Ok-ay. So, Lady Ava was pretty pissed. Fair enough.
Cass had...walked into that one. He had lied about her partner being pregnant with not just any kid, his kid, and you know what? He was big enough to admit she was allowed to have a few pot shots at him. Especially given all the stress she was probably under.
He was big enough to acknowledge that.
Was it fair that she was attacking him when he was the one who was going to go to bat for her? Eh, that was where things got interesting, but Cass could let it slide. She’d been off his case this whole time.
"Can we not talk about that right now?" Cass asked carefully, and Lady Ava let out a heavy sigh.
"There are a lot of things that come to you that you don’t want to talk about, Cass. While also, there are a lot of things that you want to discuss when it comes to other people. It’s only been in the last two months that I’ve known you that we’ve talked about anything related to you." Cass flinched.
That was mostly Lord Blackburn, but he could understand her frustration. Lucian shifted uncomfortably on his feet in front of them. Even Edgar looked...interested? But also like he was attempting to hide his interest.
"Well...I’m still trying to figure that part out." Cass admitted and Lady Ava turned to look at him. Dead in the face and without hesitation, she said it out loud.
"Is it related to what kind of demon you are?" She asked and Fiona’s eyes shot open, as did Edgar’s. Lucian’s mouth opened slightly, before he smirked and covered his mouth. Cass stared at Lady Ava.
"Uh, yeah, probably." Cass was a little flustered that she was so...straightforward and calm. Her being straightforward? Not an issue. The fact that she wasn’t crying, was calm, and staring at him?
More unnerving than he expected. Especially given the fact that he had it on good authority that she’d been a crying mess for the last three days.
"I did some research." Lady Ava said. "And by research, I mean I spoke to the gods because my connection to all of them has been restored." Cass didn’t like that. "They think that the symptoms have a few possibilities, but some of the more common demons are succubi. Or incubi. If I can be honest, I don’t know the difference, but given that both are related to sex and children, it would make sense that you would have issues speaking about them if you had that kind of blood." It wasn’t a judgmental statement. That was the most alarming part of this whole thing.
She was calm.
Cass felt like he was the one who was going to cry. His eyes were wide, Lucian had his body twisted away from Cass and the others as his shoulders shook with laughter, and Edgar was stunned.
"That...would make sense." Edgar muttered quietly and Cass, without any hesitation, jerked his hand out and hit his thigh with the back of his hand. It was a knee jerk reaction. Fiona watched every movement that Cass made, her mouth slightly open, before she started laughing.
"I think," she began, "we should leave that up to Cass, Avie. He seems to have some willing helpers who are helping him figure out his lineage." Cass sucked in at Fiona’s pointed words. She smirked. "I saw your neck before you covered it up." She said and Cass felt his face warm.
He quickly stood up, brushing himself off before he brushed past the group.
"I should go check on Lord Ridgewood. Make sure he’s not getting beat up by his father." Cass muttered.
"And his brothers." Edgar added, and Cass nodded. He was glad that no one was stopping him. Lucian didn’t stop him because he was fairly certain that his two guards had come over as soon as they saw them move as a unit. Beyond that, Cass was capable. He was-
"Be careful." Lucian said, causing Cass to turn to look back at him. His orange gaze scanned him, his eyes thoughtful, serious, and Cass sighed.
"When am I not?" Cass asked and Lucian’s lips twitched. His gaze slid to the others, before he slid his gaze back to Cass.
"You wouldn’t like it if I answered that here." Lucian said slowly and Cass felt his hand tremble on the door.
"No. I wouldn’t like that." Cass confirmed as Edgar stared at Cass, and then his eyes curled up at the corners. Both men smiled at him and Cass felt his face burn.
He needed to get out of here.
Cass ran out of the balcony like he was being chased, and had to take a moment to push his hair out of his face once he was on the other side of the door. Hearing the soft sound of Sir Sanders’ laugh had him on edge immediately.
"Fleeing the scene? How mad are they, my Lord?" Sir Sanders asked softly and Cass slapped a hand on his chest, surprised that Sir Sanders had spoken.
"Jesus. You scared me!" Cass accused and Sir Sanders smirked.
"Good." Sir Sanders said. "It’s a good thing given that you have so many eyes on you, and your expression looks vulnerable right now. Ailia would be pissed at me if I let others see you like that." Sir Sanders spoke quietly, and at the mention of Sir Hune, Cass felt his body tense. Then, relax.
It was a good reminder. That someone else was looking out for him, away from the mess he’d just caused. That small shock gave Cass enough time to gather himself, spot Byron a few feet away, gesturing to another side of the ball with his head, and Cass scanned the area around.
He couldn’t see Lord Ridgewood. He could see Duke Ridgewood, Duke Vespertine, and Cass’ grandfather. The trio were speaking to each other, and Duke Vespertine looked pissed. It was contained, of course, but how he was able to keep himself contained while knowing that these two had basically conspired to take away half of his power? His heir?
Yeah, Cass was impressed. Even if he didn’t like the guy.
Cass could tell that the room, the atmosphere in the room rippled as soon as everyone saw that Cass was out of the balcony, and alone. Cass adjusted his jacket, primping himself as he scanned the area.
He was sure there would be plenty of rumours now that would spread, but that was okay. He was just...concerned about where Lord Ridgewood was.
"Where did Lord Ridgewood go?" Cass asked quietly to Sir Sanders and he let out a heavy sigh, not quiet in the slightest. Cass felt his eyes widen and begged himself not to flush at his actions.
"Byron is the one keeping track of him, and the royal family. They haven’t moved, but I lost sight of Lord Ridgewood as I stayed here. You should go check in with Byron." Sir Sanders said, adjusting his position slightly. "You want me to stay on Lady Fiona now that the secret’s out, right?" Sir Sanders, for all of his dislike of Cass, at least could stick to a bit.
Cass nodded, meeting his gaze, and swore he caught a little glimmer of laughter there. It disappeared quickly. There was a reason that someone like Ser Hune would marry this man. Cass felt like he had just caught a glimpse of it.
"Yes, Sir Sanders. Thank you." He nodded as Cass mapped out the route to go to Byron. It was either slide by the Duke trio, or go into the swarm of nobles.
Cass took the swarm, no hesitation.
He adjusted his jacket, exhaled softly, and then made his move. He was spoken to, forced to make small talk, and grazed by, by several nobles. But it would still be better than dealing with his grandfather again. Several nobles asked about Fiona, and Cass just let out a soft sigh, shaking his head before admitting that she was a little bit angry at him for admitting it the way that he had.
That seemed to get him sympathy, and more curiousity. Everyone was curious about why he was here, how he was here, and how he was so close to Fiona and the rest of the hero party.
Some of the more drunk nobles told him that they thought they were not close in the slightest. Cass just smiled, before putting on his best oblivious face. Not on good terms? That was crazy! Cass just had a poor constitution and usually needed to rest. He’d been this way since he was a child.
No one could argue that, especially his grandfather. After all, he was the one who kept Lord Blackburn from the limelight until Cass forced his hand by being just as good of a mage as he wanted him to be.
The whole time Cass was making his way to Byron, he could feel the intense gaze of a few people on him. His grandfather, the King and Queen, and a third party. Cass didn’t need to guess who the third party was considering they were an older man, slightly handsome, but Cass could feel the negative energy off of him from here.
Made worse was the way that the man was smiling at him, like he knew something that Cass didn’t. He thought that Cass knew nothing about the situation, that Cass was ignorant. That wasn’t the case. Just because Cass was being cool, calm and collected did not mean that Cass was an idiot.
He wouldn’t have shown up otherwise.
By the time that Cass had made his way to Byron, Byron was looking a little antsy.
"My Lord, Lord Ridgewood was taken by a group of nobles a while ago. I haven’t seen him reemerge, nor have I seen the other nobles emerge either." Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, but given how tense the environment was between the heroes party and the rest of the nobles?
Cass let out a heavy sigh. He was going to have to go check on him. Alone. Great.
"Let’s go, Byron." Cass muttered and Byron jumped behind him as Cass turned and headed in the direction that Byron had gestured to before. Byron was glancing around nervously, scanning the area with his eyes. It was actually a miracle that others had left Byron alone. He was handsome, tall, with vibrant blue hair.
He should have stuck out like a sore thumb.