Chapter 81: The Fear of him

Chapter 96: The Fear of him Even in the midst of pain and chaos, those were the words he chose to utter when every inch of her seemed to throb with its own misery.

A doctor, her dazed mind thought. A hospital. He was supposed to summon them, and here he was complaining about being taken advantage of...

And how strange, she thought dimly, that even now, with pain coursing through her and breath coming only in shallow draughts, the stubborn, indignant corner of her mind still found room to resent the injustice of his words.

She parted her lips to answer him. Nothing came.

No, that had not been her purpose. No, she had not gone downstairs because she felt secure, because he gave her his word. And yes, she did think of herself as invincible.

She had heard gunshots and imagined danger. And like some witless creature with more impulse than sense, she had run towards it, thinking of saving someone’s life to make herself feel less guilty.

How thoroughly, humiliatingly foolish!

"Was this folly bred in you from birth," he asked with dreadful calm, "or did you cultivate it?"

’If you mean to help me, then help me. If not, then spare me your insults. Get Lost!’

Had another man spoken this, she might have called it mockery. But his face remained rigid, and his tone was absolutely dead serious.

Then his gaze lowered again... to her throat. An instant, suffocatingly dark aura erupted from his broad frame. Cixi had witnessed him slaughtering and casually ordering executions, but the sheer, concentrated murderous intent radiating off him right now was entirely new and vastly more terrifying.

"See that he recovers well."

Recover?

’Was Cassian actually showing mercy to the man who nearly killed her?’

The bodyguard hesitated, but still asked, "You wish us to take him to the hospital, Boss?"

The man in the black suit bowed his head and turned to obey.

For the first time, fear of Cassian himself touched her in earnest.

Not fear of the world that bent around him.

It came over her like a chill. Her heart, already overtaxed, beat harder still. Whatever small certainty she had once harboured that he would never turn his cruelty fully upon her grew thin and vanished.

"Good," he said sternly.

"You should be afraid of me... You should be afraid of attempting such foolishness again. The next time you choose to play saviour, I may simply place you in my personal prison, where no one may reach you, and where you will be spared the temptation of heroics altogether."

Then he added, with the same dreadful calm, "You, too, deserve punishment!"

Did he really have to talk about her punishment right now?!

Cruel, she thought. He is cruel, though even that word seemed poor beside what he was at this moment.

"The kissing contract is off the table!"