Chapter 348

When Cassia woke up the next morning, the tight ache in her chest didn’t seem to have dissipated one bit and she had the horrible sensation of thinking it could have all been a bad dream, but of course it hadn’t. Her only consolation was that she knew Calix would probably be in Athens, and that she was due to go back to England the next day. She prayed Calix would stay in Athens till she was gone. And that no one would ever know what had happened. Except them. And Lyra. Who at least, Cassia thought with a shudder of relief, hadn’t witnessed her humiliating efforts.

However, she came downstairs to noise, confusion, and commotion, with her parents and Calix in the middle of it all. Her father was shouting at him, thrusting a newspaper in his face.

"How could you?" We trusted you. She’s seventeen, for God’s sake. little more than a child. Isn’t it enough that you’re getting married to one of the most beautiful women in Athens? "You had to mess around with Cassia."

They didn’t see her com