Chapter 251: Why do you need confirmation?
If she said that Lord Blackburn’s mother was a fairy princess or some shit, Cass was going to get up and leave. He’d just start walking and never come back.
Because what the fuck to do you mean that both he and Fiona were some kind of royalty? That was so fucking stupid, and honestly, how much more of a type could they fucking have? Lost royalty? Hidden royalty?
Get it to-fucking-gether, gods.
Ser Hune was giving him that look though, and Cass could feel his body tensing.
"Don’t you dare say it." Cass said, his voice quiet and full of emotion. "I swear to the fucking gods, if you say my mother was some kind of damn princess, I’m leaving. I’m done." Cass told her and watched as Sir Hune’s face went into an expression of shock, before she started laughing.
"No no, nothing like that!" She promised, and Cass felt his body relax. Too soon. "We don’t have royalty like humans do. We have jobs, and they are ranked from most to least important. Your Mother was at the second tier below what we would call our matron of the forest." Cass stiffened. Not a princess, his ass.
Fiona started laughing, while Cass wanted to flip a table.
"So a damn fucking princess." Cass clarified bitterly and Ser Hune flinched.
"But we don’t follow one bloodline. We follow several." She said, like that made it better. Cass threw his hands up, letting out a frustrated sound.
"Well, think of it this way." Fiona said, wiping tears from her eyes. "At least this way we know that if another person shows up with a background like mine or Cass’, we know that we probably have another Hero on our hands." Fiona said, before she started laughing again. A few people at the table were confused.
Lucian and Lady Ava in particular, while Edgar shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
"You found out for sure?" Edgar said, and Fiona gave him a look.
"Someone at this table is honest with me." Fiona said pointedly, and Edgar flinched. He slid his gaze to Cass, before he grumbled, dropping his gaze.
"I’m sorry that I can’t be like him." He muttered and Cass felt his lips curl up in a smile.
"You should be. I’m awesome." Cass said it with no hesitation, no joke, and that made the rest of the table start to laugh. Lucian reached over, placing his hand on Cass’ thigh and giving it a squeeze. His eyes were warm as he looked at him, an affection there that kind of scared Cass if he was honest.
"You are." He told him warmly and Cass grew a little flustered.
"But that doesn’t answer my question." Edgar voiced. "Did you find out for sure?" He asked and Cass huffed. He was flustered from Lucian’s honest words, and rolled his eyes at Edgar, hitting his arm with the back of his hand lightly.
"For fuck’s sake, Edgar, her eyes are exactly the same as the King’s. Add in everything else, of course she is!" Cass exclaimed and Edgar’s eyes widened, as did Lady Ava’s, Ser Hune’s, and Lucian’s. Fiona chuckled, her eyes creasing at the corners as she smiled.
"You have such a way with words, Cass." He didn’t think that was a compliment. Edgar cleared his throat.
"But that doesn’t prove it, does it?" He asked and Cass gave him another look.
"Do we need to justify everything? We can also take into consideration how the King reacted when he saw her, how he has tried to treat her this whole time, and how hostile the Queen and her son have been, as well as the father to her child." Edgar gasped, so did Ser Hune and Cass threw his hands up in frustration. "Oh come on! This can’t be new to you! You’ve not been alienated like I have from the noble parties, Edgar!" Cass told him and Edgar flushed.
"We don’t talk about this kind of stuff as easily as you do, Cass." He protested. "Plus, I was never aligned with the Queen, so that was never brought up." Cass snorted.
"Why the hell wouldn’t opposing teams not bring up the fact that the crown prince looks nothing like the King?" Cass asked back and he looked uncomfortable. Cass snorted when he realised why. "Oh, because they would rather take a full blood noble over a half blood noble? That’s so fucking rich, Edgar." Cass was almost disgusted with him when Edgar raised his hands to defend himself.
"I never hung out with those kinds of fools! You also seem to have a misunderstanding about me, Cass. You know the reputation I had before I married Fiona, and even after. No one wants someone who is considered the ’trash’ of the Vespertine family at their events. It wasn’t until I joined the hero party that everyone turned over a new leaf. Honestly, it was Gideon who was more-" He cut off, looking like he had swallowed lemon juice.
Cass grew quiet as well, more out of consideration for Edgar than anything else. He didn’t really care about Lord Ridgewood, not after what he had done. With that being said, now they could use the man to their advantage.
He was probably going to be begging to be back in their good graces. Especially after he found out there were two heroes. If he was on two missions, one to protect Fiona, and the other to protect the hero, he was fucked now. He was probably in big trouble with his family.
"Alright. We can just ask him." Cass suggested and Lucian couldn’t help the noise he made.
"What?" He demanded, furious, and Cass shrugged.
"What? Why wouldn’t we? We don’t have to do it today, but I’m just saying. The man is going to be crawling back on his hands and knees, so why not use him?" Cass said and Fiona stared at Cass before she shook her head.
"Sometimes Cass...you say some things that I just can’t think of as very hero-like." She told him and Cass shrugged.
"They chose me because they needed someone like me. So technically, everything I do is hero-like by default. I could steal candy from a baby and it would still be hero-like. I wouldn’t do that because I’m not a monster, but you get what I’m saying, right?" Fiona didn’t look like she agreed with what he was saying, but she got it.
"Babies aren’t supposed to have candy." Lady Ava said quietly, and Fiona looked at her love interest with a sweet kind of affection. "So wouldn’t you be helping them then?" She asked and Cass just sighed. Smart, but dumb. That was Lady Ava.
"We don’t need to include that man." Lucian said. "I can solve that problem if we need it solved." He sounded very sure as he said it, and everyone turned to look at him. Cass gave him a confused look.
"What do you mean?" He asked and Lucian looked around at the faces staring at him before he puffed out his chest.
"Did some of you forget who I am? What I am? Lady Ava, you’re forgiven since you didn’t even know, but the rest of you? Have I not told you who I am to this country?" Cass shook his head, because Lord Blackburn had not heard. Edgar slowly shook his head as well, while Fiona looked a little grim.
"You told me you were a...red dragon, but I haven’t seen that yet." Fiona said carefully and Lucian huffed, smoke curling out from his nose.
"I’m not just any red dragon, I am the red dragon. You know, the dragon on the coat of arms for the royal family? The one who helped their ancestors unite their fellow humans and formed this country?" Lucian said. Edgar looked a little shocked, as did Fiona.
Lucian huffed, crossing his arms and plumping up his pecs. It didn’t seem intentional, but damn it if Cass couldn’t help his dam gaze.
"I still have a vote, a say, in whoever rules the kingdom." Cass protested immediately.
"Lucian, that’s not how it works anymore. I’m sure that might even still be in the laws of the country." Cass told him and Lucian gave him a narrowed eyed look.
"Yes it is. They showed me." Lucian said and Cass looked at him with a pitying look.
"Are you sure they showed the actual document or were they just trying to appease you?" Cass asked and he watched as the gears turned in Lucian’s head before anger began to boil over.
"Oh those fucking fuckers. Do they think I’m an idiot? I would have figured this out eventually, and they thought they could get away with lying to me? Lucian, the Red Dragon?" It was a rumble, a warning. Cass could feel the ground under his feet begin to shake.
It was completely different from what Ser Hune had done only a few minutes before.
Cass reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Calm yourself. You aren’t charging the castle right now." Cass told him, putting every bit of command in his voice. "You are supposed to be learning about human culture." He told him and Lucian snarled and Cass swore he could feel his skin ripple. It was a strange, and rather alarming experience.
Cass wanted to rip his hand off of his shoulder, but had a sinking feeling that would only result in a worse reaction.
"You are such a fucking stickler for the damn fucking rules." Lucian was pissed, snarling, angry, but he didn’t get up, he didn’t shake off Cass’ hand, and smoke just billowed out of his nose and mouth.
Fiona stared at the two of them, her eyes wide, her face a little pale, and Cass swore that she saw something that Cass didn’t.
"So...we don’t have confirmation?" Edgar asked and Cass snapped.
"Oh shut the fuck up about that damn confirmation! What do you want me to say? The gods confirmed it? Cause they fucking did!" Cass snarled, and Edgar’s eyes were wide, as were Lady Ava’s. The Vespertine children nodded.
"That...that is what you would say, yeah." Edgar whispered quietly and Cass threw up his free hand. It felt like half of the table was tense, while the other half was completely normal. Cass rolled his eyes.
Now he needed to go touch some grass.