Edgar had pulled them into a balcony that overlooked some rather opulent, well maintained gardens. They felt as shallow as the gardens at the temple, but that was not something Cass could focus on right now.
Lady Ava was hunched over the guardrail, her body shaking and shivering as she tried to breathe. She was hyperventilating, her whole body trembling as she tried to breathe.
Fiona released Cass, rushing to her side as Lucian closed the door behind him. Cass could feel the presence of the dragon behind him like a damn furnace. Cass knew he had some explaining to do. Even Edgar was looking at Cass differently and Cass sighed.
"It’s not true, Lady Ava." Cass told her, and Lady Ava glanced at him, her eyes pouring tears.
"Really?" She gasped and Cass nodded.
"You know that I wouldn’t even dare lay a hand on her." Cass said, and Fiona flinched. Served her right. That’s how Cass felt just a few moments ago. Lady Ava wasn’t able to hold herself up, her arms shaking as Fiona and Edgar attempted to help her. There wasn’t even a bench or anything here and Cass sighed. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a bench with his mind. Edgar blinked, but then ushered Lady Ava onto it, Fiona sitting down next to her partner and whispering to her softly.
Lucian’s throat clearing behind him had Cass blinking and turning.
The dragon was a damn storm cloud.
"Pregnancy? That was what you thought of?" He demanded, his voice a rumble. He was pissed. "If you wanted a baby, all you needed to do was tell me." Lucian rumbled. "I would have figured something out." Cass was stunned. Was Lucian suggesting that he would have kidnapped a child?
Would...the child have been a human? Or a dragon?
Cass felt his mind spiral, until he felt the man scan down Cass’ body. His burning orange gaze rested over Cass’ lower stomach and Cass felt himself inhale.
"T-That’s not-" Cass cut off as Lucian crossed his arms, plumping his chest but his face was stony. He wasn’t doing it intentionally. He was pissed. "Lucy, I’m not asking for a child." Even as Cass said the words, something deeper inside of him nearly made him choke. Cass covered his mouth as he felt something deep within him recoil.
Lucian’s expression shifted to one of deep concern as Cass rushed to the edge of the balcony away from the bench he’d summoned and felt himself throw up. The words that had come out of his mouth had caused such a violent response that Cass couldn’t keep anything down.
He hadn’t eaten anything of substance for a few days so he just threw up stomach acid, but fuck. It hurt, it felt awful, and it was only soothed when a large, familiar hand touched his back.
"It’s okay, sweetness." Lucian’s voice was tender, soft. "Get it out." He murmured as Cass’ body continued to convulse. Cass even felt his eyes water as his body continued to jerk until finally, the words didn’t feel like they were choking him.
When Cass turned, exhausted, it was Edgar he helped him onto the bench with Lady Ava and Fiona. The girls were staring at him, shocked, and Cass made a face.
"Edgar, can you make a force field or something? Something to make sure others can’t hear us?" Cass muttered, his throat raw from throwing up. Edgar nodded, and Cass could feel the magic moving in the air as he manipulated it until the spell was cast. Cass leaned his head back against the railing, exhausted from that.
"Why did you lie?" Fiona asked, clearly worried about Cass, but also worried about what he’d done. Cass sighed.
"I knew he was going to pull some shit like that." Cass muttered, surprising Lady Ava.
"You knew? If you knew, why didn’t you-"
"I didn’t know he would do it in front of so many people. So I called his bluff." Cass cut her off, and Lady Ava looked upset, and then ill again.
"You put Fiona at risk. You pulled her into your plan." Lady Ava protested, and Cass was surprised. He had thought she was upset because Cass had implied that they slept together, but she was actually angry that he had pulled Fiona into his mess. Cass laughed.
"Ava, Fiona was pulled into my mess when she signed the contract we had made for our wedding." Cass told her kindly, and Lady Ava stared at him. She still wasn’t happy.
"Joking about pregnancy isn’t funny, Cassian. Especially without warning." She was making a good point. Cass couldn’t even argue with her.
"You’re right. I’m in the wrong for that." Cass agreed easily, and Lady Ava seemed a little surprised by his easy agreement. She clearly thought he was going to fight her on this a bit, but Cass wasn’t. He was in the wrong. "I’m sorry. I should have warned you ahead of time, Fiona." Cass apologised easily.
Fiona shifted uncomfortably on the other side of Lady Ava while Edgar and Lucian stood in front of the trio, both with their arms crossed.
"You should have discussed this with all of us." Edgar told him. "Fiona technically has four husbands. It could not be your kid." Edgar said and Cass chuckled.
"Legally, because of our plural marriage, it doesn’t matter. The kid had a right to any of the Dukedoms once they are born. Hypothetically. Have you read the marriage documents?" Cass teased and watched as everyone turned pink, except Lucian.
"So? What are we doing now? You just announced to the whole room that the hero is pregnant and the demon King isn’t dead. Who, in their right mind, would send a pregnant person out to defeat the great evil that challenges our world?" Lucian asked the right kind of question. Cass blinked.
"Shoot. I didn’t think that far." Cass muttered, and Fiona seemed a little...mindless. Like she was lost in her own thoughts. She was focused on a tile on the floor, barely listening to them as they spoke.
"Yeah. I gathered as much. You just wanted to get one up on your grandfather." Lucian called Cass out and Cass flinched. If Lucian was calling him out, then it must have been bad. Edgar sighed.
"Don’t be like that, Lucy. Cass had every right to tell that man to go fuck himself, he should have just spoken to us about this ahead of time. If we all knew that he was going to make having a kid part of the stipulation for succession, we could have come up with a plan together." Lady Ava nodded enthusiastically.
"I mean, you have that orphanage you sponsor. You could have said you were adopting." Lady Ava said casually. "That’s what the Vespertine’s did for me." Except, Lady Ava, you still have parents. You almost didn’t, but Cass had thought and planned ahead. Edgar gave her a strained look.
"I will admit, the orphanage is a good suggestion. What are we going to do if-"
"We say she lost the baby." Cass interjected, and Lady Ava let out a shocked gasp, covering her mouth.
"Cass! That’s horrible! You shouldn’t wish that on Fiona, fake or otherwise!" Cass blinked, staring at Lady Ava.
"It’s...really common though? Lots of women have miscarriages when they’re just a bundle of cells." Cass was speaking calmly, but everyone looked upset at his words, except Fiona who was still in her own thoughts. "I...I think we’re having a fundamental misunderstanding right now. I...the other me learned differently about pregnancy and the like." Cass said, swallowing thickly. "M-My sister had a miscarriage. It’s...common. I didn’t say it was easy, just common." Cass spoke quickly, stuttering over his words because it was so strange for him to speak about this out loud.
She wouldn’t kill him from another world, would she? She had told him that he wasn’t allowed to tell others, but...a different world separated them now. And she was pregnant again, with his niece or nephew. Maybe she’d be able to sense it and that would mean she wouldn’t name the kid after him.
That was the only positive he could think of coming out of this situation.
Lady Ava still had her hands over her mouth, her eyes watering as Cass spoke.
"Y-Your sister?" She repeated and Cass gave a quick nod.
"Yeah. She’s fine now. Well, probably." Cass said, feeling a little shy. He had died, so...that probably had affected her poorly. If Cass dwelled on it too much he’d get sad, so he pushed that to the back. "We could say that early on, before Fiona would start to show, a monster threw her or something and she had some complications. It would be terrible, everyone would mourn the loss, but it would also be understandable." Cass said carefully.
Edgar looked upset, Lucian looked upset, and Lady Ava was crying. Fiona still hadn’t said anything. Cass began to sweat nervously, the simmering in his gut growing hotter and hotter the longer he sat in this awkward silence.
"Let’s do it." Fiona said eventually. She raised her head, meeting Cass’ gaze. There was something there...something hard, concrete that made Cass start. "Let’s say I’m pregnant. Fuck it. I have four husbands, it would be weird if I wasn’t. I’m sure they’ve all been talking some stupid shit like I’m infertile or something, so let’s go with it. I know that’s hard for you to come to terms with, Avie, but I think for our safety, it’s the best option. It’s another way to keep you here, too. Who better than to tend to the hero who is pregnant than the Saintess?" It was a good plan, but Cass could tell that it probably wasn’t going to work.
Cass had a feeling that the idiots were going to go through with it, mainly because Cass had a feeling that Lady Ava’s ’future husband’ was already invited to the party. If they backed out now?
It probably wouldn’t end well for them. Probably would be as bad as if...say...the future husband disappeared under mysterious circumstances?
"You’re right, Fiona. Who better to tend to the hero than the Saintess?" Cass echoed and Fiona’s lips curled up slowly, as she glanced around the group.
"So that’s it then. We’ve decided. I’m pregnant, and I’m upset you announced it suddenly. We’re still in the...dangerous phase. Early." Fiona said it casually, but there was a weight to it. Cass nodded.
"That sounds reasonable. It also explains why you aren’t showing." Cass said and Lady Ava bent, letting out a heavy sigh as she put her head in her hands.
"Fuck." She said softly, and everyone gasped. Lady Ava, swearing? This was unheard of. Cass felt a chuckle leave his lips. If there was any time to swear, now would be it.
"You’ve got this, Ava." Cass said, smiling, and Lady Ava turned to glare at him.
"Shut your mouth. You threw up when you tried to lie about not wanting kids." She muttered and Cass felt his face go red. He’d hoped that everyone was just going to gloss over that. Apparently, she was still feeling a bit bitter.