Chapter 105: A suck up of a dragon
Thankfully, either through Byron or Sam just being impeccable at his job, Sam came knocking at the door around this time.
Draken, sitting across from Cass, flared his nostrils, inhaling. Cass opened his mouth to call out to whoever had knocked, presumably either Byron or Sam, but Draken raised his hand, shaking his head before he got to his feet and answered the door. Cass was surprised that he did that, and Sam was also surprised to see Draken on the other side. Draken held the door open, his expression blank as he stared at Sam.
He wasn’t preventing Sam from entering, but it was clear that he was watching him. Cass didn’t know why he was doing so, and Sam clearly didn’t know why either. Sam cast a look towards Cass, and Cass swore he saw the blue hair of Byron peeking through the door behind him. Cass tried to shrug, but he was barely able to lift his shoulders.
Sam didn’t take that negatively, and instead swallowed, and stepped past Draken and into the study. He made his way towards Cass, his hands empty, but a smile in his eyes.
"You look better, my Lord." Sam said warmly and Draken glanced at the hallway, before he closed the door and came back over. He slammed his body back into the loveseat across from Cass, crossing his arms as he looked at the two interact.
"Do I? You don’t have to be polite, Sam." Cass joked, but Sam shook his head.
"Why would I lie? Especially about your condition." Sam glanced over at Draken, but directed his words towards Cass. "Would you like some tea? I sent Byron to go pick up the meal I had the kitchens prepare for you, but then..." Sam trailed off, his eyes dropping and scanning Cass’ body.
He didn’t need to clarify. It was clear that Sam was thinking about the condition that he found Cass in. Cass was still grateful that his magic powers awoke at the most perfect time so that Sam didn’t find him covered in jizz. His own jizz.
That would have been horrifying, even if Sam wasn’t the type to gossip about his Lord. Cass felt a shiver run down his spine and he swallowed.
"Uh, sure." Cass replied, and Draken stared at him.
"So, who is this visitor that is supposed to visit? You never clarified who it was." Draken asked and Sam blinked several times.
"A visitor? That’s not the case. You have-" Sam cut off when Cass gave him a harsh look. Draken snorted.
"Trying to hide it from me? That’s not going to work. I’m not leaving until I know who is keeping you from rest. If I didn’t know you had someone else coming I would have personally carried you back to your den and tucked you in." Cass felt his jaw drop at Draken’s casual words. Sam also seemed surprised by his words, but quickly scurried away to get the tea started.
"I’m not hiding it." Cass began. "I just don’t think I need to tell you." Draken snorted.
"That’s the same thing, Cassian. Sure, maybe the intention is different, but you are still keeping things from me." Draken narrowed his gaze. "I don’t like it. Not when it comes to your health. You’re too skinny already, and you have a strict diet. I can’t even provide for you properly because of how strict your diet is. At least with Fiona I can go hunt her a beast and give it to her and she can eat that." Sam’s throat clearing from his little tea station had Draken raising his gaze to him. Cass wished he could turn his head to see Sam’s expression as he spoke.
"You could also do that for Lord Blackburn. The difference is that you would also have to process it since I do not have those skills. I could ask Sir Forsythe for help, but he has much more important things to do." Sam’s voice was...surprisingly neutral. Almost as if...he’d be happy if Draken did that?
That confused Cass, and apparently, also confused Draken.
"I thought you didn’t like me." Draken said, and Cass blinked. Where was this coming from? Had something happened while Cass was unconscious?
The heavy sigh from Sam seemed to indicate that yes, something had happened, and now Cass was very curious what that was.
"I don’t like you, but my personal feelings have nothing to do with the health of my Lord. If you can bring something to help get him more protein, and help him become healthy, why would I protest that?" The sound of clinking behind him told Cass that Sam had finished preparing the tea. As if to prove Cass’ line of thought, Sam appeared from where he’d disappeared behind him, towards Cass’ desk and gently placed down two tea cups and two different teapots.
Draken seemed...impressed. Once more, it seemed that his henchmen had done something to make him happy. Cass didn’t really like that he was checking on his people so intensely, but it was also...considerate?
It was all kinds of fucked up that he was kind of implying that Cass couldn’t hire competent people, but it was also rewarding when Draken had to come face to face with the fact that he had chosen good people.
"Hmm. You’ve impressed me. You’ve got good people around you, Cassian." Sam’s face flushed as he poured two cups of tea for them. Sam, and Draken both seemed to realise at the same time that Cass couldn’t raise his cup to his lips.
Sam gasped, horrified that he’d forgotten, while Draken’s orange gaze widened. Cass’ bitter smile gave away that he knew he was going to need help.
"Oh my Lord. I am so sorry! I didn’t-"
"It’s okay, Sam." Cass cut him off. "Just help me when it’s cold enough, won’t you?" Draken grumbled.
"You could have asked me to help." Draken muttered. Cass gave him a look.
"The last time you helped me, you spilled it all over me. I probably ended up wearing half of the healing tonic." Draken’s cheeks flamed and Sam stepped back, turning his back. Cass had a feeling he was still listening though, and swore he saw that Sam’s lips were turned up slightly as he fled.
"I-I’m just clumsy with care. If I don’t try, I’ll never improve." Draken protested. "And my intentions were sincere! I wanted to help!" Cass gave him a look.
"Oh? It didn’t benefit you in the slightest if I wasn’t in pain?" Draken flinched.
"I won’t deny that I could have benefitted, but I also couldn’t remain seated watching you struggle like that. I...I am a monster, Cassian, but I’m not that kind of a monster." Draken grumbled. "Now, are you going to let me help? Or are you going to ask your competent aide?" He was clearly upset, but he wasn’t going to insult Sam. It was...rather fascinating to witness.
Cass didn’t think that Draken would be so...serious about acknowledging someone’s skills.
"Uh, well, I wouldn’t want to inconvenience either of-"
"You are not inconveniencing me!" Both Sam and Draken said it at the same time, giving Cass a rather dizzying moment. Never in his lifetime would he think that Draken and Sam had anything in common. Draken cast a look towards Sam, tsking as the two made eye contact over Cass’ shoulder.
"We are in agreement." Draken began. "You are not a bother in any way. As I just said, I need practise in caring for others, especially if you are going to be like this again. You’ve been lucky thus far that all of the dungeons we’ve been to haven’t dragged into this time for you, and that the dungeons you haven’t attended to we didn’t need you. What happens when that isn’t the case and you get caught up in one while during this week?" Draken made a good point.
Cass wasn’t the one tracking their quests probably as seriously as Lord Blackburn had been. He had no idea if Lord Blackburn had a way of predicting the dungeons either. He did feel that it would be a big deal if the others found out about this, and that Lady Fiona would have made a note of it in the book. That was true in Lord Blackburn’s case.
Cass, however? There was a very real chance that he could change the future, that he already had. He could end up in a dungeon that Lord Blackburn hadn’t attended, and then that would be it. Cass would be well and truly fucked, and probably dead.
Shuddering at the thought, Cass closed his eyes for a moment. It wasn’t a great argument on Draken’s part, and it was only for tea. It wasn’t as big of a deal as he was making it out to be, but then again, it wouldn’t hurt Cass to have half of someone around him who cared.
At least until he left for the town. After that? Fuck the hero party. They could survive without him. He could back them from afar, he didn’t need to be by their sides. They had several magic users, Lord Blackburn had just inserted himself to get his hands on that artifact. That was the running theory that Cass had.
That and get the Duke title, but look how well that was going?
Cass opened his gaze and met Draken’s eager orange gaze.
"If you spill hot tea on me, you’re getting kicked out immediately." Cass warned and Draken’s face lit up. He was over and beside Cass on his loveseat, squishing him against the armrest only seconds later.
"Of course!" Draken agreed readily, a grin on his face and Cass sighed. He already regretted the words leaving his mouth.