Cassius was escorted back to his room—which was still technically Rexton's. He didn't know what the deal was with that. After the training session, Kera and Levi took him by the disgusting chain he was led around on and pulled him to his room. Mattius hadn't gotten over losing their mock fight and had made it obvious he was brooding over it. Cassius couldn't quite care when Kera made it even more obvious that she hated his guts. He struggled, for the most part, to concentrate and just ended up playing with his firepower.
He hadn't mastered it in the least bit. It was more of a sudden spark he could conjure from the center of his chest, but it didn't get as strong as it had when he fought Lucius. Or when he'd been in danger of the Exterus.
The only thing he could link to the sudden burst of power was the voice and the Third Eye. There had to be something more to the voice. It couldn't be a coincidence that he was being visited by two superficial powerful beings.
Or he was going insane. He wouldn't doubt it the least bit after being caged like an animal for over a decade.
Though he didn't want to believe he was losing his mind. After all the fight he'd put up in this life, he would be ashamed this would be the way he would go out.
Fighting always seemed like the best way to die. It was an honorable sacrifice in some way. He doubted anyone in his race would say the same.
He stood now in the middle of the large room. It was much larger than any cell or room he'd been put in before. As a child, he had barely any leg room, but here, there was enough space for him to run in circles.
He turned to the bed and then to the empty desk pushed against the opposite wall. There was a window, but it had been blackened out by steel bars. The glass behind it was painted black. There was no way for him to know where he was though he already knew. Keshtin was too big for him to escape on foot. He was foolish to even think about running when he wouldn't have made it halfway across the city before he was captured.
It was always about taking a chance. Now that he'd used up three of them, it was safe to say that he didn't have any more to use.
He sat down, legs stretched out. It was the most comfortable he could be. Even when he was alone with a nice bed and a spacious room, he was in flight mood. There was nowhere he could go that he could feel like he could relax. And now that he was in Rexton's hands, he didn't know if he could ever feel at ease.
The plan. Rexton's plan. He had to find out what it was and how Cassius fit into it. He got some information at the beginning before he knew he was being transferred over to Rexton's SWARM. It framed the outline of something much bigger than he could comprehend.
The demon he'd tracked down into the Third Eye hadn't been any regular class demon.
He frowned.
If it wasn't a regular class demon, did that mean he'd run into a Lord?
Of course, he hadn't been taught much about demons, only enough to do his job, but he knew well enough that a lone Mekiah wouldn't have been strong enough to defeat a Lord. Demons, in general, were hard enough to kill.
He ran his hands down his face and groaned. Shaking his head, he fell back on the bed.
He was a fucking idiot. Is that what this was all about? Had he unknowingly killed a Lord?
Shit.
The door opened.
Cassius jolted up from the bed. Rexton closed the door behind him. He stood in front of Cassius and looked over him. Cassius tried to will the flush away from his face. The burn of embarrassment grew from the base of his neck up to the tip of his ears. He ground his teeth, concentrating on trying to look calm in collected.
He wasn't any of that. On the inside, he panicked over the past, what mistakes he'd made, and what he could do the fix those problems now.
Rexton didn't give him the time to contemplate why he was giving Cassius a visit so soon. He carried a folder in one hand and strode over to the side of the bed.
He tossed the folder onto the bed.
"Take a seat," he said, nodding for Cassius to do as he commanded.
Cassius paused. He gulped. His fingers twitched, but his thoughts ran a million miles per hours. It was too much for him to process and he gave up trying to calm his fried nerves. He sat on the bed.
Rexton tilted his head. He gestured toward the file.
"I want you to take a look."
It wasn't much of a suggestion. The tone he used meant he was being polite. Cassius hated he had to pretend he was being nice. They both knew what their relationship was. There was no need in muddying the waters. But he was too far frustrated with his own conclusion that he didn't bother to make a smart-ass remark as he would have. He grabbed the file and flipped it open with a lazy hand.
"What am I looking at?" His eyes scanned over the graphs and the scientific terms. He knew enough to make out the vague analyses. It was the same as the report he'd been shown by Iza. Though this one went into far more detail, outlining the structure of the magic blast from the night.
"Do you remember anything else from that night?"
Cassius glanced up. "Like what?"
That night was as vivid as the night he was taken from his Mom. Which meant, he could only pick out large details. The finer ones were lost in emotions, masked by his own fear and his own need to save himself. Unlike what many would believe, he wasn't able to track everything. He forgot how it even started.
Rexton moved around and stood in front of Cassius. He bent down until he was down on one knee. Cassius stiffened, his hands tightening on the folder.
"I want you to close your eyes."
Cassius balked. "What?"
"I know you don't understand nor do you trust me," Rexton said as he placed his hand onto the bed. That arm trapped Cassius and he never felt more caged in until that moment. The heat radiating from Rexton made it hard to focus on the file or the words coming from Rexton. He took a deep breath and moved his gaze to the tip of Rexton's ear.
There shouldn't be anything attractive about the shape of the ear or the flesh. If anything, it should be a turn-off. Cassius bit the inside of his cheek, mentally kicking himself for being attracted to the least sexy thing in the world.
"I need you to trust me on this."
Cassius fought against himself, but he wasn't strong enough. He broke his intense gaze on Rexton's ear. He looked at Rexton and tried not to narrow his eyes. It was a habit he needed to break out of anyway.
"Like you said," he said while closing the file, "I don't trust you. That won't change."
"I know." Rexton leaned closer. Cassius shivered as Rexton placed his hand over Cassius's eyes. His cool skin fooled him. Cassius swore it would be scolding hot. He thought he would burst on contact, but there was only the aching need to press further into the touch. Even that was too much for him to handle.
Cassius let Rexton's fingers force his eyelids to close. He hated that his body was willing to accept this, to let Rexton touch him like they were old friends. This wasn't like him. The moment was too strange to break away from. This trance he'd been put under, it was familiar in a way. It reminded him of a time he shouldn't remember.
Strange. Like falling into the abyss that was the Third Eye.
"Listen to my voice." Rexton's words came in a soft whisper.
Cassius hummed. The darkness awaited him on the other side. He wanted to reach out for the Third Eye. The darkness was lonely without it or the voice with him. This wasn't the right time or place. And with Rexton here, who could sense magic, it would out him if he did.
He pushed down the urge and tried to do as Rexton said. Focusing was much harder than it sounded like. His thoughts were flashes across his mind's horizon and each random thought led into strands of unconsciousness.
Rexton seemed to know how difficult it was. He pressed his other hand to the side of Cassius's head. Cassius jolted at the unexpected contact. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. It was actually comforting in a way. The soft touch distracted him, eased his thoughts away from random things.
"Is this some kind of memory therapy?" Cassius tried to make it sound like a joke, but against his will, a bit of nervousness slipped through his voice.
Rexton laughed softly. "It'll help recover some information. It might be uncomfortable or awkward at first, but I want you to try your best."
As much as he wanted to rebel or make a scene, he couldn't quite argue against Rexton when he was talking so calmly. He was sure he would feel like the jackass if he just started yelling. So he gave in to Rexton's touches and eased into the darkness.
It wasn't quite as bad as he thought. He hated that Rexton was right again. Though he was always looking for a way to judge him, to combat his own feelings, he still couldn't pin anything on him. Well, besides the fact that he was holding Cassius as a slave. That was the biggest issue for them at the moment.
His brows furrowed and he frowned.
Was that all that was keeping them apart? If they weren't slave and master, would he actually like Rexton that way?
There was no denying that there was sexual attraction rippling between them, but he thought it stopped there. Rexton's niceness since they arrived in Keshtin was making him think he was falling for his personality. Manipulation? Or was he actually falling for the real Rexton?
"Relax. Focus." Rexton jolted Cassius back from his thoughts with a firm press of his fingers to Cassius's temples. "You're thinking too much. You need to calm down."
Cassius opened his eyes and glared. He tsked. "That's easy for you to say. You don't have fingers poking the side of your head."
Rexton's lips hitched up. "What's wrong with my fingers?"
Cassius's face burned. He sputtered for words, but when he couldn't get anything out, he gave up. He closed his eyes.
"Just get this over with."
"Listen and it'll be like it never happened."
Cassius seriously doubted that. He was never going to forget this.
Rexton leaned further into Cassius. His knee dipped between Cassius's parted thighs. Cassius stiffened as their legs brushed together.
"Do you have to be this close?" He wanted to pull back, but he was trapped between the bed and Rexton.
"Are you going to say I smell this time?"
Cassius flashed daggers up at Rexton. "Keep talking. Giving me that magic enhancer will be the biggest mistake of your life."
Rexton tilted his head. His brown hair fell down over one eye. Cassius glared at it and then into Rexton's brown eyes. He was shaking with anger so much that it was rattling his teeth. He clutched the bedsheets tightly until he thought he might bust a blood vessel.
He ground his teeth together. With as much control as he could muster, he tried once more to find the calm place inside his head. His eyes didn't close as easily as they did before. It had seemed like Rexton had been riling him up on purpose. The teasing was as annoying as much as it was confusing.
The atmosphere in the room changed. There was no more teasing, no more frustrating feelings, and no more anger. Cassius was in an empty room of darkness. Through the darkness, Rexton's voice cut through. It was like crackling static.
"Think back to the start of the mission. Where are you?"
The dark room turned to the hotel. A queen-sized bed appeared before him. The sheets were white. They were stained. The green comforter was untouched, tucked in at the edges like a maid had just been there.
Cassius furrowed his brows. He concentrated on the bed. "I'm in the hotel. We were supposed to meet here, but MA was held back by Felix. He thought the Mekiah had escaped to the back and he'd left me to trace them from the hotel room."
"What did you do then?"
Cassius turned around. In the middle of the floor was the puddle of black ooze. It moved in and out. Small droplets moved outside the circle, reaching out like it was heading towards him.
"I found traces of him."
"Who?"
Cassius stepped to the black muddle. "The Mekiah. He'd been here. He was near."
He crouched to the muddle. His hand moved on its own, following the predestined path. He'd done this before and his body was simply going along with the instructions. The goo met him halfway. It wrapped around his hand.
The Veil pulled him in. It asked for no permission. It simply showed him the way, welcoming him with open arms. Cassius gasped as all the air was forced from his lungs. He was wrung out of breath. His lungs burned from the pressure. The pain was too real like he was going there now.
Rexton's voice echoed through the darkness. "Where did he go?"
"The Veil," Cassius answered. He turned around, arms stretched out before him. He walked forward, searching for the trail the Mekiah had left behind. It had to be here. It'd been here last time.
"Are you there now?"
"Yes."
Cassius felt the magic course through his veins. It was stronger now. It came to the surface without trouble and it was all he could have asked for. He hadn't realized how scared he'd felt when he was here, but he also couldn't tell if that was his past emotions or if he was simply feeling that way now. The past and the present were blurring together. He tried to find his ground, tried to pick up the fallen pieces of his memory.
"What do you see?"
Cassius gulped. "I see nothing."
"Do you sense him?"
He reached out. The essence of the Mekiah's magic was there, but it was faint. He was losing him. If he didn't hurry, he would never find the trail again and it would mean he would have to start from the beginning. This would set the SWARM back three months.
"The trail is going cold," Cassius whispered. He let his magic go and let it find the Mekiah's trail on its own. It circled around, grabbing onto random strands of surrounding Remu.
He was about to connect to the Third Eye when he remembered.
Rexton didn't know. Nobody knew. If he connected to the Eye, he would reveal the darkest of secrets he harbored.
Cassius pulled back. He was frozen there, between the Veil and Rexton. He couldn't begin to think how to explain this or if he should.
"Cassius?"
He turned in the dark. He ran a hand through his hair. The memory was fading and so was the room. Then, he opened his eyes.
Rexton's room came into focus. The bright bedroom lights blinded his eyes. He covered his face and pushed Rexton away.
"I don't remember anything after that."
"Nothing?" Rexton stared at him with a blank expression. It was like he was testing the waters before he plunged in. Cassius was the freezing lake and Rexton was too scared to get his toes wet.
Cassius waited for the old Rexton to come back. He was never used to anyone thinking he could do anything bad to them. He was always the one on the receiving end of beatings or a good lashing. Thinking back, it was always Felix or Iza smacking him around when he talked back, but now that they were behind closed doors, Rexton wasn't taking the opportunity.
He simply couldn't understand why. This was the perfect place for him to let out all the built-up stress or the hate he harbored for Cassius's kind. And then, Cassius was expecting for the lid to be blown off. He was waiting for Rexton jump up and started beating him. For a moment, he kinda wished it would happen. It was fucked up. He didn't even need to think it. The realization had come a long time ago, back when he was tied down to this very bed, and he actually liked the feeling of being helpless.
But it was home when he was bound. Each hit to the face or kick to his knees were like kisses upon his cheeks. Like a mother's embrace, a cut or punch gave him more joy than this civil exchange.
He lowered his eyes. He pushed back until he was on the other side of the bed.
Rexton followed him. "The report leaves out a big detail."
Cassius wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He felt his nose tickle with snot. Maybe he was coming down with a cold. He almost laughed at the situation he was in. Rexton was being kinda nice to him. They were having a normal conversation. It felt like the worst thing in the world. And why was that?
"I don't care," he said. It was the truth though he was also curious to some degree. But the matter of fact was that he was seeing where this was heading.
The report couldn't point out the certain point at which he made contact with the demon. They could measure the magic wavelengths and estimate how strong the demon was.
The technology was straight forward. It could track so many things, but when it came to the Third Eye, that's where it drew. Cassius saw the information on the report. It hadn't been until now when Rexton was asking did he think about the obvious.
"General Iza made a great mistake with you."
Cassius looked up at him. Rexton gazed back at him, eyes locked onto his. "What is that? Would you suggest that he'd killed me?"
"He should have trained you better. You're far more powerful than any Exteru or Mekiah combined."
Cassius snorted. "So, what? You're going to make me your best weapon?"
The sly grin was back on Rexton's face. "Something like that."
He stuck his hands into his pockets.
"We're going to be leaving tomorrow. The mission statements will be there for you to review." He nodded towards the file on the bed.
Cassius kept his eyes on Rexton's face. "That's it?"
"If you're not willing to tell me what happened that night, then yes. But if you have more to say then say it. I need to know what happened that night. It would make this whole case a lot easier."
Cassius pursed his lips. As much as he wanted to disagree, he knew how right Rexton was. But there was also his own skin he had to worry about. He wasn't going to become the dumb fuck who outed himself.
Rexton studied Cassius's face. Cassius could feel his gaze moving along the plains of his own face. A chill ran over his body. His stomach fluttered. He swallowed hard, but he didn't move from the edge of the bed.
"I'll see you tomorrow morning."
The door opened and closed after him. Cassius dug his fingers into the bedding. This was Rexton's room, but he was leaving it to Cassius. The silent words hung in the air, the ones he hadn't spoken when he wanted to. The questions were trapped inside his head. These were questions he couldn't ask. Rexton was playing mind games. That was all it was.
Cassius laid down onto the bed. He crossed his ankles and tucked his hands behind his head. The ceiling stared back at him.
For the first time, he imagined staying.