Chapter 216
ATASHA’S POV
I turned so fast the hem of my cloak lifted off the ground. My breath caught the moment my eyes landed on him-tall, shadowed by
moonlight, coat damp from travel, hair tousled as if he had been riding without rest.
“Cass p>
I never finished his name.
He reached me in two strides and touched my lips with his finger, gentle but firm enough to still every sound in my throat. The brush of his skin made my heart stumble.
“You are too loud,” he murmured, voice low enough to mix with the sound of the waterfall behind us.
He looked exhausted. He looked furious. He looked like a man who had crossed half the North and part of the South just to stand in front of me again.
His eyes held mine as if he had been starving for this moment.
My lips parted under his touch, not to speak this time, but because the sudden warmth of him stole every word I might have said. “Cassian,” I whispered against his finger.
His jaw tightened as his hand slid from my lips to cradle my cheek, thumb brushing skin that felt far too hot for the cool night around us.
“I told you,” he said quietly. “That I would come to you p>
And just like that, every ache I had been carrying for days cracked open.
I didn’t think. I simply moved. My hands curled into his coat and I pulled him into me, burying my face against his chest as if I had been holding my breath for days and only now remembered how to breathe. Cassian
caught me instantly, one arm sliding around my waist, the other cupping the back of my head as if he had been waiting for the excuse.
The moment his chin rested lightly against my hair, my body cased in a way I had not felt since leaving the fortress. The scent of steel, cold wind, and something distinctly him settled around me. His heartbeat pressed against my cheek, steady and strong, grounding me far more than the earth beneath my feet.
Then, his hand moved, fingers threading through my hair, and then he began patting my head with slow strokes that made my throat tighten. It was ridiculous how safe it felt, how familiar, how much I had missed something I never had long enough to grow used to.
I melted into him, my arms clinging a little tighter, my breath slipping out in uneven bursts against his chest.
Eventually, he drew back. Not far, just enough to see my face. His hands remained on my shoulders, his thumbs brushing lightly as if he needed to check that I was truly there.
“Why are you here?” I asked softly, searching his eyes.
Cassian exhaled, the faintest ghost of a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “We are near Demon Fang territory,” he said. “I am hunting a group that slipped past the western line.” He shrugged slightly, as if crossing half the realm meant nothing “Since I was close, I thought I might drop by p>
It was the understatement of the century.
I wanted to ask him more. I wanted to ask if the hunts were dangerous, if the crown had answered, if the witches still stirred in the shadows. I wanted to ask why his letters sounded like someone else had written them. I wanted to ask why he looked so tired, why he looked so furious, why he looked so relieved to see me that it made something in my chest twist painfully.
But none of those questions made it out.
Something inside me, something warm and fierce and desperate, rose before I could stop it.
I reached up, stood on my toes, and kissed him.
It was clumsy and quick, just a soft press of my mouth against his. I didn’t think. I didn’t plan. I didn’t even understand it fully. I just knew that for days I had been aching in ways I couldn’t explain, wanting him in ways I didn’t dare voice.
The moment my lips touched his, my heart slammed against my ribs.
Cassian froze.
I froze.
For a breath, neither of us moved. the world seemed to hold itself still.
Then something flickered deep in his eyes. Something sharp, something hungry, something he had been holding back since the moment I left the
fortress.
His hand slid to the back of my neck.
And he kissed me back.
It was nothing like the soft kiss I had given him. His mouth claimed mine without hesitation sending a shiver through my entire body. His fingers tightened in my hair, pulling me closer, his other hand anchoring my waist with a grip that said he had missed me far more than he intended to admit.
I gasped against his lips, and that was all it took. Cassian deepened the kiss as if that tiny sound had snapped whatever restraint he had walked in with.
It felt like days of longing poured into single moment, messy and overwhelming and completely unrestrained.
When he finally broke the kiss, his forehead rested against mine, breath unsteady, eyes dark in a way that made my knees weaken.
“Atasha,” he whispered, and the way he said my name, slow, rough, almost broken, made my pulse stumble all over again.
I wasn’t sure which part of me wanted him more.
The bond.
Or me.
Then, for some reason, a bold idea wrapped itself around my thoughts and refused to let go.
“I’ll take you somewhere,” I said.
His brows flicked up slightly, but he did not step away. “Somewhere?” he repeated.
“With you here, it will be safe,” I replied. I slid my fingers down his sleeve until I found his hand and laced my fingers with his. “Come p>
I did not give him time to argue.
I tugged him along the narrow path that followed the stream, skirting the rocks at the edge of the pool. The waterfall roared steadily beside us, the spray dampening my cloak and his coat.
“Watch your step,” I said, glancing back when we reached the slick stones near the fall. “There is a ledge behind the water. If you follow the rock with your hand, there is an opening p>
Cassian’s grip tightened around my fingers. “You used to come here alone?” he asked, eyes scanning the shadows, already checking for threats even as he moved where I led.
“Not often,” I said. “And never without care. This is not within Nightfall’s formal borders. It is close enough that patrols occasionally pass, but far enough that no one bothers to claim it properly. When I gathered herbs near here, I stayed close to the trees. If anyone approached, I hid p>
We reached the rock face. The water dropped in a sheet just in front of us, close enough that cold mist kissed my cheeks. I placed my palm against
the stone to find the narrow space where the rock dipped inward.
“There,” I said. “If you step through quickly, the water only hits you for a
moment p>
I squeezed his hand, then stepped sideways through the falling water, ducking my head. The cold stream hit my shoulders and back for a heartbeat, then I was through-standing in a narrow, shadowed gap behind the waterfall.
The sound was louder here, the water a constant curtain that hid the outside world from view. The cave behind it was not big, just a hollow carved into the rock, tall enough for us to stand and move, wide enough for two people to sit side by side on the natural ledge that ran along one wall. The stone underfoot was damp but not flooded, the air cool and heavy with the scent of river and moss
I turned just as Cassian stepped through after me.
He shook droplets from his hair, then looked around, assessing the space. His attention brushed over the ceiling, the walls, the slick floor, before it settled on me again.
“You used to hide here,” he said.
I nodded. My hands slid over the rough stone at my back. “When I needed a place where their eyes could not find me. No one looks behind the water. They see a fall and a pool and move on p>
His gaze dipped, following the motion of my hands, then rose to meet my eyes
again.
“I do not like that you came here alone” he said.
“I told you,” I answered. “I was careful p>
“This is not Nightfall land,” he reminded me. “If something had happened to you
here, no one would have claimed responsibility for it p>
“That was the point,” I said.
I meant for it to sound flippant, but the words came out too soft.
His jaw clenched.
I started to explain further, because it felt necessary to fill the space between us with something other than the pounding of water and my own heartbeat.
“When I gathered herbs, the others sometimes followed,” I said. “Not to help but to watch and to laugh, when I slipped or dropped things. This was the only place they could not see me unless I let them. It was mine. So I-” I did not finish my words as Cassian moved.
He took one step forward, and his hand closed around my wrist, not hard enough to hurt, but firm enough that my breath hitched. With a single tug, he pulled me off the rock wall and into him.
My body collided with his chest, the impact knocking the air out of my lungs. His coat was still damp from the fall, cold at the surface but warm underneath from the heat of him. My palms flattened against him on instinct, fingers bunching the fabric over his ribs.
“Cassian-” I started, but his hand had already slid from my wrist to my waist, closing there in a grip that told me he was done listening to explanations about lonely caves and old habits.
His eyes were darker than before, pupils widened, jaw tight. The low rumble of the waterfall echoed around us, but all I heard clearly was the sound of my own pulse pounding in my ears.
Then he bent his head and kissed me again.