"Pardon me? What are you implying with that? Corrupting your son?" Cass asked, offended, and Duke Ridgewood huffed.
"I guess I should expand on that and say sons, though it is rather unfortunate. For some reason, you have Duke Vespertine’s approval. I wonder if a man like you has been secretly galivanting around the city under our very noses and corrupting everyone you touched. Your grandfather was right to be worried about you." It was a very well sharpened knife, and unfortunately, it slid right in between Cass’ and Cassian’s ribs.
The fucker.
Was he truly implying that Cass might be...sleeping around with people right now? Was that what he was saying? In the middle of the main hall of the fucking temple? A place where Cass’ authority was higher than him?
Where Cass had just negotiated with the gods to make another fucking Saint?
Cass’ laugh was harsh, angry, and made Lord Ridgewood under his hands flinch.
"The fucking balls you have on you to do that here, of all places." Cass said and watched as the Duke flinched.
"Mind your manners." The Duke growled and Cass laughed louder. He would have marched up and laughed in his face if he wasn’t solely keeping his son semi-upright right now.
"Mind my manners? You have no idea what you are doing right now and how much of an ass you are making of yourself, Duke
"I do not believe your grandfather raised you-"
"-He didn’t raise me at all." Cass interjected, his grip tightening on Lord Ridgewood’s shoulders. It wasn’t fair that he was taking it out on him, but he just so happened to be under his hands. Plus, his grip in this body wasn’t that tight. "I think, Duke Ridgewood, you know that, or has that snake been whispering in your ears too?" Cass asked and watched as the other man’s expression tightened.
"It is rude to refer to someone of such a high status with such vulgar language."
"But it is okay to speak to someone who will fill that role with even worse language?" Cass shot back, not backing down. He could see that the fact that he kept firing back was making the Duke infuriated. The man was practically vibrating, but honestly?
He didn’t know anger. He had not a fucking clue about it, since Cass had just lived through literal hell. Duke Ridgewood better take a fucking step back before Cass made him take a fucking step back.
He didn’t even know that this house belonged to Cass, to his own son now. He just saw that something had happened and had come in, accusing and pointing fingers.
Thankfully, the doors flung open again and Duke Vespertine came in hurriedly. His robes were all over the place, his hat was sliding off. It showed, for a brief second, that the man still didn’t have hair and Cass blinked.
Some of his anger faded at that. That was...good.
However, the man did look panicked.
"What just happened?" He asked, his voice less accusing as he turned his gaze towards Cass. Duke Ridgewood stiffened at the fact that he was passed over for Cass, and Cass felt a pleased, malicious smile touch his lips. Lord Ridgewood was slowly gaining back the use of his limbs and Cass decided it was time to not hide Byron anymore.
"Byron, help Gideon." Cass ordered loud enough for everyone to hear. Byron materialised, causing several of the knights to touch their swords and shift. The sound of armor rattling didn’t have Cass pausing for a damn second.
When Cass made sure that Byron had control of Lord Ridgewood, he turned to the two Dukes. Duke Vespertine was a little short of breath, staring at Byron like he was a strange creature while also confused as to how he was able to be in the main hall. Duke Ridgewood had a similar look on his face, but his confusion seemed to stem from the fact that he thought Byron was a demon.
Cass didn’t need to be an expert in holy knights or the temple’s doctrine to know that.
"Isn’t he sweet?" Cass said, deciding to play into it. "The fairies gifted him to me." Cass was really playing it up. Even Byron slid Cass a look, but he didn’t say anything to counter it. He had been...a gift of sorts. A spy could be a gift if you played your cards right.
Duke Vespertine grew interested at that, since he had to have knowledge about how fairies and demons didn’t mix. Cass wasn’t sure if Duke Ridgewood had that kind of knowledge, and it didn’t really matter to him.
"How kind of them. Cassian, what’s happened to Gideon? I saw a huge flash of light, heard the whisperings of the gods, but it was rather quiet. Is Gideon alright?" Duke Vespertine asked, fake concern dripping off of him.
He was a way better actor than Duke Ridgewood next to him. He wasn’t able to hide the disdain and distrust he had on his face. Duke Vespertine could play ball. Cass didn’t want to say it was a magic user thing, but it was the Blackburn family and the Vespertine family who were manipulating things behind the scenes. They were both magic families.
"Oh, Gideon will be fine. The gods are being rather generous and helping us out in our time of need." Cass told him and Duke Vespertine furrowed his brows.
"Oh? Our time of need?" He asked, sounding cautious and curious. Cass knew that the man was kicking himself for not being able to say that he already knew what was going on. Cass could see it twisting him up inside. People like Duke Vespertine liked to pretend that they knew everything. It was probably bothering him a lot that Duke Ridgewood was here witnessing everything as well.
"Yes. Our time. With Fiona currently away from everything for health reasons, the gods saw fit to make sure that we didn’t disrupt the hero and Saintess with...our own problems." Cass said with a smile. Duke Vespertine nodded, but it was clear he was having a hard time grasping what was going on.
His gaze slid to the Priest who had been with Cass and Lord Ridgewood this whole time. Cass glanced at the Priest as well. He wondered what he would say to his lord, what he could even say.
He looked too shaken to even speak. It looked like he was coming to terms with a bunch of things, all at once. He was piecing together things, and Duke Vespertine’s expression hardened slightly.
"Why such a great show of power then?" The Duke asked. "The gods rarely attempt to interfere with our world. Has something happened? Did something go wrong with your talk with the gods?" Duke Vespertine asked. Duke Ridgewood was looking at Duke Vespertine like he had two heads.
He could not believe what the Duke was casually saying. Cassian Blackburn, being able to talk to the gods? Was he insane?!
It was written all over his face, and it only made Cass chuckle to himself.
"Well, something big did happen while I was speaking to the gods, otherwise we wouldn’t be here." Cass grinned, glancing around the room before he gestured to Lord Ridgewood. "We have another Saint for the time being, since Lady Ava will be occupied." The gasps that went around the room were loud, shocked, and fueled something deep inside of Cass.
Satisfaction thrummed through his body at the shocked and horror-filled expressions on both Duke’s faces. Duke Vespertine because a new Saint had been declared and they weren’t from his family, again, and Duke Ridgewood because it was his son, the son that he had clearly discarded, who the gods had chosen again.
He didn’t even know that the gods had probably selected him once already. That’s how these kinds of stories start, right?
"Gideon is a saint?" Duke Vespertine’s voice was high pitched, shocked, and he slammed a hand over his mouth. Cass let out a loud laugh.
"Crazy, right? But we really were worried about what we could do. I can’t use both my powers and holy powers as a mage and nor can Edgar. Lucian...well, I would say he’s already too powerful for his own good." Cass joked. Duke Vespertine nodded, numb, while Duke Ridgewood looked like he’d taken a bite out of a sour lemon.
He inhaled, opened his mouth, and Cass beat him to the punch.
"If you dare attempt to claim him now that he has ’worth’ to you, I’m going to slice your arms off here and now." Cass’ voice was soft, light, but the room chilled immediately. Duke Vespertine looked ill while Duke Ridgewood stiffened. The knights who had already been on high alert trembled to be ordered to attack.
"Are you threatening me?" He hissed, and Cass stared at him, his smile dropping from his face.
"Did you not learn your lesson at the ball? Stop trying to interfere with the hero party. You have no fucking clue what you’re trying to interfere with. It’s bigger than this little kingdom, I’ll tell you that much for free and Gideon? He belongs to me. He’ll be the first to admit it." Cass declared boldly. He didn’t even look at Lord Ridgewood, confident in himself. "You already gave him up, and not only that, you said that I corrupted him and several other people. I would have you know, Duke Ridgewood, that I am nothing like my grandfather in that regard. If I was corrupting people as you so insinuated, that would be none of your fucking business." Duke Vespertine jerked his gaze towards Duke Ridgewood, horror on his face.
"Did you truly say that, Duke Ridgewood?" He asked, and Duke Ridgewood did not like being threatened and questioned.
"Why would it matter what I did or did not say?" He asked and Cass snorted.
"Because the gods hear everything, Duke Ridgewood, and you should be careful. I have far more immunity than you can even imagine." Cass warned. He glanced at Byron and Lord Ridgewood at that point. Gideon was flushed completely, but he seemed to be better. His legs weren’t trembling at the very least. "Duke Vespertine, is there anything that Gideon needs to do at this point? I think the sudden power surge has exhausted the poor man and I’d like to take him home to rest in comfort." Cass asked. Duke Vespertine fell over himself, smiling and laughing like a damn hyena.
"Oh, you can take him away, Cassian! Of course you can! No worries here, I can handle the registration and administration side of things. I will even send anything else you need by mage. If Gideon has any questions, I would be more than happy to answer them." The man was falling over himself and Cass didn’t comment on it.
He just stared at the man, did a simple full body scan, and nodded.
"I’ll let Gideon think on that. He’s spent quite a bit of time reading, so he might already have knowledge on becoming a Saint. Farewell." Cass said, ignoring Duke Ridgewood. The man stiffened further. Cass didn’t even give him a look as he slid past him, Byron practically carrying the other man’s son. From this moment on, he could not touch Gideon without getting several people angry. That included the gods, and Cass could see how that was just making the man steam.
It was the right call on the gods’ part. He was actually just a little upset that he didn’t know that they could do that. They could just...make people Saints or heroes whenever they wanted. Stingy fuckers.