Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 430: Chapter 430: Three Shades of Love [T30 Bonus Chapters 3/7]

Chapter 430 – Three Shades of Love

Eventually, Isolde could no longer keep her eyes open, even if she wished it with all her heart. She was exhausted after everything that had happened recently, and finding herself beside Cassius, safe and comfortable for what felt like the first time in forever, only made it harder for her to resist sleep.

Before that, though, Cassius had managed to convince her to send a message to Anesthesia and inform her about the wedding. After all, there were only five days left. The Last Born had initially suggested calling her, but Isolde was embarrassingly incapable of calling her own sister.

Only a message, she had insisted. That way, she could at least avoid the anxiety of somehow turning a simple conversation with her sister into another conflict.

Cassius accepted, seeing even that much as progress.

He also sent Klaus a message after failing to reach him through a call, and at the same time contacted the Twins, asking them to at least be present for his wedding.

They didn’t respond.

Morgan and Dorian, however, replied almost immediately, and both sounded perplexed that Cassius even felt the need to tell them to be there. Of course they would attend. Their favorite sibling was getting married, after all.

Meadow and Sarah were already aware, and both promised to set September 1st aside so they could be there for their friends.

Once all of that was finally done, Isolde surrendered to sleep.

Cassius carried her back to the Hood Royal Palace and into the room belonging to his mother where he had been staying. He gently lowered her onto the bed, only to notice just how dirty she still was, with dried blood and grime clinging stubbornly to her skin.

She might not sleep comfortably like this, Cassius thought.

So he picked her up again, carrying her like a princess as he walked toward the bathroom. There, he removed her ruined clothes while leaving her underwear on, partly out of respect and partly because he did not trust himself enough to test exactly how much self-control he possessed with his wife sleeping naked in his arms.

Once the bathtub was ready, he carefully lowered her into the warm water.

Then, slowly, almost ceremoniously, Cassius began to clean her.

He treated the scarred body beneath his hands like a relic far too precious, and perhaps far too fragile, to be handled carelessly. It was his first time doing anything like this, and he struggled more than he would ever admit at the beginning, but eventually he found his rhythm, washing away the blood, dirt, and everything else the Fractured Land had left upon her skin.

All his goddesses were watching him, even Scarlet, yet strangely, not one of them could bring herself to speak.

For once, watching Cassius, their Blessed, felt like overstepping.

So they left.

Surprisingly, Marvela was the first to close her connection to him. Whether she did it out of respect or for some other reason, the others neither knew nor tried to know. Ananke followed soon after, then Scarlet, until finally even Tysche withdrew.

And for the first time in what felt like forever, Cassius was no longer being watched by the gods.

There was no goddess commenting inside his mind, no ancient being observing through his eyes, no one witnessing this quiet moment except Cassius and the sleeping woman who, even now, refused to completely let go of him.

That feeling of privacy, combined with the warmth of Isolde clinging to him while he gently cleaned away everything she had endured, was something Cassius knew he would remember for a very long time.

Eventually, however, he finished and lifted Isolde from the bathtub, still completely baffled by how the woman had managed to remain asleep through all of this.

Then came the problem of her underwear.

It was wet now, so leaving it on her was obviously not an option.

Cassius looked inside the space ring he had access to and found several replacements. His attention immediately settled on a purple one, and he barely needed a second to decide.

Anyone who knew Cassius knew his favorite color.

Even then, unwilling to overstep while Isolde was unconscious, he closed his eyes and completely shut down his perception.

At that precise moment, Cassius Desdemona made himself utterly blind and vulnerable, so much so that a sufficiently powerful assassin could probably have killed him before he even realized an attack was coming.

He hated the sensation.

Still, he didn’t dwell on it and quickly changed Isolde’s underwear without seeing or sensing anything he shouldn’t, only restoring his perception once he was finished.

Afterward, he took one of his own shirts and carefully dressed her in it, leaving the oversized fabric to cover her upper body.

’Queen’s breath, this is harder than fighting people. And how in the world is she still asleep?’

Cassius picked her up once again and carried her back to the bed, now clean, comfortable, and smelling considerably better than she had before.

The difference seemed almost immediate. Isolde’s face relaxed even further against the pillow, whatever dream she was having apparently becoming that much more peaceful now that the discomfort was gone.

Cassius looked at her for a moment before collapsing onto the bed beside her.

He felt strangely exhausted himself, though he couldn’t tell whether he was actually tired or simply wanted an excuse to sleep beside Isolde.

Either way, he saw no reason to fight the urge.

Cassius allowed sleep to slowly pull him under, and before it could completely take him, he reached for Isolde and drew her closer against himself.

This time, when Isolde slept, she wasn’t alone.

...

While all of this was happening, in the Black Market, Anesthesia herself was lying down on the lap of Raven, looking at her phone with rather incredulous eyes.

However, behind all of that was a subtle smile on her face, a smile she didn’t even realize she was making.

"This bitch is now sending me a message after so long." She said, "And this is what she asks me? Is she crazy?"

"I suppose you are talking about your sister, Isolde?" Raven said, caressing her hair, looking lazily at the orgies happening on the runic TV screen. The sound of moaning and groaning was loud, and that was exactly what they wanted.

"Yeah." Anesthesia replied, "Her."

"What did she ask?"

"For me to be her Maid of Honor. She is marrying in five days, September 1st." Anesthesia paused on that one, tilting her head, "Oh. That’s her birthday. So she is marrying on her own birthday?"

Anesthesia didn’t know how to feel about that. Because strangely, for some reason, she understood why this date was chosen.

"Will you go?" Raven said, then more firmly, "You should go."

"What? No."

"Why not? It’s your own sister."

"A sister that I always hated. Don’t act like a fool, Raven. You know my relationship with her."

"And yet she is asking you to be her Maid of Honor." Raven countered, "Which means that Isolde wants to solve whatever is wrong with you two, and she is actively doing her best to make it possible. So accept it, and let’s go together."

He smiled, and it was a slow, practiced-looking smile, "That will be fun."

"Maid of Honor is too much, Raven." Anesthesia bit her lower lip, "Too much."

"Just do your—!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Both of them fell silent, and listened to the door of their sex room being heavily knocked,

"Hello, sorry to disturb your sex session but we are..."

Raven and Anesthesia were no longer listening as people phased through the wall of the room and appeared inside, all with faces hidden, all with weapons, and all ready to kill.

The intruders froze for a moment, surely expecting two people in the midst of sex. However, they gathered themselves fast and attacked.

And yet, Raven and Anesthesia managed to look at each other in that small window of time, before a cold smile split their faces at the arrival of the guests they had been waiting for.

"Let’s kill everyone but one."

"Aye."

...

Elsewhere in Vorn City, inside Brimshark’s modeling agency, Klaus and Love stood together in the middle of a photoshoot, wearing some of the latest clothes from Brimshark, one of the most famous sports brands in the Kingdom.

"Fabulous! Fabulous! JUST FABULOUS!" An old man with a bald head and pink lips, dressed in clothes so colorful they almost hurt the eyes, cried out as he stared at the two of them together.

The photographers couldn’t seem to stop themselves either, the clicking of their cameras echoing throughout the studio as they stared at the two stunning beauties before them, seemingly determined to engrave this moment into space and time itself.

"Lady Love, I always knew your talent was fabulous! Just fabulous! Especially now with your aged-up appearance! Just fabulous! But you!" The old man, one of Brimshark’s high-ranking executives, suddenly thrust a finger toward Klaus. "You are simply fabulous! Lord Klaus, your beauty makes me fabulously shiver! And the two of you together? Oh, Vorn! Oh, Vorn! SO FABULOUS!"

"This guy is fucking loud. Can he not shut up?" Klaus hissed through his teeth, one arm reluctantly wrapped around Love. "I am handsome, that’s a damn fact. Why is he acting like this is some new discovery?"

"Because it is," Love whispered back, all while smiling beautifully for the cameras. "You are more handsome when you are with me. Didn’t you know?"

"Here we go with your bullshit again. I’m already tired of it."

"But we are only getting started, dear Klaus. Now..." Love grabbed his cheek and suddenly leaned over to kiss the other one, making Klaus freeze on the spot. "Be a good boy and smile for the damn bloody camera."

And, without even knowing why, Klaus smiled.

"FABULOUS!" The old man was practically crying now, frantically shouting at the photographers to capture everything. "WE ARE GOING TO WIN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE WITH YOU TWO! JUST FABULOUS!"

Klaus’s smile immediately disappeared. He glared at Love.

"I’m waiting to see how you react once you put on that maid dress we bought. Vorn knows you will never hear the end of it."

Love’s smile crumbled to dust. And Klaus grinned.

Without giving her time to recover, he grabbed her by the waist and turned her around until her back was plastered against his chest, leaving the two of them facing the cameras together.

"Now smile, dear Love."

And, without even knowing why, she smiled.

"FABULOUS!!!"

—End of Chapter 430—