And Then There Were Four

Chapter 153

Chapter 153: Golden Shimmers in the Darkness

Cassie.

The last thing I wanted to do was see Odin, my supposed grandfather, when I had more important things to worry about, like what was wrong with Lucas. However, here I stood before him, watching as he took me in from head to toe, run- ning his hand over his beard as if he had something on his mind. “You called for me?”

Nodding, a smile crossed his wrinkled face. “I did… I know our last meeting didn’t go as I had planned and I wanted to clear things up.”

Stunned this was why he called me, I opened and closed my mouth, trying to find the words needed to make sense of why I was here. Of course, I wanted to talk to him, or at least I thought I did, but right now wasn’t the time to do it.

“I’m not sure what you want to talk about…” It was true, I didn’t know what he wanted to talk about considering there wasn’t really much to say, but by the look on his face, he was- n’t pleased with my remark.

His brows narrowed at my words as he sat a little straighter. I had no doubt he wasn’t expecting me to respond the way I did, but it was irrelevant. Pollux and Trixie were wait- ing for me and being here wasn’t going to help the mass of mysteries we were trying to figure out.

“Castor,” the sound of Odin saying my first name was a distraction. No one called me Castor but my mother, and that

was usually when I was in trouble.

“Odin…” I replied, holding my chin high. “I’d say that we can do this all day long, but I honestly have something else to tend to.” I refused to backdoor or show any weakness. If he had something to say, he could get on with it.

Chuckling, he shook his head with a smile that made my brows furrow in confusion. “You have such a strong will to survive, Castor. So much confidence and yet it is perfectly balanced by the soft, sweet side of you that you hide away.”

“Showing weakness gets you killed,” I replied quickly. That was a lesson my father taught me long ago, and something I made sure I didn’t do.

“There’s more to life than simply hiding behind what you fear. We really do need to have this conversation, but I can see by the way you are moving from foot to foot you would rather be elsewhere than actually having a conversation with me. Am I correct?”

“You would be correct,” I quickly said with an eyebrow raised in his direction. Gesturing with his hand, he showed me towards the door, not saying another word. I wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or if I possibly made a huge mistake in disregarding whatever conversation he wanted to have with

Turning towards the door, a heavy breath escaped me as I thought over what I was possibly doing. Was this going to be a negative mark against me, refusing to have words with Odin? Or would it be a positive thing to where he maybe wouldn’t look at me again, and therefore, I could go under- cover or do whatever it was I needed to do without his watch- ful gaze upon every move I made?

Regardless of all of it, my mind went back to my brother and friend, who currently watched over my unbonded mate, who lay in a bed full of darkness, and I had absolutely no ideal what had happened to him.

Was I angry at him for the way that he had acted? Yes.

Then again, deep down, I knew I was not the easiest per- son to live with.

Making my way down hallway after hallway, taking turn after turn, I found myself closer and closer to Lucas’s door, and as I opened it upon my arrival, I was shocked to see the sight before me. Lucas, upright in bed, was snarling at Pollux, his eyes completely black as if the Onyx depth of despair had filled him and not a single bit of light was left.

I didn’t have the slightest clue what was going on, and the last thing I wanted was for the gods to figure out what it was. It was bad enough that Freya was obviously well aware of the situation if she said anything to Odin.

There was a chance Lucas could be imprisoned here.

Which, no matter how much you pissed me off, wasn’t something I wanted for him.

Gazing around the room, my eyes fell on Sansa, and with a wide, shocked expression, she shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea what happened.”

“What happened while I was away? I was literally gone for fifteen minutes,” I exclaimed in anger. How was it we calmed the chaos for a moment, and I came back to a shit storm

brewing in his room?

Lucas’s eyes darted directly toward me as I spoke. “You,” he growled in anger.

I wasn’t sure what his problem was, besides the obvious, of course, but slowly he slid off the bed, and as he did, I made sure not to freeze in front of him again. I wasn’t going to be a victim this time.

Letting the power that flowed through my body come alive, he stopped in his tracks and growled at me again, the problem was my stupid ass brother didn’t know I had every- thing under control, and as he tried to rush Lucas, he got blasted back by something I hadn’t expected to see.

A power that almost mimicked mine, but one of nothing by obsidian darkness.

Trixie screamed out my brother’s name as she and Sansa tended to his unconscious body. He wasn’t dead, and that was simply by luck. But knowing Lucas hurt my brother pissed me off, and without a second thought, I charged him, only to have him toss me onto the bed and pin me beneath his body.

With his claws at my neck and only inches between our faces, I felt myself break. I wanted to hurt him, hell part of me wanted to kill him for hurting Pollux, but I couldn’t.

“Lucas, let me go. Look at what you have become!” | shouted at him, trying to get his attention, trying to do any- thing I could to make him see he was losing control of who he

was.

“Me?” he laughed maniacally. “You’re the cause of all of this, Cassie. You’re the burden on not only the human realm

but this realm as well. If it weren’t for you and the power in- side you, so many people would still be alive,”

“What-” I gasped, my eyes instantly filling with tears at his words. “Lucas, stop… it wasn’t my fault.”

“Nothing is ever your fault, is it? Poor Cassie, she can’t take the fall for anything, can she? What a pathetic use of godly power.”

Lifting his other claw high into the air, I wondered if the end was coming. I wondered if I was going to die, but a roar, unlike anything I had ever heard, rattled the room, and as it did, Lucas was ripped from my body and tossed toward the far side of the room.

It took a minute for me to process what had just hap- pened, but as I looked toward the figure currently stalking Lu- cas’s body, attempting to get up from the floor, I took in a sight more magnificent than anything I had ever seen.

Silas stood there, a golden shimmer encompassing his body. Fiery irises burned in the center of his eyes. “Under the command of Odin, you are to be taken.”

“What? No, Silas…” I didn’t want Lucas imprisoned, nor did I want him hurt. He wasn’t himself, and I could see that. Hell, I could feel it from the small bit of our bond. Something was wrong with him, and I had to find a way to save him.

But before Silas could even get hold of him, Lucas quickly lept out the nearest window. My heart jumped in fear as I scrambled to where he had just been and looked out, expect- ing to see him dead. Only he wasn’t.

In fact, Lucas was nowhere to be found, and his lingering

words rattled through my mind like a plague of pain that pounded down upon my heart.

“Cassie, are you okay?” Looking over my shoulder, Silas was back to his normal self, and with a sorrowful expression on his face, I couldn’t resist hugging him. My arms reached for him without hesitation as I buried my face into his chest.

“Thank you, but how did you know?” Glancing up, he looked at me with a smile and shrugged his shoulders.

“Odin,” he said softly, making my blood run cold. “He knew something was wrong, so he sent for me to find out what it was.”

“If it was Odin, why didn’t he or the other gods come to help us? Why would they let it happen and not step in to help. us fix this?” None of it made sense, and as a sigh escaped him, his eyes turned to Sansa, who quickly stood to her feet, rolling her eyes.

“You want me to give a history lesson?” she asked, cross- ing her arms over her chest, “that’s bullshit.”

Silas groaned with irritation as he gave her a death stare that amused even me. After a moment of reluctance, she rolled her eyes and sighed. “Okay, fine. The gods don’t inter- fere because the mortals- even the half-bloods – must know how to handle our own problems, in simpler terms. They only step in when it directly affects them.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard,” I muttered to myself, but obviously loud enough for the others to hear. “What’s the point in all of this, then?” “What do you mean,” Silas asked as he stared at me, “this NôvelDrama.Org owns this text.

is how this realm works.”

“Yeah, and it’s beyond stupid. Are you telling me they just let everyone do whatever they want? I mean… something is wrong, and they won’t help. That’s fucking stupid. I don’t even get the point of being here. I’m not learning anything, and honestly, all it reminds me of is being in high school again.”

My outburst definitely surprised the others in the room; even Trixie frowned at my comment. My brother groaned and with that, caught everybody’s attention. And I was thankful for that-considering I did not want the attention on me. All I wanted was to be able to go off on my own, back into the hu- man realm, without anybody around to tell me what to do to try and live a normal life.

I had hoped coming to Asgard to live with the gods, to learn from people like me, would be beneficial, but in the end, it hasn’t been. I was stuck here trying to figure out who I was and grow from the mistakes I had made, and in the long run, ended up with problems that involved my brother and my so- called mate.

Why was it fate couldn’t just let me be normal for once?