Chapter 258: A well kept secret
Cass glared at the other woman, shocked she would even say something so bold where others could hear. Ser Hune turned her back to the group suddenly, covering her mouth. Cass could already imagine she was repressing laughter or something similar. Mr. Collins looked even more shocked than he looked normally.
"Fiona!" Cass said, shocked, and she gave him a grin.
"What? Where is the lie? My husbands are getting rather close these days, and I for one, think that’s a wonderful thing." She was smirking in a way that had Cass’ cheeks warming. He was flushed, embarrassed that she’d done something like this again, so he wasn’t prepared for when Ser Hune started chuckling.
It didn’t sound...good.
"Lady Fiona." Ser Hune said, stepping forward and placing a hand on Cass’ shoulder, giving it a squeeze in support. "While I understand that you are just trying to tease your husband, my Lord is not taking it that way." Cass was a bit surprised that she was stepping in, but then again, maybe he shouldn’t be.
Fiona’s face froze, as she took in Cass’ expression, the tight smile on Ser Hune’s face, and how Mr. Collins was reacting. Sir Sanders’ expression hadn’t changed in the slightest. Lady Ava seemed frozen, as if she wasn’t sure what she could do.
"O-Oh. I thought-" Fiona cut herself off, her face going pale. "I thought we were just joking. I didn’t mean-I’m sorry, Cass." She said, her throat working as she looked ill. Cass had nothing to say. What could he say? She had thought they were joking.
Cass was feeling extra sensitive because of the interaction he had upstairs, and he also wasn’t able to explain why he was feeling this way without getting into some things that he couldn’t really explain to anyone here.
It’d already been a long day, and it wasn’t like Fiona also hadn’t had an emotional day. He could...be lenient.
"Just don’t make the same mistake again, Fiona. This will be the second time I forgive you two." He said and Fiona nodded her head in a jerk. "Don’t put me in a position where I need to forgive you for the same kind of infraction for a third time." It was a threat, plain and simple, and Fiona kept nodding.
"I’m sorry Cass. I really didn’t-I’ll be better." She promised. Cass just nodded, a wave of tiredness washing over him. He pressed his hand into his face, rubbing his eyes with the meaty part of his palm before he gathered the courage to go see what the fools were up to.
Mr. Collins led the way now, Fiona considerably less excited. She trailed behind Cass with Lady Ava, Sir Sanders at the front with Mr. Collins, and Ser Hune behind the girls. Ser Hune was back to being her bubbly self, but Fiona wasn’t down from the edge she’d worked herself onto. She was tense, nervous, and Lady Ava reached out, offering her hand in support.
Cass only caught sight of that as they were turning a corner before they stopped at a rather ominous door. Mr. Collins wasted no time opening it, and that was when the sounds of clashing could be heard.
Furrowing his brow, Cass wondered what the idiots were up to, and motioned for Sir Sanders to go down right away. He took off, racing down the stairs quickly while Cass gently moved Mr. Collins out of the way so that he could do the same. Fiona and Lady Ava trailed behind them, the two of them picking up on the sounds that had been obvious to Cass, Sir Sanders, and probably Ser Hune, the more they descended into the basement.
It was a set of relatively narrow stairs with magical lights spaced every few steps so it never got truly dark. The walls were made of stone, and once they got about ten steps down, the space opened up and Cass was able to look over the wine cellar that Mr. Collins had said was down here. Sir Sanders was moving in a direction further into the large space, where the noises were coming from.
There was an obvious chained up gate that probably led to a jail of some kind, and then another carved stone doorway that was on the kitty corner wall to the jail. That was where Sir Sanders was going, and where the strange noises were coming from.
Cass picked up his pace, moving quickly as he reached the bottom step and then scurried across the floor. His chest was already aching, and he cursed this damn weak body of his. The rows upon rows of mostly empty wine racks were a little unnerving, but honestly he was more worried about a dragon destroying the house he’d just moved into over a fight he’d gotten into with a vampire.
Cass was shocked when his worst fears weren’t actualized.
There was some kind of...glamor over the doorway so that Cass couldn’t see what was in the other room until he’d stepped through it. Once he did, he was halted, much like Sir Sanders was next to him. Fiona’s arms coming through the doorway ran into Cass, jerking him forward and she made a noise of complaint until she was halted in her tracks like Cass had been.
"What’s going on? Why is Fiona stuck in the doorway?" Lady Ava asked from the other side, but no one could say a damn thing. The reason being?
There was a fucking grove in the basement. Not just a casual kind either. It was a mythical, fantastical grove with a giant ass tree that was delicately raining down flower petals and leaves. There was a babbling brook running through the space as well, with buzzing bees and the sweet sounds of songbirds. It was its own little ecosystem, and Cass had no doubt that this tree was the reason that the rest of the forest on the property was so special.
Lucian and Edgar were curled up under the tree sleeping, both having passed out with the most relaxed smiles on their faces. Cass didn’t sense anything malicious, couldn’t.
Cass’ eyes were watering, and he knew that it wasn’t from him. It was from something else, something deep inside of him and he let out a shaky breath. Sir Sanders had a look of shock on his face, as did Fiona, but Sir Sanders held a deep note of understanding. Cass knew that he knew what this was.
Cass grabbed Fiona, pulling her into the room more, and he himself shuffled over more. Lady Ava came in with a gasp, followed by Mr. Collins. That wasn’t who he was waiting for to see this.
When Ser Hune stepped into the room, her eyes were closed. When she opened them, she grew as still as a tree. She held herself so still that Cass worried she wasn’t breathing, but then she let out a strangled gasp, and then she was crying like he was.
She glanced at Cass, then at her husband, and just covered her face and wept.
They weren’t sad tears. They were happy tears. This place was a nursery. This was where fairies had their young. The fairies guarding this place made so much more sense, and it also made sense that no one else would be able to own this property.
The only reason Lord Blackburn had been able to buy this property was because he had fairy blood. He’d been tested by someone at some point, and they had found out about his lineage.
Cass wanted to cry. The fairy part inside of him did cry. His tears were silent, and Sir Sanders went to wife, holding her. Fiona and Lady Ava knew this was something big, knew from the reaction of Cass and Ser Hune that something major had been discovered, but didn’t know what.
Cass wasn’t even able to put it into words, and the worst part?
Cass could see that part of the tree was damaged. There was a direct line down the tree, down the grove that pointed in one direction. Cass didn’t need to be a genius to discover where that was pointed, and Cass dropped his head.
Without a word he made his way over the small stone bridge towards the tree. He didn’t head towards the men who were basking in the warmth and kindness from the tree, instead he went to the damaged part, the part that had no doubt kept Lord Blackburn alive and well, and at a cost to itself.
Cass wanted to weep. For the child that Lord Blackburn had been. For the memories he still didn’t have. For the pain that this innocent and pure being had gone through, and for everything he now had to do to avenge. He couldn’t hold it in. Cass’ shoulders shook as a part of him shattered. He pressed his hand against the bark, felt the pain, felt the dead part of this beautiful thing, and cried harder when a soft humming filled him.
The nursery wasn’t angry with him. He doubted that it could even feel those kinds of emotions. Instead, it was just glad that the child it had helped raise had grown up well enough to come back and say hello.
Cass didn’t even know what to say, what to think when it said that to him. Not out loud. Never out loud.
Just soft, kind whispers carried to him through the whisper of leaves, the sounds of birdsong, and a deep humming that came from within. Cass had never had a mother figure in his life. Had been too young in his life to even remember the fools who had left him and his sister behind. Lord Blackburn had been the same, but Cass was pretty sure that this was what it would feel like.
The ground shifted, shaking slightly, and Cass was worried for a minute that something bad was happening but that wasn’t the case. Instead, Cass found himself being pulled to the tree, roots wrapping around him. It should have been terrifying, it should have been scary.
Instead, it felt like coming home. It felt like the warmth he’d never experienced in his whole life. It touched a part of him that he never thought he had, and Cass wept. There were so many other things he was supposed to do today, so many things on the list he needed to work on, but he couldn’t.
Not after meeting the nursery that had saved his life, and Lord Blackburn’s. Not after realising another reason to end his grandfather.