Chapter 61 – Cassia’s Brush with Death
Chapter 61 – Cassia’s Brush with Death
Cassia’s POV
If anyone asks how my day went, I’m saying spa.
Technically, I did get exfoliated. With glass.
Then someone smeared freezing gel over my side that burned like all eight suns at once. The room smells like salt, smoke, and panic. Very luxury. Very curated. Ten out of ten, would absolutely sue.
The transport hits a bump, and I make a sound Crescent Net would censor.
“Easy,” Kade says above me.
Of course he’s above me.
My head is in his lap, which is not where a respectable woman keeps it on a weekday, but I’m bleeding, so standards have dipped. His hand is pressed hard against my ribs, either keeping my organs inside or personally disciplining my blood.
“I’ve got you,” he says.
I want to tell him that’s a loaded statement. I settle for, “Don’t… wrinkle your suit.”
His thumb presses harder against my side. “It can wrinkle. You can’t.”
I try to laugh. Bad choice. My whole torso protests.
Caius leans into view with healer eyes. You know the look. Focused. Cold. Furious in a controlled
way that somehow makes it worse.
“Vitals are holding,” he says to Kade, but he’s looking at me. “Stay awake, Cass.”
“Ugh,” I mutter. “Bossy.”
“You got hit by a mirror blade.”
“Rude.”
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Chapter 61 Cassia’s Brush with Death
“Shallow,” he goes on, ignoring me, “but nasty.”
“Still rude.”
He doesn’t crack. “We need to flush it.”
:
I blink slowly at the ceiling of the transport. “Am I ugly?”
“Only if I squint.”
I stare at him.
“And I never squint,” he adds.
That’s better.
The transport cuts hard around a corner. Everything inside me shifts in ways I don’t approve of. My side burns cold now, which is somehow worse than hot. Like someone poured winter straight into the
wound and told it to settle in.
“Almost there,” Kade says, and this time his voice is lower. Closer. His thumb finds my pulse at my
wrist and stays there, like he’s keeping count because he doesn’t trust time to do it properly.
I swallow. “Kade Voss monitoring my pulse? Scandal.”
He looks down at me, all sharp jaw and control held together with effort. “Live,” he says. “Scandal
later.”
The doors burst open.
Then it’s hands,
lights, straps, white ceiling panels, and the kind of clean medical smell that makes you feel judged before anyone even speaks.
Palace med-bay.
Healers move fast. Efficient. No wasted motion. No wasted words.
Someone braces my neck. Someone else gets under my shoulders. My body leaves Kade’s lap, and
a stupid part of me notices the loss immediately.
“Auto-seal,” Caius barks.
The med-bay doors close behind us. My world narrows to bright lights, pressure at my side, and voices that all sound one second from calling me an idiot.
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Chapter 61 – Cassia’s Brush with Death
“Name?” one healer asks.
:
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“Cassia,” I say. “But if this is about insurance, I’d like legal counsel.”
“Pain scale?”
“Emotionally or physically?”
The healer doesn’t even blink. Monsters, the lot of them.
“Bio-gel now,” someone says. “Anti-shadow serum queued.”
The gel hits my ribs, and I arch off the bed.
Cold. Then hotter than hell. Then both at once.
It feels like fire trying to wear ice as a costume.
I swear hard enough that at least one machine should’ve blushed.
“Breathe through it,” Caius says near my ear, offensively calm. “Three in. Three out.”
I hate that I listen.
I hate more that it helps.
The worst of it settles into a steady, hateful throb.
I blink until the room stops doubling.
Kade is standing to my left. Big. Still. Too big for the room. There’s blood on his cuff. My blood. Also
a streak of it near his throat where I must’ve grabbed him.
His hair is a mess. His face is worse.
He is not handling this well.
That would be flattering if I had more oxygen and less wound.
“Stop making that face,” I tell him.
“What face?”
“That one.”
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Chapter 61 Cassia’s Brush with Death
His eyes don’t leave mine. “You’re hurt.”
:
“Well, yes. Very observant. You should put that on your résumé.”
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Caius makes a sharp movement with the scanner and glares at Kade. “Give me room, Alpha. I’m not stitching her around your forearm.”
Kade shifts back half a step.
Half.
“I’m not leaving,” he says.
“Didn’t ask you to,” Caius replies.
That, more than anything, tells me how serious this is.
Caius only tolerates people in his space when he’s too worried to care.
The anti-shadow serum goes in next.
That is a whole new kind of evil.
My body goes heavy almost immediately. Not relaxed. Dragged. Like sleep and nausea had a very bad child and decided to raise it in my bloodstream.
I blink at the ceiling. “Be honest,” I whisper. “Still pretty?”
“Yes,” Caius says without hesitation. “Now shut up.”
I grin.
Regret it.
The scanner chirps. The seal hisses. Someone says, “Containment clean.”
Good. No shadow contamination. No creepy magic crawling into my bloodstream. Just regular blood loss and poor choices.
Excellent.
Kade appears with a cup and a straw.
“Water.”
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Chapter 61 – Cassia’s Brush with Death
I look at the cup, then at him. “Is it tea?”
“Water first.”
“Wow. The tyranny.”
He waits me out.
I take the straw.
0:0
It’s humiliating how good the water tastes.
Caius moves around the room with the kind of purposeful noise siblings make when they’re giving you privacy but also making sure you know they could end it whenever they want.
“If you try to sit up without me,” he says, checking the seal, “I’ll strap you down.”
“Kinky.”
“Medical.”
“That’s what they all say.”
Kade’s mouth twitches.
Very small.
But I catch it.
A minute later, he sets another cup on the tray table beside me. Steam curls up from it. Wildflower tea. Honey. Something soft and green and familiar.
I look at him.
“You said later.”
“It’s later.”
The thing in my chest that is absolutely not sentiment gives an annoying little squeeze.
I don’t want to look at him too long. Not with that expression on his face. Too open. Too careful. Too much like there’s a future sitting in the room with us that nobody invited.
So I look away first.
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:
“Vitals stable,” Caius says, reviewing the monitor. He sounds less murderous now, which I choose to
take as good news.
Then he types something into my chart.
I narrow my eyes. “What did you write?”
“Nothing you wouldn’t say out loud.”
“Liar.”
“Patient is reckless, uncooperative, and dramatic.”
I gasp. “Slander.”
“Documentation.”
Kade huffs a laugh. Caius doesn’t even try to hide his satisfaction.
The healers finish, the room settles, and for a minute it’s just the four of us: me, my tea, my brother, and the man who carried me in here like I was something breakable.
Which is offensive.
“Kade,” I say.
He looks up instantly.
That should not do anything to me.
“Go.”
His face changes so slightly most people would miss it.
“Go where?”
“Wherever you go when you’re being impossible.” I lift a brow. “Your soldiers. Your scans. Your politics. Nadia.”
There it is.
The name lands hard.
He flinches.
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Chapter 61 – Cassia’s Brush with Death
Tiny. Fast. Real.
0:
“She’ll want to know-” I pause long enough to make it hurt. “That you’re safe.”
His jaw tightens, but he nods once. Controlled. Respectful. Miserable.
“She should,” he says.
I shouldn’t enjoy that he sounds strangled.
I do anyway.
“You have things to do,” I tell him more gently. “I have Caius.”
I wave one hand vaguely. “And Julian will inevitably show up and talk until sedation wins.”
That does it.
Jealousy flashes across his face so fast it’s almost rude.
There and gone.
But I see it.
Of course I do.
He notices me noticing and puts the walls right back up.
Very neat. Very tidy. Very disappointing.
Before I can decide whether I want him to stay or leave, the door opens.
Elara and Thorne step in like they’ve been letting the room settle before entering. Rank and concern and that particular married-united-front energy they wear when one of us gets hurt.
Elara comes straight to me, brushing hair off my forehead. “You nearly got opened like a letter.”
“Rude of the letter opener. I don’t even read mail.”
Her mouth twitches.
Thorne stations himself at the foot of the bed like he’s personally guarding my continued existence. “You gave Kade a fright,” he says.
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Chapter 61 – Cassia’s Brush with Death
“He’s dramatic,” I reply.
Kade says nothing.
Which, frankly, is very loud.
:
Elara glances between the two of us, then at Caius. “Complicated?”
“It is,” Thorne says before anyone else can answer.
I turn my head slowly toward him. “Traitor.”
He lifts both hands. “I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs.”
Elara doesn’t even look at him. “Not helping.”
“I’m trying.”
She squeezes my fingers. “Rest.”
“We’ll take the city,” Thorne adds. “You take the nap.”
“Deal,” I say.
They don’t stay long. Just enough for Elara to reassure herself I’m not actively dying and for Thorne to scan every machine twice like he’s considering threatening all of them.
Kade leaves with them.
Or so I think.
Then sleep shows up like an uninvited landlord and takes over.
I dream in black.
Not full darkness. Worse.
Mirror-dark.
The kind that shines back.
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Chapter 61- Cassia’s Brush with Death
:
((
Vines slide under doors. Through hinges. Through seams in stone. They curl around my ribs and whisper my name in voices I don’t trust.
The worst part?
They sound familiar.
“You look best in the mirror,” one of them says.
“I prefer windows,” I mutter back.
When I wake, I’m saying it out loud.
“Good,” Caius says from the chair near my bed. “Windows don’t try to kill you.”
He hands me tea.
Again.
I decide not to die out of spite and gratitude.
The room is dimmer now. Later. Quieter.
Then I notice the flowers.
Small wildflowers in a bundle, sitting beside my tea.
Of course.
I hate him ceremonially.
There’s movement at the door.
Kade.
Cleaner now. Less blood. More control. Same eyes.
He stops at the threshold like the door itself matters.
It does.
Everything does now.
“You should sleep,” I tell him.
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“So should you.”
“I got stabbed by a mirror. I’m allowed to be difficult.”
“You were not stabbed.”
“Cut, sliced, artistically rearranged-pick one.”
He actually almost smiles.
I shouldn’t be this pleased by tiny things from impossible men.
“You look like you fought a mirror and then tried to beat up time,” I add.
He says nothing to that. Just watches me for a beat too long.
Then his hand lifts, like he wants to touch me.
He stops himself.
Fists it.
That hurts more than the wound, which is ridiculous and I refuse to unpack it.
“I’m okay,” I say, because one of us needs to say something useful.
His gaze drops to the dressing at my ribs.
“I know,” he says.
But what I hear is: you almost weren’t.
Then he steps back.
Rebuilds the distance.
And leaves.
I hate that too.
The door whispers shut.
The room breathes again.
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:
Somewhere down the hall someone laughs. A soft, normal sound in a day that has not earned
normal.
Caius adjusts the line near my bed with gentle hands and a face that pretends not to feel too much.
I love him so much it physically hurts.
“Sleep,” he says.
“Bossy.”
“Genetic.”
That gets a tiny smile out of me.
I drift again.
When I wake next, daylight is nosier.
There’s a scrape of chair legs.
I turn my head.
Kade is asleep in the chair beside my bed.
Of course he is.
His jacket is folded over the back like he’s trying to pretend this wasn’t a choice. One forearm rests on the bed, close to my hip but not touching. His hand is curled like he fell asleep arguing with himself.
I stare at him for a second too long.
“Subtle,” I tell the ceiling.
His eyes open immediately.
No flinch. No confusion. Soldier wake-up.
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Chapter 61- Cassia’s Brush with Death
Then he sees me looking and something in his expression loosens.
“Hey,” he says.
“Hey.”
I tilt my head. “Did you spend the night guarding my ability to breathe?”
“I wasn’t leaving.”
That lands exactly where it shouldn’t.
So naturally, I ruin it.
“You forgot something.”
His eyes sharpen. “What?”
“Nadia.”
There.
His whole body stills.
Then he nods once. Slow. Controlled. Taking the hit.
“I informed her,” he says. “Last night.”
“Good.”
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I mean it.
I also don’t.
That feels personal and ugly, so I blame the serum.
“Because I have Caius,” I say. “And Julian, who is basically a medical condition at this point.”
There it is again-that quick dark flicker on his face.
Jealousy.
Fast. Mean. Gone.
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I almost smile.
Almost.
Before I can say something I’ll have to unpack later, the door opens and my room becomes a
parade.
Elara. Thorne. Aeron.
Aeron is wearing his serious socks, which means this is business.
The second he sees the bandage at my side, his little face crumples. Two quick sobs, like he’s paying a tax, and then he climbs onto the bed with the careful concentration of a tiny surgeon.
“You okay?” he asks, voice wobbling.
“I’m too pretty to die,” I tell him.
He nods immediately. “True.”
Then he sniffs and pats my arm. “No yelly lady.”
“Correct.”
Elara kisses the top of his head.
Thorne stays at the foot of the bed, doing that thing where he looks like a king and a guard dog at the same time. His eyes sweep the room once and settle when they land on me.
Aeron turns and spots Kade.
His little hand shoots out.
“Nice wolf stay.”
Kade blinks. “I stayed.”
“Good.”
Aeron pats the NICE WOLF sticker on Kade’s jacket like he personally awarded it.
That nearly kills me.
Caius walks in with broth and a face that says if I don’t behave, he’ll staple me to the mattress.
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“Sip,” he orders.
“Bossy.”
“Genetic,” Aeron repeats proudly.
Julian’s holo pops onto the wall screen with zero warning and entirely too many heart and bell emojis floating behind his head.
“Is my favorite disaster awake?”
“Alive, rude, and beautiful,” I say.
He blows me a kiss. “Perfect. I brought memes and a very strict policy of no crying on camera.”
Kade’s jaw flickers again.
Oh, this room is exhausting.
Elara sees it. Thorne sees it. Married people always see everything and then pretend not to until they’ve chosen the most annoying possible moment to discuss it.
Elara squeezes my hand. “Rest.”
“We’ve got the city,” Thorne says.
“You’ve got the nap,” Aeron adds, because apparently he’s in management now.
“Deal,” I say.
They stay long enough for Aeron to climb onto Thorne’s boot and declare himself a tank.
Then they leave.
The room settles.
For one whole second, everything is fine.
Then the cabinet across from my bed ripples.
It’s slight. Tiny. Easy to miss.
I don’t miss it.
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Chapter 61 – Cassia’s Brush with Death
Neither does Caius.
:
The glass takes a breath.
My stomach goes cold.
“Caius,” I whisper.
He’s already moving.
One second he’s by the monitor, the next he’s between me and the cabinet. His body goes still in that way healers get when they’re scared enough to become dangerous.
Elara’s hand tightens around mine.
Thorne shifts toward the wall panel with care, like the room itself might spook.
Aeron plants his little feet and whispers, “Respect the door.”
Kade stands.
Doesn’t touch me.
Just gets close enough that the heat off him feels like a shield.
The crack starts in the top right corner.
Thin. Precise. Deliberate.
The RF dampers deepen their hum.
Salt hits the back of my tongue.
“Okay,” Caius says, very calm, which in twin means: I am terrified, and if this thing moves, I’ll kill it
with a tray.
We all wait.
The crack spreads.
Not loud.
Not dramatic.
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Certain.
I stare at the glass.
My reflection lifts her chin first.
I do not.
Ice floods my veins.
The reflection smiles.
I am not smiling.
“Doors stay doors,” I say.
My voice is shaky. I hate that.
The reflection laughs.
The lights flicker.
And for one ugly beat, the whole room feels like it’s deciding whether it belongs to us.
Later, they tell me Sublevel Three answered at the same time.
Three short pulses. Like a heartbeat trying to sync.
Ops logged it. Mapped it. Swore at it.
Thorne doubled patrols. Elara rewrote half a policy with a pencil, a curse, and a kiss to Aeron’s temple. The house held.
Me?
I did what stubborn women do when the story picks a fight.
I reached for humor with one hand and the people I love with the other and refused to bleed where
- ))
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Chapter 61 – Cassia’s Brush with Death
the darkness could enjoy it.
0:0
- ))
Kade hovers in that maddening way-close, careful, not touching. It would be easier if he were
careless.
It would be easier if he were cruel.
He’s neither.
He’s gentle.
He’s present.
He’s torn clean through trying not to be either of those things where I can see it.
And the worst part?
I can feel his restraint.
Like a hand at my throat.
Not choking.
Warning.
“Go,” I tell him again when the room calms down. “For real. Nadia.”
He nods.
But he doesn’t look away until I do.
Julian sends me a meme of me stabbing a mirror with a breadstick.
Aeron approves it with three bell emojis and another NICE WOLF sticker.
Caius writes stubborn in my chart like it’s a diagnosis.
Elara orders me to sleep like it’s law.
I obey like it’s love.
Thorne stands in the doorway pretending to discuss ventilation with a tech until I close my eyes.
The cabinet stays cracked.
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–
Chapter 61 Cassia’s Brush with Death
Smiling.
I don’t look at it again.
I count Caius’ breaths.
I count the seconds between Kade’s footsteps fading.
I count the hum of the dampers.
I count to a hundred in Crescent, then Valemont, then in the old language my mother taught me before the world got mean.
By the time I run out of numbers, the house has made its decision.
