Chapter 280 – Pick a Side
"You bet I fucking do, sister-in-law." Cassius said, pleased.
"See? I knew it. You’re evil." Anesthesia answered with a scoff, though there was no real malice underneath it. For once.
"If I’m evil, then what are you?" Cassius asked, walking slowly toward a rack of weapons on one side of his training room, "You’re the one using this deeply personal information to attack someone you love."
"Someone I love?" She hissed immediately, her voice darkening with anger, "Don’t ever say that to me again, bastard. I don’t love Emrys."
"Is that so?" Cassius didn’t back down, his tone turning serious, "Are you sure you don’t love him, sister-in-law?"
"Do you really think I would, after everything he’s done to me?"
"I’ve seen and heard worse, trust me. And none of them stopped loving those people despite it. So maybe everything you’re doing right now is because somewhere inside you — a side you’d rather ignore, maybe — you still love Emrys, but hate the idea of still loving him." He sneered openly, "Arrogant people are like that, most of the time."
Anesthesia was getting seriously angry now, her voice shaking as she tried to hold herself together, "What are you playing at, Cassius?"
Cassius grasped a random wooden sword, raising it to eye level, his crimson eyes deadly cold, "What else? I’m just making sure my sister-in-law isn’t someone who can be swayed by love or fond memories. You’d disappoint me."
"You talk as if you know me."
"Oh, but I do. I do, Anesthesia." He insisted, "So tell me, will you let yourself go back to Emrys again? Think about everything you did for him, and weigh it against everything he did for you. The math is easy, he did practically nothing. And even if you got back together, that would never change."
"Cassius, you talk like you know Emrys better than I do." She said, her voice tight, "Don’t fucking lecture me. I’ve known Emrys since we were 2 or 3 years old!"
"One more reason I’m doubting you."
"Who even are you to tell me what to do?"
"Someone who wants what’s best for you." Cassius replied calmly, "Emrys isn’t a giver, sister-in-law. And he never will be, because the world has always given him everything he wants, and more. You’ll never get the kind of support, respect, and love from him that you deserve. Never the reciprocity you’re hoping for."
Anesthesia gritted her teeth audibly, knowing full well Cassius was right.
No one learns how to give if all they’ve ever known is receiving. Emrys was the perfect example of that.
And she might have played a part in it, having given him everything he wanted without much thought.
Yet when it came time for him to do the same, he’d judged her, scorned her, and gone off with a whore who’d spread her legs for whatever she could get.
Thinking it all over again reignited the anger and hatred toward Emrys that she’d almost buried after so much time.
"You understand what I mean, don’t you?" Cassius said again, breaking her train of thought.
"What do you even have against Emrys?" Anesthesia asked, the question that puzzled her most, "I have every right to hate him, to go against him. But what about you? You’re not petty enough to hate him just for being stronger."
"Because I want you with me." Cassius lied shamelessly, "and I want you to be a Hood, married to my uncle."
"Oh? Even though you’re the one who helped that maid whore get closer to Raven?"
Cassius’s lips twitched instantly, and he halted, "...how did you know?"
"You think Raven can keep secrets from me for long?" She scoffed mockingly, "I just look at him, kiss his cheek, stroke his chin like a baby, and all his secrets bee mine."
’Damn Uncle! How can you be this weak!’
Though, he admitted, he’d have done the same if it were Isolde.
"That doesn’t change the fact I want you as a Hood." He insisted, knowing there was no backing down now.
If caught in a lie, better to run with it to the very end.
"What if I kill that maid?"
"You’d dare?"
"You know I would. And I can."
"You’d risk Raven’s wrath."
"And yours?" Anesthesia pressed, "What’s your relationship with that maid? I’m not blind, Cassius. I’ve seen how careful she is around you. And the way she looks at you...it’s almost reverent."
Cassius chuckled, "What would happen if I told you?"
"Don’t you want me to be a Hood?" She smiled, "You need to be open with family."
"I don’t trust you enough for that yet, sister-in-law."
"Cassius, fuck you, alright?" She snapped, tired of his doubts about her own principles, "I will never go back to Emrys. Can’t you see I’m about to blackmail him using his own mother? I’m about to do something that will make us enemies forever!"
"Are you afraid?"
"Do I look afraid?"
"I can’t see you. But you do sound afraid."
"Only fools aren’t afraid of Emrys, given his strength." She ground out, "But you said we’re in this together. Was that a lie?"
Cassius smiled, "Oh, I lie about plenty of things, but not that. If I say we’re together..." he swung the wooden sword smoothly, "...then we are, indeed."
"Then speak. What’s your relationship with that bed warmer? I need to know before deciding whether to kill her."
"She’s a believer of my goddess." Cassius answered, a half-truth, "and as a Blessed, she might look at me with a bit too much reverence."
Instantly, it all clicked for Anesthesia. She nodded, then, realizing Cassius couldn’t see her, made a sound of acknowledgment.
"I see." She said, "That might make her harder to kill."
"You don’t have to kill her, you know? Or are you actually threatened by a maid?" Cassius mocked, "How embarrassing. As my sister-in-law, you should be better than that."
"Mind your own business, Cassius."
"That’s the one thing I can’t do. Well, one of many things I can’t do. Anyway, tell me, do you love my uncle?" Cassius asked, "Are you ready to be with him?"
Anesthesia paused at that. Cassius expected a curse, or a flat no, but unexpectedly...
"More time." She said, not entirely sure why she was being this honest with Cassius, "I need more time. My past relationship wasn’t the best. Proof of that is I’m about to blackmail him with something he shared with me alone. I need time to put myself back together before I’m ready."
"I understand that." Cassius nodded, twirling the wooden sword, "But do you love Raven?"
Anesthesia sighed, "...I could see myself living with him."
"Oh." Cassius made a sound of realization, then chuckled, "I see. Let’s see how it goes, then."
"I won’t accept him being with another woman, Cassius, I’m warning you. I made that mistake once, not fucking twice. I don’t know who you want with your uncle, but," her voice turned dead cold, "stop playing both sides and choose. Me, or that damn whore? And know that choosing the whore es with consequences."
"What kind of consequences?"
"You’d really rather not know. I’m my mother’s daughter, Cassius. And if you don’t know her, you’ll get to know her through me."
Cassius’s lips curled innocently, "How scary. But don’t threaten me, I tend to love it ing from crazy women."
"Fucking pervert."
"Slander!" He said with mock outrage, then, "Still, I hope you’ll show Emrys this much bite, sister-in-law."
"Oh, but I fucking will." She laughed harshly, then paused, as though checking something, before continuing, "and it’s time. I have a meeting with him."
"Emrys?" Cassius asked, surprised.
"Yes." She said, "A forced meeting, called by the Hall of Missions, for some reason. But it’ll be the perfect chance to do what we just talked about, before Monday."
"Alright, but be careful." He warned, "A forced meeting from the Hall of Missions is unusual. Keep me updated."
"I will."
"Don’t forget to be hateful."
Anesthesia grinned, "That’s my specialty."
She hung up soon after, leaving Cassius in sudden silence.
He slowly lowered his hand, letting his arm sway limply at his side, before tucking the phone back into his pocket.
He kept swinging the wooden sword absently with his other hand, his mind elsewhere.
After a moment, Cassius’s eyes hardened.
"Queen, you’re the one keeping me hidden from Sleeping Beauty, right?"
[Aye.] Ananke nodded, [Though it’s getting harder.]
"No need anymore." He said, his whole body beginning to flicker with white flame, "Let the goddess find me. No, even better..."
Then crimson flames erupted. The two flames began to intertwine like mating snakes.
"...tell her you have something to share with her."
[About...what?]
Cassius’s lips curved upward.
"Tell her I’m the Eternal King’s Messenger, hidden in the mortal world, and that I have his Ring of Will with me."
—End of Chapter 280—
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