Chapter 181: Someone needs to be put in a time out
"You didn’t tell me that." Fiona whispered finally. Cass swallowed, about to say something, anything when Lord Ridgewood rushed forward, pushing Lady Ava out of the way. She let out a complaint as Fiona caught her, but Cass was more concerned about the green-eyed man who was getting way too close to him.
"27 years? Male or female?" He demanded and Cass answered more because he had no idea what was going on, and hoped that would end this awkward conversation.
"Uh, male?" Cass answered.
"Siblings?" Lord Ridgewood didn’t stop.
"One. A sister." Cass said. What was this? An interrogation?
"Partners? Were you married? Engaged? Had a lover?" Cass’ mouth went dry.
"Uh, no. Never." That seemed to surprise him. In fact, that seemed to surprise all of the men. Everyone except the two women he’d spoken to about his feelings on the topic of partners. Lord Ridgewood’s eyebrows shot up.
"No? I doubt the gods would have shown you someone ugly, given who you are now. Why?" This was a rather uncomfortable situation and Cass wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. It felt fast. Sudden.
"I-He just didn’t want to." Lord Ridgewood didn’t like that answer.
"That doesn’t make sense. You’re already married here, so why wouldn’t you in the dream?" Cass opened his mouth, before he just shrugged.
"I don’t know. He just didn’t. Didn’t want to. Was too busy working and taking care of his sister to do so." Lord Ridgewood’s eyebrows shot up.
"You? Taking care of a sister? Interesting. Was she ill?" Cass didn’t like this. This felt...icky. He wanted to stop answering Lord Ridgewood’s questions, but didn’t think he could until someone else pulled this man away. He glanced towards Vespertine, hoping he would step in. Lord Ridgewood moved so that his vision was occupied by only him. Cass swallowed thickly. That option was out.
"No. Pregnant. She was married. Her husband was a soldier." Cass figured that was the easiest way to explain his job and Cass watched as Lord Ridgewood nodded slowly.
"A good one?" He asked and Cass shrugged again.
"I don’t know. I didn’t travel with him as he went from war zone to war zone." Lord Ridgewood grunted.
"If he was able to leave like that, most likely he was quite good. So you wanted to take care of her, but she wasn’t ill. Were your parents not in the picture?" This was awful. Cass hated this.
"Gideon, back off." Lucian warned and Lord Ridgewood waved his hand.
"I will in a minute." He told Lucian. "Were your parents not in the picture, Cass?" He asked and it was like a spear through his heart.
"N-No. Orphans. We-He was an orphan." Cass stuttered. He was feeling terrible again, awful, and Cass could feel his eyes begin to water. "Why are you asking so many questions? What are you gaining from this?" Cass asked, and Lord Ridgewood paused. He let out a soft, slow exhale before he backed up, covering his face with one of his hands.
"Ah shoot. I’m sorry. I got too excited. I’ve read stories about this since I was young and I got overwhelmed when I realised that you’d live a pretty full life, or at least witnessed one. I’m sorry." Cass was shaking again and Lucian grabbed his head, turning it and tucking it into the crook of his neck.
"You’re an ass." Lucian told him. "Cassian isn’t sharing a tent with you tonight. He’ll share one with me. I don’t trust you with him after that display." Lucian growled. Lord Ridgewood winced, but Cass didn’t notice. He was too busy trying to steady his breathing. "You don’t need to be near him, Cass. You tell me and I’ll make sure you two never interact again." Cass’ head was swimming, full of the life he’d lived with his sister, how he’d had to basically lie to live, and just closed his eyes, the tears coming.
Fuck. He knew that he’d said he’d play it up, but this wasn’t play. He was weak. He was fragile. Fuck everything. He’d thought Lord Ridgewood was somewhat decent, but who the hell responded to finding out someone had lived another life for 27 years, had it yanked away from him, presumably suddenly from how he’d had to-
Cass swallowed thickly, his throat closing tightly.
A-And then just started interrogating that person about the life they had lived? Wasn’t it pretty obvious that they would be scarred? Cass thought it would be, and apparently, he wasn’t wrong.
"I agree with Lucy. You aren’t sharing a tent with him until you pull your head out of your ass." It was Vespertine and he sounded pissed. "Are you so fucking for real right now, Gideon? Come here." Cass turned his head slightly, part of Lucian’s hand blocking his vision from the way he was holding him but he was able to see Vespertine grabbing Lord Ridgewood by the arm and yanking him away, already lecturing him quietly before they’d even left the group.
Cass let out a hiccup and slammed a hand against his mouth, embarrassed.
Fiona came into his line of vision, blocking his view of the two friends. She was smiling, her eyes soft, delicate.
"Cass, would you be able to set up the tents for us? I’m going to help you get ready for bed and you can just get some sleep. Don’t even worry about a rotation right now. You need to sleep, and after I’ve seen you eat, I’ll get your hands bound up with medicine and then you can turn in for the night, alright?" Her tone was gentle, tender. Cass sniffed.
"I can do it." He muttered and Lucian’s arms tightened around him.
"Cassian, you don’t-" He gently tapped Lucian’s chest and the other man fell silent, but still grumbled. Cass almost smirked. He’d never seen Lucian back down so quickly, and he hadn’t ever thought that he would behave this way because of Cass.
"I can do it." Cass muttered again and Fiona’s lips turned up slightly. Even Lady Ava seemed to find this interaction sweet. Cass ignored it as Lucian jumped down from the pallets, being careful with Cass as he carried him to a location that Fiona pointed out fit Cass’ criteria.
Cass could feel how tense Lucian was, as if he expected Cass to protest the fact that he was carrying him. As Cass remained quiet and the silence stretched on, Lucian slowly relaxed. Lucian didn’t know about Cass’ little promise to himself, but he didn’t need to know that either.
Fiona and Lady Ava discussed the best placement for the tents, and once they agreed Cass would fumble around in his bag and Lucian would help him pull out the tents in full. Fiona and Lady Ava would lay them in place while Lord Ridgewood continued to be chewed out by Vespertine, and Cass would wave his hand, concentrating, and the tents would unfurl into the tents they had packed up in the morning.
Fiona checked each one out, making sure they were usable, and when they had finished setting up all four, she came out of the last one with a huge grin.
"This really is a time saver! Thanks, Cass!" She gave a thumbs up, and Lady Ava even smiled, her eyes kind as she stared at Cass.
"I have never considered using magic like this, and the fact that it’s chantless is incredible. You already used so few chants, but this is..." Lady Ava trailed off and Cass let out a sigh. Between them, he didn’t mind telling them.
"It was a reward." Cass mumbled. Fiona looked up, a little shocked, as did Lady Ava.
"A reward?" Lucian asked softly and Cass nodded.
"Yeah. From the gods. Uh, well, one of them. For the inconvenience of everything that happened." Cass said quietly before he sighed. "It was probably framed that way, but I think it was more for me to use to deal with the demon king." Lady Ava nodded, as did Fiona.
"Huh. I mean, I would consider getting to see another life a pretty big reward, but..." Lady Ava trialed off, her eyes going to the center of the construction site where Cass had-
She made a soft humming noise.
"Hmm. I think I agree that you needed some compensation. Humans aren’t meant to know what it feels like to die. All living creatures aren’t supposed to know. It’s supposed to be forbidden knowledge, and the fact that they gave that to you..." Lady Ava gave a soft sigh. "I am beginning to think that not all gods are perfect." She muttered quietly and Cass let out a soft noise.
"You should have realised that a while ago." Cass told her, his filter a little broken, damaged by Lord Ridgewood’s behaviour. Lady Ava seemed a bit startled by Cass’ words while Lucian laughed.
"I agree with Cassian. Had you asked me my behaviour with the gods you would find that Cassian and I share quite a few similar beliefs. I mean, how could a group of creatures get together and create life and fuck it up so much, eh? Dragons weren’t perfect, but you can’t tell me that humans are the pinnacle of all living creatures either, can you?" Lucian let out a bark of laughter and Cass felt his lips twitch.
Lady Ava looked shocked, stunned and her mouth hung open.
"Y-You’re right. I never spoke to you about your belief about the gods, did I?" Lady Ava asked, more to herself then to Lucian. He still nodded, smirking.
"Edgar and Gideon kept you away. Probably for the best at the beginning. You annoyed me at first, until I realised you’re just a bird with your wings clipped." Lady Ava went pale at Lucian’s words and Fiona huffed.
"Lucian. That’s not very appropriate." She warned and Lucian shrugged.
"I did say there was a reason they kept her away from me, didn’t I?" He repeated and Fiona sighed, glancing at Lady Ava and clearly, she wanted to comfort her but was hesitating. Cass had a feeling that if they hadn’t broken up, something terribly awkward was going on between them.
Lady Ava was biting her lip, trying not to cry, and Fiona was hesitating, caught between wanting to be her lover, and wanting to be the hero. Cass thought it was stupid that those two things had to be different, but who was he to judge?
He was currently in their joint partner’s arms, shaking slightly.
"Mm. Are you cold, Cassian? Should I make a fire?" Lucian asked softly, his voice quiet, intimate as he ducked his head towards Cass to speak to him. Cass raised his gaze up to meet Lucian’s orange gaze. It was soft, warm like a fire already and Cass gulped.
"I think I just need to eat." Cass mumbled and Lucian nodded. He glanced over at a few of the piles of pallets and waved his hand. Like Cass would. Soon, there were a few spots to sit, lower to the ground while Lucian was also busy getting a fire pit ready.
Eventually he frowned, grumbled and turned to Cass again.
"I’m going to have to put you down now. Will you be good and stay in one spot? I need to go grab something to help maintain the fire." Lucian said and Cass blinked.
"I’m in shock, not a child." Cass fired back and Lucian’s expression warmed, a smile splitting his face. He bent, nuzzling his face against Cass’, chuckling when Cass complained at the rough stubble that rubbed against his softer cheeks.
"Ah. But you’re practically a child compared to me. Mmm, with those added years, you’re getting closer." He teased and Cass felt his heart jerk at the way that Lucian hadn’t even questioned it. Hadn’t even crossed his mind.
He just accepted it as fact and Cass...he didn’t know what to do with that information. Was that a...good thing? A bad thing? He wasn’t sure at this moment, but he did know that he didn’t hate it. He just didn’t know what this feeling in his chest was.