The Baroness Misbehaves
Chapter 170: Exposed (3)

Chapter 170: Exposed (3)

Madeline watched in horror as Alaric stepped back, raising his hand as a sign for his guards to get Cassian, but the young lad seemed unfazed as he stared at Alaric with his crimson eyes - the same color of eyes that reminded the young King of the sight of blood, and it was a look he greatly detested.

But then something strange happened.

Madeline thought she saw Cassian’s eyes soften, his fangs receding as he concentrated on calming himself. It was as if a switch had been flipped, and suddenly he was just a man again.

"Cassian."

Alaric seemed just as surprised as Madeline, but he didn’t let his guard down. He was still having trouble believing that Cassian was one of those things that abducted his people, but what he had witnessed with his own eyes makes it difficult for him to deny it.

"I always suspected there was more to you." He said, his voice low and wary as his expression turned stoic. "But this changes everything." His tone was firm and clear in the quiet hallway, and one couldn’t guess what exactly his thought would be.

Cassian only shrugged at his remark, his heavy eyes flickering over to Madeline once more, looking more relieved she was unharmed.

"I had to protect her," he said simply.

Those simple words made guilt take over, and the tears she struggled to keep intact spilled from her eyes, but then she seized in her crying when she heard Alaric’s order.

"Take him." He said to the guards who reached for Cassian. Luckily for Elian, he had turned human before Alaric showed up.

"T...take him to where?" Madeline asked when the guards reached to take Cassian away from her, but she refused to let him go.

"I’m not letting you take him until you tell me where you’re taking him to. He’s hurt and he needs treatment!!"

"Maddie." Cassian shook his head slightly, refraining her from going against Alaric’s orders since there would be consequences. "I’ll be fine."

"Like hell you’ll be." Muttered Orson who pointed his gun at the guards, ignoring the punishment that might come his way as he threatened them to stay back. "We’re not leaving without you."

"I won’t die, you sound like a moron when you’re brave, just go and stop making me talk too much....ssssss....ahhh" He hissed out when he placed his hand against his injured abdomen, his blood already staining the material each time he took the effort to speak.

"I’ll be fine." He sighed and tried to get up to his feet with the little strength he could muster.

"Cas.." Madeline helped him stand up to his feet, and Cassian looked at Alaric.

"Let them go, they won’t stop you from taking me away, because I’ll personally come with you."

"Ahh.. you idiot! I just said.."

"Take them away." Cassian interrupted Orson who was clearly against leaving him here. "Just listen, or do I have to beg you."

"If you were going to be like this you should have asked me to empty the bullet on you." Orson lowered his gun against his will, brushing his hand through his hair as he paced back and forth, his frustration heightening.

"How can you tell us to just leave you here? What should I tell Mother??" Inna’s teary eyes met her brother who flicked her forehead lightly in return.

"You don’t have to tell her anything, now go."

"But you didn’t do anything, why are you being taken??" Madeline’s quivering voice made Cassian look at her, he could see in her glistening eyes that she didn’t want him to go anywhere, but Cassian smiled faintly before releasing himself from her hold, and that led him to stagger a bit to the side when his injured abdomen stung him relentlessly, but Madeline supported him once again, seeing as he couldn’t stand on his own with his untreated injury.

"Cas.." Tears rolled out from her eyelids to her cheek, knowing he must be in great pain, and it was all because of her.

"You said I didn’t do anything, why are you worried then?" Cassian clicked his tongue, not liking the expressions on everyone’s faces. He looked at Elian who had been quiet all this time.

"Take care of them for me, till I return." He said, surprising Elian who was expecting tons of questions to be thrown his way. The least he expected was for Cassian to trust him once again.

Cassian willingly surrendered to the guards who took him away. Alaric’s gaze shifted to the four people who stared at him in return, and Inna took a step forward.

"You’ve known Cassian for a long time, even before you became King, do you really think he’s responsible for what has been happening?" Inna asked, hoping Alaric wasn’t someone who would turn a blind eye to the truth, and before Alaric could respond, Orson interrupted.

"Do you really think?" Orson scoffed at that statement before passing a warning glare at Alaric. "You’re the King, think this through before you make a mistake you’ll regret, Cas has done nothing wrong so you better act just."

"If you’ll excuse me."

Without giving them any assurance, Alaric turned and exited the hallway, leaving the four of them with unanswered questions. Alaric was also perplexed by the scene in front of him, but rather than act out his own emotions, he would have to speak with Cassian regarding what he was and how he became one.

Outside the palace, Inna worriedly paced back and forth, Madeline appeared lost as she leaned her back against one of the big pillars, and Orson felt like he’d go mad with how their plans had failed abruptly.

"What will happen to Cassian? By tomorrow everyone will know about what has happened here, and Cassian might just...." Inna couldn’t complete the horrible image of her brother being eradicated before her eyes.

"What do we do??"

"Nothing will happen to Cassian." Madeline spoke up, wiping her tears away. "Let’s just go home and think of a solution, that is the only suitable choice as of now. I strongly believe Cas will be fine, and he’d want us to believe the same as well."

"But....." Inna stopped mid-sentence when Elian stepped out of the palace with the twin blade in his grasp, and his presence made the anger she had been holding inside of her burst to an uncontrollable rate.

"You!" Her eyes narrowed into a glare as she walked up to him. "You knew this would happen, didn’t you? This is the reason why you stayed with us from the beginning, am I right? You did all this!" Inna accused with her finger pointing directly at him.

"What are you saying?" Elian looked clueless, a bit taken aback by the harshness in her tone, but it only earned him a sneer from Inna. "Stop pretending! You knew this would happen, Elijah’s your twin brother for goodness sake!! You two planned this whole nonsense to put my brother in trouble, didn’t you??"

Inna raged, her eyes glistening with tears before laughing out amusingly, "I should have known, I mean, why am I surprised? I knew you had no good intentions the first time I saw you, if only I had listened to my instincts we wouldn’t be in this mess, it’s my brother’s fault for trusting you!! We all trusted you and you did this??"

"Inna." Orson held her back when she broke down into tears, and she shook her head, refusing to calm.

"I don’t want to see his face! He should leave us alone, my brother’s in this mess because of him! He should go away from us!!!"

"Calm down, let’s go." Orson looked at Elian briefly before taking Inna away, leaving Madeline and Elian behind.

Madeline glanced at Elian who lowered his gaze, feeling utterly confused himself. She walked up to him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, thus, startling the young vampire.

"Don’t take what Inna said to heart, she’s only..." Madeline could barely utter the words completely since she was also silently dealing with her own emotions.

"Let’s go." She forced a faint smile, taking Elian with her.

Arriving at Cassian’s home, everyone quietly stepped inside. The dullness in their mood affected the environment itself as everyone sank down on the couch. Silence reigned for a few minutes, and Orson, who was getting impatient, stood up.

"I think we should visit the palace tomorrow, and speak with His Majesty privately." He brought his own suggestion, and Madeline sighed.

"I thought the same." She looked at the three of them with an insecure expression, "but will he listen to us, I’m sure he’s shocked and confused just like the rest of us."

"Who is confused?" Another voice interrupted their conversation, startling all four of them, and when they looked up at the stairs, Catherine was standing there.