To His Hell and Back
Chapter 67: Candlelight Rebuttal

Chapter 67: Candlelight Rebuttal

Dipping her body deeper into the bathtub, Bella was left in her own thoughts. She pondered, her mind disappearing as she stared at the haze that had filled the bathroom. So many thoughts swirled inside her head: about tonight, about the hatred humans have against vampires, and likewise, about Cassius.

An enigmatic soul, that’s who Cassius is.

She had been sad the day before after the words that Iliza had accused her of, and Cassius’s offer of allowing her to see Ariel was made if she came to the town with him.

Was that kindness, or was it the fickle will of a powerful man?

Then earlier, he had saved her, and the way he had prioritized her safety, the way his fingers tenderly checked her wounds, and how he had gazed at her in a comforting worry. None of it felt like the usual Cassius, and somewhere she thought that it was kindness.

She isn’t naive. She knew that, for better or worse, Cassius wasn’t a good man. He could kill at his will, he wasn’t someone who would help others because he was kind, and he was not someone with a mercy bone inside of him.

Yet he had easily allowed her to see Ariel and saved her. Was this act of kindness something done to manipulate her, or was there something more beneath his cold exterior?

Bella exhaled slowly, letting the warm water soothe her tense muscles. Cassius is a paradox, cruel yet, at times, inexplicably gentle. A man who thrived on control, yet for a fleeting moment, had made her feel safe.

Her fingers traced absent patterns in the water as she recalled the way he had looked at her, not with his usual smirk or taunting amusement, but with something dangerously close to concern. It unsettled her.

She pulled the water to her face and took a deep breath.

No.

It doesn’t matter, does it?

Whether Cassius had done it out of kindness, whether deep down there is someone who was capable of a change, none of it matters.

She was taken here against her will, and he was the only a ticket for her to leave the castle. About him, about his past, and about his future, it matters not to her.

She wasn’t foolish enough to forget what he had done and only focus on the good thing about him. He did good, but he also did bad, so unless he changed, which she doubted could happen, she would leave the castle. This was her goal from the start.

She would bring Ariel and leave far away, far, far away from humans or vampires.

A small village with her sister on her hands, the normal farming days and weaving threads, those are the things that she looks forward to.

Not a future in a man who shows her a small glimpse of his true heart.

Standing from the bathtub, Arabella reached out her legs to the floor. When she took the towel and dabbed herself from the water, she saw the dress that had been put beside the candle light. She took a look at it, noticing it was the same dress that she wore, a simple linen dress that reached to her ankles.

Seeing it, she was reminded of her position.

She was reminded of her goal.

After leaving the bathroom, she found Cassius, who was looking at a book. He was quiet as he looked back at her and then nudged his chin toward the bed, gesturing for her to walk there. No words were exchanged between them as she made her way toward the bed, sitting quietly.

Two of the three candle lights were suddenly extinguished due to the cold draft, causing the already dark room to become dimmer. Only the candle beside the bed remained bright as, illuminating the side of Cassius’s face in a golden glow.

He crouched in front of her legs, one knee on the ground while the other bent. His lashes darkened as they cast long shadows above his burning red eyes that seemed to swirl like the bottom of an inferno.

Quiet. There were no words exchanged between them, but the tension in the room stretched further than those times they shared bickering.

He was unreadable, his crimson pale lips set in a line that wasn’t too thin or curved, making him look at ease, but is he?

His long fingers traced to her ankles, lifting it up. Though inwardly startled, she was far too stubborn to show her disturbed emotion or say a word since he hadn’t said one himself.

Despite this, Cassius was meticulous. He opened the wooden box that he had placed on the floor, pulling out a gauze and a bottle of medicine that opened with a loud pop.

Only the sound of the wind hitting the window had accompanied them, leaving the pin drop silence between the two. Cassius... he wasn’t going to talk about what had happened in the bathroom. He didn’t feel the need to explain himself, and that somewhat irritated her. She wanted to hit him, but why should she act first?

If he thinks she isn’t important enough, then she wouldn’t think of him as important enough to show her emotions either. Her fingers on the bedsheet slowly tightened, crumpling the white bedsheet under her fingers. Thankfully, she managed to school her expression; this way, he wouldn’t know what she was feeling.

What she wasn’t aware of was how Cassius could hear her heartbeat. He could tell how it had picked a pace and how it fell, how she seemed infuriated by his nonchalant attitude and how hard she was trying to keep her heartbeat steady only to crumble when his fingers wrap around the plump side of her soles, his fingernails tracing her smooth skin, sending an unexpected shiver up her spine.

Bella’s breath hitched, but she refused to react. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Instead, she stared ahead, her face an impassive mask, though her traitorous pulse gave her away.

Cassius, of course, notices. He always did. His grip remained loose, almost lazy, as if touching her was an afterthought, yet the deliberate way his fingers traced slow, featherlight patterns along her ankle said otherwise.

Knowing her reaction made his lips curl, but when he thought about her words earlier and how he had spoken about his mother, which he hadn’t even told to his sister, it made him pause. He was too exhausted today; no matter how strong he was, he had lost a lot of blood, which was the reason for his slip up.

But that won’t happen again.

It didn’t happen because it’s Arabella either.