Chapter 285: If he disappeared no one would miss him
"Food! We should eat!" Cass declared, not at all worried that it was obvious he was changing the topic. He didn’t care. He didn’t want to talk more about what he was reading, especially with Sir Forsythe around. He knew that Lord Blackburn didn’t read the novels that he did.
He didn’t need the man to notice, even if he had been chill about everything until now.
Lucian slid a look in his direction, his eyes dancing at Cass’ loud words, and his slightly flushed face. He chuckled, leaning in towards the other man.
"Are you embarrassed? It’s just words, sweetness. It’s not as if it’s accurate anyways." Cass blinked before his face flushed further at Lucian’s actions. Cass slid his gaze towards Fiona, whose mouth was turned up in a smile, and Lady Ava whose mouth was slightly opened in shock.
Edgar’s chuckle from the other side had Cass on high alert.
"Exactly. It’s a tame book, Cass, and probably not accurate." Edgar said with a chuckle and Lucian smiled.
"Well, I wouldn’t say that. The dragon did have a rather...voracious appetite." Cass was surprised for two reasons. One, that Lucian would even say that to him, and two, that he knew the word voracious. "That part is accurate to being a dragon. I can’t speak for what it’s like to be a demon, though." Lucian said with a shrug, his orange eyes glittering. Cass hated that he was between them right now. This was a damn fucking nightmare.
"I wouldn’t know." Cass said angrily, reaching for the cup in front of him and taking a large gulp.
"Let’s eat, shall we? Cass is hungry, and I wouldn’t want him to wait any longer." Fiona said warmly, and thank fuck everything started going to normal. The men held their tongues, at least when it came to teasing Cass more.
Instead, they answered any questions that Fiona and Lady Ava had about how the day went. Lucian was very honest about how he mostly was out hunting after Cass had woken up, and Edgar was busy doing other things. Organising the documents that came in, waiting for Cass to call on him. Trying to reach out to some of his own personal contacts to see if it would help with the rest of the night and his current situation.
They were about halfway through eating when the bomb was dropped that Lord Ridgewood had come by.
Fiona nearly dropped her fork.
"He what? So damn soon? I expected him to be crawling on all fours!" She shouted, anger etched into every inch of her face. Cass felt his lips turn up slightly, while Edgar let out a long, hard sigh.
"He didn’t raise his head up off of the ground for the most part. Didn’t come into the house for a while either. Just was on the ground at the front door, head pressed against the stones there. He was soaking wet too." Edgar told her, glancing at Cass. Cass didn’t step in and let the other man talk. "He was here to...apologise. To Cass, mostly. Cass was kind enough to give him some clothes and let us speak to each other before sending him away." Edgar looked uncomfortable saying that, while Fiona glanced between the quiet Cass and the awkward-looking Edgar.
"Is there something I’m missing?" She asked and Cass shrugged.
"Probably. The trees viewed him as a threat and soaked him through. He was shivering so I just couldn’t leave him like that. At the very least I wasn’t going to have him die on my property. Feels like a bad omen." Cass said, and Lady Ava choked on her water. She was coughing hard enough that Fiona reached over and patted her back, offering her support.
Lucian let out a bark of laughter.
"That’s my boy." He said with pride. "That would be tragic." Lucian said and Edgar just shook his head with a sigh.
"Did you tell him that? Because he didn’t bring it up, and instead was grateful that you even let him for a few minutes." Edgar said, before looking uncomfortable again. Fiona watched Edgar intently.
"I’m guessing you two spoke to each other after he entered the mansion?" She asked, but it was more like a statement. She could tell that was the truth, as could everyone else who didn’t already know. Edgar shifted in his seat.
"I did. I...I’m still pissed at him for everything that happened, and how it went down. How they brought me into a room with Cass and dropped me into a situation I never wanted to be in. Thinking that I would side with them. Thinking that I would be blind enough to condemn someone...We had already punished them but I just needed to know...why? Why had he gone about it the way that he had." Edgar closed his eyes, sighing. He looked exhausted. "I got some answers, but I...I’m not happy with them." Cass could tell.
Why else would the man just bulldoze over Cass like that in the office? At least, that’s what Cass felt. He didn’t regret kissing him, not really, but he didn’t think it would have been so easy if the man hadn’t wanted to hide some things from not just Cass, but himself. He was also being attentive to Cass, which Cass viewed as another way to suppress his own feelings.
If you thought more about other people, you didn’t have time to think about yourself.
"So?" Cass asked, turning towards the other man. Edgar looked a little jumpy when Cass faced him. "Did you get the answers that you wanted? Even if you didn’t like them?" Cass stared at him, stared through him and Edgar dropped his gaze, swallowing thickly.
"I got answers, but I don’t think I’ll ever be happy with them. He told me that because of what he did, and how it happened..." Edgar closed his eyes with a sigh. "His father kicked him out of his home. Threw all of his things out and off the property and all of his family stood by and watched. He’s not even staying with my father. Didn’t even ask. He’s just staying at a cheap inn. Because of what happened, he doesn’t even have a sword to make money with." Edgar looked upset, but Cass couldn’t tell if he was more upset at the situation that Lord Ridgewood found himself in, or if he was upset because he felt bad for the man.
"So he told you to pity him?" Fiona asked, her tone icy and Edgar flinched.
"No. He didn’t. He actually specifically told me that he felt a bit relieved, all things considered. He felt like he couldn’t truly do what he wanted without hitting rock bottom. He’d failed all of the tasks he’d been given. He actually said that his father hadn’t cared that Cass was a hero. He was still a demon and needed to be killed. The fact that my father hadn’t done anything about it was a fact that Cass had really manipulated everyone and that he was going to make sure that the King knew about it." Cass was surprised to hear that.
Lucian laughed beside him, as did Fiona.
"What a damn idiot of a man. At the very least, I’m glad that Gideon didn’t side with him in the end and that he knows how to tell a good fucking tale." Lucian said and Cass glanced at him before he looked back at Edgar.
Yeah, he was totally hiding how bad he was doing.
"So he’s going to try and rat Cass out to the man who is supposed to be my father? What a damn little snake." Fiona said, amusement in her voice. Cass was a bit startled, as was Lady Ava because Fiona had never brought that fact up. Not since Cass had opened his big mouth and told her.
Lady Ava did seem shocked, but not in a ’this is the first time I’m hearing this’ kind of way. More like she was saying it so openly. Lucian wasn’t even phased, nor was Edgar. Edgar, obviously, probably knew. Lucian?
He probably didn’t care much about human relations. Especially when it came to the royal family.
"It’s crazy that he thinks it will change anything. He doesn’t realise how much I have the country by the coffers." Cass said casually, and Fiona blinked, before she laughed.
"Right? The damn fool. He probably thinks that it’s the Blackburn family that has complete control, not you personally. Especially given what a shithead your grandfather is." Fiona said, open anger on her face. "I still can’t believe what he said to me when you introduced me the first time. What a damn piece of work. I have never wanted to hit an elder as much as I wanted to that day." Cass blinked.
He didn’t have the memory of Fiona meeting his grandfather, especially since it didn’t happen in the book. How much was Lord Blackburn still keeping from him? Glaring internally, it was only a few milliseconds later that the memory washed over him.
Lord Blackburn had introduced Fiona to his grandfather when they were in discussions of engagement and marriage. It was part of the agreement that his grandfather had made when Lord Blackburn was a child that he needed to prove that his fiancé was a real person.
Cass was pissed that his grandfather had drafted up a contract, and had made Lord Blackburn sign it when he was a child. It shouldn’t have been legally binding, because you know, he had been a child, but he was from a villainous background.
Of course that was going to be okay.
Fiona was right to be damn pissed at the man. He’d made Fiona and Lord Blackburn wait in what was supposed to Lord Blackburn’s own home, in a waiting room reserved for guests that he didn’t like that much, for over an hour.
Fiona hadn’t known that, but Lord Blackburn had. He had to just grin and bear it. Then, when he had finally allowed them to come into his office, there had been no chairs to sit down on. Another slight, minor in nature since Fiona came from a commoner background and also was the hero, but Lord Blackburn had hated it.
He had held his tongue, because he needed the signature. Needed the approval of the fucker behind what was supposed to be his desk. He had eventually given it, after pointing out every flaw in Lord Blackburn’s and Fiona’s travels so far.
Cass let out a chuckle.
"It was amusing, at the very least." Cass said, grabbing his glass and raising it to his lips to take a sip. Fiona gave him a look.
"Amusing? Cass, the man had a stick shoved so far up his ass I wondered how he managed to sit down in that chair of his." Lucian let out a boisterous laugh, before turning to Cass, his eyes glittering.
"I know you said no eating, but come on Babe? Do you really need him alive any longer? It sounds like I’d be doing the world a service for the amount of indigestion he’d give me." Lucian was all big eyes, pouty lips, and he looked ridiculous.
Cass’ lips twitched.
"You can’t eat him. Unfortunately, I still need something from him." Cass muttered. "I’m working on it, but I need a bit more time before I can get what I want." Cass spoke cryptically and Fiona sighed.
"Well, honestly, I’d say let Lucy just eat the man. I know I’m also against that kind of violence if we can avoid it, but..." Fiona shook her head with a sigh. "He’s a waste of space." It was strange to hear Fiona say something like that. Lady Ava was even shocked.
"Fifi, I never would have expected that from you." She said softly, before glancing at Cass. "I’m sorry you have someone that awful around you." She said, meaning her words. Cass snorted.
"Well, it’s alright. It’s going to be a slow, tasteful unraveling of everything he’s ever worked for, so I’m not too worried. I’m actually a bit sad that I won’t be there to watch his face as he realises that despite all of the work he put into being a piece of shit, I still managed to take everything from him. The castle he built for himself had no structural support." Cass’ grin was simply villainous.
Edgar shivered, as did Lucian, before he leaned in and pressed a kiss against Cass’ cheek. Cass flushed, covering the spot as Lucian pulled away with a grin.
"You’re so sexy when you’re scheming. Especially when they deserve it." Lucian was all smiles as Cass stared at him, shocked. The fucking audacity of this man.