Chapter 237: Gender and genderless
When Cass took in a deep breath, it didn’t feel like he was trying to breathe while it was 40 degrees Celsius outside. He felt...normal. His lungs filled, expanded, and when he exhaled, he felt normal.
It almost felt like the torture he had gone through before this was...an illusion.
Cass looked up at the statue, his expression thoughtful as he did so, before he nodded. Alright. So, that wasn’t too terrible of a reward. Not too much, not too little. Letting him exist in the temple normally was...pretty nice.
Cass slowly got to his feet, his legs like jello under him when a set of hands caught him before he collapsed.
"Careful. You’ve been kneeling for a while." It was Edgar, his voice soft as he caught him. "How was...your chat?" He was trying so hard to be normal about this, but as someone who had never spoken to the gods, he was vibrating to hear how it went.
Cass really, really wanted to tell him that he was rude to the gods, behaved terribly, and got away with it, but then thought about where he was and how this was home turf.
He needed to not pick fights on home turf. He’d done that once when he had been younger, and dumber. It had not worked out.
He didn’t like seeing the look on his sister’s face when he’d come home battered and bleeding with a broken arm. He also hadn’t liked feeling helpless.
"I think it went well." Cass said instead. "I can finally feel like I can breathe." Cass told him. "Could even take off my gloves I’m pretty sure." Cass glanced at Edgar, taking in his glowing expression before he turned back to the statue before him. He was pretty sure that was who he had been speaking to. "Hey, what’s that god’s name?" Cass asked, pointing to the statue and Edgar grew a little flustered.
"You...don’t know?" He asked and Cass gave Edgar a look.
"Do you think we learned about gods in my home?" Cass asked with maybe too much sass in his voice, but Edgar’s surprised face was too comical for him to feel that way for long.
"O-Oh. Well, you’re right. Uh, well, that’s one of the main gods. Obviously, or they wouldn’t be at the front. I’m sorry, I’m just a little shocked right now." Edgar muttered, a little flustered. "They go by many names, but the most common name is Daelas. They are known as the kindest of the gods, the one who is the bridge between the human and god realm." Ah. So they acted like a PR representative.
Made sense why Cass spoke to them the most.
"Are they...a man or a woman? Or does that matter to gods?" Cass asked and Edgar seemed rather surprised that Cass was asking that.
"You’ve spoken to them. I thought you would know best?" Edgar said, his words taking on a questioning lilt. Cass sighed, his face flushing slightly.
"Well, they don’t sound...it’s hard to explain. Gender is the least of my concerns when speaking to them. Sometimes I can barely tell I’m speaking to someone else." Cass told him and Edgar blinked a few times, before he nodded.
"Gender doesn’t really matter to the gods, while it’s very important to demons. Apparently, they get quite upset when you misgender them." That did surprise Cass. They hated being misgendered? What the heck? "One of the journals I read in my free time spoke of a time that one of my ancestors used that to figure out who was a demon and who wasn’t. I doubt it would work as well nowadays." Cass was surprised by that.
He looked up at the statue for a second and then turned to Edgar.
"Hey. Call me a woman." Cass said and Edgar blinked several times before he chuckled.
"Okay? Cass, you’re a woman." Cass was kind of expecting something drastic to happen, for him to feel uncomfortable or something, but nothing happened. "Well? Do you feel...upset?" Edgar asked and Cass shook his head.
"No? Not really? Should I call you the same?" Cass asked and Edgar shrugged.
"Shouldn’t make a difference for me." He said casually. "I’m not like most." He said and Cass was very curious about what that meant. He wanted to ask, but Edgar turned them and hesitantly let go of Cass as if he was afraid he was going to fall over. When that didn’t happen, Cass stepped down the steps on his own and Edgar wasn’t relieved until he had walked several steps without assistance.
"Thank the gods." Edgar whispered. "Truly. I thought my heart was going to jump out of my throat when you first walked up and down the main chambers. At least now I know you can move around wherever you like now. Like Fiona." Edgar told him excitedly and Cass blanked, before he laughed.
"You’re that excited about this?" Cass teased, and Edgar nodded. He was brimming with excitement.
"Yes I am! I know it’s rather selfish of me to be like this, but I’m excited for the chance to get closer to you, and show you all the things that I think you will enjoy at the temple. I know you like textiles, so I’m excited to show you those. Fiona only really cared about the flashy stuff, but I think you’ll appreciate the other things." Edgar’s eyes were sparkling, and Cass could admit that the man suited this place.
He was a pretty man in a pretty place.
Who wouldn’t take a moment to appreciate that?
Edgar flushed slightly before he leaned in, whispering to Cass quietly.
"I also started the book you gave me yesterday." He whispered conspiratorially. "It’s...rather naughty, isn’t it?" Edgar said and Cass blinked several times. He’d found the book rather tame compared to some of the books he’d read, even some of the ones he’d gotten here.
He stared at Edgar, and his slightly flushed cheeks before Cass started laughing.
"Please, don’t make me ask the question because if I do and it’s right? Edgar, I’m going to tease you relentlessly." Cass said and watched as Edgar didn’t get what he was implying. That was surprising, since Edgar was usually quite good at reading between the lines. Maybe he was just so flustered by the gay porn that he wasn’t able to see past it. "Edgar, you’ve had sex before, yes?" Cass asked, probably a little louder than the other man was comfortable within what was considered his family business.
Edgar gave Cass a look, wiping all doubt away. That was the look of a man who obviously had. No shame, no flushing, just exasperation that Cass had even asked the question. Cass raised his hands, his smile touching his lips as he chuckled.
"I had to ask. That book is considered tame to the one I’m reading right now." Cass said and Edgar narrowed his gaze.
"Well, if you’re going to ask me something like that, I’m going to ask you. Have you, Cass? Had sex?" He was much quieter about his question but Cass didn’t care.
"Nope. I haven’t." He answered easily, and Edgar stared at him. Cass gave him a look. "You stole my first kiss." Cass said. "Unless I had kissed Fiona before, then she would have." Cass was rather casual about the whole thing while Edgar looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up.
"I’m a monster." He muttered as they made their way to the priest entrance again and Cass snorted.
"Yeah, and so am I. Nothing’s new there, Edgar." Cass rolled his eyes. He was being dramatic. While Cass had been angry at the beginning, now he was just finding this reaction amusing. Cute, even. He’d done a lot worse things.
It seemed, just as Cass was thinking that, Edgar was too. His already pale skin paled further.
"Oh my gods. I should have let Fiona beat me up more." He muttered and that got another laugh from Cass as he reached for the door, opening it.
"Hmm, I’m glad you’re aware of it now, but it’s a little too late for that. She has an image she needs to maintain, so maybe wait till we get back to the mansion before you ask for that. You also have an image to maintain." Cass told him. "Hey, do you think the king or the nobles might ask for us while we’re here? I’m hoping to cause some drama for my grandfather." Cass said and Edgar perked up at the topic change.
"Hmm. Probably now that Father has summoned us. You know how they like to try and one up each other." Edgar said and Cass nodded, agreeing with him.
"Yeah. I’m just worried. I don’t really have anything that I could wear to a party. I doubt any of my clothes at the house here fit. I’ll need to check in with the bank and the realtor I normally deal with here to see what I own." Cass muttered quietly, not too worried now that Edgar knew more about him.
Edgar hummed.
"Do you want me to call your realtor to my place? That way it doesn’t look obvious that you’re scoping out your properties and hiding it from your grandfather? If I remember correctly, we have the same realtor." Edgar said and Cass was a little surprised that the other man was asking. "Plus, it would look a lot less weird to have him come to my place, then an inn. That could spread the bad kind of rumours." Cass gave him a look and Edgar glanced around before leaning in to whisper to him. "Like you’re in financial ruin." He told him and Cass pulled away, giving him a confused look.
"Me? In financial ruin? Are you hearing yourself?" Cass asked and Edgar shrugged.
"You know as well as I do how quickly rumours can change. I’m just suggesting that my place, or Fiona’s, would be a good location to meet them." Edgar told him and Cass nodded slowly. It was sound advice, and much better than Cass going in person.
"Alright. We should do that. I want to meet with them today. I’ve paid for two days at the inn, but I should go to my properties as well." Cass said. Edgar glanced at him, smiling. They turned down a hallway and ended up seeing Lucian and Sir Forsythe at the end of the hallway speaking to a priest. It seemed like a rather heated conversation and Lucian’s head snapped up when he smelt Cass. He pushed the priest out of the way, marching to Cass quickly with Sir Forsythe on his heels.
"Cass! I need your expertise!" Lucian called while he was getting close. "Fiona needs to talk to someone, and I already fucked it up. Can you go fix her? She’s saying she wants to quit being the hero." Cass sighed.
It was always fucking something, wasn’t it?
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