When Cass got to the top of the stairs, he could tell that Sam was worried. His expression relaxed as soon as he saw Cass, his shoulders straightening out as well.
"You were gone for quite some time, my Lord." Sam said softly, and Cass let out a relaxed chuckle. His own shoulders were down, his expression soft. Ser Hune looked much the same. Honestly, if people didn’t know better, they might have thought that he and Ser Hune had gone and done drugs or something in the basement.
"Well, someone was having a longer chat that I had." Cass said, sliding a teasing glance to Ser Hune. He watched in amazement as Ser Hune looked heavily embarrassed at his implication.
"My apologies, my Lord." Ser Hune mumbled, and both Sam and Cass stared at her. It felt like only a few minutes ago she was teasing him with a smile on her face, and now she was getting all flustered? Maybe Cass should have teased her downstairs to get this awkwardness out of the way.
Cass just shook his head, turning to Sam and the man nodded his head before leading the way. They didn’t have to walk far before they found Byron and Sir Sanders standing outside of a room that was vaguely familiar to Cass.
If he was right, this was the room where he’d made that man kiss his feet. Huh.
Sir Sanders’ gaze was casual, or as casual as one could be when their wife walked up. Cass chuckled.
"You should look after your wife, Sir Sanders. She might need some comfort." Cass teased, sliding a smiling glance towards Ser Hune. The woman looked embarrassed, but not upset by Cass’ teasing. Instead, she held out her arms to her husband who wasted not a single second to be there inside her arms.
It was impressive how quickly the man moved.
"Ailia? What is it, my love?" His soft words of affection shocked Sam, Byron, and Cass. The man rarely spoke, and this was what they were hearing? In the hallway?
Ser Hune looked a little embarrassed for the both of them, sliding a look to Cass, who nodded. He’d easily grant them permission to leave. He was sure they had been busy while he had been unconscious. They earned at least an evening’s rest.
Ser Hune held onto her husband, finding comfort in his arms as Sam carefully, quietly, pointed at the door only a few paces away. She nodded, and the two shuffled over. Sir Sanders was attached to his wife like a barnacle, and Cass was fascinated to observe that behaviour from the man.
The trio watched the two knights shuffle into the room, Ser Hune opening the door but Sir Sanders closing it, basically glaring at them as he closed the door behind them. Cass blinked a few times, before he gave a soft laugh and turned to the door that he had been standing outside of.
"Is everyone else inside?" Cass asked Byron, and the man nodded, his own lips twitching up into a smile.
"Yes. Even Lord Ridgewood." Byron confirmed and Cass nodded. Good. That was a good thing. He needed to speak to everyone.
Cass opened the door, stepped inside and found that Sam had brought in a third couch. That was probably for the best. The room originally had two couches facing each other, big enough to fit six people in total in the room. There were a few decoration items around, like a coffee table between the two couches, as well as a few dressers.
Cass was sure that they had a different name when used in this context, he just couldn’t remember it at the moment.
There was a perfect spot for another couch in the room at the end of the coffee table since it was a giant square, and that was where Sam (probably Byron), had put another two-seater couch. A love chair one could say.
That was where Lady Ava and Fiona sat, both women looking rather tense in a way that Cass hadn’t really seen before. They seemed...suspicious in a way that Cass couldn’t put a finger on. Had they been up to something while he had been unconscious?
Cass would have to find out.
Edgar and Lucian sat on the left couch, Edgar prim and proper. Sitting up straight, a teacup to his lips, saucer underneath as he took a sip. Lucian was leaning back, his arms crossed and his feet on the coffee table. He had a scowl on his face as he stared at the man sitting across from him.
Lord Ridgewood sat alone on the other couch. He looked about as rigid as a board, dressed like a proper knight, but without his sword. He looked incredibly uncomfortable. It harkened to a movie Cass had watched once, at his sister’s insistence. One of the characters had looked about as awkward as Lord Ridgewood looked right now. Cass almost pitied the man. Almost.
Cass marched into the room and everyone sat up straighter at the sight of him. Cass scanned them, and it was obvious that Edgar and Lucian thought that he was going to sit between them. They were delusional.
Why would Cass willingly sit pressed against the two men when he had things he needed to discuss? He didn’t want to be distracted. So, Cass slid into the fully free spot next to Lord Ridgewood so that he could see everyone’s faces. Sam brought him a teacup as soon as he sat down and Cass took a sip of the delicious tea before he let out a heavy sigh.
"Sorry for the delay on this meeting." Cass said right away, genuinely feeling apologetic. Fiona looked a little stunned.
"You have no reason to apologise, Cass. You were...unwell." She said, her cheeks a little pink as she said it. Cass gave a small, bittersweet smile and figured he should just give a fucking name to the thing. He’d already slipped up, they’d never read omegaverse stories before. They weren’t going to know the term, and it wasn’t...inaccurate.
"Yes, well, the gods and I have put a name to what I experience." Cass blatantly lied and watched as everyone perked up at the mention of the gods. "We’re calling it...a heat period." Cass said, his face going red. There was no way he could say that with a straight face. "A heat, for short." He clarified, taking a sip of his tea.
Lucian nodded slowly, his expression thoughtful as he stared at Cass.
"Hmm. That’s...interesting. Very animalistic of them, but then again, they made all of us." Lucian said with a casual shrug and Lady Ava bobbed her head.
"I’m glad you’ve decided on what to call it. It feels a bit like we have a secret code now." Lady Ava said with a soft smile. Of course she would think that.
Cass cleared his throat. "Yes, well, now that we’ve got that out of the way, I think we have some bigger things to discuss. Like what happened at the ball." Cass said, and the tension in the room intensified.
Lord Ridgewood sighed and bowed his head, his hands on his knees.
"I apologise for causing problems during the festivities. I truly did not want to cause any problems during the ball. In that regard, I seem to only make things harder for you." Lord Ridgewood apologised earnestly, and Cass watched as Edgar’s jaw tightened and twitched.
He clearly didn’t like that he was apologising, or didn’t like why he was apologising. When Cass glanced at Fiona, he found that she looked much the same. Interesting.
"Lord Ridgewood," Cass began, "how is it your fault that your family chose to corner you and pick a fight with you? How is it your fault that your father is a conniving little minx and planned to beat you up and get us distracted as a way to announce an ’alliance’ while our back was turned? You had no idea of the plan. They’ve disowned you." Cass’ words were harsh, making the still bent man flinch.
"Yes, however, I should have known. I grew up with them. I-I should have recognised the patterns." Lord Ridgewood said and then Cass did feel pity for the man.
What else could he feel for the man? He’d been tossed aside by his family because he had no use. Cass knew what that felt like. Hell, so did Lord Blackburn. Cassian knew best what it was like to struggle to have any meaning for a family that truly didn’t care for you.
So did Edgar.
"Either way, Lord Ridgewood, you would have been beaten up. Only you would have known about the fact that it was going to happen. How is that any different than what happened?" Cass asked softly and Lord Ridgewood flinched. "Come on, sit up. Enough of this. You can grovel later. We’re having a chat right now." Cass said and slowly the man sat up. His usually pale complexion was flushed with embarrassment and Fiona gave a soft chuckle.
"Cass’ right, Gideon. We knew that the Duke’s and the King were planning something devious and prepared to the best of our abilities. You did what you could, and could you honestly say that you would have done anything different if part of the situation had changed?" Fiona asked and Lord Ridgewood, for his part, clenched his hands into fists.
"If I hadn’t been disowned or kicked out of the hero party? No, I can’t say I would have done anything different. My brother would have looked for any reason to beat me up, regardless of my standing." Lord Ridgewood said softly, and Edgar put the teacup down a little loudly. He didn’t say anything though.
"Exactly. So, with that in mind, we have some other more pressing things to discuss. Like how the fuck a demon got involved with state politics without anyone else noticing." Cass said and the room tensed. "Excluding me and my fucked up genetics, how did no one else notice? Did they keep Duke Vespertine out of the agreement because they knew? This is actually a terrifying situation if we consider it seriously." Cass said and Fiona nodded.
"They almost got their hands on Lady Ava. That’s truly horrifying." Fiona agreed, her face hollow. Lady Ava went white as well.
"I can’t believe my father, who is sworn to protect not just the royal family, but the Saintess as well, let this happen." Lord Ridgewood whispered. "What in the world is going on?" Lord Ridgewood whispered and Cass felt a grim sense of acceptance fill him.
"This is probably what the gods were worried about." Cass said and Fiona nodded. They met eyes, and something lit up behind her gaze.
"If we can be infiltrated like this, I’m worried about what the rest of the world is looking like." Fiona said, and Cass could only agree with her.
He knew that the artifact that they needed, the staff, was kept in secret in another country. They couldn’t just speed run to it since it had to ’unlock’ at a certain point in the story, but the book had said nothing about how infected the world was.
Hell, Lady Ava hadn’t been married off in the other story. Things had to be shifting because of what he was doing. Cass clenched his hand in his lap before he let it go slowly.
This was fine. They could figure this out on their own. That was why he was here, wasn’t it? To change things? Hopefully, for the better.