoke.
"The evidence pointed toward you." Her voice became quieter, "I thought I was protecting Eclipse Crown."
Della stared. With everything that was happening to her today, this was... just... WOW!
"I thought someone had endangered hundreds of wolves." A pause, "And I believed it was you, especially since you beat up your own sister and you were caught trying to escape. I mean, even the head seamstress said...," She paused again and let out a breath, her eyes glistening, "You must understand that I didn’t want innocent people suffering because of one person’s actions."
Cassian folded his arms, "How noble."
Selene’s gaze flickered toward him briefly, then returned to Della.
"When the investigation began this morning, and after what Alpha Cassian brought to light last night..." She swallowed, "...I realised I might have judged too quickly."
Della didn’t want to hear it anymore. Selene was only faking it because Cassian was here, and she wanted him to witness it. If it were just both of them here, she would have been slapped by now, maybe twice.
"I am sorry." Selene finished.
Della felt nothing but a terrible headache...and tired limbs.
"Last night you told me...you were going to have Malachi whether I was his mate/wife, or not, as you bashed my ankle in," Della said, looking straight into the bitch’s eye, "I am a rotblood. I carry no wolf, and hardly any dignity. I have no one by my side, and I resent the Moon Goddess for creating me," The intensity of her gaze deepened, "At the end of this fight between us, there’s a very huge chance that you would win... because you have all the advantages. But I won’t ever just sit back and watch you do as you please... simply because it puts a smile on your horrible soul, and makes mine bleed. Now take your fake ass apology, and excuse me. I have work to do!"
Della hadn’t held back at all. She said every word as it came to her, and didn’t wait another second as she walked past both of them, almost bumping into Selene without a care.
Within moments, her footsteps disappeared down the corridor.
Then, Cassian took one knowing look at Selene and turned to walk away.
He’d only walked three steps when her words stopped him.
"Why?!"
He stopped and looked back at her.
"Last night," She lowered her voice into a whisper, "Why did you have to play the ’Hero?!’ You know how much I’ve wanted to be the Luna of this pack...to stand by his side and serve him as his wife...so why?!"
Cassian turned around completely, "Desperate to know the truth?"
"Yes, Brother. I am!"
He smirked, "How sincere of you,"
"I didn’t ask you that,"
"There are a lot of things we never ask for, but eventually get," He gestured at Della, who was far gone, "For example, the servant didn’t ask to be born a rotblood, and definitely didn’t ask to be married to Malachi or...," He stepped forward, "She didn’t ask to be framed by you!"
"I did NOT frame her! I simply saw her trying to escape and I ..," Selene’s eyes suddenly narrowed, "Wait, why are you taking her side?! She’s a rotblood for crying out loud. Their kind spreads disease and hate and death...and that is what she’s been doing to this kingdom. Her extreme bad luck is what made that banner tear in the first place!"
"Is it?" His eyes had gone cold, "Is it really, Selene?"
Her breathing hitched.
"Or did you just want to make it look like that to others?" He asked, "And if I remember correctly, you claimed, along with others that she loosened the reinforcement... but you never spoke about bad luck,"
"It’s the same thing!!" Selene cried, "If she weren’t here, none of this would be happening. I would have been married to Alpha Malachi and Eclipse Crown would prosper,"
Cassian suddenly burst into a heap of laughter, so loud it began echoing on the walls around them. Funny because the walls were made of stones, and voices weren’t supposed to bounce off them.
"Let me guess...and you get to live happily ever after?" He arched a brow questioningly, then his gaze flickered with something dark, "You really think the truth about what actually happened to Katherine is gonna stay locked away forever?!"
Selene felt her heart stop, and one question swirled in her mind.
Does he know?!
"Your obsession toward Malachi had shot up into heights I never imagined," He shook his head slowly, then laughed again, "I only blame myself for not putting an end to it while I still had the chance,"
"Malachi is my first and only love. You cannot—"
"Katherine was also his first and only love!!" Cassian spat angrily.
Selene’s eyes were beginning to twitch, and she grabbed a handful of her dress to keep her anger in check, "She didn’t deserve him! We all saw what she was doing, what she truly is! You were the one who stopped her!!"
"Because I had to, Selene," Cassian said, "But you...what you did...was selfish. Purely to your own advantage," He smiled devilishly this time, "But right before the wedding, fate decided to show you who is boss and Malachi married Della and brought her here,"
"You have no idea!!" Selene burst again, her eyes filling with tears, then she whispered again, "You have no idea what I’ve sacrificed, what I’ve seen him go through after Katherine died. And that slave, that Rotblood cannot help him, she cannot break the ice around his heart,"
Cassian didn’t even hesitate when he spoke. Last night’s events had stunned him shut, especially when Della had run between him and Malachi so carelessly and had insulted them both.
The woman had guts, and she has a burning flame in her heart.
"That’s where you’re wrong."
"The rotblood?" She laughed bitterly. "You think she can change him?"
"No." That answer seemed to satisfy her for exactly one second, then he added, "I think she’s the first person who doesn’t want to."
Selene frowned.
"You worship Malachi. Everyone does. The Elders fear him, the Supremes respect him, and you are head over heels for him," Cassian’s smile deepened. "But that girl?" He laughed softly, "That girl insults him. She argues with him. She challenges and rolls her eyes at him...and somehow survives."
Then Cassian stepped closer, "You keep asking why I helped her."
Selene held his gaze.
"Because after all these years...she’s the first thing I’ve seen that actually makes Malachi unpredictable, and if there’s one thing history has taught me, it’s that the people who change the fate of kingdoms never look important at the beginning."
That was the moment Selene understood that the rotblood was a far greater threat than she’d ever imagined.