21 Bitten

Cassandra had never thought that her actions would actually cause her brother to attack the Prince. She stared at the two men on the ground, fighting like kids. Who would have thought that her brother was actually brave enough to do something like this?

Even though the prince was considered a cripple and might have been the laughing-stock of the royal family, he was still a prince, a royal.

"Both of you… stop!"

When she saw that the two had no plans on listening to her, she opened her palms and produced two black fireballs. Then hurled the fireballs towards them.

Seeing that her action was able to get their attention, she hissed. "The next one will destroy this place and everyone around it."

"You want to save him?" Carmichael's eyes were wide and murderous, he glared at Prince Hunter who was lying on the ground. Carmichael raised his hand trying to punch Hunter again when a small fireball hit his arm. He hissed and looked at Cassandra. "You— "

His words were interrupted when he saw a ball of flames in Cassandra's left hand, it was now as huge as a human's head and it was getting bigger. "I am not kidding." Her expression was serious. "Since you cannot control your temper and would choose to attack a royal knowing that they could easily punish you, why don't I just kill everyone here instead?"

"Cassie…" It was as if her words made her brother realize that the punishment of attacking a royal could be death.

"Help him up." Cassandra gritted her teeth as she approached them and extended her hand to the prince.

She wasn't surprised that the prince refused her help. He pushed Carmichael away and stood on his own.

"Let me take you to— "

"What happened today…" Prince Hunter interrupted her. "I will never forget." He took a step towards her, face devoid of any expression. "There will be a hunting game a week from now. As my fianceé, you will come with me." With that, he glared at Carmichael before taking his leave.

"What the hell was that?" Carmichael didn't bother with the Prince's threatening gaze as he approached her, face full of worry. "Was he taking advantage of you? How could you— "

"I kissed him." Cassandra said. "I started the kiss."

"But you— "

"I am twenty-four with four failed engagements under my belt. Women my age already have kids. Did you need to act like I was a teenager?"

"You— "

"What is going on Carmichael?" She wasn't dumb. The moment this man had hugged her when she woke up, she already knew that something was wrong with him. "Your temper…" As the heir of the family, he was always better than her at everything. And that included controlling his temper.

When she heard him approach them earlier, she had never expected that he would just pounce on the prince like a mad dog.

"That man was disrespecting you! Of course I would— "

"Stop it," she frowned at him. "Since I saw you in that forest, I knew that something was wrong with you." The atmosphere instantly turned tense. "The Carmichael that I know would never let bandits tie him up. He would never let people beat his face. He would say, beating his face warranted death."

She felt the surrounding air turn cold as her brother's face turned grim. "You don't understand." Carmichael said. "Go back to the training camp, I need to— "

"No." She crossed her arm across her chest. "No one is leaving this place until you tell me what's going on."

"I don't know."

"What?"

"I said, I don't know!"

A part of her didn't believe him. Just as she was about to ask more questions, the sound of thunder boomed. Both of them looked at the forest.

"Go back to the camps." Carmichael said.

"I can help you."

"Help me with what?"

"Whatever it is that you are— "

His brother chuckled. "You can't help me."

"But what if I can?"

"I said, you can't help me!"

Another peal of thunder echoed, interrupting the already tense atmosphere between them. "I thought you would never hide things from me?" she asked.

"Funny how you are saying that, as if you don't have your own secret!"

Cassandra froze. He knows! He knew about her ability. Fear started to hum inside her veins. This was the confrontation that she had dreaded the most. And yet, she had known that one way or the other, it would come.

"I can use my… ability to help you." Cassandra said.

"Help me?" She didn't miss the disgust in her brother's tone. He took a step towards her as he used the back of his hand to wipe the blood on his lips from Prince Hunter's fist. "Help me with what, Cassandra?"

"That— "

"I don't even know what's going on with me! How could you help someone like that?"

When the third rumble of thunder echoed, Cassandra suddenly saw flashes of Carmichael… trying to kill himself. The vision was quick. It disappeared as quickly as it arrived. "Then tell me what is going on."

Without saying anything, Carmichael grabbed his own dagger and used it to cut his arm.

Cassandra let out a surprise gasp when she saw him impale his own bone with the knife, the sound of his bone against the sharp blade causing goosebumps on her skin.

"Michael…"

"This is what's going on…" Carmichael's face was pale as he showed her his arm. "Take the knife…"

"But—"

"Remove it!" Carmichael said.

Cassandra complied. She pulled the knife from his wound, letting the gush of blood from the— "You're—You're healing?" She lifted her gaze away from the wound. "How is that—"No wonder, Carmichael had burned his skin when he had fought with Prince Hunter. He had wanted to hide the fact that he would heal.

"How is that possible?" Cassandra asked.

"I was bitten…"

Her heart jumped to her throat. "Bitten? A demon? Are you—a dark one?" she whispered, scared that someone else would hear her.

"What? What are you talking about? Dark ones don't have any reason."

"Oh… Yes. You are right." Prince Hunter's face flashed in her mind. "Dark ones… don't have any reason." So, what had bitten him?