Chapter 337: v4 - 38: I’m back

Chapter 337: v4 Chapter 38: I’m back

(Cassian POV)

"Cassian, answer me!"

He heard her.

He knew she was angry.

Very angry.

Her voice kept reaching him, sharp and breathless as she demanded answers, each question coming faster than the last.

But he could barely follow the words.

She was here.

Marian was here.

In his room.

She had come to him.

He stared at her as she continued speaking, her brows drawn together, her cheeks flushed with anger.

Since when?

When had she known?

When had she realized that Carlo of Valmere was Cassian Ashford?

Had she known at the banquet?

At one of the gatherings?

Had she recognized his voice?

He didn’t know.

And strangely, at this moment, he didn’t care.

Because she was here.

"You could have told me!"

Her finger struck his chest again.

"You could have come to me!"

Cassian barely felt it.

He had taken a million steps to get here.

Through blood.

Through pain.

Through years he had never been certain he would survive.

He had survived the Arena.

He had survived the struggle for succession in Milicia, standing beside Lorenz through the chaos and helping him stabilize the kingdom afterward.

He had built a life under another name.

He had protected that identity carefully.

And then he had crossed the distance between Milicia and the Empire because, after everything, there was still one thing he had never stopped wanting.

Her.

He had thought the hardest part would be getting back.

He had been wrong.

The hardest part had been believing he would ever stand before her again.

And now—

She was standing in front of him.

Angry.

Furious.

Her finger pressed against his chest again.

"You just disappeared!"

He knew.

He knew she was angry.

He knew she had every right to be.

And yet something warm was spreading through his chest.

She had taken the final step.

He had spent six years taking one step after another toward this place.

And now, after everything, she had taken a single step toward him.

She had found him.

She had entered his room.

She had stood in front of him herself.

Even if she had come only to demand answers.

Even if she hated him for what she believed he had done.

She was here.

And he had never been so impossibly happy in his entire life.

"You left me!"

Her voice cracked.

Cassian’s throat tightened.

He had endured the Arena without breaking.

He had faced men who wanted him dead.

He had fought through the struggle for succession.

He had helped Lorenz bring stability to Milicia.

He had traveled all the way back to the Empire.

He had done everything without allowing himself to cry.

Not once.

Not through the blood.

Not through the pain.

Not through the years.

Not even when he finally returned.

But now, with Marian standing before him and angrily demanding to know why he had left her, his eyes suddenly burned.

A tear slipped down his cheek.

He barely noticed.

"You could have spoken to me!"

Another sharp jab against his chest.

He almost smiled.

He didn’t know how that was possible.

He didn’t know how he could feel this much relief while she was furious with him.

But he did.

Because her anger meant she remembered.

It meant she had questions.

It meant she had cared enough to come here herself.

She had not left him standing somewhere in the distance.

She had crossed the distance.

For six years, he had imagined this moment.

Not once had he imagined it like this.

He had imagined her smiling.

He had imagined her crying.

He had imagined her turning away.

He had imagined her refusing to see him at all.

He had never imagined Marian standing in front of him, furious, pointing at his chest and demanding that he explain himself.

In his washroom of all places.

And somehow, he had never seen anything that made him happier.

"You selfish man!"

Her finger struck his chest again.

Cassian’s eyes remained fixed on her.

She was real.

She was right there.

He could see every flicker of anger across her face.

He could hear every accusation.

He could feel every impatient tap against his chest.

And beneath it all was one overwhelming thought.

She had come to him.

All the years.

All the blood.

Everything he had endured.

Everything he had lost.

For this.

Even if it was only this single moment.

It had been worth it.

His heart felt as though it might burst beneath his ribs.

He was a grown man.

He had survived things that should have broken him.

He had fought in an arena.

He had helped a king hold a kingdom together.

He had crossed borders, built a new identity, and finally walked back into the Empire knowing he might never find a way to reach Marian.

And now she was standing in front of him, furious enough to barely breathe between her questions.

He didn’t know what to do.

"Speak!"

Cassian remained silent.

"Answer me!"

He couldn’t.

Not because he didn’t have answers.

He had too many.

He simply could not find a single one that mattered more than the fact that she was here.

His hand moved before he had fully decided to move it.

He gently caught the hand that was still pressed against his chest.

Marian stopped.

Cassian looked down at their hands.

Then back at her.

For a moment, he simply held her hand.

His eyes burned again.

Another tear slipped free.

He had spent six years surviving.

He had spent six years finding his way back.

And somehow, the final distance had been crossed by her.

His fingers tightened gently around hers.

Then he pulled her toward him.

Marian went still as his arms closed around her.

For a moment, Cassian simply held her.

Home.

The word came to him with such force that his chest tightened.

He was finally home.

And suddenly, he remembered another time.

Years ago, before their wedding, he had left for the Ashford Duchy.

He had stood before her then and promised he would be back.

He had meant it.

He had fully intended to keep that promise.

Then everything had gone wrong.

Six years had passed.

And yet somehow, after all that time, he was standing before her again.

His eyes closed.

Another tear slipped free.

His voice came out rough, almost broken beneath the weight of everything he had never allowed himself to feel.

"Marian, I’m back."

--

Tbc

AN: a bucket load of tears please. I think I am happier than Cassian is at this moment. Omg. I can not. Hahahaha hope this one is so satisfying bec I am in a climax coma with how satisfied I am. Nevermind me. Hahahaha

I know there are a lot of repetitions but i dont know which to remove bec this is the raw feeling. It’s in his mind over and over too.

After the journey.... i just cant. My heart wants to explode too. I dont know how to write what comes next. But at this moment i just feel cassian. Everything is worth it if only just for this moment.