Sticks and Stones

Chapter Forty-One

Time dwindled down quickly until Caspian's mission approached. Sofia knew it was coming. She dreaded it with every passing second. But she knew there was little she could do to stop him. No matter what she argued, Caspian wouldn't quit. Not when he'd already made up his mind.

Which meant one way or another, he'd be facing up against warlocks on his own in his bid to rescue Rosa. Maybe Sofia was overreacting. He was a trained professional, after all. Cas knew what he was doing. Even as she told herself this, Sofia couldn't get over it. There was simply no way she could stand back and let this happen. No, she had to do something.

The question was what.

It wasn't like she could overpower Caspian. He'd lived her life far too many times over and had trained far too intensely for her to take him down. Above that, with the dark magic that swirled around inside him, Cas wouldn't go easy on her.

If Sofia planned to keep him safe, then she needed something big. Something he couldn't say no to. Something he couldn't worm his way out of.

His house was a paper trail. Evidently, he didn't try to hide his plans from her. He left them out in the open. They'd been tracking warlocks, analysing warlock activity. All this information compiled together had given them their 'master plan'.

Over my dead body.

If Cas was taking on a warlock, he wasn't doing it alone.

In the sparse moments he spent in his home, Sofia made it her mission to challenge him. Since they weren't sleeping together anymore and since he couldn't kick her out of his house, she took every opportunity she could get.

"Is there really nothing I can say that will change your mind?"

He didn't so much as look at her as he answered. "We've been through this. I'm doing what I have to do. Just accept it."

I can't accept it! Why couldn't Caspian see that? Why couldn't he see how ridiculous this thing was he was doing? Why was no one else trying to stop him?

"How can I accept it? You'll get yourself killed."

"So, it's my big part to play in this war."

He didn't care at all himself. The damned idiot saw dying as his duty. But she'd be damned before she let that happen.

"Are you really that suicidal?"

"I'm not suicidal. I'm practical. Someone's got to do it, and I'm the man with the least to lose."

Each time he said this it was another wound to her heart. Caspian didn't see her as his. He didn't see her as something he had. Which meant he didn't have their love to lose. He had only his life. Unlike his allies, he wasn't spoken for.

Never had she regretted walking away more.

She lowered her voice to a pained whisper. "I wish you wouldn't say things like that."

"And I wish you wouldn't keep fighting me on this but I guess we don't always get our way."

He continued to potter around his house, grabbing stuff for God only knows what he was doing. Cas was always busy. Always up to something. She rarely ever saw him.

"I love you."

Silence reigned heavy in his house. She waited for him to say it back, hoping today would be the day that a miracle happened.

"I know."

Her miracle didn't come.

She shot up from the couch and followed after him, grabbing onto his arm as if that might help her keep up.