Royal Wolf Box Set by Haley Weir
Chapter Eleven
As Cassandra descended the staircase to the dungeon, her heart was beating so furiously in her chest that she had to place her palm against her breastbone to still herself. Aeron hadn’t come with her, as he had to attend to setting up Rubius’ trial, and even though he had no intention of going through with any punishment, he still had to go through the motions to appease the humans while he tried to find out who had actually killed the man. The whole thing reeked of a setup, and suspicions were high enough to warrant some kind of coup, but Aeron needed to remain calm .
Grenvich had always had a tumultuous relationship with its rulers, mostly because the kingdom’s rulers had always been shifters, and the humans could never quite put their finger on it. Aeron had more at stake here than just the city or the kingdom – the packs in the forest were at risk if he couldn’t settle the strife. He needed to keep the conflict at a low boil so it wouldn't spill over into violence.
Cassandra hurried down the last few stairs and nearly tripped over her dress at the bottom one. She walked quickly down the cold, damp dungeon corridor that was dug deep into the earth beneath the castle. She breezed past the guards, and when they asked her what she was doing, she simply waved her hand in the air dismissively and then shot the guards a look with her angry eyes that were tinged with the threatening yellow of a shifter, without giving too much away. When she reached the cell that Rubius was being held in, she wrapped her hands around the bars and called for a guard to open it so that she could step inside.
“I don’t think that is a good idea,” the guard said to her as he stood unmoving in his position.
“Open it!” Cassandra snarled. “Or I’ll have my husband make sure that you are the next one put into a cell for failing to obey me.”
The guard quickly scrambled with his keys and unlocked the gate to the cell. Cassandra pushed past him to go inside.
“Leave us,” she said to the guard.
The guard hesitated until she looked as though she was going to scream again, and then he hurried off. As soon as she was sure that they were alone, Cassandra rushed over to where Rubius was getting to his feet and grabbed his face in her hands. She tilted her forehead to touch against his. With her eyes still open, she looked down to see the raw flesh on his wrists where the shackles were digging into his skin each time he moved. She expected Rubius to be upset, but not at her.
“Why did you bid me to let them bring me here?” he asked her bitterly. “You know what they’ll do to me.”
“No,” she said as she lifted and shook her head. “Aeron won’t let them touch you.”
“I highly doubt that is true,” Rubius said. “I respect him, and I know that he tries to do what is right, but he will do what is right for everyone, including those horrible humans. What will happen to my pack if I am stuck in here when the humans decide to raid the forests and hunt the wolves?”
“If you hadn’t allowed Aeron to place you in here, you wouldn’t have even made it to morning alive,” she said.
“What? How do you know that?”
“Aeron may not be that good at picking up on you and me, but he is astutely aware of the undercurrent of the kingdom. Those humans know you didn’t kill the man. They don’t care. They would have killed you without hesitation if you had not come in here to be protected by the king’s guards.”
Rubius sat back down on the cold stone ground of the dungeon.
“I need to get back to the forest and to my pack,” he said.
“I know. I will go and speak to Aeron about it as soon as he returns tonight.”
“Where is he now?”
“He is making the arrangements for your trial.” She was wringing her hands “Rubius, I’m not sure how much power even Aeron will be able to hold onto if the humans decide to revolt against the crown. Maybe I should let you out right now. I can help you escape to the edge of the city and you can get back inside the forest before any of the humans find out that you are missing. Then you can rally the packs and prepare for whatever comes.”
“No,” Rubius said as he looked up at her and reached his bound wrists in front of him to try and hold her fingers against his. “I won’t leave the city, not without you.”
“What? That’s ridiculous,” she said. “I’m not the one they’re after. Besides, I have Aeron here to protect me. I’m not in any danger, at least not yet.”
“You will always be in danger if you are not with me,” Rubius said as he inched his body closer. “I cannot leave without you, Cassandra. I love you. I have tried to deny it and push it aside, but I can’t. There is no one on this Earth that will love you or protect you more than I will, not even Aeron, and you are still very much in danger as long as there are humans around you.”
Cassandra felt like she couldn’t breathe, not because she knew she was in danger, but because of the words that fell from Rubius’ lips. He loved her. He said it. There was no way to shove the words back inside now, and there was no way for her to convince herself that she didn’t love him too. She tried to calm the dizzying thoughts in her head enough to make a plan before the guards came back.
“I cannot escape here with you,” she said. “I won’t leave my husband nor my son behind.”
“Then we stay together,” Rubius said.
His face leaned closer to hers, and his lips brushed against the side of her cheeks.
“We stay together until there is nothing left of us, if that is what it takes,” he said as he kissed the soft skin of her face.
Cassandra could hear the motion and footsteps of the guards returning. There was only a matter of seconds before they would be standing at the gate. Seconds was enough time for her to turn her head and kiss Rubius as if both of their lives depended on it.
“I love you too,” she whispered into his mouth quickly before gathering her skirt around her and standing back up just in time for the guards to appear.
“The king would like to speak with you,” the guard said as he looked between Cassandra and Rubius curiously.
“Perfect,” Cassandra said with a strong and regal tone that she mustered to remind the guard that he wasn’t the one in charge. “Because I would like to speak to my husband too.”
She looked sadly down at Rubius. It pained her to leave him, but she had no choice.
“See that he gets food and wine,” she commanded as she walked out of the cell.
“Wine?” the guard asked.
“If I have to repeat myself again,” she snarled, leaning her head closer to the defiant guard, “I will make sure that you are squishing grapes between your toes instead of standing as a royal guard.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” the guard said.
His compliance and the flushed look on his face made the other guard chuckle at his expense. It made Rubius chuckle, too. Although, he was much too worried about the fact that Cassandra was unprotected without him out there. Rubius knew that Aeron was a fierce protector and that he loved Cassandra, but there was something about the way that Rubius could anticipate Cassandra’s every move that made him better suited to keep watch over her and outmatch anyone with the intent to harm her. As long as he was inside the cage, Cassandra would be in danger. He just hoped that, somehow, she would be able to get through to Aeron and get him released from the dungeons so that he could help them all. He watched the back of Cassandra’s dress and the skin on her bare shoulders as she ascended the staircase and then disappeared from his sight.
Within a few moments, the guard had returned with a hearty plate of bread and meats and a large horn filled with wine.