Cruel Empathy ✓

Chapter 25

***Anna***

Casten was stone. Anna didn't think she had ever met anyone so stoic. They continued their walk through the woods, and she tried to dissect his brain, but she found that Cas wasn't much of a sharer. He seemed reluctant to provide her with any details about himself or his life.

Anna told him a little about how she ended up in this world, and he listened to her intently. She asked about their mother, but Cas was unwilling to speak of her.

For the most part, they walked in companionable silence.

"Why were you out here all alone?" Anna asked him, curiously.

"Scouting," he answered. That was it. One word.

"Scouting? For what?" She pried.

"For you."

"For me. You knew I was here? How?"

"Ostiel." His one-word responses were really starting to irritate her. Expand your words! She wanted to shout at him. Instead, she took a deep breath and continued her interrogation.

"Why did Ostiel tell Solmin about me?"

Casten stopped and scowled at her. His golden eyes went from cold to stormy. She gave a little gulp. "Because he is stupid." He turned and continued walking. Alright. She stopped questioning him, it was too much work. She wished he would talk to her. She needed to get her mind off of meeting Solmin and worrying about Rye. Her insides were shoestrings, tied into all kinds of knots.

The only thing he was intent on telling her was repeating his advice, to not provoke their cruel father. It was not doing anything to calm her nerves. She would have to bite her tongue, which didn't always come easy when she was angry.

Their father. She didn't want to think of Solmin as her father. She decided she wouldn't. They shared DNA, that was it. She let go of her fantasies and decided she would not let him have any control over her.

"You wear Ryevin's chain," Cas observed after a couple of miles.

"Yes." Her heart pounded a little harder when she thought of Rye.

"Did he treat you well?" Casten asked softly.

Anna gave a smug smile. "He got better with time."

"He tried to send you back to your world?"

"Yes. But I was meant to stay." Her voice was so low, it was almost a whisper. Tears threatened to escape. Her heart clenched inside her chest. He held her all night while she cried. She had been through such a rollercoaster of emotions recently and now she thought she was on the downward slope with her wheels slipping off the track.

"I wonder how he will feel when he learns whose daughter you are," Cas mused. It was just something else for her to worry about. She dreaded telling Rye that her parents were the same people who murdered his entire family.

"I can't imagine he would be too pleased about it. I'm not too thrilled about the information either."

"Will he still want you?"

"Probably." Anna knew that she held Ryevin's heart. She couldn't imagine that her parentage could alter his feelings. She wasn't really their daughter. Not in the way that it mattered, anyway.

"Father will not approve of the match."

"I don't give a rat's ass if Solmin approves or not." Cas grabbed her by the arm and tugged her roughly to face him.

"You must not speak that way. It will not go well for you." His voice was laced with warning.

"Don't worry, I'm not an idiot," she said haughtily.