Chapter 71: Never first, always second
"Brother! Fancy seeing you here."
Cassian sighed.
I really should consider constructing a door for the healing chambers that only opens from the inside so I can pick and choose who interrupts my morning, he thought to himself.
He turned around to see Damon staggering into the healing camber with two very naked women flanking him, their cheeks flushed and lips swollen.
"You really should take a break from all of these herbs and come have fun with me, Cassian." Damon waved a hand vaguely in his direction. "You are missing out on all the delectable things of the world."
He turned and pressed a kiss to one of the women’s necks then his hand dropped to her backside and he smacked it, hard enough that she yelped and laughed at the same time.
Cassian looked at him.
"You are drunk." he stated flatly.
"Am I?" Damon straightened, swaying slightly. "Being drunk is a state of the mind, brother but you wouldn’t know that since you have never been. How is it that you have never been drunk before, brother?"
Damon’s words slurred together at the edges as he spoke
Cassian set down the pestle he was holding and wiped his hands on a cloth, studying his brother with careful eyes. Damon’s amber eyes were bright, glittering with something that went beyond the wine fogging his senses.
Now he had known his brother his entire life and so he knew the difference between Damon being drunk and Damon drinking to forget. This was the latter.
"Are you all right, brother?" he asked.
Damon blinked. The question had caught him off guard.
"Am I all right?" He scoffed, pulling the women closer. "I have two beautiful maidens ready to do whatever I want them to. I am more than all right."
Cassian held his gaze.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
Damon’s jaw tightened. He could tell that Cassian was not buying it, that his brother was seeing through him the way he always did, and it made him angry.
"You sit here in this healing chamber, wasting away because somehow you think one day one of the things you make will let our father see you." Damon scoffed. "Tell me, brother, did our father come visit after you woke up from your attack? Or did he hear about your recovery from the mouth of the healer and wished you well."
Cassian stiffened.
"That is not what this is about, Damon."
"It isn’t?" Damon’s lips curved into a smile. "Ares is back, you know and Ayla is back in his arms, like you do not exist. He is always going to matter to her way more than you do."
"Get out." Cassian turned back to his worktable. "I am busy."
"You know, I do not get what you all see in her." Damon said, ignoring Cassian’s remark.
"She might be our mate, but she is still an Omega." he shook his head, his voice dripping with contempt. "Just weeks ago, she used to clean our fucking rooms on her hand and knees and now she thinks she..."
"Damon!" Cassian snapped.
The women jumped startled at the heat in the prince’s voice which is something they had never heard before.
Cassian took a deep breath to steady himself before turning back to his brother and the women on his arms who were looking at him now with open curiosity.
"You two. Leave."
They did not need to be told twice. They bowed hastily and scurried out of the healing chamber without a backward glance.
Then Cassian turned back to his brother.
"What is the matter with you?"
"You know I am right." Damon smirked. "She is never going to put you first. You are too gentle, too fucking timid." He let out a low chuckle. "And Ares? I bet he is as rough as she wants it...oh and I bet she wants it rough."
Cassian narrowed his eyes.
He knew what Damon was doing. He was pushing and goading him, trying to provoke a reaction so he could bury whatever was eating him alive beneath the chaos of a fight.
Cassian refused to give him the satisfaction.
"You know what, Damon?" He finally said. "You may be right about me being soft and timid."
"I am always right." Damon snorted.
"But..." Cassian continued. "Only one of us in this room has completed our mating with Ayla and that person is not you."
"Now get out." he turned away. "I am busy."
Damon did not move.
"If you will not leave, then I will." Cassian said, rising to his feet.
"Fucking child" He muttered as he brushed past Damon on his way out.
He kept walking until he was outside, the cold air hit his face but it did nothing to cool the anger simmering beneath his skin.
He had not wanted to admit it but he had spent the past few days burying himself in work. Anything to keep his mind off the fact that Ayla had not sought him out since the morning after they had mated.
Was Damon right? And did Ayla prefer Ares just like Freya had?
He shook his head, forcing the thoughts away.
Damon had been trying to get under his skin, and he had let him. He should know better than to let his brother’s jibes seep into his blood.
Cassian rounded the corner, freezing when he heard the sound of laughter floating toward him.
He turned in its direction immediately.
Ayla was standing in the stable yard, her hair loose around her shoulders and she was laughing, her head tipped back.
Ares was there too beside her, his arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her close.
Cassian watched as he lifted her effortlessly, swinging her onto the back of a horse then climbing up behind her, circling her waist to take the reins.
He stood frozen, watching them disappear through the gate.
The ache in his chest returned with a vengeance.
Would you look at that, he thought to himself. I was wrong. She is just like Freya.