Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Isolde & Cassius [3]

Chapter 31 – Isolde & Cassius [3]

’Who the fuck is this man?’ Isolde scowled inwardly, her anger still undiminished but confusion creeping in at the unbothered look on Cassius’s face.

”What do you want?” She hissed, realising she had been completely seen through by this man. Her eyes narrowed further, her essence churning brighter.

”I already said it.” Cassius drawled. ”I am your husband. As for what I want?”

He shrugged.

”Just a deal.”

Isolde’s mind stalled. ”A deal?”

”Yes. A deal.” He nodded. ”It doesn’t take much to see your killing intent. However, let’s behave like proper nobles, shall we?”

He raised three fingers. ”Three times.” He whispered, smiling. ”You get three attempts at my life. I will only defend myself. But if after three attempts you fail...”

His smile widened.

”You stop all attempts at my life and allow me three things, Isolde.”

Isolde stood speechless, staring at him as if he had completely lost his mind.

’Or maybe I’m the one who lost it. What the hell is this situation?’

She had anticipated many ways this meeting could go. Had even built backup plans for most of them.

But nothing had prepared her for this.

Cassius Desdemona was sitting on her floor, back against the slightly cracked wall, calmly dusting off his spotless white suit as if she hadn’t just punched him and broken his nose. As if she hadn’t been planning to manipulate him from the moment he walked through the door.

’He saw through everything.’ Isolde thought, slowly retracting her essence. ’And since the very beginning — since the gate — I have felt like I am facing someone who has known me for years.’

That was the sickening feeling churning inside her. And she hated it. Hated the smirking face of this beautiful bastard just as much.

She clenched her jaw.

”What do you think of my proposal?” Cassius said, not bothering to stand.

Isolde took a moment to steady herself. She barely managed. ’Useless,’ she thought, feeling the futility of continuing the act.

She didn’t even want to anymore. She was exhausted of false smiling in front of this man, and just wanted to curse freely without the weight of her parents’ distasteful eyes on her.

”Are you aware of what you just said?” She finally spoke, narrowing her purple eyes.

”Yes.” Cassius nodded. ”I want to do this in an orderly fashion. I don’t want to marry someone who will try to kill me at every available opportunity.”

”Ah.” Isolde scoffed. ”You seem to know a great deal about me.” She turned, walked to her bed, and sat facing him across the distance.

”Then you must know I have no intention of marrying you, arrogant bastard.”

”Why is that?”

”I don’t like your face.”

”Falsehood.” He shook his head. ”Even monsters would like my face, though our beauty standards differ considerably. Say something more plausible, Isolde. Something along the lines of you being in love with—!”

”I dare you, Cassius.” Isolde’s eyes glowed purple, her voice a low growl. ”I dare you to say his name in front of me.”

”Don’t tempt me.” Cassius replied with a lazy smile. ”I will actually do it. But that’s not what I want to address right now. We will discuss your rejected love for Emrys—!”

BAAM!

Cassius shifted his eyes to the right.

A sharp knife coated in purple essence was buried into the wall, an inch from his cheek. He could feel the cold edge of the blade grazing his skin.

His lips twitched.

[She was serious.] Ananke warned. [She changed the direction at the very last second.]

’I know.’ Cassius answered, looking back at Isolde’s cold fury.

”I dare you again.” She threatened.

”Look.” He sighed, sitting cross-legged. ”Don’t try to blackmail me. You will only make me want to do exactly what you don’t want.”

She opened her mouth, but he pressed on.

”You must have realised it by now.” He locked his eyes deep into hers. ”I know you, Isolde. I know you better than you can imagine. And it is that knowledge that tells me exactly what you are after.”

”Oh?” Her voice was cold contempt over something quietly nervous underneath. ”And what is my goal, arrogant bastard?”

”Everything was taken from you the moment Anesthesia was born...”

She shook at the name.

”...and now you want to take everything from her. But you must have already understood the harrowing difficulty of that.”

Cassius shook his head with something close to pity. ”Without undermining your capability, you cannot do anything to Anesthesia.”

”You think she is better than me too.” Isolde whispered. Her voice and eyes had never been so cold or deadly.

”That is what everyone thinks.” Cassius nodded. He watched the twitch run through her body as he continued. ”But not me.”

”Huh?” She blinked, tilting her head in genuine confusion.

”You heard me.” He nodded. ”You are better than her in my eyes. And that is precisely why I want this marriage to work.”

”Why?” Isolde was completely lost. Lost enough that admitting it embarrassed her. Because from the moment they met at the gate, Cassius had been everything but what she expected.

Calmer. More thoughtful. Sharper. Less spoiled. This was not the youngest Desdemona who had indirectly caused the massacre of a Tier Three Family with his mother’s help.

This was a man who could cause it by himself. Knowingly.

Isolde was rattled. And when one schemes around a very specific image of a person, a single shift reduces everything to ash.

Now she knew. Her whole plan was ash. And that realisation came with another one she had been trying to ignore since the beginning.

’He... he is looking at me.’

At her. Only her.

His attention had never left her, and it made her feel strangely like a toy — or maybe a gift — he had been waiting to unwrap, one he was in absolutely no hurry to rush.

She pressed her lips together, fists clenched, and spoke again. ”Why?”

”Because I chose you.” Cassius said plainly.

Isolde’s body shook at the bluntness of it, eyes wide with disbelief — like a crippled man told he could walk again.

”That is not enough.” She said at last, steadying her breathing with her essence. ”That is not enough to justify everything you are doing. Not enough to make me want this marriage.”

”Open your eyes and look clearly at what I am actually proposing.” Cassius pressed forward. ”I am not only offering you a man who simply likes you. No. Listen carefully.”

His voice dropped lower. His eyes went deadly serious.

Isolde instinctively straightened, her body reacting as if invisible hands were passing through her as those red eyes bore into her.

’Oh, Vorn take me, what is this feeling?’

”I am proposing you a man who knows who you are.” He said. ”A man who knows your hatred toward your sister, your family, your childhood friend. A man who knows you want to kill him and walked into your house alone anyway.”

He rose from the floor and walked toward her, each of his step quiet, measured.

Isolde’s chest tightened with every word, unable to refute a single one, finding herself in the position she despised above all others.

Helpless. Without momentum.

And it got worse — far worse — when Cassius reached her, crouched down, and looked at her as if she was exactly what he wanted.

The transparency in his red eyes. The way he looked at her as if knowing every dark corner of what she was, and chose to stay anyway.

Her chest constricted and without meaning to, her heart began to race.

”That is the man in front of you.” Cassius continued. ”One willing to let you attempt his life three times. Believe me, Isolde, you will never find another one like me.”

”Bold assumption.” She scowled, refusing to yield the argument even knowing she already had.

”Stop fooling yourself and answer.”

”What if I manage to kill you?” She snarled. ”I am considerably stronger than you. If I try to kill you, I will.”

”Then you get what you think you want. No husband, and you screw your family from the back.” Cassius shrugged. ”But if you fail, you get what you actually want and need.”

”You?” She sneered.

”Someone at your side who sees you, accepts who you are, and supports your madness.” He nodded, without a shred of shame. ”Or yes, to keep it simple: me, Cassius Desdemona.”

Isolde held her silence, her mind churning in several directions before settling into one.

Her heart picked up speed, blood pounding hard enough to reach her ears.

”Time limit?” She asked like a professional, eyes steady in his.

”I am here for three days. That’s the limit.”

”What if you die? I don’t—!”

”I’ve already arranged enough to keep the trail away from you.” He cut in. ”Hell, my family would probably even take care of you lovingly for it.”

Another pause. Then Isolde smiled — humourless, tight.

”Already started planning?”

”Yes—!”

Her hand moved faster than Cassius could follow and a dagger dripping with poison pierced his throat.

—End of Chapter 31—