Chapter 132: I can do cool tricks too!
"I would appreciate it if you did, Byron. I apologise if it makes you feel uncomfortable, but it would be nice to know what you can do." Cass tried to become professional, especially after dealing with Draken’s sparkling, shining gaze that was on his face. The damn oaf was looking at him like he hung the moon and stars.
Cass was too short for that.
Byron nodded, looking shy.
"It’s not that I can’t do it. It’s just embarrassing, My Lord. I haven’t shown it to anyone besides Draken, so I-"
"Hey, I meant to ask, but what’s up with this calling me Draken instead of Lord Draken, or even my first name? Cassian? Did you do this?" Draken accused and Cass glanced away, and Byron’s face heated. Draken narrowed his gaze, turning towards Byron and sighing. "Damn it. You even have the fledgling showing me disrespect. I’ve read about this in human marriages before. I’m going to have to grovel, aren’t I? That’s what the books told me." Cass felt a worrying shiver run down his spine.
Cass knew what books had that kind of information. He didn’t think that if there were dating books in this time that it would have information like that. He couldn’t say that for sure, since he hadn’t found any, nor was he looking for them, but he was pretty sure. Even if it allowed men and women to have multiple partners, it still outlawed gay marriage, and felt pretty patriarchal.
So that meant that Draken must have read a romance novel or two that had a title along with what he was looking for. ’How to beg for forgiveness’, maybe? Or, ’A way to a woman’s heart?’ ’The Duchess and her three husbands?’ The last one was a stretch, but hey, it probably was a book title.
These were a few that he could think up easily, and were very likely real. He didn’t like the thought that Draken had read them as if they were true, but there was nothing he could do about that.
"Grovel? You?" The words slipped out of Cass’ lips before he could control himself and heard Byron’s slight intake near him. Draken’s sparkling eyes didn’t dim, but he could feel that there was now something else...something dangerous to him behind those eyes.
"Why don’t we let Byron show you his powers, and we can discuss that when he’s a bit farther away, hmm? We should make sure I keep my word, and you get your magic lesson before you go provoking me, Cassian." Holy shit. He’d never had another man speak to him like that. Not with that tone, or that look in his eyes.
Cass cleared his throat, turning towards Byron who looked like his parents were flirting in front of him. He was awkward, and a little confused, but he also looked like he was trying to avoid eye contact with either of them. Byron cleared his throat a few times before he shook his limps out and stood still. He took a deep breath.
"Okay. It’s bright out, so this will probably be easier to see." Byron said and Cass nodded, his gaze focused on the other man. Cass watched as between one second and the next, Byron summoned shadows. Coating himself in them, darkening the clearing to blur himself. He didn’t quite blend in, but at the same time...
It was sick as hell.
It was so fucking cool.
Cass felt his cheeks heat, his eyes widened in glee as Byron uncovered himself.
"That’s so cool, Byron!" Cass praised and Byron blushed, looking shy but proud. "Obviously, a bright clearing isn’t the best place to show it off, but that is such a useful ability! Wow." Cass was a little starstruck. He hadn’t really seen magic up close like this yet, besides when he had performed it so seeing what someone else could do was making his heart race.
A grumble from Draken, and the shifting of a body next to him had Cass turning his head to find the other man getting to his feet, a pout on his lips.
"I have cool dragon powers too." He protested, and Cass swallowed as Draken’s form shifted, his baggy clothes suddenly making sense as his form got even bigger, even larger, his fingers growing into talons. His chest expanding, and a thin layer of what looked like scales covered his body. Cass could only tell that because his neck was tilted back, showing off the long column as it shimmered and shined in the sunlight hitting him.
His height grew by a few inches, and when he tilted his head back, Cass could see a set of sick, black metallic horns on the top of his head. They were fairly straight, and started at his widow peaks and flowed along the top of his head. They were thick at the front, and tapered into narrow, no doubt sharp, points. While the scales that covered his body kind of behaved as if they were transparent, the scales on his face weren’t the same. These ones were red, and highlighted his cheekbones, even under his facial hair.
Cass had no idea how that worked, and he wasn’t going to ask.
It was too fucking hot to even consider asking about how it worked right now. He was too busy trying to fight letting his feelings out loud enough that Draken could feel them. The man couldn’t find out. He shouldn’t find out.
"See? I can do partial shifts. Byron is about 300 years too early to be competing with me." Draken’s voice was deeper, a raspy, growling tone to it that sent an involuntary shiver down Cass’ spine.
Oh fuck.
This was not what he was expecting when he said powers. This was also very much romance coded. Draken could partially shift and turn into a fucking hot beast?
Cass couldn’t remember a time when he revealed this to Lady Fiona, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t on the table. Maybe it got scrapped for the book? Cass didn’t know, but fuck was it hard to keep his mouth closed right now.
Damn male lead shit.
Why couldn’t Cass get something like that? All he got were injuries and being taken care of like he was a baby bird. Delicate. Small. He was supposed to be a male lead too!
An evil one, but still! Villains weren’t normally this weak!
"I-I was expecting a fireball or something, not..." Cass trailed off. He spoke again when he shouldn’t have. His thoughts were a jumble.
Draken turned his gaze towards him, and Cass flinched. Fuck. He was being so damn fucking obvious. Draken was going to sniff this out in a heartbeat. His gaze had shifted slightly. It was still orange, with elongated pupils, but there was something...colder about it. If he was to put a word to it...reptilian.
"Cass, my fireballs are not for the faint of heart. We are also in protected land. If you wanted to see a fireball, you should have let me know. I’d have to fly us to a part that is used to my attacks. It’s too risky here." Cass nodded quickly, agreeing with whatever he said.
"Oh, okay." Cass agreed easily, quickly. Hoping now that the sooner he agreed, the sooner the other man would shift back to his human form. He didn’t hate this form. Not at all.
The problem was that he liked it too much.
His hands were itching to touch his skin, his pecs. He really wanted to know what the texture of his skin felt like. Shit, he felt like a pervert.
"Like Draken said, it’ll be a while before I can transform like he can. I hope that isn’t a problem, my Lord." Byron said, his expression tight and worried. Cass was thankful for the distraction from wondering about Draken’s body. He jerked his head towards Byron, hoping that he didn’t look as jerky as he felt.
"Of course it’s not a problem. You are barely out of your adolescent stage, of course there are going to be some things that you can’t do that an adult dragon can do." Cass told him with a smile and Byon relaxed.
"Thank you for understanding." Byron said, before he ducked his head. "And, I don’t think I thanked you for stepping in and helping me with that last push. Thank you, my Lord. I will serve you for as long as you have me." Byron said and Cass let out a nervous laugh.
"What about those you were serving before?" Cass asked and Draken froze, Byron froze, and Cass felt his lips turn up.
"He was a spy?" Draken rumbled with that damn deeper, sexier voice and Cass nodded.
"Was. My offer was sweeter." Cass told him and a stream of smoke billowed out of Draken’s open mouth.
"Good." Draken warned and Byron flinched.
"W-Well, I wouldn’t exactly say that they were asking for anything damning." Byron defended. "They were just...hoping you were taking care of the land that you had received as part of your inheritance properly. I would say that you have." Byron muttered and Draken, who wasn’t stupid, was able to piece it together rather quickly.
"Oh. Oh! The fairies? That’s who you-wait, I think I remember hearing a story about a fledgling that the fairies took in a few decades ago. Was that you?" Draken asked and Byron nodded sheepishly.
"Probably. There haven’t been any other fledglings around, so that was probably me." Cass was thankful for this little lore dump, since it was a distraction from Draken, and also gave him a look into the past.
That phrasing was alarming though. Decades ago? How old was Byron? How long had he been a teenager sized humanoid?