Chapter 117: What is a good mate?
"You like another?" Draken asked, turning his attention and question fully to Byron. Byron cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the question. Cass knew that he was on a timeline. If Sam came back before he answered?
Well, Byron didn’t know that Sam had overheard him. Now probably wasn’t the right time to find out that Sam had heard him confess to Cass the truth.
"I-I do." Byron murmured. "Lord Blackburn has also made it clear that he has no intention of using us in that way." Draken’s gaze darted back to Cass, his gaze narrowing.
"Why did you have to clarify that?" Draken demanded, and Cass snorted.
"I was basically asking Byron to serve me, and given my reputation Draken, wouldn’t you also think that when someone like me asks you to serve them, your mind might wander?" Cass joked, but Draken didn’t seem to find it funny. He looked between Byron and Cass, his gaze hard, before he sighed, crossing his arms and plumping up his chest.
Cass pretended that he didn’t notice that.
"Was this before or after I bit you?" Draken asked and Cass’ humour faded slightly.
"Before." Cass replied, his tone cold, and Draken grunted.
"Well, you don’t need to rely on Byron anymore, even hypothetically. You have me. I am more than happy to ’serve’ you." Byron coughed, while Cass gasped.
"Draken!" He exclaimed, and Draken’s lips curled up, his hard gaze warming as he smirked at Cass. Cass was sure his face had warmed quickly, and his heart was racing.
"What? I’ve already told you that I am willing to. Especially if it means that you don’t end up like this next month." Draken told him, still smirking as Cass’ face turned even more red.
"Y-You aren’t a servant." Cass felt a little tongue-tied, and he was realising that what he had been doing to Byron was basically being done to him. He hated that the script had flipped, as he wasn’t as versed in how to respond to these situations. Draken laughed.
"Correct. I am your husband." Draken told him and Cass huffed.
"We can’t get married!" Cass reminded him, not for the first time. Draken chuckled.
"Yeah, in the human way. Cassian, you keep bringing that up, but do you really think I would ever care about what rules humans would make if they inconvenienced me? I’ve made them change laws before because they bothered me. They left the eastern forest alone for hundreds of years because I liked to nap there. Do you really think anyone would say anything if I married you in the human way?" Cass didn’t have a retort to that.
He agreed with Draken in this case. If Draken, the dragon who had helped the Kingdom become what it was, put his foot down and said he had a human husband, the whole nobility would fold out of fear. His grandfather included.
Cass grumbled, frowning, and Draken raised his hand to cover his mouth as he laughed.
"Cassian, don’t pout like that. I’ll forget that Byron is in the room if you behave like that." Cass’ eyes widened, before his gaze narrowed and he glared at Draken. He was behaving rather normally, given the situation. He didn’t want to be married to Draken, and he also knew that Draken’s offer came with several strings attached.
If they went further, the bond that he had been forced into would solidify. Cass didn’t want that. They would be paired for life. Cass, for the life of him, couldn’t understand why Draken was even joking about that. He hadn’t really questioned that aspect before, but now that he thought about it, why the fuck did Draken want Cass?
He’d taken a long time to even bring it up to Lady Fiona in the story, almost near the end of the book. They had gone through with it, of course, but it had been a rather tight and tense part of the story. Cass had felt that it was a little forced, kind of like this situation.
Cass frowned, blinking before he looked up at Draken.
"Why do you even want to be bonded with me in the first place, Draken? I realised I haven’t questioned you about this before. You have so many options, and you’ve lived for a long time. Why would you even consider me?" Cass asked and Draken, who had appeared ready to tease Cass more, froze. Byron shifted awkwardly beside Cass, clearly uncomfortable with remaining in the room why Cass asked this.
Draken slid his gaze to Byron, and Byron gave a quick nod, glancing at Cass, which Cass sighed and nodded, and Byron headed for the door.
"I will let you know when Sam returns." Byron muttered quietly before exiting, giving them some privacy. It did rub Cass the wrong way that he had somewhat listened to Draken, but then again, that might be a bond formed by the fact that they were both Dragons. Cass wouldn’t deny them the right to have solidarity with each other, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.
Draken stared at Cass, before he moved. He grabbed a chair that was pushed up against the wall on the left side before he marched over, slammed the chair down next to Cass and sat down. He then spun Cass’ chair until they were face to face, and pulled Cass’ chair towards him. He didn’t stop until Cass’ legs were caged in by his own, his hands on either of the armrests while Cass’ arms remained in his lap. Draken bent forward, caging and trapping Cass in his hold while Cass stared into those serious, orange eyes of his.
"Now you’re asking why?" Draken asked, and Cass swallowed. His voice was deep, growly, and his eyes were back in full force. The inhuman nature of them made Cass’ pulse race, and he nervously licked his lips. Draken watched him do so, before his gaze slid back to Cass’ and Cass had to hold his breath for a second.
Why was he so intense? What was going on here? What had Lord Blackburn done before Cass had gotten here?
"Um, yes?" Cass replied, and Draken’s gaze narrowed slightly before he moved in even closer. The chair creaked under his weight, his grip so tight on the armrests that Cass worried that they might break. He wasn’t quite able to reach his face, but if he was trying to cage him in and make him feel small, he was succeeding.
"Cassian, have I not told you that I think you would make a good partner? Have I not told you that it was a great honour that I, as a dragon, was fighting with you, dueling with you, and that you were able to hold your own against me? It might not have been in physical fights, but magic is still just as dangerous. It guts me to think that you have lost even a fraction of that power due to the injury you sustained, but that’s not the point right now." Draken sighed, a rumbling starting in his chest that he silenced. "You are stubborn. Harsh, aggressive. You rarely show compassion for others, while trying to grow your hoard. You trust no one, not even the people you have close to you, and you strive to be the best you can be, not caring what others think of you." Draken’s expression was unreadable to Cass as Cass inhaled as quietly as he possibly could. "Is that not the traits of someone who would make a good mate for a dragon?"
Cass didn’t even know what to say to that. Everything that he mentioned was similar to who he was, but also, he could see the parts of where Lord Blackburn leaked in. Hoard? He’d never even considered that the amount of money that he had was a hoard, but from a dragon’s perspective...yeah. That would make sense.
Cass didn’t even know how much he had, since Lord Blackburn had made it that way. He’d forgotten to get that cleared up when he’d spoken to him. Shit.
Cass knew his thoughts were trying to drift away from what was happening in the moment. It was his way of trying to deflect from what was happening. He was so awkward, and confused by this situation that he was having a hard time processing this. This wasn’t supposed to happen to him. This wasn’t supposed to be Lord Blackburn.
Cass was supposed to be able to just...leave and live a normal life after the hero party, not...become the mate of a dragon.
"W-What about Lady Fiona?" Cass knew it was a lame question, and he could tell that Draken thought the same by the way his first set of eyelids flickered across his eyes, before he blinked with his second set. The armrests creaked as his grip tightened.
"Lady Fiona could be an option, but I don’t think she sees me as a potential mate." Cass sucked in.
"And you think that I do?" He sputtered, flushed and flustered, and Draken’s lips twitched.
"Cassian, were you not the one who teased me first? Do you think I am blind? I have seen the way you have looked at me, before you lost your memories, and after. I know that at the basic level, you have always been attracted to me. Why you never acted on it is something I am unsure of, but-"
"We’re married to the same woman, Draken, and despite you saying over and over that you have no problems with this, I do!" The words coming out of Cass’ mouth felt heavy, weighty, as he tried to speak. He knew, like before, that this wasn’t just from him, but he agreed with Lord Blackburn in this case. His life had been living hell, and for him to also come out of that manor gay?
Cass could understand why he was so against anything with Draken, and had only looked, never even considered touching.
"I’m human! I was raised human! My family history isn’t good, Draken, and I know that you have no issues with same sex attraction, but I do! My grandfather-" Cass’ lips sealed, and he felt himself begin to tremble. He hadn’t had as many issues when he had joked about this with the girls before, but now that he’d already been burnt once, and it was a man, things were different.
Draken’s brows furrowed, and he examined Cass’ face before it went slack.
"You’re afraid of your grandfather." He whispered, and Cass was shocked to realise that yes, he was. There was a small kernel of it buried inside of him, and it wasn’t from Lord Blackburn. The man hated him without even knowing him, and Cass had seen what the man had done to Lord Blackburn, at least in snippets. Anger was there, as well as fear.
What if Cass wasn’t able to do what he wanted? What if he failed at taking the seat from him? What if he failed at getting the Dukedom for Lord Blackburn?
Draken’s right hand released the armrest, and came to cup Cass’ face. His expression was full of sorrow, his mouth turned down as he realised how much Cass was shaking. Cass didn’t realise it until Draken’s hand touched his skin. Cass wanted to laugh. The mind might have mostly forgotten, but the body, apparently, didn’t.
"Hey, it’s okay. Shh." Draken’s voice was gentle, soft, and that only made Cass’ emotions flare. He was angry, he was scared, he was upset, and he also liked that Draken was trying to comfort him, but he felt that he couldn’t enjoy that. It wasn’t fully meant for him.
While Lord Blackburn and Cass might have had similar, if not the same upbringing, there was one major difference. Lord Blackburn had had no one around him, while Cass had had his sister. He hadn’t been alone, while Lord Blackburn had no other choice.
Cass took in a shaky breath, not expecting that this was how his ’morning’ was going to go.