Marrying a Warhound (Cassian) novel Chapter 109

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I didn’t remember fainting. What I remember was being held in Cassian’s arms. It felt like I had been there for a long time, pressed against him while everything else slipped away. Something inside me stirred, a pull I couldn’t explain, as if my body recognized him before my mind did. Then, I lifted my gaze and met his crimson eyes.

The sight jolted me. My chest, which had been calm and empty, suddenly thudded with life. The grief that had been eating me from the inside began to thin, slipping away bit by bit, replaced by the sound of my own heartbeat.

It looked like the sudden pressure that threw the others off earlier also disappeared. I immediately found myself looking at my empty hands. The stone… was nowhere to be found.

Then I stared up at Cassian and saw it, the red in his eyes had deepened, darker, almost like blood itself was flooding them. I didn’t need to ask. I knew what it meant. He was angry.

“Your Highness!” Reina’s shrill voice cut through the moment. “You saw it yourself. Hand over the witch! She caused this tide. She’s luring the beasts here!”

She pointed at me as if her finger alone could condemn me. Her soldiers moved with unease, their spears lifting.

Before I could even breathe a response, Cassian pulled me hard into his chest, one arm locking around me as if I were something someone might actually dare to take. His free hand snapped a sword up from the ground, steel catching the torchlight. His voice dropped. “I dare you to try.”

The soldiers froze, and so did Reina. For a moment she looked shocked, but then her lip curled and she found her voice again. “Don’t you see? He’s bewitched! The Tyrant Lord himself has fallen to her tricks!”

Cassian snorted. His grip on me tightened as his gaze cut across them. “Touch her,” he said, the words low enough that it made the air heavier. “And you answer to me.”

This time, no one moved. Everyone knew how strong Cassian is. Fighting him head on would be foolish.

Then, a sound ripped across the night.

The bell tolled, a sound so deep it seemed to crawl up from the bones of the earth itself. Each strike rolled through the night, heavy and unrelenting, until the very ground trembled beneath our feet.

I froze where I stood. The hollow in my chest widened with every echo, as if the sound had carved it out of me. Around us, voices faltered, movements stilled. We all knew what that bell meant.

It was never rung for the tide nor for the swarms.

That bell marked something greater, something vast and terrible, a beast far beyond the monsters clawing at

our walls.

Something that should not have come this close.

20:00 Wed, Sep 24

Chapter 109

43

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Hearing this, Reina’s voice rose even higher. It sounded frantic but somehow twisted with triumph. “You hear it! You all hear it! This is her doing! Kill her now, or the next wave will destroy us all!”

The men stirred uneasily. Their hands tightened on their weapons, some glancing toward Cassian, others at Reina. Doubt flickered in their eyes.

I frowned. I wanted to tell her to stop this nonsense, but I couldn’t speak. My tongue felt stuck, my throat dry. I didn’t know what words would even matter to someone who had already lost their reasoning.

“Enough!” Halden’s voice thundered from where he struggled on one knee, still clutching his wounded arm. His face was pale, but his eyes burned at his daughter. “Reina, you’ve gone mad! Stop this insanity!”

She glared at him, her jaw clenched.

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