Chapter 124: Pretty sure eyes aren’t supposed to bleed
Everyone in the room froze, and Cass held his breath, unsure who the other man would react.
Like butter, Draken softened almost immediately, his anger melting away.
"Oh, you have a plan? Why didn’t you start with that Cassian? I wouldn’t have gotten so worked up." Cass felt worry fill him as Draken came over to him, his arms out. He had a right to be worried, as the man grabbed his face and began to pepper it with kisses, in front of Lady Fiona.
She sat in shock, hand over her mouth as she witnessed the attack.
"D-Draken! Stop! This is-this is unacceptable behaviour!" Draken pulled back with a pout.
"What happened to my first name? Why aren’t you calling me that? And what’s so wrong with kissing you in front of our wife? She’s fine with it." Draken’s voice was filled with indignation and upset. Like Cass had hurt him greatly.
Cass had turned his piercing gaze towards Lady Fiona, begging her to say something, anything to stop this. He watched as she considered it, before she made an apologetic face that Draken couldn’t see. Ah. She was betraying him once more.
"I’m sorry, Lord Cassian, but I don’t really see an issue here. You’re behind closed doors, and I already know that your relationship is a bit...more intense. I have apparently already given my consent, otherwise Lucy wouldn’t be behaving this way." She gave an apologetic smile. "And it wasn’t as if there was any love between the two of us in the first place." Draken gasped, pulling back, his shocked, orange gaze going between Lady Fiona and Cass alarmingly quickly. He was still holding onto Cass’ face.
"What? You two didn’t get married for love?" He demanded. "I thought that was the whole point of human marriages!" Cass gave Lady Fiona a suspicious look. What the hell did she teach Draken to convince him to get married to her? The proposals were biased, since they were from her perspective. What did she cut out?
"Draken, uh, Lucian." Draken’s gaze focused on Cass. Lady Fiona now looked nervous, and Cass had a feeling a white lie was about to be exposed, and it wasn’t as white as she thought it was. "Humans don’t just get married for love. Sometimes there are political reasons why someone might get married, or a benefit of some kind to do it. For me and Lady Fiona, we got married so that she could benefit from my money, and I could get the title of Duke. My grandfather made it very clear that he wouldn’t give me the title if I couldn’t show that I was going to produce an heir. He just wasn’t...specific." Cass said, his lips twitching as he tried not to smile. "Our is an alliance of sorts. We don’t love each other." Draken growled.
"No wonder I didn’t like how you treated Lady Fiona. She was a partner, but not that kind. Fuck! Is there anything else you’re keeping from me?" He slid his gaze towards Lady Fiona, clearly asking her and Lady Fiona squeaked. She ducked her head, and Cass wasn’t a fool. He found her action...endearing. Even Draken relaxed slightly, even if he was still pissed. "I can’t believe you didn’t tell me the full truth. I wouldn’t have treated Cassian the way that I had if I knew that, Fiona. I thought he was just a bad husband, but if I knew that you married for different reasons, Cassian’s actions make complete sense. I picked on him because I thought he was a bad partner!"
Cass thought back on some of the animosity he’d personally felt from Draken, as well as some of the moments that he had access to from Lord Blackburn. The angry glares, the short responses, the standoffish nature, as well as the behaviour during training sessions. He had been hostile, but not in the same way that Vespertine or Lord Ridgewood. Well, Lord Ridgewood just hadn’t had any interest in him at all.
Actually, it was a bit strange that Lord Ridgewood had been...so nice to him when he was in the library considering he hadn’t said anything before. That, and he kind of stood up for him before as well when Lady Fiona had burst in. He hadn’t thought anything of it, until Lord Blackburn had warned him about him.
"What do you mean you picked on him?" Lady Fiona asked, her face full of worry. It was Draken’s turn to freeze, and he squeezed Cass’ cheeks until his face was distorted. He snorted, before he remembered that he was also in hot water. The longer he remained silent, the more angry Lady Fiona’s face got. "What do you mean, Lucian? Did you pick on Lord Cassian because he was different from the others?" She demanded and Draken released Cass’ face, stepping back and putting his hands behind his back.
For such a big man, it was very strange, and adorable to see him trying to be so cute. Lady Fiona glared at him, and he flinched. Cass was flabbergasted. The large man who was strong enough to crunch his desk was afraid of his wife?
Could...Cass get that kind of reaction someday?
He was sure it would feel very powerful. As soon as Cass had that idea, he felt his cheeks flush and he turned his gaze away from Draken and Lady Fiona. What the hell was wrong with him? Thinking that he could get that kind of reaction from Draken? Was he fucking serous?!
He wanted to get away from them, not build closer relationships with them! He shouldn’t even be considering a deeper relationship with Draken, or anyone else in the hero party! Was he an idiot?
"I-I wasn’t-I didn’t attack him or anything!" Draken shouted, loudly, and both Cass and Lady Fiona winced. She shifted on the loveseat, her expression growing stern.
"You didn’t attack him huh? So what else did you do?" She demanded, crossing her arms and Draken lowered his gaze like a puppy about to get beaten.
"It was a lot." Cass ratted him out in a heartbeat, and Draken gasped, raising his gaze and giving Cass a betrayed look. Cass shrugged. "Hey, all’s fair in love and war." He quipped, and Draken narrowed his gaze. Cass had been trying to shake the feeling he had before, using throwing Draken under the bus as a way to do so. Instead, he realised he’d dug his own fucking grave as Draken’s gaze narrowed, and he watched as his pupils elongated to that of his true nature. Cass swallowed.
"I’ll make sure to remember that." He warned and Lady Fiona cleared her throat.
"What did you do?" She demanded and Draken’s expression shifted back to one of apology.
"I just...did some little things." He said and Cass wanted to laugh. Little things? The man had been a menace. Vespertine and Lord Ridgewood had ignored him, while Draken had actively made Lord Blackburn’s life more difficult. It was petty shit.
Tears in his tent, his guards getting ambushed, food supplies damaged. Petty, but problematic shit.
Draken looked ill, as he stood between Lady Fiona and Cass. Cass could feel himself getting more worked up as he remembered some of the things that he had done. Why had he forgotten about them? He didn’t know at the time what he had done, but he should realise now how damaging his actions had been.
Cass shifted in his seat as well, and Draken glanced at him, before he did a double take and his face fell.
"Cassian, your eyes... they look like they’re bleeding." Draken said, horror twisting his expression. When he looked over at Lady Fiona, she had the same look on her face. Cass was frustrated that he couldn’t even raise his hands to touch his face to find out if what they said was true.
His face did feel a little hot, and then he felt something run down his face. It felt like a tear, but the way that Draken moved towards him told him that it wasn’t that.
Draken cupped his face again, holding it with shaking hands as he wiped away the ’tear’. When he pulled his hand back, a pale pink liquid stuck to his thumb in a droplet form. Cass stared at it, before he looked up at Draken’s horror-filled face.
"Where’s Sam?" He turned, bellowing and Cass winced.
"You sent him off to process the beast you brought in, remember? I’m sure I’ll be fine if I just have some of the healing tonic." Cass told him soothingly, even as his own heart was racing in his chest. What the hell? Bleeding from his eye?
That wasn’t normal, was it?
Lady Fiona got to her feet, her gaze serious.
"I just remembered, I was supposed to ask you about what happened and why you were indisposed for a week. It...slipped my mind while everything else was going on, but seeing you now..." She trailed off, her expression full of upset, before it hardened. "Where is the healing tonic, Cassian? Draken and I will feed it to you." She told him firmly, and Cass felt his heart race in his chest. The two of them?
He wanted to think of a way he could get out of this. A way that he could wiggle out of this awkward, intense moment, but he couldn’t think of one. They both were so...serious, and unlike before, Cass knew where the healing tonic powder was.
It was on a small table, in this room right now, and there was water nearby. It was almost as if Sam had anticipated that something was going to happen that would require him to take some more. He obviously didn’t think that it would happen while he wasn’t there, because who the hell would think that Lady Fiona and Draken would even be in the same room as Lord Blackburn for an extended period of time.
Fuck.
His brain wasn’t working. He was already tired, and he felt like he’d been pushed far already today. Draken’s gaze narrowed, his lips forming a straight line.
"Cassian, focus. Where is it?" Draken demanded and Cass wet his lips, swallowing.
"S-Small table, behind us near the desk. There is a little metal tin, has red powder in it. Need a spoonful of that in a glass of water. That’s the healing tonic." Lady Fiona frowned, clearly not liking the sound of that even if she had seen Sam give it to him before. How she could forget him spitting up blood all over the good linen.
Lady Fiona moved out of his line of sight. Cass felt his breathing get a little more difficult, raspy, and he slumped back against the loveseat. Draken looked white as a ghost, as Cass blinked. He felt sluggish, weak, and Draken moved, shifting him so that Draken was sitting down on the loveseat, and Cass was in his arms, his head against his chest. Draken’s arm was around his chest, his other holding his throat, keeping his head upright.
"Fiona, hurry the fuck up!" Draken yelled and Cass winced.
"Too loud." He murmured, and Draken softened.
"Sorry Cassian. I’m just worried. You’re...this isn’t..." Draken swallowed. "Fuck. I can’t let you do this again, you hear me? You have to ask me to help. You have to. This is torture to witness." Draken murmured. Cass blinked as Lady Fiona came into view, mixing the black liquid with a spoon. She pulled the spoon out, both Draken and Lady Fiona freezing as they realised at the same time that the liquid in the glass had begun to eat away at the spoon.
"Should we be giving this to him?" Lady Fiona asked, and Draken sighed.
"It helped him last time, and despite everything, I trust Sam. He wouldn’t give it to him if it hurt him." Draken said and Lady Fiona frowned, before she sighed. She tossed the spoon, out of sight, out of mind, and approached Cass. Draken’s grip on him tightened, and Cass opened his mouth weakly. As soon as it touched his lips, he began to thrash. Lady Fiona hesitated, but Draken growled. "Don’t you fucking dare, Fiona. It tastes awful to him, you have to continue." Lady Fiona, with Draken’s encouragement, forged ahead. Cass spilled a bunch on himself, probably about a third of the glass, but neither of the other two said anything. Draken made no note that he’d gotten a bunch on his own clothes, and Lady Fiona’s sleeve was soaked.
Cass’ eyes were still fluttering, and both seemed very, very concerned.
"Should we go grab his knight? Maybe he’ll have some insight." Lady Fiona asked when Cass didn’t revive immediately. Draken hesitated, before his ears perked up.
"No. Get Sam and Byron and come back. Go and warn them that something happened, and we fed him the tonic, as he instructed. Otherwise, I fear we might be chased out and never allowed back." Lady Fiona nodded, watching Cass for a second as he blinked slowly, and spun towards the door. Cass heard the door open and close as Draken sighed. "Cassian, you are testing the strength of my hearts, I hope you know that." Draken murmured, his lips against his temple.