Chapter 183: I’ll flirt with him wherever I please
"Fiona approved of it." Lucian said, his orange gaze flickering from Vespertine and Cass. Cass was sure he looked as shocked as Vespertine did. Like they had been caught doing something naughty.
They hadn’t, but he certainly felt like he was in trouble.
"She what?" Vespertine whispered and Lucian waved a hand dismissively.
"She approved of it the moment she told me to bite him. Whether she knew about it in the moment or not, that was a choice she made. We cleared things up after and I made it clear to her that whatever flimsy bond I had with her through human marriage was never going to be as important as the bond I share with Cassian. I will continue to show her respect, but even if our bond gets broken, Cassian will still be held on a higher pedestal than her." Lucian said, making it very clear to both Vespertine and Cass where Cass stood.
Cass hadn’t really believed him up until this point, but that was...that was a very clear statement of intent. Cass felt Lucian’s gaze on him and it was scorching.
"Holy shit. Don’t you care about the fact that Cassian is a man?" Vespertine asked. No judgement, just genuine curiousity.
"No. Not at all. We aren’t taught to care about that at all. Gender is meaningless when it comes to bonds. We could foster children if we wanted any, and it also works out better if the couple is same sex. Means you are less likely to fight your children to death later down the line." Lucian said with such authority that Cass wondered if he’d done it himself.
"Have you had children before?" Vespertine asked and Cass was glad that his thoughts were following the same pattern Cass’ were. Lucian looked offended.
"Do I look like a monster to you? Never have children outside of a bond. Too messy. Anyone who does is a low life because they are more likely to try and shirk off responsibility. I would never be so careless." Lucian huffed, his hands clenching as he remained squatted down, speaking to them. Cass swallowed.
"You can’t say that you’re a virgin, right?" Cass couldn’t believe the words were coming from his mouth and Vespertine let out a soft gasp while Lucian turned his gaze to him. Cass avoided his gaze, could already feel his face heating without even meeting it. Damn it. This was embarrassing. He shouldn’t have asked.
"Cass, look at me." Lucian ordered and Cass felt his lips scrunch up. He didn’t want to. He was pretty sure he already knew what kind of look he was going to encounter if he raised his gaze.
"I think you should look at him." Vespertine whispered quietly and Cass sighed.
"Don’t side with him." Cass hissed and Lucian let out a deep, spine tingling laugh.
"Oh, I really think he made the right call to side with me. Cass. Look at me." Cass licked his lips. The way that Lucian was speaking, the way it was making him feel...Cass felt a shiver run down his back as the cookie in his hands crumbled more.
Finally, Cass raised his gaze, meeting the hot, orange eyes that stared back at him. There wasn’t an ounce of humanity in that gaze.
"Do you really think I am a virgin?" Lucian asked softly. "That I have not slept with anyone?" Cass opened his mouth, closed it, and wanted to drop his gaze but found that he couldn’t. It had to be some kind of magic, an entrapment of some kind. Cass could feel the magic singing in the air, and his brows furrowed as Lucian’s lips twisted up in a grin. "You pretty, pretty man." Lucian said and Cass felt his face heat.
"Do not say that right now. Are you insane?" Cass hissed, still unable to break his eyes free from Lucian’s gaze. Lucian only chuckled more.
"Am I insane? I’ve never met anyone who was a dragon and was sane. Another flaw created by the gods." Lucian said sweetly, leaning in to cup Cass’ face. "Now, are you going to answer me? Did you actually believe it?" He repeated and Cass swallowed.
"I, well, no. It was just a question that popped out of my mouth." Cass admitted and Lucian let out a snort. His thumb was gentle against his cheek and Cass hated that there was a witness to this. More than one, but the others weren’t right beside them.
"Just slipped out, huh? Tragic. I was hoping I’d have an opportunity to prove to you that I have enough skills that you shouldn’t have to worry in the slightest." Cass’ jaw tensed at his provocative words. Vespertine let out a soft gasp beside him.
"Holy shit." He whispered and Cass wanted to glare at him. At both of them. Instead, he could only glare at the dragon holding his cheek, a stupid smirk on his face.
"You are incorrigible." Cass hissed through his teeth and Lucian leaned in, pressing a kiss against his cheek before he pulled away, breaking eye contact and Cass could finally move. He hadn’t realised he’d been so stiff from holding the position that he had.
"I don’t know what that word means." He replied rather proudly. "Now, have you eaten enough? I’ve barely seen you eat today." Lucian sniffed. "What do you have in your bag for food?" Lucian asked and Cass sighed.
"Jerky and cookies." Vespertine and Lucian blinked as they stared at him, the smell of the stew that Lady Ava and Fiona were cooking was already filling the air.
"That’s it?" Vespertine asked and Cass nodded.
"It should give me enough protein and carbs to get me through this dungeon." Cass said with utmost confidence. "I made sure that Sam put as much fat and sugar as he could into the cookies. I also dried the jerky. It’s from the beast you caught." Cass told Lucian and while that did seem to please him, he was conflicted.
"But nothing else? Doesn’t your bag halt time? That’s the whole reason those kinds of items are limited." Lucian said and Cass scoffed. Oh sure, he didn’t know what incorrigible meant, but he knew about pocket dimensions and their laws? Shut up.
"I chose what was safest." Cass said, defending himself. He’d already had to do so to Sam and Byron, both of whom seemed very worried about his body’s condition. Sir Forsythe had been less obvious about it, but he knew that the other man was worried about him. He just knew when to keep his mouth shut. Most times.
Lucian made a disgusted face.
"Did you measure them out? What are you, a child? Who can survive on only butter cookies?" He demanded, gesturing to the crumbling mess that was in his lap. Cass’ face flushed.
"I can, thank you." Cass said stiffly. "And I don’t have just butter cookies." Cass said it proudly, like it made a difference. "I also have cinnamon raison, a weird peach cookie that Sam made, and one that has oats and cranberries in it. Oh, and little bits of chocolate." Cass felt his chest expand, ready to argue when Vespertine let out a small noise that sounded suspiciously like laughter.
"What great variety you have, Cassian." Vespertine said and Cass knew he was making fun of him.
"Oh, I’m sorry, but cookies are shelf stable as long as I keep them in sealed bags, they have several important food groups in them, and provide boosts of energy. I didn’t want to make protein cookies, especially since most items that would normally be in such cookies I’m not allowed to eat, so, yeah." Would Cass have killed for a peanut butter cookie?
Maybe. But that wasn’t in the cards. Sam had taken a rather serious look in the kitchen for the peanut butter that Cass was looking for. Either it wasn’t invented yet, they couldn’t get their hands on it, or peanuts didn’t exist here. Any one of those was a tragedy.
Lucian reached out, his hand landing on Cass’ thigh. Cass stared at the visual blankly. How the hell were Lucian’s hands so big and why did his thigh look so small?
"Mm. I’ll work with Sam to come up with a solution to get you more protein in your diet. If you can eat what I hunt, that should help. We’ll work on the tinier, more detailed diet related concerns after. You human folk need so many different food types to keep a healthy body." It should have sounded like he was complaining. He wasn’t.
Instead he sounded amped. Excited to be able to research something like this. Cass wasn’t sure how that made him feel.
"You can also have as many of my bottles of wine as you need. You seemed to take well to them." Vespertine offered and Lucian’s eyes sharpened, his hand clamping down on his thigh.
"He doesn’t need that kind of help." Lucian hissed and Vespertine chuckled.
"Why? Upset your precious Lord Blackburn can be helped by another?" Vespertine leered. "You shouldn’t take it so personally. If he needs something to help him, you should just accept it. He can’t rely on you for everything." It was odd to hear Vespertine and Lucian argue. Well, that part wasn’t too odd, but the strangeness came from the reason.
They were fighting over him. Or about him. Cass was a little stunned by the situation, and the fact that Vespertine was making a rather reasonable argument, even if he knew it wasn’t coming from a good place.
Lucian’s hand tightened again.
"I’m going to make the fire now since Cassian is shaking subtly. You better not lay a hand on him, Edgar. Cassian and I have no discussed such an open arrangement with anyone else." Lucian growled, getting to his feet and stomping off.
Cass felt like the air had been sucked out of his lungs.
"With a response like that, doesn’t seem like he’d allow anyone else to step in, huh? Even though plural marriages are the norm here." Vespertine muttered darkly before he let out a laugh, turning to stare at Cass. "How funny would it be if you became our husband instead of Fiona, huh? I think it would be rather hilarious, and honestly, I don’t think Fiona would mind." Cass had never heard such a cursed statement before in his life.
"Take that back." Cass whispered. "You take that back before someone gets a fucking idea." Cass knew it was already too late. He didn’t know how, he didn’t know why, but he could feel something change in the air. Fuck. Fuck.
Vespertine just looked at him in mild confusion, a slight smile on his lips.
"What? Why are you so worked up about that? I was just joking." He said. Just joking? The man didn’t even know the power of his words! Cass was damn sure that they were being listened to. By the gods, by other beings, didn’t matter!
"That’s a terrible joke. You know that same sex marriage isn’t allowed. Mostly because of my grandfather." Cass muttered and Vespertine stared at him, a strange look in his eyes.
"Is that the only thing holding you back? That you couldn’t get married?" Cass opened his mouth to respond to him but found that he had nothing to say. His head swam as he felt like something was shifting inside of him.
No. He’d already had a terrible day. It didn’t need to get worse!