Chapter 48

Cassie POV

I sat in my father’s office, paging through one of the books which sat on the bookshelf behind his desk. It had been one of my favourites as a child - of a princess whose prince searches the world for her, sweeping her up in a fairytale romance which reality just can’t compare to.

I’d spent hours in that room, reading while my father worked. It had been one of the only ways I actually spent time with him when I was growing up. His office had become my refuge whenever I had a bad day - when the other girls had bullied me about my parentage, or when Vasilios had gone off to one of his alpha training camps and I had no one else to spend my time with.

Being a hybrid on Poros was tantamount to being an outsider.

“Cassandra,” I heard my father’s surprised voice behind me as he closed his office door. “I didn’t know you were here.”

I smiled weakly at him, not bothering to get up from my comfortable chair. “I know. If you had, you wouldn’t have returned.”

His face fell and he