Chapter 275: A teary-eyed pretty boy
Cass was practically vibrating with the need to explain himself, but he just couldn’t. Mainly because he didn’t want to explain himself in front of not only Sir Forsythe, but fucking Lord Ridgewood as well.
It also didn’t help that Sir Forsythe was still stewing in his anger. He had marched right past Edgar pinning Cass against the wall to loom over Lord Ridgewood in the doorway. Cass didn’t like the implication there.
Cass, as far as he knew, hadn’t been pinned against the wall by Edgar or Lucian before, so he should have been concerned about this. Instead, the man was still hung up on Lord Ridgewood, clothing in his hands, and his jaw clenched. If he was like Lucian or Edgar, Cass was sure his eyes would glow.
"My Lord is kind and generous." Sir Forsythe began. "If it was me, I would have tossed you out without a care." Sir Forsythe glared at the man, like he was below him. Cass wondered if there was a further level of animosity between him and Lord Ridgewood. Had he beaten him up before? Did they know each other from training days?
Sir Forsythe was older than Cass, so he wasn’t sure how they would have met up before, because Lord Ridgewood, Edgar and Cass were around the same age. That was how Sir Forsythe had his own friends outside of the age range that Cass expected. That didn’t mean that Sir Forsythe hadn’t run into him before.
Lord Blackburn hadn’t been able to attend many parties, and Sir Forsythe had been at the estate for longer than Cass knew. There might have been a chance that Lord Blackburn sent Sir Forsythe in his place to the important balls that Lord Blackburn needed a representative at. Someone who had the knowledge and the weight to at least represent him.
Cass knew Lord Blackburn had a hard time trusting others, but Sir Forsythe probably ticked off those boxes with his eyes closed.
Cass sighed, his head a damn mess as Edgar slowly withdrew his hands from him and turned to face Sir Forsythe and Lord Ridgewood. Lord Ridgewood wasn’t complaining about his treatment, taking it like a damn man.
Cass frowned as he slowly approached as well.
"You’re right, Sir Forsythe. Lord Blackburn is far more generous than I gave him credit for." Lord Ridgewood admitted and Sir Forsythe looked pissed to hear him speak.
"Don’t you dare speak his name. You don’t deserve to." Sir Forsythe hissed with true venom in his voice. "If I had it my way, you would never be seen ever again, but my Lord cares about that sort of thing. You’re lucky what happened is all that happened." Sir Forsythe said, not admitting that they had done something outwardly, but it was clear to anyone who was responsible for anything that befell Lord Ridgewood and the Duke Vespertine.
Actually, Cass didn’t know what had fully happened. He also hadn’t bothered to ask for the full story either. Now wasn’t the time, since Cass wasn’t going to have the men admit to their crimes so outwardly, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t curious.
Lord Ridgewood stared up at Sir Forsythe, and how the man had his lips twisted up in pure disdain and disgust at him, before he dropped his head, the wet, red strands falling in front of his face. He let out a bitter laugh.
"I deserve every name you call me, and everything that you do to me. Not only have I disgraced myself as a knight, but as a holy knight I couldn’t even tell right from wrong. I let rumours and gossip influence me, and for that there is no recovery." Lord Ridgewood muttered and Edgar snorted.
Cass turned to him and watched as he crossed his arms aggressively, sticking his hip out as he glared down at his best friend. For the first time, Cass saw Edgar flash a fang, utterly beyond angry at the other man.
Cass felt his breath catch as the handsome man snarled at the other handsome man on his knees, soaking wet, while the sharpest teeth he’d ever seen in his life poked out below his plump lips. Holy shit. If this wasn’t such a serious moment, Cass might have taken a photo.
Cass knew that this wasn’t the time nor the place, and there was a reason that Edgar hadn’t shown this side since it was technically the form of a demon, but holy shit. Cass was uncomfortable with how that made his body feel.
He was also uncomfortable with the situation as a whole. Two handsome men, one spitting anger, and the other full of remorse? Cass almost wanted to forgive him on that premise alone, just to see if he could catch the duo in dark corners yelling at each other. In compromising situations.
So much for viewing Edgar as more than a character in a book. Now he was writing his own fanfiction. Best friends to enemies to lovers? That was such a good trope.
"No recovery? Do you think that is what Cassian wants? What he deserves?" Edgar snarled as Lord Ridgewood snapped his head back to meet Edgar’s gaze. He looked torn, defeated, and even Sir Forsythe was staring at Edgar as if he was seeing him in a new light. "Don’t play fucking dumb, Lord Ridgewood." The man on the ground flinched at the venom at which Edgar said his title. "You know full fucking well what you were doing, what the outcome was, but you didn’t care as long as it didn’t effect you. I warned you. I warned you! I told you that things were more than they appeared and what did you fucking do? You went behind my back to my father! Without even considering why I wouldn’t tell him anything!" Edgar was shouting, and Cass glanced around nervously.
They were causing a scene. If the others were anything like him, they would have tucked themselves into a corner to watch over the whole thing. At the same time, he hoped that wasn’t the case. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet.
Lord Ridgewood stared at Edgar, his face twisting slightly before he dropped his head again and let out a heavy sigh.
"Edgar, you never told me how bad it was." Lord Ridgewood said quietly and Edgar exploded.
"I shouldn’t have had to! You were my best friend!" Edgar’s voice broke, and Cass watched as the man’s eyes began to water and he angrily wiped the tears away. It was a small miracle that Lord Ridgewood hadn’t seen that action. Cass was having a hard time holding himself back from comforting the beauty. "You should have fucking known, Gideon! You should have fucking known! Like how I knew how you were treated at home, but I never said anything because you never wanted it brought up!" Lord Ridgewood didn’t just flinch. It looked like Edgar had struck a nerve, his whole body shivering and convulsing.
"I’m not observant." Lord Ridgewood whispered and Edgar let out a cold laugh.
"You? Unobservant? Don’t fucking even start with that. Cassian might buy the slop that comes out of your mouth because you’ve always kept your distance from him, but I don’t. I know you, Lord Ridgewood. Apparently better than you even know yourself." It wasn’t a pleasant thing to hear from Edgar’s lips, and it didn’t look like it brought Edgar any happiness either.
Cass felt like he was in a damn soap opera. Cass and Edgar had had their scene, and now it was Lord Ridgewood and Edgar’s moment to shine. Even Sir Forsythe’s anger had been tempered only in the face of Edgar’s outright hostility.
Lord Ridgewood, who was by no means a small man, looked that way on the stoop. The stone had to be cold, the water had to be cold, and the man just...lay there, taking it all. Fuck, what was in it for him if he was treated this way? Did he think that they would eventually forgive him?
With the way that Edgar was speaking, that was going to take years on his part, and Fiona had basically already given him a ’dead on sight’ sign.
"I...have no excuse for what I did. It was self serving. I intentionally turned my eye to everything that you were telling me. I...I thought you were trying to prevent me from becoming the next Duke." Lord Ridgewood whispered and Cass wanted to fucking laugh.
Power? Power was the reason the man had betrayed him? Edgar let out a harsh laugh.
"That’s the fucking reason? That’s the reason why you betrayed all of us? Power? Money? Is this just so you can rub it in my fucking face that I can’t be either?" Edgar demanded, furious and maybe a little delirious. Cass was excited for the show, even if he was getting worried about Edgar’s condition.
He was clearly unstable, this whole interaction taking him to a level that wasn’t good for him.
Lord Ridgewood looked ill at the words that left Edgar’s mouth.
"I would never do such a thing. I may be a fucking idiot, but I’m not cruel that way, Edgar." Lord Ridgewood’s voice held a tense depth to his words. A begging, a pleading that Cass hadn’t heard when he’d spoken to Cass. "Please believe me, Edgar. I wouldn’t do that to you." Cass covered his mouth.
Holy shit.
Edgar shook his head, his eyes watering again as he stared down at the man below him.
"How can I believe that you wouldn’t do that after all that you’ve done?" Edgar’s words were soft, right out of a fucking book, and Cass was barely holding himself together. Yes, yes! This was the begging he wanted! The pleading.
The desperation!
Lord Ridgewood looked like he was on the fucking edge. He’d come to beg Cass for forgiveness, expecting nothing, but this? The angst, the drama! Cass felt his heart breaking in his chest witnessing this with his own eyes.
Just best friends his fucking ass! Lucian hadn’t even pleaded with Cass like this. Granted, they didn’t have the history that these two did, but still!
"Don’t say it like that. I didn’t want to hurt you. I thought, fuck, I thought that you would turn your-" Lord Ridgewood cut off, exhaling slowly, dropping his head as Edgar, Cass, and Sir Forsythe’s eyes all widened.
What was Lord Ridgewood about to say? Was he about to say what Cass thought he was going to say? That he wanted Edgar to look at him again? Or that he wanted Edgar to look at him like he looked at Cass?
Had he overheard them in the tent?
Cass felt like he was going to explode, he had so many questions, and none of them he could ask right now. It was neither the time, nor the place, but damn did he want it to be!