The railing was cold.
Cassian gripped it until the stone bit into his palms.
Below him, the garden was a sea of artificial red. Flora Relia. Perfect. Useless. Just the way his father liked it.
He shouldn't have been looking.
But he was. And he couldn't look away no matter how hard he tried.
Why is he there?
Cassian's breath hitched. A cough tore up his throat, but he swallowed it back. His eyes locked on the white iron table below.
Zayne looked relaxed. He looked charming. The image of health. The image of everything Cassian was no longer allowed to be.
And across from him was the boy with the moss-green hair.
Elias.
From this height, Elias looked fragile. He looked like something Zayne could crush between two fingers without even spilling his tea.
Zayne leaned in, said something Cassian couldn't hear.
Then he reached out.
His thumb brushed Elias's cheek.
The Ivy screamed.
Cassian's vision blurred red. It wasn't magic. It was worse than that—raw, instinctive possession that had no place in a royal body.
Mine.
The thought came unbidden, sharp and territorial.
Seeing Zayne breathe the same air as Elias felt like a theft.
"He's going to break him." Cassian muttered, the wind stealing the words. "Or try to buy him."
And Elias wouldn't know the difference. Not until the door closed behind him.
Cassian turned away from the railing. His cloak snapped as he moved, breath coming shallow.
"Xavier." he said.
A shadow detached itself from the wall.
"Your Highness."
"When he leaves the garden," Cassian said, voice rough, "bring him to me. Quietly. Through the servant tunnels."
✯¸.•´*¨`*•✿ ✿•*`¨*`•.¸✯
Elias followed the guard—Xavier—through the narrow passage, his steps careful on the slick floor.
The walls pressed in close, damp and sweating, lit only by flickering mag-lights. The air smelled of stagnant water and sulphur.
This could be a trap. He knew that much.
He still didn't trust Xavier.
Elias kept his hand in his pocket, his fingers brushing the crushed remains of the Star-Lily. Mina's warning echoed in his head.
Run if it smokes.
The guard didn't look back. His footsteps were steady. Unhurried.
Elias forced his breathing to stay even. He forced himself to stop over thinking and focus on what he intended to do once he got there.
Mina said intimacy was slow.
Shared weakness. Proximity.
'If Cassian is angry, I use it.' Elias thought. 'If he's scared, I use that too. I have to—'
The thought cut off as Xavier stopped before a door.
He opened it without ceremony and stepped aside.
Elias crossed the threshold.
White.
Firelight danced across soft rugs and white furniture, turning the room almost unreal after the filth of the tunnels.
Cassian stood by the window.
His coat was gone. His shirt clung damply to his frame, gold veins burning beneath the fabric.
He didn't turn around.
"Did you enjoy the garden?"
His voice was low. Dangerous.
"It was artificial." Elias said. "The plants there don't breathe. It felt more like a cemetery."
Cassian turned then. His eyes were red rimmed and feral. His gaze went straight to Elias's cheek, the exact spot where Zayne's thumb had touched him.
"That's how Zayne likes things," Cassian said, stepping closer. "They don't fight back."
Another step.
"What did he offer you?"
Elias didn't move. His heart raced as he looked into Cassian's eyes.
"He offered me safety." Elias said softly.
Cassian froze.
"He said a person like me would disappear in the Black Cells." Elias continued, watching Cassian's jaw clench. "He said he could protect me. That he could give me everything the King took from my family."
Cassian let out a hollow laugh.
"And you believe him? Are you going to trade my secrets for a plot of dirt? Are you going to be his stabilizer instead of mine?"
Cassian reached out. His fingers hovered just an inch from his neck, trembling. He looked like he wanted to choke him and hold him at the same time.
"I didn't drink his tea, Cassian."
The name slipped out without the title.
Cassian froze.
Only the crackle of the fire and the frantic beating of Elias's heart could be heard.
"I don't want his protection." Elias whispered. He took a step forward, closing the gap until his chest was almost touching Cassian's. "I told him I had nothing to trade."
Cassian's hand slid to the back of Elias's neck, fingers digging in—not to hurt.
A grip born of panic.
"He'll come again." Cassian said. "He always does."
"Then let him." Elias replied. His hand rose, resting lightly against Cassian's forearm. He released his magic slowly
"I know how to disappear."
"Not from him. And certainly not from my father."
Elias looked into his eyes again.
The jealousy was still there, simmering under the surface, but beneath—
Fear.
"The Gala is in three days," Cassian said, his voice regaining some of its royal edge, though it was still shaky. "My father will cull the weak. Zeros don't survive that room."
"Then don't let me be weak."
Silence.
Elias let it stretch before he continued.
"I have a plan." he said at last. "But you'll have to trust me. Even when it looks like you shouldn't."
Cassian paused. He looked like wanted to ask a question but decided against it.
"Go." he said finally. "Before you're seen."
Elias nodded once and turned.
He didn't look back.
He didn't need to.
As he disappeared into the tunnels, Cassian's gaze stayed on him—heavy, possessive, burning.
Elias walked through the dark with a steady pulse in his chest.
He wasn't a ghost anymore which is why nobody remembered that his rank last year was higher than this year's.
He now had the Prince's attention.
Now he just had to survive long enough to decide what to do with it.