I ground my teeth together. "That's not for you to decide."

He calmly met my eyes. The lack of reaction had my frustration growing. "Yes, it is."

The surety in his words had my anger raging violently. Tears pricked at my eyes as I fought to keep them back.

"Eat your food before it gets too cold," he said while taking another bite of his omelette dismissively.

The burn of tears in the back of my throat and the uneasy churning in my stomach had eliminated any possibility of an appetite, just the thought of consuming something had me nauseous. I kept my mouth shut while Cassius took his time to eat. I was afraid my voice would give away my inner turmoil if I tried to speak. He took bites as he read something on his tablet while I pushed around the red berries on my plate.

After fifteen tense minutes filled with his relaxed chewing, he set aside his tablet, finished what he was working on snd attempted to ask me about myself again. It came off as... forced and unnatural.

"Do you have any allergies?" He asked like a pharmacist. Although I could see that he had tried to pronounce the word properly, he failed towards the end, telling me it was a foreign word to him.

Whose first question was about allergies to the person they were trying to impregnate?

Well, I could see that as a smart priority. I was an incubator to him, of course, he would need to know my medical history if he wanted healthy babies.

I clenched my jaw. Even his question lacked the emotion he was probably incapable of feeling like his brother.

I shuddered at the reminder of the connection. The kinds of fear the two induced in me were so different that it was easy to forget they were related. Surprisingly, Cassius's terror was innately more terrifying, but my history with his brother made him the lesser of two threats. It was terrifying to admit, but it had taken him multiple violent acts to elicit the same amount of fear that Cassius could with a single, pointed look.

I didn't even want to begin to think of what Cassius would be able to do if he was given the same opportunity his brother was.

An opportunity he had taken when he had dragged me into his home unwillingly.

Seeing as my situation at the moment was resembling the setting of my past nightmare in the way I was being held in a gilded cage, forced to dine with a man I didn't want to with, I couldn't help a tremor of fear from shaking my lip.

He wasn't so different from his brother. It would only be a matter of time before he resorted to the same tactics as him when he got tired of this unproductive back and forth we had going on. This act he was putting on wasn't going to work. He had already told me where I stood before, I wasn't going to be fooled into thinking he suddenly loved and cared for me. It was all just an act to get what he wanted. A baby.

The longer I looked at him while comparing him to the brother, the more his features shifted to resemble the ones that haunted my nightmares.

Suddenly, I was no longer looking at Cassius and his distinct features and darker hair. He was replaced by his brother. His face. His hair.

Finding myself staring into the face that had tormented me for so long, I looked away sharply. It was a flaw that he could never change, one that would keep his latest delusion was just that, a delusion. One that would never come true. I'd never be able to play family with ones that had raised a monster, let alone give than another child to mould into one.

"No," I said dismissively, brushing off his question. I stabbed a berry and spread its juices around the plate, wondering how long this breakfast was going to last.

It took me a moment to realize that the sound of his fork and knife scrapping over his plate had gone silent. Everything was silent.

I looked up to find Cassius looking at me disapprovingly. He settled back in his seat and looked at me with such intensity that I couldn't help but cower into my shoulders.

I thought I was going to get a lashing of some sort, whether physical or verbal, from the way he was looking at me, but instead, his eyes glanced at the tablet lying on the table to his side. Grabbing a cloth napkin from beside it, he dabbed at the corner of his lips before discarding it in his half-finished plate.

"If you're not going to eat, I'll show you around your new home. Let's take a stroll through the gardens," he said as he rose to his feet.

"Actually-" I started protesting, hoping that asking to return to Ares would hold no negative repercussions, but he cut me off with a snap of his fingers before I could get the words out.

At first, my brows furrowed at his action, but that was before I noticed the cloaked figure that appeared by the table near my side. He was identical to the ones that had caged in him back on earth.

I jumped back with a panicked scream, taking my seat with me that only added to the high-pitched chaos as it was dragged across the floor with a deafening screech.

"It's cold outside. Take the coat."

I looked towards Cassius with wide panicked eyes at his words. My chest heaved as my heart pounded against it, as I watched the cloaked man hold out a dried-out boney arm. If it wasn't for the leathery flesh it was coated in, he would have been bare bone.

At the end of his extended arm, he held a bright red coat.

I almost let out a hysterical snort as thoughts of fairytales with red cloaks and wolves entered my mind. I had the wolf, but he wasn't a danger and resided on Ares. I now had the cloak, it turned out to be a red coat. The grandma? I thought Ares made an excellent one, but hopefully, he'd transform into the hunter and arrive with the wolf in tow for assistance.

With a shaking hand, I took the coat from the... it. I kept my fingers as far away as possible, not willing to make contact with him. When I had the coat in my hold, he calmly retreated. The sleeve of his cloak dropped to cover the unnatural limb from sight.

As I shrugged the coat on, keeping an eye on the two out of the corner of my eye. Cassius nodded in thanks to the summoned creature before it vanished, leaving behind a small cloud of black smoke.

"Come on, it's a bit of a walk," he said as he stood by the door.

With a sigh that was a poor attempt at masking my fear, I pulled the collar of the coat close around my neck before following after him as he made his way through the bedroom and into the hallway.

* * *

Bit of a walk? Did this man understand what a bit was?

My stomach growled, making me regret letting fear conquer over basic survival instincts. I was in the enemy's territory. I couldn't miss meals and weaken myself when the goal was to escape.

The last 15 minutes of the hour-long journey that was considered a 'bit of a walk' had been through a towering hedge maze. My screaming calfs had me wondering if Cassius had lost his way when finally the path opened up to a sight other than green hedges, a beautiful and old fountain.

I couldn't help but appreciate the beauty of the relic. It was perfect in its own way, something only nature could achieve. The moss brightened it while the vines reached out in an attempt to reclaim the structure as a part of nature.

"Beautiful. A little broken, but perfectly beautiful. Just like you, mouse. Just doesn't smell as tempting."

My breath caught in my throat as I jumped at Axel's voice. It had sounded right over my shoulder, in my ear. His low throaty tone had a shiver travelling through my body.

When I turned around to face him, my eyes met his still grey ones. Memories of them melting into silver had me averting my eyes and taking a step back.

Right into Cassius.

He caught me by the shoulders when I bumped into his chest, but he didn't release me once I was steady. Instead, he kept me held in place as Axel approached.

"Still skittish as ever, mouse," he said, tapping me on the cheek lightly with a curved finger. "We're going to have to work on that."

I tried to pull away from him but had nowhere to go with Cassius right behind me. It was why I felt it so easily through my back when he sighed at the man in front of us.

"Did you do what I asked?"

Axel rolled his eyes in response. Walking over to a nearby fruit tree, he plucked off one of the yellow, jewelled fruits before returning. Taking a bite, he spoke.

"You ask a lot of things-"

"I'm not playing your games, Axel. Are we prepared to proceed with Aradonna like we had planned or not?"

Like they had planned?

Axel glared at him before taking another bite. "Yes. They've been briefed and prepared. They will enter the city through the summoning circle at our residence unannounced. Slowly they will take over the city from the inside without word getting out. We'll have the old hag's land under our rule before the day breaks. We'll keep the city on lockdown as we strategically expand our rule without letting word get of the invasion."

I tensed at his words. This wasn't something they had planned overnight since Cassius had made his announcement. This was something that would have taken weeks of planning and preparation.

The short conversation confirmed my suspicions, Axel knew all along. It must have been why they were constantly together and disappearing as a pair, they must have been planning for this moment all along.

"Good," Cassius said. "I want them ready in the upcoming weeks. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish.

"They just about are," he answered before taking another bite. "So, what are you and the little mouse doing out here?" He held the bitten fruit in his hand up to me. "Want a bite?"

I recoiled away from the offering. It looked and smelled tempting, but it was never smart to take sweets from a stranger, which they very much still were.

"I'm trying to take your advice and get to know her better, but she's making it unnecessarily difficult."

My brows nearly rose at the surprising admission but narrowed when I processed his words. "Your the one who made it difficult," I snapped back. It was probably the unexpected comfort I found in Ares company sticking around, but I had lost the little voice that always told me to shut my mouth and stay quiet. It was what a lack of negative repercussions did. Not receiving one just felt like positive reinforcement.

Struggling against Cassius's grip, I was surprised when I was able to free myself as I stumbled forward. When I turned around and faced the cause of my latest and soon to be expected problems, I was quick to be reminded that I wouldn't have been able to escape his hold unless he allowed it when I caught sight of the veins in his forearms bulging as he clenched his fists at his side.

Axel lowered the yellow fruit from his mouth. "Cass..."

He levelled me with his stormy eyes, his gaze hard and unforgiving. "The situation is not going to change, Nea. You and the other two are not going to escape. This castle or this realm."

I tensed and swallowed hard at his words, nearly choking on my saliva. Of course, they had been watching us. Given that they had timed their appearance perfectly with when we were separated from Ryder, they must have been watching us for a while.

"The sooner you accept your place, the better. For everyone. I am not a patient man, yet I am making an exception and attempting to be patient for you, but you are making this more difficult than need be."

"Come on, Cassius, cut her a break," Axel interrupted. "She never asked for any of this."

"None of us did. Yet, she is the one that got the title thousands would kill for. She should show some gratitu-"

"Then give it to one of them."

The words had left my lips before I even realized it. I hadn't realized I had spoken them at first, but when the intensity of Cassius's gaze increased with the narrowing of his eyes, I realized my mistake.

He levelled me with his eyes. "No."

I couldn't help the frustrated tears in my eyes from building. "Why?"

"Because you're mine now."

His words had my lips curling up in a sneer. "No one owns me."

"I do now. The sooner you accept that the better."

My teeth ground together as angry tears filled my eyes.

"Fuck you," I spit out, frustration leaving me incapable of coming up with anything better.

I expected anger and disapproval at my words, but when his lips curled up into a smirk, it only pushed my tears to fall down my cheeks.

"Don't worry, pet, you will."