Chapter 284: How do fairies do it?
Cass swatted at Lucian’s hands, and the man backed off. He complained not so quietly about it though as Cass stood on his own before the dining room doors. The whole way from his office to the dining room the man had been fussing over him.
Give him an inch, he took a damn fucking mile.
All he did was give him a little smooth of his own volition and suddenly he was all over Cass. Edgar wasn’t out of the danger zone either. Cass saw how he was watching how Lucian was getting treated.
Like he was seeing how much Cass could put up with.
Cass gave him a look, his eyes narrowed, and Edgar gave a soft, defeated sigh. Even as his lips turned up slightly as he stepped away.
"Sir Forsythe, please open the door." Cass asked tartly, and Sir Forsythe nodded.
"Of course, my Lord." When Cass stepped inside, it was to find that he had arrived first, but from the chatter behind them in the hallway they weren’t going to be alone for long. Cass stepped inside, found the dining room fully set and Cass moved to one of the seats. Sir Forsythe moved with him, giving Lucian and Edgar pointed looks.
Sir Forsythe was tolerating the men, but he wasn’t above putting them in their place. He was not above it, especially since Cass wasn’t letting them walk all over him. Edgar was chuckling, while Lucian was pouting.
"Stop complaining. I sat in your lap for a while." Cass muttered quietly and Lucian let out a loud huff.
"Not long enough. I want to wrap you up in my arms and carry you everywhere." Lucian complained. He was attempting to keep his voice down, but of course that was when two maids walked into the room to place food onto the table. Cass felt his face flare with heat.
"I’m not a damn doll." Cass hissed, and Lucian grumbled.
"Who said I wanted a doll? I want to do that to you, sweetness. Not a damn doll. Even if it was a doll of you." The more he said it though, the more it sounded like Lucian didn’t hate the idea of a doll of Cass. "Hmm. Maybe I’ll get something similar." He muttered and Cass groaned, covering his face with his hand.
Lucian was not about to make a fucking body pillow of Cass without his damn consent.
"You will be doing no such thing." Cass warned. "And if I catch wind that you did, I’m going to wherever you’re storing it, and tearing it to pieces." Cass told him as he yanked his chair out for himself and sat down. Lucian stared at Cass, his eyes thoughtful as Cass sat down. "What? Do you have any complaints? Is the chair not soft enough either?" Cass snapped, feeling a little annoyed and Lucian’s lips twisted up slightly.
"No. The dining room chairs are soft enough for your bottom. I was just thinking about how you would get to my lair to tear up my pillow." Lucian nodded. "Magic, obviously, since I can’t see you managing to get there without it. Tracking magic? To find it through me? Very curious. I’m going to mull over that for a while." Lucian said the words out loud, but Cass was pretty sure he was speaking more to himself then to anyone specifically.
Edgar took advantage of his mind wandering and sat to one side of Cass, grinning as he shook his head.
Edgar was quite pleased. In this house, he didn’t need to wear his hat. Half of it was because most of the hallways had no windows, and the rooms internally didn’t have any either. Any windows that were spotted were covered by trees, plant life, and thin, but protective curtains. It was an accommodation that Cass hadn’t even considered, and Cass grew thoughtful.
"Is there something of this time that covers windows? Magically or otherwise so that it lets light in one way, but not the other way?" Cass asked Edgar and Edgar paused in pulling his napkin into his lap.
"Hmm. Not really, no. I can’t imagine that that is something that anyone would make, since for people like me..." Edgar’s smile twisted. "We aren’t really supposed to exist, but I have to." Edgar said. Cass didn’t like that answer, and meant to ask him about it when Fiona and Lady Ava showed up.
Fiona was wearing a completely different outfit than she had spoken to them in. In fact, both women were wearing the same dress, but in slightly different colours. Lady Ava was beaming, while Fiona had a shy smile on her face.
"Sorry we’re late. I invited you, but you arrived before us." Fiona apologised as she escorted Lady Ava to a seat. Fiona sat closer to Cass, while Lady Ava took up her seat further away from him. She smiled at him warmly.
"It’s because of me. I told her we should match since we went through the effort to get matching outfits." Lady Ava took on the weight of the complaint without an ounce of regret. Cass felt his lips tilt up slightly.
"Well, that is your right as women. It is our privilege to wait as men." Cass said carefully, and everyone paused at the words that came out of Cass’ mouth. Cass felt his cheeks warm. "I meant nothing by that." Cass muttered quietly, before Lady Ava and Fiona burst into laughter.
Edgar even chuckled.
"And that, Dear Cassian, is why no one knows a damn thing." Fiona said with a smirk. "You’re ever the image of a perfect, noble gentleman. Warm, but indifferent. I bet if you could attend half of the parties that we did the public would fall head over heels for you." Fiona teased, a special sparkle in her eye meant only for Cass.
Cass frowned.
"No thank you. While I am attempting to do...some image rehabilitation, that’s too far." Fiona’s eyes lit up.
"You are trying to reinvent your image? I had a feeling, especially when you got involved with the orphanage." Fiona asked, curiousity in her every muscle. Cass froze.
"I didn’t get involved with the orphanage just because of that. I just...wanted to help some kids, okay? I have money, they don’t, and it isn’t as if I plan to keep my help and money to just them. I have a plan to help all the orphanages. I also don’t need recognition for helping kids who lost their parents." Cass knew he sounded a bit defensive.
Hell, he was defensive. He couldn’t help it. While he originally been all gung ho to use them, now?
Now it left a bad taste in his mouth.
Thinking about the kids, how they had been under attack...Cass just sighed and shook his head.
"They’re just kids. They shouldn’t be tools for political reasons." Cass muttered quietly and flinched when a hand touched his shoulder. Cass jerked to look behind him, and it was a stoic faced Sir Forsythe who said nothing. He just gave Cass’ shoulder a squeeze before stepping back.
"I made sure that while we were gone our knights did patrols down to the orphanage everyday. It was a small negotiation to get Sir Sanders and Ser Hune here." Sir Forsythe told him. It hadn’t been brought up before now, but then again, Cass did trust Sir Forsythe to run his own people.
Cass swallowed, nodded, and glanced up. Fiona and Lady Ava were looking at him with soft eyes. Fiona sighed.
"I take it back. You don’t even need to try that hard, Cass. Now, shall we ask for the food to arrive and then send everyone out to chat?" Fiona asked, and Cass felt his lips twitched. He appreciated the topic change. It was getting a little too serious for his liking.
"Of course." He agreed, and Lucian finally sat down, grumbling as he did so. He was still sitting down next to Cass, but he wasn’t on the right side. Cass didn’t understand the order, or the reason why it was a big deal. Cass had done his reading, but he didn’t understand why Lucian was kicking up a fuss that Edgar was sitting on his right, while he was sitting on his left.
When Cass glanced at Fiona and Lady Ava, he realised that Lady Ava was sitting to the right of Fiona. Was it a position thing? Was that what it was?
Cass just kept the question to himself. He’d look it up later. For now, they remained silent as the maids came in and helped lay the food out on the table. A few of them were the fairy maids, and like Fiona had warned, they were glancing at Lucian with appreciative eyes.
One even approached him once the table was set and asked him something so quiet that even Cass couldn’t pick it up Lucian looked shocked at the question, before he smiled broadly and reached out with his wide hand, ruffling the hair on top of her head.
"I’ll bring some more tomorrow, alright?" He promised, his eyes kind and the maid nodded, looked embarrassed at all of the attention, and then scattered. Cass watched Lucian, interested.
"Were they asking for more meat?" Cass asked quietly and Lucian chuckled.
"Yes. Apparently, for baby fairies, they need a particular kind. I think it’s rather interesting that I’m learning this right now. They have a few siblings that need to grow some more, and since they have been watching over this property for so long, they haven’t been able to. It will also help the tree downstairs." Lucian said and Cass relaxed immediately.
"Oh, that’s wonderful news." Cass told him easily, and Lucian chuckled. He smiled easily, staring at Cass, before he grew thoughtful.
"Hmm. Do fairies reproduce like everyone else?" He asked and Cass stared at him, before he looked towards Sir Forsythe. Sir Forsythe shook his head.
"Don’t look at me. I’m not asking Ailia something like that, and Deacon would beat my ass if he heard me asking her that too." He told them easily and Cass felt his lips twitch.
"You heard the man. You’ll have to ask her, and with context. I don’t need Sir Sanders thinking you’re hitting on his wife." Cass warned, and Lucian scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"I already have one wife, I don’t need another. What I do need is a wonderful bond partner." Lucian’s voice dropped in pitch, and his voice became sultry and smooth. "I also don’t care if fairies reproduce like humans or not. I can work with anything." He purred and Cass felt his face warm.
"Shut. Up. Lucian." Cass warned, and Fiona burst into laughter while Lady Ava’s face warmed in embarrassment.
"Lucy, Cass is delicate. He grew up a sheltered noble. He barely knows anything." Fiona warned and Edgar let out a bark of laughter, before he covered his mouth.
"Oh Fiona, our dear Fifi. Cass has us all fooled. The filth the man reads-" Cass’ eyes widened before he slapped his hand over Edgar’s mouth. Edgar looked at him in shock, while Cass’ chest heaved, his face flushed.
"Don’t you dare!" Cass hissed. Fiona stared at him, shocked. So did Lucian and Lady Ava. No one expected him to move that quickly, and Edgar? He looked like the cat who had gotten the cream. He raised his hand, wrapping around Cass’ wrist and gently tugged his hand off of his mouth.
He had a slight red mark around his mouth.
"Cass, no respectable noble would be reading the book you lent me." Edgar teased, and Cass felt his face warm more. Fiona let out a soft gasp.
"Can I borrow a book from you?" She asked and Cass groaned.
"I don’t think you would enjoy it, Fiona. Or Lady Ava. It’s, uh, not really geared towards you. Let me find something that I think would be more to your taste, alright?" Cass asked, really not wanting to lend out his gay romance books to a pair of lesbians. They could enjoy it just fine, but he didn’t want to risk it.
Lucian leaned back in his chair, all smiles.
"They are pretty raunchy, and inaccurate. The dragon one was particularly absurd." Lucian comments drew attention away from Cass, and towards him. Cass groaned, as Edgar gave Lucian an interested look.
"There was a dragon one?"
"Yeah. Between a dragon and a demon. Anatomically, it was completely inaccurate. Hot though. I read a bit over Cass’ shoulder." Cass felt his face warm and wanted to disappear. They were always tag teaming him now. Fuck.
It was terrible that they decided to get along now.