Free Web NovelChapter 154: Chapter 154: Katherine
Chapter 154 – Katherine
"Nothing but the truth behind my son’s death." Said the woman, making Isolde instinctively flinch.
She narrowed her eyes, looking at the Sister of Death in front of her, wondering if this woman actually knew that everything which had occurred, and had caused her son’s death, led back to them.
’But how could she possibly know?’ Isolde’s brows furrowed further. ’It makes no sense.’
For one, Isolde doubted that this woman knew of the Fangs’ existence. And the only way she could have obtained that information was if Constantine himself had chosen to reveal it.
But there was no benefit in that for him.
Constantine might despise her, but he cared about the Sect’s wellbeing more than anyone. He would never do something that could compromise it.
The more Isolde thought about it, the more lost she became. And yet, despite the troubled thoughts turning inside her, her face remained placid and unreadable as she held the Sister of Death’s gaze.
Deciding that overthinking was pointless, she parted her lips.
"Why?" She asked, keeping her tone flat and mildly irritated. "Why would Cass know anything about the truth behind your son’s death?"
She smiled thinly. "If there is anyone here you ought to be asking, it is certainly my sister, Anesthesia Amaris. Or do not tell me you were unaware of the relationship between the two of them?"
"I know it better than anyone." The Sister of Death answered, her black eyes unwavering. "My late son never stopped speaking about her. He was in love, and he was prepared to do anything to earn her affection. He even gave her my alchemical materials. Sometimes..." she let out a quiet chuckle, hollow, as though it came from somewhere emptied of everything that could be called feeling "...sometimes he would steal from me to give to her, when he knew I would not have agreed."
"I would like to say he was no different from any other man drawn to my sister." Isolde said. "But I do not enjoy speaking poorly of the dead. In any case, with everything you have told me, my question still stands. Why are you asking Cass, and not Anesthesia?"
"Because Vorn, the Lord of Death, told me to ask the Last Born."
"Huh?" Isolde went still, her purple eyes widening slightly. "What did you just say?"
"I have prayed day and night for an answer about my son’s death, Lady Isolde." The Sister of Death said, her black eyes growing wetter with each word. "Not only did I pray, praying alone is never enough for the gods. You must know that, Lady, so that you remember when the time comes. Because the gods also require sacrifice. And I sacrificed the only thing I had left in this world, the only thing of value remaining to me, in order to draw closer to my Lord. And after countless prayers and suffering...the Lord of Death finally answered."
She paused, smiled, and Isolde shivered at how ghastly that smile was.
"The answer was, and allow me to quote m: ’Go to the Last Born of the Third Chosen Family, the Desdemona, dear Katherine, and ask him the truth of your son’s death. He will answer. That is a certainty. And you will either come to my Gate of Death with a soul full of pain, or you will be freed entirely from the aching weight of your son’s death, and life will begin for you once more.’"
As the words of the Sister of Death — whose name was Katherine — settled inside Isolde’s mind, she could not stop her heart from tightening with quiet dread.
Something about the words of Vorn was deeply unsettling.
’He knows our involvement in Nick’s death.’ Isolde concluded, slowly clenching her fists. ’But then why did he not simply tell this woman the truth himself? Why send her to us?’
What was the Lord of Death hoping to achieve?
Mortals could not hope to understand the mind of a god. Isolde could only pray that the situation was not as dangerous as it felt.
"I have been patient enough, Lady Isolde." Katherine spoke again. "I wish to speak with the Last Born alone. As for you, my master has been calling. You have earned her favour. I would not advise you to squander it."
"And you think—!"
"Darling."
Isolde fell silent and snapped her head around, finding Cassius now awake, slowly pulling himself upright and settling his back against the headboard.
"You are awake." Isolde whispered.
"How could I sleep through a conversation that interesting." He said, turning a steady gaze on Katherine. "I heard you wanted to speak to me."
"Yes, Last Born." She answered immediately, then clarified. "Alone."
"Is that necessary? My wife will know either way."
"I do not mind her knowing afterward. But right now, Last Born, I need to speak with you alone." She insisted. "Will you deny me that?"
Cassius said nothing for a couple of breaths, then turned his head toward Isolde and smiled gently.
"Let us give the woman what she needs." He said. "Go ahead and meet my great-great-grandmother. This will be your last chance to see her before we return tomorrow morning."
"Are you certain?" Isolde asked.
"Aye."
She held his gaze a moment, a silence building between them, then nodded, choosing to trust him.
She gave Katherine one final look — full of warning and quiet threat — before walking out of the room, leaving Cassius and Katherine alone.
The atmosphere shifted the moment the door closed. Something new entered the air, thick and heavy, like the particular silence an Apothecary might unintentionally bring when arriving to deliver news of death to a waiting family.
"I will ask again, Last Born." Katherine said, her voice soft and low. "Tell me, for the sake of Vorn, or any god you hold dear, the truth behind my son’s death."
Her voice was saturated with desperation.
In that moment, Katherine looked exactly like a woman begging to be saved from a nightmare that had become her permanent reality. A nightmare that had begun the night her son died in the most harrowing of circumstances, and from which she had not emerged since. She had passed through every shade of despair, anger, and hatred, and she was tired of all of it.
All she wanted was the truth so that she could finally let go. Because just as her god had told her...
She would either die, or begin living again.
Katherine was not afraid of death. In either case, she would be freed from this torment with nothing more than a word from the Last Born. freēwēbnovel.com
That was why she had come to Cassius. He was the one who held her salvation.
’Why would he do this?’ Cassius thought, frowning subtly. ’What is Vorn’s purpose in setting this in motion?’
[There is no way to know.] Ananke said. [And knowing would not help you in this moment regardless. The question is...what will you do now, Cassius?]
He did not answer, his thoughts turning restlessly.
He understood that he had two options available to him and nothing more.
He could tell the truth. Or he could lie.
There was no third path hiding somewhere.
Telling the truth was dangerous. Katherine would learn that even if he had not killed her son directly, he had played a significant role in it. It would not be unreasonable to say he was, in truth, the very cause of it.
And lying — if done well — could allow him to avoid any repercussions entirely. It might even be turned to some advantage.
It was obvious which option served him better. Being truthful was admirable, but when the truth risked pulling consequences down on him and his family, the temptation of a well-crafted lie was difficult to set aside.
And yet.
As Cassius watched Katherine — truly watched her — a thought forced itself loudly through everything else.
’Would you prefer to be lied to about the death of someone you loved, rather than know the truth — however painful — so that you might finally make peace with it?’
’Perhaps. But saying that truth risks harm to me and those I love.’ Cassius countered inwardly, his values and principles quietly demanding something of him at that moment.
He cared about his family above all else. But with that innate love for family came the equally innate reluctance to knowingly wound another family...unless that family had moved against his own.
The Jurish family had done nothing to him.
And though it was deeply hypocritical of him to be troubled by this now, after being the indirect cause of their suffering...it remained true that he had never wished them harm.
It had simply happened, as an uncontrolled ripple of his actions.
’But can I genuinely claim innocence when the outcome was so clearly shaped by what I set in motion?’ ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Intent alone was not enough to make an action good or bad.
Torn between the deep instinct to protect himself and his family at any cost, and the quiet pull of honesty toward a woman who simply wanted to bury her grief properly...Cassius arrived at a decision.
’No matter how much I struggle with it, I cannot risk my family for the sake of my own desire to give this woman a cleaner truth.’ He sighed inwardly. ’So let me be a liar once more. But this time, not a lie meant to destroy. A lie meant to heal.’
Whether he was telling himself this to soothe the sting of his own hypocrisy, he refused to examine that question.
He drew a slow breath, adjusted his position so that he faced Katherine fully, and opened his mouth.
"You have come to me for the truth behind your son’s death, but on what grounds do you trust that I would be honest with you?"
Katherine smiled slowly and sorrowfully. "I only need an answer." She said, her voice raw with desperation. "Any answer, Last Born. I need something to give weight to all of this feeling. So give it to me."
"What if what I told you was not the truth?"
"Only an answer." She repeated.
And there, Cassius finally understood what Katherine was truly looking for.
He almost smiled with pity.
He caught himself just in time. Katherine did not need his pity in that moment. That would only wound her further.
What she needed was an answer.
So an answer, he would give.
"Come closer and sit." Cassius said, smiling gently, gesturing in front of him. Katherine obeyed and sat before him, like a child settling at the feet of someone older, watching him with eyes that seemed incapable of stopping their quiet weeping.
"Katherine, that is your name, isn’t it?"
"...Yes."
"I once knew someone with that name." Cassius said. "Strangely, your grief reminds me of hers. You have lost a son. She had lost a brother."
Katherine’s eyes opened slightly.
"I know that is not what you came here for. But...will you allow me to tell you about her first?"
Katherine hesitated briefly, then nodded slowly. "...if you wish, Last Born. But please, do not take long. I cannot stay here much longer, and my heart is in need of rest."
"It will not take long." Cassius reassured her, and with a quiet, forlorn smile, began. "The story starts when a young, sharp-edged boy met Katherine — who had already lost her brother by then — in a place a boy like him had absolutely no business being."
—End of Chapter 154—
