Marrying a Warhound (Cassian) novel Chapter 120

Chapter 120

ATASHA’S POV

Minutes ago, I was asking myself why I hugged him. Now, I’m scolding myself for even questioning it. He is my husband. Isn’t it only natural that I hold on to him when I see him safe?

“You saved me from the stone’s corruption.” The words slipped out before I could stop them. I tried to avoid his eyes, but it was useless. My heart was too raw, too grateful, restless and perhaps too confused. All my life, no one had stepped between me and danger. No one but him. Over and over, he’d thrown himself into the fire, even if it meant getting burned.

For a moment, I thought about telling him what Elder Agape had said about the stone, about corruption, about bloodlines. Logic urged me to wait, to let him tell me what he knew first. So instead, I forced a different truth out. “I haven’t thanked you. Not really. For all of it.”

Now that I thought about it, this might have been the first time we were having a proper conversation.

I was already used to his silence, his way of watching me, weighing me, giving nothing back unless it was

necessary.

“I know I’ve doubted you before,” I admitted, my fingers tightening around my cloak. “And maybe I still don’t understand half of what you do. But you’ve kept me alive more times than I can count, even when it put you in danger. You didn’t have to. No one else ever did.”

Cassian didn’t answer. His silence was the same as always, but it didn’t feel cold. Then I felt his hand brush against me. Snow had clung to my cloak, and he brushed it away without a word.

I turned, caught off guard, and found him watching me. His crimson eyes didn’t waver. For once, I didn’t feel like prey under that stare. I felt… seen.

A week ago, I would have flinched, filled the silence with fear or awkwardness. Now, I made myself hold his gaze. My lips tugged into the smallest smile. “Thank you,” I said again, softer this time. “And… I’m sorry. For doubting you before.”

His jaw tightened, but he didn’t pull away.

The wind whipped around us, but for a moment, it felt like we were standing inside something else entirely, something that belonged only to the two of us.

But even as I stood there, a part of me twisted inside. Gratitude only carried me so far. The truth was, I wasn’t sure what to make of him, what he wanted from me, or why he kept throwing himself between me and death. Was it duty? Instinct? Or something I didn’t dare name?

The questions crowded my head until I blurted out something I hadn’t planned. “And I… I’m sorry. For revealing my ability.” My voice caught, and I rushed to cover it. “It was reckless, I know. Foolish. You warned me, and I ignored you. I wasn’t thinking–no, I was thinking, but it wasn’t the right kind of thinking.” I bit my lip, shaking my head. “What I mean is… you were right. I was careless, and if something happens because of me, then-”

I stonned heat creeping up my neck. The words sounded even worse out loud than they had in my head. It

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Chapter 120

35 Welcher

sounded awkward. Childish, almost. My chest tightened as if I’d just handed him another reason to be disappointed in me.

I expected silence. Or worse, that cool indifference of his that left me scrambling for footing. Instead, he

moved.

Cassian’s hand closed around mine. My breath caught. Before I could ask what he was doing, he pressed something into my palm. A square shape, heavier than I expected.

I blinked down at it. It was warm. Startlingly warm, as though it had been waiting for me. My fingers tightened, and I realized only then how cold my hands had been, stiff from wind and stone. He had noticed before I did.

I swallowed, my throat tight.

The square was covered in velvet, soft beneath my fingertips, black as night. Embroidered into the fabric was the crest of the Valemont House, deep red thread stitched into the shape of a wolf’s head, its eyes sharp, its snarl frozen mid–bite.

The weight of it in my hand felt heavier than the object itself. My chest ached in a way I couldn’t explain.

15:17 Sun, Sep 28

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