Page 47 of Of Stars and Lightning (Sun and Shadows #1)
Thirty Six
CAS
CATTYA’S BED WAS too warm. Even Cas’s Shadows felt stifled beneath her.
They had been a good team before, back when Cas had no real worries, or when he spent most of his time finding ways to defy the system out of spite.
When they had ended their partnership, before he and his court left Rimemere, it had been sad, but not debilitating. They had both known it was never meant to be a long-term thing… even if they had been engaged for reasons other than love.
He hadn’t expected to see her ever again, if he was honest. Cattya was meant to walk the castle of Stone Ledge, tasting the imported foods, and demanding her ladies give her the next worldly gossip.
Cattya was a familiar face at the beginning of the Vows. But now, as they neared the end, Cas couldn’t, for the love of Warren, remember why he had ever tangled with her.
“I was thinking of changing the color of my hair,” Cattya said, twirling her dark braid around a finger. She lowered her chin to Cas's bare chest, blinking at him. “There’s a new sort of plant that makes dark hair lighter.”
He had almost said no this time. Sol hadn’t left her room in days, and although he and the Ketar brothers left food by her door, none had been touched. Cas passed by her door so many times he lost count but couldn’t bring himself to knock.
Watching her expression absolutely shatter after the last trial was almost as horrifying as watching Zeri fall off Winderlyn’s bridge.
She hadn’t spoken to anyone about what transpired between her and Ezra.
Not having a weapon when she emerged from behind Jeriyah’s enchantment didn’t go unnoticed.
So, she either used the dagger she’d had or used something else entirely.
The subtle scent of burnt flesh on her when she walked past him told him she likely wouldn’t reveal how she did it.
The mystery of it gnawed at Cas’s every waking thought. “Did you hear what I said?” Cattya whined. She sat up on her bed, looking down at Cas. Slowly, she ran her hands over the lines of his tattoo which had been in a state of incessant itching since Flora’s trial.
Whatever soothing Sawyer’s blood had provided the Kerproot seemed to have deteriorated it.
“Your hair is fine,” Cas said finally. He stretched an arm behind his head. “You always hated lighter hair.”
“But you like it.” She slid a leg over his hips, settling herself over him. “Surely it will look good on me.”
“I have no preference.” Cas gritted his teeth.
Cattya’s price for the continuous supply of information on the trials was this. For him to lie with her. And although it was effortless entertainment, it felt wrong. Any sort of pleasure when so many things were at stake felt wrong.
Even Cas had the moral sense to know that.
Obviously, Cattya didn’t.
“You used to be way better in bed, Casimir. Did the years of traveling make you boring?”
“People are dying, Cattya.”
She scoffed. “People are always dying. Doesn’t mean everyone needs to stop having fun.” She lowered herself onto his chest, her now loose hair draping around them like spilled ink. She hovered her lips over his, rose red and slightly parted.
And Cas couldn’t help it as he looked down at them. “What’s the next trial, Cattya?” he whispered. “I have other places to be.”
She smiled slowly, nipping his bottom lip. “Better places than with me?”
You need to know what’s next. You need to know what’s next.
Cas recited the words in his mind like a prayer as he tangled his fingers in her hair and brought her down into a kiss like he knew she liked. The way it made him want to bolt from the room surprised even him.
There was no other way to know the next trial.
The only way he had been able to evade the Kerproot during Flora’s was due to Cattya’s intel.
He paid her price again, and again, reminding himself it was to help him and Sol make it out of the damn Vows alive.
And if he didn’t make it, at least guard Sol as long as he could.
And though Cas had always been an expert at hiding his true feelings, feigning interest in a woman was one of those things he struggled to lie about.
Cattya’s kiss was urgent and unwelcome, forcing him to break it. “The trial details, Cat.”
Cattya rolled her eyes and slid off him.
She shrugged her robe on. “You’d think I was asking you to kill me instead of fuck me, Casimir.
” She leaned against the dresser, a hint of disappointment in her eyes.
She looked him over. “If I told you I had a way to make it you and me at the end—would you agree?”
He blinked at her. “No.”
She scoffed, as if she hadn’t expected another answer. “It’s water. Aquarene’s trial.” She inspected her fingernails. “Don’t know anything else.”
Cas sat up, holding the sheet around his waist as he turned to face her. “You always know more.”
Cattya shrugged. “Guess they’re being extra secretive about this one.”