Chapter 336: v4 - 37: so it is you

Chapter 336: v4 Chapter 37: so it is you

(Cassian POV)

The lock turned without resistance.

Cassian stopped.

He looked down at the key in his hand.

The door was unlocked.

He was certain he had locked it before leaving.

Slowly, his expression changed.

Someone had been inside.

Or someone was still inside.

Cassian pushed the door open another inch.

Light spilled into the corridor.

He stopped again.

The room was illuminated.

He had left it dark.

The wall sconces were burning quietly, casting warm light across the room.

Cassian remained at the threshold.

For a moment, he did not move.

His gaze traveled slowly across the room.

Nothing appeared disturbed at first.

Then he noticed the writing table.

Several documents were lying open.

His correspondence.

Cassian’s expression hardened.

Someone had been going through his things.

He stepped inside.

Quietly.

He closed the door behind him without allowing the latch to make more than the faintest sound.

His eyes remained fixed on the room.

He moved toward the writing table.

The documents had been moved.

Not much.

But enough.

Someone had opened them.

Cassian did not touch them.

Instead, he looked around.

The chair was empty.

The bed was undisturbed.

The wardrobe stood closed.

He glanced toward the window.

Still shut.

There was no one else in the room.

At least, no one he could see.

Cassian remained still for a moment.

Who would come here?

And why?

Had someone become suspicious of him?

Had someone discovered something about Carlo of Valmere?

His thoughts immediately sharpened.

If someone had begun investigating him, this could be more serious than he had first assumed.

He moved toward the wardrobe.

Nothing.

He checked the other side of the room.

Nothing.

His movements were slow and deliberate.

He made almost no sound.

There was only one place left.

The adjoining washroom.

Cassian’s eyes settled on the closed door.

He glanced toward the window beside it.

If someone had entered without permission, perhaps they had intended to escape through there.

But the window was closed.

And there had been no sound.

Cassian approached the door.

His hand settled around the handle.

He turned it slowly.

The door opened without a sound.

Cassian looked inside.

A hooded figure stood within.

He stopped.

For a moment, he could not make sense of what he was seeing.

He had expected an intruder.

Perhaps a servant.

Perhaps someone sent to investigate him.

But the figure did not move.

Then the hooded person slowly looked up.

Cassian saw her face.

His heart suddenly leapt into his throat.

Marian.

For one impossible second, he simply stared.

He had seen her a number of times since returning to the Empire.

Across banquet halls.

Across crowded rooms.

Standing beside Adrian.

He knew what she looked like.

He knew it was her.

And yet his mind refused to accept what his eyes were showing him.

She was here.

In his room.

In his washroom.

Cassian almost blinked.

He almost rubbed his eyes, as though that might somehow make the image disappear.

But he stopped himself.

She remained exactly where she was.

His heart was still pounding violently against his ribs.

He had spent the past several days thinking of ways to speak to her.

He had watched for opportunities.

He had planned excuses.

He had worried about Adrian noticing.

He had wondered whether Marian even recognized him.

And now—

She was standing in front of him.

He had no idea how she had gotten into his room.

No idea why she was wearing a cloak.

No idea what she was doing there.

For several seconds, Cassian could do nothing but stare.

His mind struggled to catch up with what his eyes already knew.

Then, before he could think better of it, a single word escaped him.

"Marian?"

--

(Marian POV)

"Marian?"

The name left him before he seemed to realize he had spoken.

Marian stared at him.

Something inside her seemed to stop.

For six days, she had told herself she knew.

She had seen his face.

Heard his voice.

Recognized the smallest things about him.

And still, somewhere beneath all that certainty, there had been one final fragment of doubt.

Perhaps she was wrong.

Perhaps she had somehow mistaken a stranger for the man she had once loved.

But no stranger would have said her name like that.

Not with that voice.

Not with that immediate, instinctive recognition.

The sound went straight through her.

Her breath caught.

For one suspended moment, everything inside her seemed painfully, impossibly still.

It was him.

After six years, it was really him.

Her lips parted.

"Cassian."

For a few impossible seconds, the word seemed to hang between them.

Neither of them moved.

Cassian was still standing in the doorway, staring at her as though he had forgotten how to speak.

Marian stared back.

Then, suddenly, she remembered why she was there.

Her expression changed.

"So it is you."

Cassian said nothing.

"I knew it."

Still nothing.

"I knew it was you."

Her voice trembled—not with uncertainty now, but with anger.

"I knew it, and you just stood there."

Cassian continued to stare at her.

Marian took a step toward him.

"Why?"

Nothing.

"Why did you never approach me?"

Another step.

"Why did you never speak to me?"

She could feel the anger rising now, hot and sharp, dragging every unanswered question she had carried for six years to the surface.

"Why did you disappear?"

Her voice broke slightly.

"Why did you leave me?"

Cassian’s expression shifted, but he still did not answer.

"Why did you let me believe you were dead?"

She moved closer.

"Do you have any idea what you did?"

He looked stunned.

That only made her angrier.

"You came back."

Her voice rose.

"You came back after six years, stood in the same rooms as me, saw me day after day—and you said nothing."

Cassian opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

Marian gave a disbelieving laugh.

"Nothing?"

She stepped directly in front of him.

"After all this time, you have nothing to say?"

Her hand lifted before she could think better of it, her finger pressing sharply against his chest.

"You."

Cassian went completely still.

"You selfish man."

Another sharp tap against his chest.

"You infuriating, impossible—"

Her voice faltered for half a second, overwhelmed by everything she had spent days holding back.

Then the anger returned.

"You could have come to me."

Tap.

"You could have spoken to me."

Tap.

"You could have told me the truth."

Tap.

"But you didn’t."

She looked up at him, furious.

"You just watched me."

Cassian remained silent.

"Speak."

Nothing.

"Answer me."

He still did not move.

"Cassian, answer me!"

--

Tbc

AN: I can’t!!!!! Hahahahaha