If Cassian had believed his first day would be met with leniency because he was new, he was gravely mistaken.
After early morning preparations, he followed the others into a crowded dining hall where a single glass of stale blood was shoved into his hand. It was thin and bitter, nothing like what he had known in the palace. It barely dulled the ache in his throat, yet he swallowed it without complaint.
Then they were herded out to the training grounds and the suffering began immediately.
They were ordered to run a distance too cruel for a human and unforgiving even for a young vampire. The pace never slowed. When one faltered, they all paid for it, enduring a barrage of unnecessary insults that fell easily from the mouths of grown men who had long forgotten mercy. When one stumbled, they were commanded to start again.
Cassian finished the run through sheer will alone, his lungs burning and his legs trembling beneath him. Finishing, however, meant nothing. It only marked him as ready for the next suffering.
They were led to a clearing where rough stone weights lay scattered across the ground, each bound with thick iron chains, relics from an age where strength had been measured through suffering alone. Cassian was ordered to lift one. The stone tore at his palms as he strained to raise it, his muscles screaming under the weight. His arms gave out halfway and the stone slipped from his grasp, crashing heavily against the ground.
The punishment followed instantly. The whip sliced across his back with brutal precision, pain detonating through his body so sharply it tore the breath from his lungs. He staggered forward, barely managing to stay upright as another strike followed, then another, each lash carving deeper, leaving his skin burning and raw.
He bit hard into the inside of his cheek, tasting blood as he fought to keep his footing. His legs betrayed him anyway, silent tears spilling despite his effort to stop them. His back burned relentlessly, and beneath the pain, something far more dangerous began to stir.
Heat ignited in his palms, spreading fast and violent, clawing its way up his arms. The fire wanted release. It begged to scorch the ground, to turn every voice, every lash, every command into ash. Cassian squeezed his eyes shut, more tears slipping free as he forced himself to think past the rage. If he lost control and somehow these people managed to survive, they would not hesitate to kill him. His mother would be left alone in a world that had already taken too much from her.
Slowly, the heat withdrew, leaving only the hollow ache behind. His hands trembled as the fire faded, replaced by exhaustion and pain, so deep it felt endless.
"Stand straight and move your lazy ass to the sparring yard." The commander barked.
Despite the hunger gnawing at his gut, despite the pain screaming through his back and the weakness threatening to drag him down, Cassian forced his body upright and moved forward.
~~~~
That life became his routine in the days that followed.
Waking before dawn. Enduring brutal training. Suffering, then suffering again.
It was not something one ever truly grew used to, but his body began to adapt in quiet, unwilling ways. Pain no longer shocked him as it once had. It settled instead, familiar and constant. The only mercy he was granted was that his wounds healed due to his vampire traits. Slowly, due to the lack of proper blood, but they healed all the same, leaving no marks behind. No evidence of what he endured. As if the pain had never existed at all.
And so the days bled into weeks.
The weeks into months.
Not once in that period did his father send a letter. Not once did he come. Cassian told himself it would not have mattered, that it would not have erased the resentment already rooted deep within him, yet some small, foolish part of him had waited. Hoped. Feared dying here without ever being acknowledged.
That hope withered with time.
Now, he stood before the massive gates he had entered through months ago, though it felt closer to a lifetime. His trunks were already packed and stacked into the carriage behind him. The walls loomed just as tall, just as unforgiving, but they no longer felt like a threat.
He was leaving.
He would see his mother again.
The thought tightened something in his chest, and a bitter smile touched his lips. He wondered what it would feel like to embrace her after six months of absence, six months of silence, six months of surviving. That single thought was enough to urge his steps forward.
The moment he climbed into the carriage, the wheels began to roll.
And the gates closed behind him.
******
Cassian's return went unnoticed.
No servants hurried forward. No voices called his name. The palace gates opened and closed with the same indifference they always had, swallowing him back into a place that no longer felt like home. His trunks were taken without question, carried away toward his chambers, but Cassian did not follow.
Instead, he asked the first servant he saw about his mother's whereabouts.
His steps carried him through familiar corridors and into the open air, toward the one place that had always belonged to her. The willow stood as it always had, its long branches swaying gently, shielding the bench beneath it from the afternoon sun. Lady Rosetta sat there alone, her hands folded in her lap, her gaze distant. On hearing footsteps, her head turned for her to see him.
For a heartbeat, she only stared, as if afraid her eyes were betraying her. Then she rose, disbelief giving way to breathless joy, and crossed the distance between them in a rush.
"Cassian."
She did not stop when she reached him. Her arms wrapped around him, clinging tightly, as though letting go might cause him to vanish again. Cassian froze for a moment before returning the embrace, breathing her in, grounding himself in her warmth. Six months of restraint cracked all at once.
"I'm here," he murmured. "I came back." But their moment of reconnection was disrupted by a sharp voice.
"Cassian!"
Queen Avery stood at the edge of the garden path, her expression twisted with fury. Guards flanked her closely, hands already resting on their weapons as she strode forward.
"Why are you back here?" she demanded. "Didn't the king have you banished?"
Cassian and Lady Rosetta stepped apart at once, both lowering into respectful bows.
"Your Highness," Lady Rosetta said, unable to hide the tremor of happiness still lingering in her voice. "My son was sent away by the king for military training. His service has ended and he has returned."
Queen Avery's lips pressed into a thin line.
"I know exactly why he was sent away," she snapped. "And I know he was not meant to return. Guards, seize him."
Lady Rosetta stepped forward instinctively. "You cannot—"
One of the guards hands grabbed her arms, shoving her aside. She stumbled and fell hard against the stone path, the impact knocking the breath from her lungs. Cassian turned sharply, rage flaring in his chest.
"Do not touch her."
Queen Avery ignored him. She advanced on Lady Rosetta instead, her anger finally spilling over. "You've always thought yourself above your place," she hissed, raising her hand.
The slap rang through the garden causing something inside Cassian to snap.
Heat surged violently into his palms, brighter and fiercer than it ever had before. Flames bloomed in his hands, coiling and alive, answering his fury without hesitation. He flung the fire toward the guards, the ground erupting at their feet, forcing them back with startled shouts.
Cassian turned toward the queen, his eyes dark, his voice shaking with barely contained wrath.
"Touch her again," he said, advancing, "and I will burn everything you stand for."
Queen Avery's confidence shattered. Panic flashed across her face as she turned and fled toward the palace, her guards scrambling after her.
"Cassian."
Lady Rosetta's voice cut through the fire causing him to stop.
She was on her knees, one hand pressed to the ground as she struggled to rise, her eyes wide—not with fear of the queen, but of him. She reached for him, shaking her head.
"No," she whispered. "Not like this."
Cassian's breath came ragged. The flames trembled in his hands before flickering out entirely, leaving only smoke and the faint scent of scorched earth. He clenched his fists, forcing himself back into control.
Queen Avery was already disappearing into the palace, her footsteps hurried and uneven. Cassian moved to his mother's side, helping her to her feet, his hands still trembling.
"I'm sorry," he said hoarsely.
Lady Rosetta cupped his face gently, studying him as though seeing him clearly for the first time. "Don't be. But you will have to be careful with these people." She momentarily closed her eyes and then opened them before adding, "I can't take it if you get taken away from me again."