Rose pov
The war room was quieter now, though "quiet" was a lie. Quiet only meant the noise had moved inward. The maps and papers scattered across the long oak table whispered of kingdoms in flames. The stains of ink, candle wax, and blood etched into its surface reminded me that even strategy bled eventually.
They call me Chaos in this city. In the mouths of enemies, the name is a blade fear dressed as reverence. Allies temper it to "Queen" or "Varela" when they need to feel safer standing near the fire. But there is only one name that doesn't belong to the world at all.
"Rosie."
Cassian's voice gave it shape long before he stepped inside. It always did.
The doors had shut behind Asher minutes ago, but the air still trembled with him. His presence lingered like thunder on the horizon—contained but electric, a storm that hadn't yet broken. It unsettled me more than I would ever admit aloud.
I sat alone, tracing the rim of my glass with a fingertip. The red wine inside caught the dim glow, a liquid mirror of veins and shadows. I didn't drink it. Drinking dulled too much; and if I dulled, Adrian crept back in.
Adrian's memory never entered gently. It clawed. It was teeth and smoke, the ghost of fingers curled around my throat, the echo of his promises spoken not as love but as chains: You were made for me, Rose. Only me.
The walls I had built over years, walls forged in steel and sharpened on vengeance should have kept him out. But tonight, Asher had looked at me in that unflinching way of his, had seen too much. And now Adrian's shadow pressed harder, as if sensing weakness.
I hated that. I hated him. I hated myself for letting the memory touch me still.
The door opened softly, breaking through my thoughts.
"Rosie."
I knew the voice before I lifted my head. Cassian.
Something inside me eased. It always did when he said that name.
No one else called me that. No one else dared. To others I was Chaos, the blade, the flame that wouldn't bend or bow. To Cassian, I could still be Rosie—the girl who had survived fire and betrayal, the girl he had held upright when no one else believed she could stand again.
He stepped into the war room without ceremony, as though he belonged to every space I occupied. In some ways, he did. Raven and queen, general and sovereign, friend and… more than friend. Not lover, no. But more than comrade. Something older, something truer.
"You're slipping," Cassian said, stopping at my chair. His voice wasn't sharp; it was steady, the way it always was when he saw through me.
"I don't slip," I said automatically. My tone was iron, but my hands my hands betrayed me, curled tight on the table's edge.
"Everyone slips." He leaned against the table, folding his arms. His dark hair caught the light, his jaw as sharp as any blade, but his eyes gods, his eyes were too gentle. He'd buried more friends than I could count, and still he looked at me with patience, never pity. "Even you."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to mock him, to deflect with sharpness the way I always did. But the sound that left me was not a scoff. It cracked halfway out of me, broken at the edges.
Cassian didn't flinch. He simply reached out, resting his hand on the back of my chair not quite touching, but close enough that warmth brushed my skin. "You're carrying too much alone."
"I can handle it," I whispered.
"I know you can. That's the problem."
Something inside me trembled. Adrian's voice was still in my head, cruel and mocking, but here was Cassian solid, unshakable, reminding me of a truth I sometimes forgot: I was not alone.
"Want to tell me about the detective you went on a heist without me?" Cassian was trying to distract me and i gladly accepted it.
"It's just a temporary alliance Cassi"
"be careful Rosie. i saw the way you looked at him. you can handle any distraction now" i know what he said is true. i can't be distracted especially with Adrian still on the loose.
"It's just a game that will end soon" Cassian looked at me with disbelieve.
"Rosie" he called me, i melted.
Before I could stop myself, I turned toward him. His arms opened without hesitation, and I let myself fold into them.
It was not the kind of embrace that consumed or demanded. It was steady, grounding, like a hand pressed to a wound to remind you it was still there but you were still breathing. His chest was warm against my temple, the beat of his heart a low drum reminding me of something Adrian had stolen: safety.
I let myself breathe, just for a moment.
"I should be stronger than this," I muttered against his shoulder.
"You're strong because of this," he said. "Not in spite of it."
The silence between us was heavy but familiar. We'd spent nights like this before nights of planning, of bleeding, of nothing but silence because silence was easier than breaking. Cassian had been there when no one else had, when I'd clawed my way out of Adrian's grasp with nothing but rage and scars. He hadn't saved me; he'd simply stood guard while I saved myself.
Maybe that was why I trusted him more than anyone.
"Rosie," he said again, softer this time. My name, but not the one the world knew. Only his.
I closed my eyes and let it settle in my chest. A secret name. A secret piece of me I hadn't known I needed until he gave it back.
"You don't have to bleed alone anymore," Cassian said into my hair. "Not with me here."
I wanted to believe him. Gods, I wanted to. But wanting was dangerous.
So after a moment, I pulled back, straightening my shoulders, forcing my spine into steel again. Cassian's hands lingered for a fraction longer before he let go.
The look in his eyes warmth edged with quiet sorrow made my heart ache. He'd never asked for more from me, never demanded what others had tried to take. But the intimacy between us was there all the same, a tether no one else could quite name.
"Enough weakness for tonight," I said, slipping my mask back on with the ease of long practice. "We have a war to win."
Cassian's mouth twitched in that familiar, wry almost-smile. "As commanding as ever."
I ignored the way his voice lingered warm against my skin. I ignored the truth that with him, I was still Rosie the girl behind the crown, behind the fire. To the world beyond these walls, I was Chaos again the name they whispered when they locked their doors and prayed I chose another street to burn.
When I finally rose and left the war room, my steps were sharp, deliberate. To anyone watching, I was untouchable again Chaos wearing skin.
But what I didn't see what I couldn't know was the shadow in the doorway. The eyes that had lingered on us, watching the way Cassian held me, hearing the name he called me, the softness in his voice.
I didn't notice the storm brewing in the silence I left behind.
I didn't see Asher the man the underworld swore would one day bring Chaos to heel standing just beyond the threshold, swallowing the sight like a knife he refused to pull out.
And when the reckoning came, I would never see it coming.