Post by Regan Lassiter on May 9, 2023 10:39:52 GMT -5
[ For Cassian Rainecourt ]
The dawn broke cold. Once they dropped back into their human forms, Cassian’s words had been few. Regan was issued an order to fetch his personal healer, and she followed it. The gashes Alys’s claws had left in Reagn’s gut had been partially healed by her wolf form but still were raw and open in places. After the royal healer had been dispatched, Regan made herself scarce. Cassian would, no doubt, be attending to Alys. Regan’s presence would only complicate things. Besides—there was also the possibility that Cassian didn’t want to see her. The animal mentality was now once again secondary to her human reason, Regan thought perhaps guilt at what she’d done would come flooding in. But, as she made her way to wash, Regan felt nothing. Nothing other than calm, dark certainty.
Regan washed herself of Alys’s blood and the grime and grease of battle. Once scrubbed clean, she took to disinfecting the wounds on her stomach, dressing them with salves and bandages so that they’d close and heal more quickly. All the while, Regan waited for the realization of what came next to hit. She conjured up the memory of what it felt like to make Alys burn. To clamp her teeth around her packmate’s neck. Just so she might hasten the feeling of dread and shame she thought might follow.
But no. Nothing. If anything, the memory only sparked the satisfaction of victory. The simple bloodlust of battle. So Regan banished all thoughts of it.
The sun had only just risen when Regan heard a knock at the door. She slipped a clean tunic over her head before answering.
“The king requests to see you. Ready yourself and I will take you to him.”
Her heart hammered in her chest. Regan nodded and hastened to lace up her boots. She slung a jacket over her shoulders and followed quickly after the guard. Instead of stopping at Cassian’s office, the guard passed by it to the end of the hall. He indicated to the door there, the one Regan knew led to the castle parapet. She nodded, mumbling a thank you to the guard before letting herself up.
The cloudy horizon was tinged with pale sunlight. It lit churning late-winter waves that crashed far below on the black sands. Cassian’s back was to her. Regan’s heart still thundered as she stepped forward, stopping at Cassian’s side. She said nothing. She faced the horizon, but her eyes were unable to stay fixed there for long. Regan’s eyes flicked up to Cassian, stealing a glance every second or so before returning to the waves.