A hush fell over the room as soon as the group entered the ballroom again. It was like everyone was holding their breath to see, and hear their reactions. Cass kept his face flat, going back into his Lord Blackburn persona.
They rounded the corner that hid their sight of the King and his little throne setup, and Cass felt his blood run cold. The fucking fucker had done exactly as Lady Ava had warned, and Cass had felt he had done.
The King was standing, the Crown Prince was standing, and the Queen remained seated. Next to the King and his not quite son was a man. The man that Cass had seen before, or had felt his gaze before.
Both men had this stupid fucking smug look on their faces, but the King’s was the worst. It was like he’d gotten away with something illegal. He had, in many ways. What he was doing was fucking insane.
Duke Vespertine stood at the bottom of the stairs, along with Duke Ridgewood and Duke Blackburn. Cass felt his heart accelerate at just the sight of his grandfather, but ignored him. Duke Vespertine looked fucking pissed, and Cass had a feeling that what they hadn’t wanted to transpire had happened.
The fucking idiot thought he could get away with it because they had been preoccupied. Cass slid his gaze to Duke Ridgewood, and he could tell the man was standing a little taller. Cass felt a wave of anger wash over him.
Had he...planned that? Had he used both of his sons as bait so that he could lure the group away from the main ballroom? What a twisted fuck. Cass could feel the happiness he had gained from beating the other Ridgewood to a pulp fading, and fast.
Would he get it back if he beat up another Ridgewood?
"Ah. The members of honour for the night!" The King declared, loudly, and Cass felt his jaw tighten. Lady Ava made a small squeak from beside Edgar and Fiona, and the group closed in on her, protecting her. Cass stayed at the front, keeping her behind his back while Lord Ridgewood protected from the back. Lucian remained nearby, on Fiona’s side, prowling like the monster that he was.
"What do you mean, my King?" Cass’ voice rang out, loud and clear. "From my interactions so far tonight, I assumed you didn’t want any of us here." Cass wasn’t going to hold any punches, not right now.
It was not the time.
They had let them think they were pushovers for so long, that Cass was glad to be the villain right now. He’d push them off the cliff that they had marched them up without their consent. Let them hang themselves with their own rope.
The King’s eyes sparkled as he looked over the protective formation that the hero party had made. It was clear that they knew what was going on, but then again, who the fuck wouldn’t? The man had sent her in a fucking white gown. Even if Lady Ava was the Saintess, that was too fucking much.
She preferred brown dresses, anyway.
"Why, it’s a joyous night, is it not? The last, unmarried member of your party is about to be wed!" He laughed, joyously, and Cass stared at him. He didn’t say a word, just stared. The King had clearly expected him to make a fool of himself, yell. Shout. He did not anticipate that Cass was going to stare at him in silence.
The smile flickered, before eventually fading as the man grew more and more uncomfortable as the silence dragged on.
Finally, Cass let out a soft, nearly inaudible sigh. Lucian let out a soft growl behind him and that seemed to unsettle everyone around them. Cass then spoke up.
"No." He said finally, and a ripple moved through the crowd. No one said no to the King, but Cass wasn’t going to back down. Cass had wanted to do this privately, but if he wanted an audience for being put in his place?
Who was Cass to deny him his show?
"No?" The King repeated, shocked. "No? You can’t say no to me." He stated, laughing. Incredulous. Cass remained calm, remained quiet, staring at him again. It was clearly unsettling the man. The King glanced at the guards around, clearly about to do something foolish when Cass spoke up again.
"I wouldn’t do that if I were you." He warned quietly, calmly. "You are only going to embarrass yourself more than you already are." The horrified gasps from the nobles around them told Cass that they were eating this up, and that they weren’t going to lift a finger to stop him. Either of them. Cass shifted, crossing his arms as he stared up at the man. "I had planned to have this interaction in private, but it’s clear to me that you like to put on a show." Cass made a slow, pointed look around the ballroom before he gave an intentional smile. "With my money."
A loud hush fell over the room. The Queen shot to her feet quickly, a gasp of rage leaving her mouth.
"How dare you-!" Her husband placed his hand against her chest, stopping her from coming down the steps. The King’s expression cooled. He looked angry, pissed, but he also looked like a man in power. He’d spent years as the King. It wasn’t like Cass was the first difficult noble he’d dealt with.
The problem was, he thought he knew all the cards Cass had to play. He didn’t know that the game had changed. He hadn’t been paying attention enough. No one had, except maybe Cass’ grandfather.
He had a feeling the man had been keeping a better eye on him that Cass had thought.
"Lord Blackburn, are you daft? What do you think you are doing?" The King asked. The pretense of joy was gone, and in its place was the man that Cass had a feeling had always been there. Conniving. Planning.
This was the man who had to know that the kid next to him wasn’t his son, but had kept him in that place because it had suited him. Now that he had Fiona, he was going to throw everything out, and Lady Ava was in the way for that future.
The man either knew that they were together, and knew that the temple had too much power. He might know that this was a two birds, one stone situation, but Cass didn’t want to confirm that. It wasn’t important.
What was important was making this man realise that he didn’t have control at all.
"I am thinking that you’re a fool for attempting to do this to us, and I do mean us, while we were away. The same way I think you’re a fool for doing this, as you tend to do everything, while I am not around. All because you know I won’t tolerate this kind of treatment." Cass declared. The King didn’t move, but he didn’t need to.
Cass had great vision, and that was either because he was a fairy or a demon, probably both. He could tell that the man was nervous.
"I would never-"
"Don’t even attempt to lie right now. I’ll sniff it out." Cass told him, and he didn’t care what that said about him. He glanced behind his shoulder, gesturing for the whole group to move. They followed Cass as they moved closer to the bottom of the steps where the Dukes stood. Cass stopped a few feet away from them, especially since his grandfather was the closest to them.
The whole time that they moved, the nobles made sure that there was enough space for them to do so. No one stayed in their spot to be an asshole. This was too interesting of a show for them to do so.
"Did you think I would stay back?" Cass asked the other man, staring up at him with a calm, collected expression. "Did you think I would let you do this? Did you think you could get away with it?" Cass asked and watched as the King shifted nervously.
"This is a joyous occasion." The King shot back and Cass gave a dry laugh.
"A joyous occasion? When even the father of the bride is uncomfortable with the situation because you didn’t ask him about it? But told him about it? What about Lady Ava? She’s not just ’any’ woman, my King. She’s our Saintess." Cass huffed. "She speaks to the gods, for the gods, and you want to just...marry her off to some random man? Are you a fucking idiot?" The gasps that were gasped. The shock that rippled through the crowd. Cass could feel the tension from two of the Dukes next to him.
"Now wait just a minute, Lord Blackburn. The King looks out for the best of all of his subjects-"
"Shut your fucking mouth, Duke Ridgewood, before I beat you up like I did to both of your sons." Cass snapped. More gasps, and Duke Ridgewood stiffened.
"How dare you speak to me that way?" He snarled and took a few threatening steps towards Cass. Cass didn’t wait.
He raised his hand, and before any of the mages who were supposed to be keeping an eye on malicious movements could react, Cass had Duke Ridgewood in the air and then slammed against the far wall.
Cass didn’t even have to focus to pin him there. It took such a minimal amount of magic on his part that he just simply turned to face the King again.
The King was a shade paler, and all of the guards were on alert.
"Hang there in time out until you remember how to speak to me." Cass told the older man, without even looking at him. He stared up at the King. "Is he right, my King? That you were acting with everyone’s best interest at heart? Because I feel I must beg to differ. I can say for sure about one thing, it is not what Lady Ava wants." Cass was calm, collected, while everyone else around him was in a damn panic.
Even Duke Vespertine, who was ’on their side’ was in shock. He clearly did not anticipate for things to escalate in the way that they had, but Cass still had a few more steps to go.
They had just scratched the surface of what Cass was willing to do. The fools had no idea who they were messing with, because they had been too scared to see what they were dealing with.
Granted, if this had been just Lord Blackburn acting right now, things probably would have escalated right from the start.
He didn’t like to play with his food as much as Cass did.
Did that make him...the worse villain?