Chapter 21: The Price

I made him do it in the great hall at noon, with the doors open.

Seven hundred of them came, and the Hollow stood at the back in their nightclothes and their good boots, because I had sent for them myself.

Cassian walked down the aisle alone, in plain black, with no cup in his hand.

He stopped at the foot of the throne.

He did not climb it.

"Lord Rooke has asked to speak," said the old councillor, who had taken to wearing his black cap everywhere, like a crown.

"Let him," I said, from the first row.

Tobias stood at my elbow with his hands folded behind him.

"This will be very entertaining," he murmured.

"Behave."

"I am the soul of it."

Cassian turned to face the hall.

He had not slept much, and neither had I, and I tried not to think about why.

"Not two weeks ago I sat on that throne," he said, "and condemned the woman who is my mate, in front of all of you."

His voice carried to the pillars.

"I had a cup of poison in me, and that is a reason. It is not an excuse."

"She stood at that glass with her hand open, and I told her I did not need to hear it."

Nobody coughed.

"I felt a shut door between us and never knocked. From today I knock. And any door I shut, she may take off its hinges."

He took a breath.

"I was a coward, and I called it being cold. I'm ashamed."

I folded my arms.

It was a good start, and it was not the price.

Cassian looked straight at me.

Then he went down on one knee on the black stone, in front of seven hundred vampires, and bowed his head.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Blood Mirror Never Lies from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.