Chapter 151: Do I look like I give a shit?
Unfortunately, Cass’ wishes were not met. He found that Sam was caught up with a rather large group of people. Cass didn’t recognise any of them, but it appeared that Byron did.
Sam wasn’t quite in the main entryway, but in a large area just off of it. It was connected to the hallway that Cass would normally take past the training area, and was in the same direction where the other men had their rooms. Lady Ava’s rooms were also nearby.
The group consisted of maybe 5-7 people, Cass couldn’t quite see everyone as they were still quite a ways away from them. Cass also couldn’t pick up on what they were saying yet, but he could tell that Sam was uncomfortable, and unhappy with the current situation. Cass had a bad, sinking feeling, and from the way Byron stiffened and his expression darkened, he had a feeling he had every right to be upset.
"Do you recognise them?" Cass asked quietly, and Byron nodded.
"They are part of the rotation of servants who normally take care of Lady Ava." Byron whispered back and Cass felt his spine stiffen and a sigh escaped his lips.
This shit again? Really?
Well, in fairness, he had put down the people from his camp that were causing problems, but he honestly thought that it would have translated to a wider audience. After all, after the ’incident’ most of the people who worked in the mansion had been treating Cass and his people far better. Especially after it became clear that Cass held a lot more power then they had considered, all because he kept to himself.
Apparently, he had been wrong.
Cass sped up, especially as a man in a similar outfit to Sam reached for Sam’s collar with both hands, grabbing the other man. Sam wasn’t reacting, wasn’t getting physical, and instead looked rather shocked that the other person was even touching him. Cass, without much thought, waved his hand, livid.
Surprisingly, something happened.
The man who had been grabbing onto Sam went flying, slamming into the wall a few feet away. He started coughing, gasping for air as it had been knocked out of him. Cass stuttered in his steps, surprised himself, as all eyes swung towards them. Sam looked just as shocked as Cass felt, but Cass had to compose himself quickly.
He’d done it. He’d have to own it. He himself would admit, that was pretty reactionary, unexpected, and also, very villain coded.
Cass wondered just how much damage to his image he had just done. He was just going to have to find out the hard way.
"M-My Lord?" Sam called, shocked and rooted to the spot. Byron raced to his side, glaring at the others, daring them to approach as Cass took a more measured, calculated approach. He still had his papers in his other hand, the one he hadn’t swung and flung another man with magic. Sam was scanning him, as if he was more concerned for his Lord then he was for himself. The man who had been ganged up on by other people. Several other people.
"Sam, what are you doing here? I specifically asked you to go get Lord Vespertine." Cass said instead, turning his head slowly to scan the group of servants around him. They all looked a little uncomfortable, but not enough so as not to make eye contact with him. He was sure that was a slight in some way, but Cass really didn’t care.
"I was attempting to, my Lord, but..." Sam trailed off before he sighed. He glanced around at the people nearby, glanced at Byron, and then turned his brown gaze to Cass. He did look upset, but he also looked...determined. "These fools wouldn’t let me do as you asked. They told me that Lord Vespertine was with Lady Ava. I told them that they could give him my message, and they also refused that. When I informed them I was doing so on your behalf, they laughed in my face, before the man you threw started calling me names, saying that I bent over for you whenever you asked and other lewd, disgusting words." Sam swallowed, his cheeks flushing as Byron growled.
Cass could feel the air shift as his temper grew. While he was only newly an adult, he was that. An adult dragon, and Cass was pretty sure they weren’t known for being ’level headed’.
The other servants could feel the shift and change in atmosphere. They began shifting nervously, glancing at Cass because they thought it was him. Cass wondered how they could consider that, until he remembered that there was still that rumour out there that he was part demon. Cass scoffed.
While he hadn’t read the demonology book yet, he was pretty sure demons couldn’t do that. Changing the atmosphere wasn’t something a normal demon could do. Nor could they lengthen shadows, or dim the light in the whole space.
That was something one could do with magic, and it wasn’t something that came innately to most. Byron, however, as a shadow dragon did have control over that.
"Byron." Cass said sharply, and Byron let out a deep, rumbling growl. It was a warning sound, and Cass snapped his head in his direction. He met the dark, swirling pits of Byron’s gaze. Byron wasn’t behaving, he was barely contained. Cass swore he saw a ripple of shimmering scales running along his neck and face and Cass was not going to have it.
He had no idea how big dragons were, but he could guess. He would destroy the manor, the mansion that Lord Blackburn had paid to have built. He was not going to allow that to happen.
Plus, it would be one more thing to add to the list of things that others could blame him for. Cass was not going to stand for it.
"Byron!" He said with more force, firmly, and Byron growled another time. Sam seemed to realise that there was a power struggle going on, while the servants were finally realising that something wasn’t quite right. Byron, a man who had been small like a child and then had come back fully formed hadn’t really caused any problems until now. The servants were beginning to realise that that was about to change.
Sam turned, placing his hand on Byron’s chest and the other man jerked.
"Byron." Sam whispered, clearly embarrassed. "I’m okay. Listen to our Lord. I will be upset if you don’t." He warned, and finally, Byron started to calm down. Cass shook his head.
"What kind of servant doesn’t listen to his master?" Cass muttered out loud and Sam looked back at Cass, his expression panicked.
"M-My Lord! Please forgive him! He was-he just-it’s his first infraction! Please forgive him!" Sam was about to fall to his knees, ready to beg for the other man again when Byron let out a deep sigh. He held Sam up, preventing him from getting to his knees.
"No, Sam. This has...this is my doing. Don’t beg for my sake." Byron muttered, his gaze on the ground before he slid it to Cass. Cass met the shame, and embarrassment in his gaze head on. "I apologise, my Lord. I cannot, in my current state, say that it will not happen again. But I can promise that I will put in the work to not embarrass you in the future." Byron said, holding Cass’ gaze for a long, silent moment before he dropped it again.
Sam, along with the others, were clearly distraught. The other servants had no idea what had truly transpired, and what Cass and Byron were battling about. They did know that Byron hadn’t listened to Cass, and Cass had just flung a man across the room for touching Sam. They hadn’t even really been able to address that situation yet.
Sam, however, had an idea of what had gone down. Honestly, Cass was pretty sure Sam knew what Byron was. Given how much Byron wanted Sam to like him, and how close the two had grown in the time since Byron had jumped the hurdle and was into adulthood now, it would be even stranger if Sam didn’t know.
So Sam had to have known what had just transpired. Or, he had a good guess. Cass did realise that he probably had the most knowledge about dragons between the two of them since he was interacting with two different types of dragon on a daily basis, especially during training. But that didn’t mean Sam was stupid. He was observant. He was chatty. He was probably the most likeable out of the trio. Sam was bound to hear things just from his nature.
So Sam’s upset was on a different level from the others, since he knew that it was truly a larger breach than the others knew. The only problem with all of their concern?
Cass wasn’t Lord Blackburn. He was pretending to be Lord Blackburn.
Cass didn’t really care if a ’servant’ gave him lip, or didn’t do as he said. He was more concerned about destroying the mansion then he was with anything else. In fact, he could feel that this was going to turn into a bigger problem, and that was annoying to him.
"Enough." Cass said, annoyed. Sam shut his mouth, Byron shut his mouth. All of the others around them flinched. "I’m tired, I’ve had a long day. I just need to speak with Lord Vespertine. I don’t give a fuck about anything else." Cass said and several of the servants gasped. Cass slid his gaze to one of the others nearby. "You said he was with Lady Ava? Are they in his chambers, hers, or the temple?" Cass demanded.
It was like pulling damn teeth. Cass was truly just at his limit, and Byron and Sam sensed that. They were nervous, of course, but they were more worried about Cass snapping. He hadn’t done it on them since he’d arrived, but he had done it to the others. Sam went pale.
"Uh, my-"
"What is going on here?" As if summoned by his complaints, Lord Vespertine rounded the corner, Lady Ava’s hand tucked into his elbow and a few servants trailing after them. Vespertine looked exhausted, and Lady Ava was uncharacteristically quiet.
Cass, exasperated, flung his hands into the air dramatically, sighing.
"Oh thank goodness. Here you are. We’ve been held up dealing with ridiculous things this whole time. Vespertine, we need to have a chat." Cass slid his gaze to Lady Ava. "Lady Ava can join. I don’t think it’s something she should be excluded from." Cass said, surprising probably everyone, but he didn’t care.
He didn’t want to argue about Lady Ava coming or not. So if he just invited them right away, it would solve everything. No bickering, not blustering, just simple ’here what’s going on’, ’great! Thanks for letting me know!’. Then, Cass could go back to his rooms and relax.
Then plot how to fuck them all over on actual paper instead of just in his head.
Wait, wasn’t Draken waiting at his rooms? Fuck. Okay, maybe he would take a tea break in one of the other break rooms available to him, and then go to his rooms. His little introverted heart needed a damn break soon.