Chapter 163: We’re all supposed to share, huh?
Cass swallowed, suddenly nervous. His feet even halted, gluing themselves into place and Lucian noticed. He stopped, turning to look back at him as the voices of Lady Fiona and Vespertine washed over them.
"I am not allowing you two to share a tent." Vespertine’s voice was firm.
"Edgar, I’m not going to-"
"Do you think that I am worried about what you will do? I’m not! It’s the principle of the whole thing, Fiona! You are not staying with Ava in the same damn tent!" It was exactly as Cass had feared. Of course they were having a ’one bed’ situation. Which meant they were all going to have a tent shortage.
Cass turned, looking at Sir Forsythe and he stared at Cass, unblinking.
"Is there an issue, my Lord?" He asked and Cass was reminded that unlike him, Sir Forsythe was just a normal human. He probably couldn’t hear the details of the argument happening nearby, but could tell that there was one happening. It felt a little strange to admit that Sir Forsythe was human right now, and to view it as a bit of a weakness.
"There appears to be a shortage of tents." Cass told him and Sir Forsythe looked towards where they were walking. He narrowed his eyes, before he sighed.
"We might have an extra tent. I will go speak with Sir Sanders and Ser Hune." He muttered and Cass felt his shoulders untense. It was good to have such a reliable guard.
"Thank you, Sir Forsythe. I shall see you in a few more moments?" Cass suggested and the other man swallowed, and then nodded. He turned, that being the only prompting he needed. Cass turned to Lucian, who was watching him carefully.
"You heard?" He asked and Cass nodded.
"They aren’t exactly being quiet." Cass countered and Lucian chuckled.
"Well, I agree with you on that. Shall we approach them in earnest? Or should we jump out and surprise them?" Lucian suggested and Cass almost snorted at his suggestion. It was so ridiculous that it made Cass’ shoulders relax further.
"No. I’d rather not give anyone a heart attack if I can prevent it. Let’s just rip the band aid off." Cass muttered and Lucian gave him a strange look.
"What is a band aid?" He asked and Cass flinched.
"It’s uh, a type of bandage." Lucian nodded, his face serious.
"I really need to keep up with this new human language. It changes too much." He muttered and Cass almost snorted. That was such an old person thing to say that it almost took him out. He was an old dragon, and he was sure that there were words and phrases that he didn’t know. Cass couldn’t exactly tell him that the kids weren’t saying band aids because it was a term from another world.
He was absolutely going to use his ignorance to his own advantage.
"Language is fluid. It changes constantly." Cass told him, a little too cheerfully and Lucian slid his gaze towards him. Cass could feel the heat from his orange gaze, before Lucian sighed and slid his gaze away from him.
"You can’t lie to me. I can feel the humour from our bond. You’re laughing at me, aren’t you?" Lucian accused and Cass felt his lips twitch, but he managed to keep himself neutral.
"If you know, then you can understand how hard I am trying not to laugh in a serious situation. Don’t rob me of my dignity that I am trying so hard to maintain. No one else is having a fun time right now." Cass told him and Drak-Lucian grumbled.
"You’re right, but I don’t understand why I have to suffer because of it." He was pouting, and watching the man with facial hair behave like a child finally broke through Cass’ attempt to remain neutral. Cass grinned, his eyes crinkling up at the corners and Lucian halted in his tracks.
"It’s better than me being angry at you, isn’t it?" Cass teased and Lucian’s jaw nearly dropped.
"O-Oh. Uh, yeah. Very much so. Uh..." Lucian trailed off, seemingly tongue-tied and Cass chuckled.
"Now we both have to control ourselves so that we match their somber mood." Cass teased, patting Lucian’s shoulder with his hand. Lucian was watching Cass, watching his every move like it was something he had never seen before. That was, until his gaze softened, and it seemed that whatever had tongue-tied him before had faded.
Instead, now he was looking at Cass with a soft kind of tenderness that Cass had seen before, but still made him uncomfortable. Lucian reached down, grabbing the hand that had patted his shoulder and gripped it in his hand. It was an awkward hold, and Cass felt his face warm as Lucian raised his fingers to Lucian’s mouth and placed a few kisses on him.
"Hmm. We do. Should we pretend? I can tell that the argument has only gotten more heated. Edgar is a fool for arguing so seriously with Fiona. Did he think he could win against a woman who bested a dragon?" Lucian chuckled, continuing to kiss Cass’ fingers. No, hold them hostage.
Cass felt his heart flutter in his chest, and had no idea what to do with this dragon.
"Uh, w-we should pretend, obviously, and we need to prevent them from getting too heated so that the dungeon isn’t awkward." Cass muttered and Lucian’s lips turned up, smiling.
"You play a very good heartless person, Cassian, but I can tell that you are far nicer than you give yourself credit for." Cass was almost offended for Lord Blackburn. Lord Blackburn was villain coded, that didn’t mean he was always a villain. Hell, if he hadn’t revealed himself at the last minute, everyone would have doubted him, but no one would have had solid evidence that he had done something wrong.
He was that good of a villain.
Plus, caring about how other’s moods would affect him while in the dungeon was a completely selfish act. He didn’t care about making sure that they didn’t rip each other’s faces off, or say something so terrible to each other that they couldn’t make eye contact for their benefit. It was strictly for his own good. Fuck their own good. it was for him.
Cass felt his body stiffen as Lucian’s smile deepened.
"It’s purely selfish reasons why I am doing anything that I am right now, Lucian. I will be stuck in a dungeon with them for who knows how long. I do not want it to be awkward." Cass said tartly and Lucian chuckled.
"Sure, sweetness. Whatever you say." Cass felt himself gasp, in outrage at Lucian’s words, but it was quickly pushed down by the fact that Lucian placed a careful kiss on top of his hand, before giving it a gentle squeeze and letting it go. "We should go act out your plan then. I think Edgar is about to say something he is going to regret." Lucian said, happy and Cass scrambled to compose himself as Lucian took off on his longer legs.
Cass barely managed to keep up with him, the man really putting in the leg work. Lucian rounded the corner, all smiles, and with a booming voice, spoke.
"I managed to help Ser Hune." He declared, like anyone had asked. Everyone froze.
That gave Cass time to catch up, and assess the situation. Like he had worried, there were only three tents. The priests had done a nice thing and set up an area for them, but they had only set up three tents. It was Cass’ worst fear.
Lady Ava, unlike what Cass had thought and hoped, was still here. She was sitting on a log bench nearby, looking pale and ill as her brother and ex(?) lover argued over her sleeping arrangements. It was clear that the priests hadn’t even considered how complicated a poly relationship would be. Hell, who would think that Lady Fiona would marry one sibling but bone the other?
Cass had to make sure his face remained neutral, damn it, even if that was hilarious to him.
Lord Ridgewood wasn’t in sight, which was probably for the best. As far as Cass knew, he had no idea about what was going on, and it appeared he didn’t want to. He was a staunch Lady Ava supporter, even if it made him argue with his friend of who knows how many years. That only spelled out devout believer to Cass, and he didn’t want to think about that too long for his own mental health.
Maybe he was off chopping firewood or some other big boy shit. Wouldn’t catch Cass doing that.
"O-Oh. Is Ser Hune the name of Cass’ fairy guard?" Lady Fiona asked, carefully smoothing down her outfit. It was clear she was trying to gather herself, calm herself down. Her cheeks were still flushed with anger, a deep glow in her eyes that told Cass she was well and truly pissed.
Edgar wasn’t any different. He turned away from Lady Fiona, still pissed, his jaw clenched. He was still handsome, hell, they were all still gorgeous, but it was just funny that they weren’t getting along. Also, Vespertine was still wearing his hat, which was even funnier.
"Yes. She is. Lucian was able to help both of us out." Lucian jerked his gaze towards Cass as he said that.
"You were also feeling bad? You should have said something, I would have helped you sooner!" He protested and Cass waved a hand dismissively.
"It was just some light nausea. Not anything I haven’t dealt with before. Holding onto Ser Hune as you helped her seemed to help me too." Cass told him dismissively while Lucian stared at him.
Lady Fiona and Vespertine were actually standing there, shocked. Even Lady Ava seemed shocked.
"Did you just...call him Lucian?" Lady Fiona asked and Cass was a little surprised that they were getting caught up on that, not the fact that Lucian healed his fairy hired guard.
"Uh, yes?" Cass said cautiously, not sure why that was-
Ah. The conversation in the carriage before he found everything too awkward and said fuck it and went to sleep. Cass coughed.
"It was what he asked for when it came to healing Ser Hune." Cass told the group and Vespertine seemed to grow upset.
"If I had known that worked, I would have done that ages ago." Cass snorted at his tone. Yeah, no. It wouldn’t have worked on Lord Blackburn, but Cass? There was a higher chance. That didn’t mean it always worked.
"Well, that makes sense." Lady Ava’s small voice piped up. "I asked Cassian about that once, and he relented after some time. It might just mean you haven’t done enough to earn his trust, Eddie." Lady Ava’s words were like a knife aimed exclusively for the other two. Both Lady Fiona and Vespertine seemed to be hurt by her words, and Cass was beginning to wonder if her words just had a sharp edge to them. The aim wasn’t intentional.
Either way, it was nice to see the two who had been arguing just a few minutes prior looking a little pale and flustered. Cass coughed to cover up a laugh.